Wednesday 22 August 2012

Some Effective Strategies that Newbie Translators can make use of

This post is in continuation to my last post where I talked about the prerequisites of translation profession. I would now briefly present some of the strategies that you, as a newcomer to the profession, implement to progress as a translator. But, I would like to make a passing comment that, though professional qualification and training, as pointed out by me in the last post, are not a requirement for a person to enter into translation profession, these are certainly useful in learning better about the norms and practices of your profession, and appearing more reliable to your potential clients. Le me now come to the main point, and tell you about some of the strategies that I consider advisable for a newbie.

To begin with, you should make yourself professionally visible. You may achieve this by taking active part in ongoing discussions in translation job portals mentioned by me in my last post. Make sure that your comments should be honest, and geared towards sharing sincere and effective ideas. Neither fabricate stories (such as about your experience in the field, your experience with various translation agencies, etc.) nor exaggerate facts. Be truthful and to-the-point. Try also to give intelligent and helping comments to your colleagues' queries. Gradually, you will be able to develop rapport and solidarity with the other members active on the website. Your reputation as an intelligent, honest, and helpful person -- that you will built through your regular visibility and honest thought sharing -- may help you to grab some small jobs. And once you get hold of a job, make sure to get back to your client with the best possible work, no matter if, say, it takes you hours to translate a 500-word document.

One important thing, which normally goes unnoticed and unattended, is that you read practical views and experiences of experienced translation professionals. This will give you a strong knowledge-base in your field, and also will help you to understand linguistic needs and translation conventions better.

Build a comprehensive profile on LinkedIn, and start connecting with translators and translation agencies. I have experienced that a strong and active profile on LinkedIn can be of great help to you in that some job offers come directly from clients who have visited your LinkedIn profile.

Mind you, building your freelance reputation will definitely take time, but once, through hard work and talent, you have made a strong footing, you will enjoy the satisfaction brought about by your self-achievement.

I will like to touch upon a couple of more points in my next post before concluding this topic.

4 comments:

  1. sir i like your work.i think it is a starting point for progress in pakistan.sir if we cont... this work then we will be a strong nation in this world.

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  2. i am ready for any help.best of luck.God bless u.

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  3. Dear Salman Sb,

    I have read both of your posts with great interest and find them quite beneficial for the newbies. You have given some very good guidelines and your style creates an impression of honesty, sincerity and dedication to the profession and the colleagues.

    I agree with your views and endorse them that although the professional qualifications play an important role in building one's career, yet the importance of experience, sufficient linguistic skills, basic principles of grammar, and vast study of native as well as source language literature can't be denied.

    On thing I would like to suggest in the light of my own experience when I had started this career of (online) translator. It is highly recommended that the new comers should send their CVs to as many translation agencies as they can. Even a single encouraging reply in a week will pay for the labour they put in this task of contacting the potential clients.

    You have already mentioned about the importance of 'hope' and I will add 'steadfastness' in it.

    Lastly, I congratulate you on starting this useful blog and hope that you will continue it with the same zeal and enthusiasm. I am sure it will be hailed among the local as well international translators community with great interest.

    Wish you all the best!!

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  4. AoA. Great work!

    Jazak ALLAH!

    Stay Blessed!

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