Finding Translation Work Without Education in Translation Thread poster: Vlad Kotenko
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Vlad Kotenko
Russian Federation
Local time: 23:04
Ukrainian to English
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I did some volunteer translation work in the English-Russian and Russian-English language pairs a few years ago but was not able to quickly find freelance work because of not having a diploma or certification in translation. I would like to do freelance translation from time to time. There are a lot of translation agencies, but they often require education and work experience. Can you suggest how I can find freelance work without a diploma? I am ready to work at the lowest payment just to get st... See more I did some volunteer translation work in the English-Russian and Russian-English language pairs a few years ago but was not able to quickly find freelance work because of not having a diploma or certification in translation. I would like to do freelance translation from time to time. There are a lot of translation agencies, but they often require education and work experience. Can you suggest how I can find freelance work without a diploma? I am ready to work at the lowest payment just to get started, especially because translation will not be my main occupation.
What websites are you aware of where I will be able to get jobs for a low payment but without the diploma requirement? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dalia Nour 
Egypt
Local time: 23:04
Member (2018)
English to Arabic
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Hi,
My advice, take some online courses in translation and add them to your CV.
Get experience as much as you can through volunteering.
Agencies require professional translators who can prove their strong skills through education and experience.
I think reducing your rate is not a solution!
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 16:04
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| Most professional translators don't have a diploma in translation | May 30, 2021 |
Vlad Kotenko wrote:
I did some volunteer translation work in the English-Russian and Russian-English language pairs a few years ago but was not able to quickly find freelance work because of not having a diploma or certification in translation. I would like to do freelance translation from time to time. There are a lot of translation agencies, but they often require education and work experience. Can you suggest how I can find freelance work without a diploma? I am ready to work at the lowest payment just to get started, especially because translation will not be my main occupation.
What websites are you aware of where I will be able to get jobs for a low payment but without the diploma requirement?
A degree in any field other than translation would help. In fact, a degree/diploma in a relevant specialty area speaks louder than a translation degree.
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 16:04
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| A translation degree VS a degree in a specialized area | May 30, 2021 |
While someone with a translation degree may do better in a non-specialized topic area, they often lack in the ability to express concepts in the target language in a manner consistent to industrial norms. For example, a doctor would translate "blood pressure medicines" naturally and correctly into Chinese as "anti-hypertensive medicines" or "Blood pressure reducing medicines," but a "pure" linguist would most likely translate them word-by-word or literally. It is nothing harmful to translate it ... See more While someone with a translation degree may do better in a non-specialized topic area, they often lack in the ability to express concepts in the target language in a manner consistent to industrial norms. For example, a doctor would translate "blood pressure medicines" naturally and correctly into Chinese as "anti-hypertensive medicines" or "Blood pressure reducing medicines," but a "pure" linguist would most likely translate them word-by-word or literally. It is nothing harmful to translate it literally in this case but the point is that it is better to know how a concept is usually or habitually expressed among the professionals of the respective subject area. In this regard, someone with a translation degree would have a long way to go.
[Edited at 2021-05-31 04:28 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Vlad Kotenko
Russian Federation
Local time: 23:04
Ukrainian to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Advice on Finding Work Without a Degree | May 31, 2021 |
Thank you.
I currently do not have time to pursue education in translation or a particular field and so need advice on how to find some translation work.
Should I start registering in as many translation agencies as possible? Are there new small agencies which are short of freelance translators and so are willing to give translation projects to those who do not have a degree but can do... See more Thank you.
I currently do not have time to pursue education in translation or a particular field and so need advice on how to find some translation work.
Should I start registering in as many translation agencies as possible? Are there new small agencies which are short of freelance translators and so are willing to give translation projects to those who do not have a degree but can do the job?
https://www.proz.com/blueboard ▲ Collapse
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| You're based in Russia, right? | May 31, 2021 |
Any experience living or studying in English-speaking countries? Extensive travel? Work with foreigners in English?
That would mean more than a domestic degree in language studies, which provides only mediocre English into Russian skills, and no ability to professionally translate Russian into English WHATSOEVER.
Btw, if you can read Ukrainian (whether you actually knew it already or just learn to puzzle it out with Russian-based deduction, dictionaries, and online tool... See more Any experience living or studying in English-speaking countries? Extensive travel? Work with foreigners in English?
That would mean more than a domestic degree in language studies, which provides only mediocre English into Russian skills, and no ability to professionally translate Russian into English WHATSOEVER.
