Comments on: So You Want My Job: Interpreter/Translator

By: rabia

rabia — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:59:44 +0000

im graduate with a degree in law, i want to be an interpreter in arabic and french because i like languages , i want to know what to do to realise that, thanks.

By: emily

emily — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:47:20 +0000

I’d Love To Be A Translator, I’m Wondering What/If You Need Any Other Specific GCSE’s/A Levels Etc.Other Than Languages.

I’m Also Wondering What The Pay Is Like?

By: Jenni

Jenni — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:00:22 +0000

I’m doing my GCSEs at the moment and have just chosen my A levels, my school isn’t the best for languages but I’m starting a course in Japanese in September and I’m also starting an Italian GCSE short-course at the same time. I love languages and I really want to aim to be translator/interpretor. but I just don’t know what qualifications I need, (Japanese is the main language I am focusing on, but obviously the more the better) do I need a GCSE? ALevel? diploma? do I need to take courses on culture, or literature? can anyone help me plan my future?

By: Martin

Martin — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:16:06 +0000

I love this article, I’d love to become fluent enough in either French or Spanish to be an interpreter/translator some day.

By: Nicholas Ferreira

Nicholas Ferreira — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:37:41 +0000

This is a great article. I am a professional translator and interpreter myself, and I can say that I love my job and am passionate about it. What do I like? The variety (every day something different), the challenge (I am constantly improving), the ability to learn (being paid to learn about something you don’t know is nice), and in the case of interpreting, the chance to be paid to speak all day (something I really enjoy).

Does it pay well? Depending on how and where you do it, yes, it allows you to make a very decent living.

I am a full-time translator for a translation agency, but most people who are interested get started as a freelancer. I wrote an article with some basic information on how to get started as a freelance translator if anyone is interested: http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/1673/1/Entering-the-World-of-Freelance-Translation

This article series is important to help us realize that our job is something we should be happy about. And in my case, I can say I am very happy with my job as a translator and interpreter.

By: john

john — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:38:32 +0000

very nice & interesting. good luck

By: Trish Lewis

Trish Lewis — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:27:25 +0000

My son-in-law – a Kurdish American – is a translator. He began translating several years ago unofficially in the Turish refugee camp he and his family were in after fleeing Sadam in northern Iraq. Later after coming to America and graduating high school (and marrying my daughter) he joined civilian contractor Titan Corporation and spent two years in northern Iraq, where he grew up, from 2003 to 2005 working with the U.S. military as a translator. Right now, he’s about to head off again to that area working for another civilian contractor but under very different circumstance, i.e., it’s reconstruction now and it’s for Army engineers as Kurdistan – as he and his fellow northern Kurdish Iraqis prefer to call the area – continue to build and prosper.. .My blog, the Waiting Place (http://waitingplace.blogspot.com ) is about all the times he’s spent away from my daughter and his sons, now four of them, as he has worked overseas as an interpreter. The ‘art of manliness’ sometimes means a lot of sacrifice on not only the man’s part, but his family’s…