1. Get good at the language you’re translating from.
This is actually the obvious one that everyone knows. But hey, it’s obvious because it’s true. To become a good translator of any language, you need to have strong skills in that language. There are numerous other webpages out there which can tell you better than I, how to develop your skills in your chosen language. So I’ll just be short and sweet and say “use it.” Read, write, study, research, speak, listen. Also, one thing other places won’t necessarily let you know: I find my background in linguistics has allowed me to synthesize a lot of my language learning faster than my peers with other academic backgrounds.
2. Grasp the target language.
The “target” language is the language you’re translating into. You need to have intimate comprehension of the language you’re translating into. I can’t stress that enough. To craft a totally fine translation you need to have truly fine skills in English (or whatever your target language may be). Otherwise you won’t have the ability to communicate your ideas as clearly and you won’t be able to make appropriate or inspired choices that capture the spirit and texture of a literary text. Your skill in the target language is a lot more important than your skill in the language you’re translating from.
If you don’t speak your target language natively: read, write, and study it extensively, become acquainted with its high literature and its use in pop culture, and be sure you have trustworthy people to give you advice on language choices.
If you’re a native speaker of your target language: good, because that’s ideal-but that alone isn’t enough. Additionally you need to have skill in wielding the language. The best way to develop it is to read extensively and write different kinds of things (articles, essays, etc.). Also, if applicable to the kind of translation you want to do, practice poems and stories. It’s best if you can get some constructive critiques on them as well. If you’re still in high school or university, you’re in the best possible position to get your English (or whatever) skills up to scratch: take lessons that have a whopping writing component. Try to take at least one literature-type course and at least one technical or scientific course that make you really exercise your writing, and really pay attention to the feedback from your professors and peers. (Often it helps you to do a little asking around about instructors before you sign up for the courses)
3. Research, research, research.
Many different types of translation, especially of books, movies, and TV shows, are about knowing a little bit about everything that’s ever happened everywhere. In the course of a typical week translating, I might have to search for information on all kinds of things. Obviously, you’re not going to know all that. Which means you want to get good at finding stuff out. Not just that, but the answers should be from reliable sources where possible. So one of the most key things to develop as a translator is research skills. If you’re in school or college, try taking courses that will assist you in this, or attend a library orientation day. If you’re not in school, don’t worry. Many college and public libraries offer sporadic courses on research methods; you will discover and try to take one. If that’s not a possibility, you can go to a college or public library and find that mythical figure called the Reference Librarian. The Reference Librarian’s job is to understand how to discover stuff. To explore additional information, please have a glance at: official link. If you’re a student, your school/college Reference Librarian is fair game. If it’s a public library, try to go on a slow day or make a scheduled appointment. Clicking english translators certainly provides warnings you could tell your family friend. Go up to him or her, introduce yourself, and request help learning good research skills both online and in print (if you think you’ll need to be doing most of your research online, let her know). TIP: It can help if you bring some sample questions/areas of research so that s/he can assist you by example. You can kill two birds with one stone by bringing research questions which have come up in one of your translations.
4. Connect with others.
Remember how I said translation was about becoming an expert on everything ever? Well, knowing an expert on everything ever is the next most convenient thing. Networking is the way to go for a translator. There are certain things where all the Googling in the world is not going to provide the goods in addition to a consultation with someone who really knows the stuff. And if you don’t have someone to call, you’re going to have to spend a day in the library. You don’t want that to occur if deadline is tomorrow! So keep the various expertises of your friends and family in the back of your mind. Remember people you’re introduced to, and be nice to them. And remember, when you call your people in the middle of the afternoon and say “I need to know..." ALWAYS thank them before you decide to hang up. They save your life, so make sure to show your appreciation.
5. Know what your goal is.
It’s my thought that someone who’s considered what her theory of translation is, what translation means to her, and what she’s really trying to do overall as a translator is going to be better at her craft. Therefore I would read a bit on translation theory, after which spend a little time pondering what you believe and what your philosophy of translation is. As an added bonus, reading other people’s writing about translation can provide you with ideas for how to deal with problems you encounter.
6. Get in-depth familiarity with the appropriate field(s).
If you’re going to spend your career translating court documents, you should learn about law. But in less cut-and-dried fields, I've found people don’t always consider this. Finally, the cultures and histories of the relevant countries are important fields of knowledge for ALL translators. In case people desire to identify more on chinese translator, we recommend lots of databases people might think about investigating. I don’t care if you’re translating a great work of literature or perhaps a restaurant menu, you absolutely must have some foundation in the cultures behind all the languages/locations you’re working with. Learn more on this related article directory by visiting return to site. Yes, that includes your own.
7. Obtain a little bit of knowledge about the irrelevant fields.
Like we’ve said, we’re the five-minute experts on everything. So pretty much anything you learn about in any capacity is likely to come in handy eventually. Grab the opportunities to learn about things, and just generally pay attention to what’s going on around you (specially the way people are talking) and file it away for later.
8. Have experience of popular culture.
If you’re like me you find keeping up with popular culture and current events a pain. Nevertheless the fact is, it’s likely to come up. Anything the world is preoccupied with works its way into everything. So keep your eyes open. Listen to the radio on your drive to work. Just find some way to pay a little attention to what’s going on.
9. Get very creative
Scientists have been telling us for some time that creativity is a learned behavior, and it’s true. The greater you practice brainstorming new and different language-play ideas, the more creative you are in your translation work. Do you know the common problems for every translator? What are the common translation problems in your specific language? When you run across examples of them in your life, take the time and try to brainstorm ways to handle them. Sometimes you do even better in this daily-life brainstorming than on your actual work, because there’s no pressure. One more thing you can do is look at other translations to/from your languages. Maybe you always handle puns in the same way. Does another translator handle them differently? Maybe that can break you out of the box and get you thinking in new ways.
10. Put thought into your work setup.
Translation is inherently uncomfortable because it often involves sitting on your butt for long durations, crouched over your desk looking at text. It's also extremely inefficient if there’s an issue with your workspace or your equipment. You need to mess around with various different setups physically, to make sure sitting in that chair isn’t killing you, or to discover that moving your computer monitor up a few inches saves your life. And for goodness’ sake, stand up and take a stroll once in a while. It’ll save your valuable spine and reboot your brain. You also need to mess around until you find a comfortable mental setup on your computer. Little changes will enhance your efficiency. Whether you’re a religious computer user or you’re one of the few holdouts who translates with pen and paper, you must become very familiar with computing in all the languages you use. Clients will expect that and demand it. And there will probably be times when it’s just the only way to be efficient. There are all sorts of complications in computing in other alphabets, especially Asian alphabets, and the issues vary from operating-system to operating system, program to program. Ensure that if nothing else you work all of that out in whatever internet browsers you’re more likely to encounter and in Microsoft Word.
So, that’s about the size of it. If I were to say anything else, I think it would be that you can’t go wrong to take a linguistics course. Any aspiring translator still in college can probably make use of some background courses. Learning about language as a general system has greatly helped me to develop my skills in all aspects of translation, from as basic as language learning to as advanced as finding the intersections and deviances between languages and everything in between..