Btw, if you can read Ukrainian (whether you actually knew it already or just learn to puzzle it out with Russian-based deduction, dictionaries, and online tools), there's money to be made there. The last name should help get tests with few questions.
Vlad Kotenko wrote: Thank you. I currently do not have time to pursue education in translation or a particular field and so need advice on how to find some translation work. Should I start registering in as many translation agencies as possible? Are there new small agencies which are short of freelance translators and so are willing to give translation projects to those who do not have a degree but can do the job? https://www.proz.com/blueboard
[Edited at 2021-05-31 18:39 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Diplomas/Certifications and education are two different things.
You may skip the former, but not the latter.
If you don't put in the time to (self)educate and become competent in your craft, it may be unrealistic to expect to make good money out of it.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 22:04
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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| "From time to time" is unfortunately not possible | Jun 1, 2021 |
Vlad Kotenko wrote:
I would like to do freelance translation from time to time.
Competition is so fierce in this industry that you have to put in a lot of effort to get clients (even agency clients). This means that there is no "from time to time" in this business. It takes a very long time to get lucky and get some clients, but if you don't work for them for a while, then they go elsewhere and you "lose" them all over again. Every now and then a new portal or web site comes into existence that aims to provide the type of translation work that you're looking for, but they invariably fail after a few weeks or months because there aren't enough people willing to pay good money for occasional translation, and clients who want more than just the occasional translation prefer to build a relationship with their translation service.
You can try services like Fiverrr, but even there the competition is so fierce that you're going to have to spend an awful amount of time on marketing yourself (and the rewards won't be worth it).
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Vlad Kotenko
Russian Federation
Local time: 23:04
Ukrainian to English
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TOPIC STARTER | Translation Opportunities | Jun 2, 2021 |
Adieu wrote:
Any experience living or studying in English-speaking countries? Extensive travel? Work with foreigners in English?
That would mean more than a domestic degree in language studies, which provides only mediocre English into Russian skills, and no ability to professionally translate Russian into English WHATSOEVER.
Btw, if you can read Ukrainian (whether you actually knew it already or just learn to puzzle it out with Russian-based deduction, dictionaries, and online tools), there's money to be made there. The last name should help get tests with few questions.
Thank you. Yes, I live in Russia but am originally from Ukraine and can understand spoken and written Ukrainian language besides English.
I have never been to a an English-speaking country but regularly speak with Americans in their native American English language.
Are translation opportunities greater in the Ukrainian-Russian than in the English-Russian language pair? I thought that there are a lot of Ukrainian-Russian translators because of the similarity of the languages and the easy process of translation in this language pair.
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| I meant Ukrainian and English | Jun 2, 2021 |
The reason is pretty simple. Soviet education.
Bureaucracy is pretty much a constant, but there are perhaps 3 proficient Russian speakers for every Russian citizen... most of the literate population of the ex-Soviet countries, many people with Cold War-era educations, lots of Eastern Europeans, etc. And lots of these people REALIZE that they can try to offer cheap Russian translation services when looking for some kind of remote work.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, noticeably l... See more The reason is pretty simple. Soviet education.
Bureaucracy is pretty much a constant, but there are perhaps 3 proficient Russian speakers for every Russian citizen... most of the literate population of the ex-Soviet countries, many people with Cold War-era educations, lots of Eastern Europeans, etc. And lots of these people REALIZE that they can try to offer cheap Russian translation services when looking for some kind of remote work.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, noticeably less than 100% of the population is comfortably at ease with written Ukrainian, and almost nobody outside the country has studied it.
So....maybe 10x less competition.
And a country of 50 million does generate a bunch of paperwork for foreigners. This is further helped by the relative rarity of the Ukrainian language, so most everybody doing business with Ukraine will be translating from/to either English or Russian.
Vlad Kotenko wrote:
Thank you. Yes, I live in Russia but am originally from Ukraine and can understand spoken and written Ukrainian language besides English.
I have never been to a an English-speaking country but regularly speak with Americans in their native American English language.
Are translation opportunities greater in the Ukrainian-Russian than in the English-Russian language pair? I thought that there are a lot of Ukrainian-Russian translators because of the similarity of the languages and the easy process of translation in this language pair.
[Edited at 2021-06-02 19:07 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Some of the things said in this thread boggle the mind | Jun 3, 2021 |
Let me say that a good translator is a good translator, whether they've received a formal education or simply some formal training or even whether they're self-taught, which in this era of the free resources can be done and done well. A good translator, however they came to the profession, has all my respect and the proof is always in the pudding.
However, to say that a well-trained, educatet translator linguist must necessarily be worse at engineering or medical translations than a... See more Let me say that a good translator is a good translator, whether they've received a formal education or simply some formal training or even whether they're self-taught, which in this era of the free resources can be done and done well. A good translator, however they came to the profession, has all my respect and the proof is always in the pudding.
However, to say that a well-trained, educatet translator linguist must necessarily be worse at engineering or medical translations than an engineer or a medical doctor is nonsense.
Translation is a linguistic process, people. It's "in the name".
I am bilingual and very well versed in both English and Serbo-Croat, because I've been studying, living, dreaming, thinking in both since I was 5. I then studied translation for four years and have been translating in the pair for 20. And while 20 years ago it was much more difficult and very slow for me to do the necessary engineering or medical research I needed, that is no longer the case. I know how to do my research, do it carefully and I can now, thanks to the technology advancing this much, do it very fast.
Most engineers aren't even linguistically but mathematically inclined, their minds are much more logical and less verbal and language-oriented than most linguistic minds, and while some probably can make up for it and do great engineering translations, most can't.
This is simple logic, the kind even a linguist can grasp.
I would never hire Elon Musk to do an engineering translation for me, that would be utterly ridiculous. Elon Musk is the extreme, outlier example of an engineering mind and also an indication of how the best preparation to ever become a good translator is to be linguistically minded and educated and not to have three degrees in nonlinguistic specialty areas.
I also doubt that most translators never received any formal linguistic education and/or training. Maybe this could be true — even though I doubt that too — for most freelance translators but, if so, that goes back to the fact that in this day and age anyone who speaks more than one language can create an online profile and call themselves a freelance translator.
I do not mind in the least that this is possible now and happens all the time. I am simply providing a reality check for the people who tell themselves and anyone who will listen that their three university degrees in nonlinguistic related areas were the best preparation for their translation (linguistic) career. People like this become good translators despite their lack of formal linguistic training and/or talent, not because of it and all the power to them, but let's exercise some common sense about our profession. We don't have to be all emotions and feelings about it and no facts, after all.
Regarding the OP. You have to receive some sort of training to perfect any skill, the same is true for translation. You can go through some sort of formal training or you can do it yourself using the vast ocean of online and offline available resources. You also must be at least minimally business-minded to make it work, since as a freelancer you are your own one-man company.
How much a freelance translator charges is a never-ending negotiation between the supply and demand, the translator and the LSP/end client. I would not base my business model on being cheap, because I would not hire a translator based on them being cheap, but some people do it and it seems to work for them. Good luck!
Edit: Grammar
[Edited at 2021-06-03 11:14 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Vlad Kotenko
Russian Federation
Local time: 23:04
Ukrainian to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | Availability of Work | Jun 3, 2021 |
Adieu wrote: The reason is pretty simple. Soviet education. Bureaucracy is pretty much a constant, but there are perhaps 3 proficient Russian speakers for every Russian citizen... most of the literate population of the ex-Soviet countries, many people with Cold War-era educations, lots of Eastern Europeans, etc. And lots of these people REALIZE that they can try to offer cheap Russian translation services when looking for some kind of remote work. Meanwhile, in Ukraine, noticeably less than 100% of the population is comfortably at ease with written Ukrainian, and almost nobody outside the country has studied it. So....maybe 10x less competition. And a country of 50 million does generate a bunch of paperwork for foreigners. This is further helped by the relative rarity of the Ukrainian language, so most everybody doing business with Ukraine will be translating from/to either English or Russian. Vlad Kotenko wrote:
Thank you. Yes, I live in Russia but am originally from Ukraine and can understand spoken and written Ukrainian language besides English.
I have never been to a an English-speaking country but regularly speak with Americans in their native American English language.
Are translation opportunities greater in the Ukrainian-Russian than in the English-Russian language pair? I thought that there are a lot of Ukrainian-Russian translators because of the similarity of the languages and the easy process of translation in this language pair.
[Edited at 2021-06-02 19:07 GMT]
Thank you. This is good advice. Perhaps besides trying to find work in the English-Russian language pair, I can try translating texts from the Ukrainian into the English language if it will be easier to find work in this pair.
I would like to know what translators can recommended about registering in translation agencies. Are agencies in certain countries more willing to give work to people like me who do not have strong professional credentials? Will the chances of finding work be greater if I apply to agencies in India and China, for example?
[Edited at 2021-06-03 15:15 GMT]
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