हमारे ब्लॉग की नई पोस्ट
Suyash Suprabh (सुयश सुप्रभ)
I know many translators who have excellent translation skills but are still struggling to succeed.
Why?
The answer is very simple. They forget that it takes much more than language skills to be a successful translator. Unfortunately, most translators ignore this and miss out on interesting opportunities.
Here are 5 ways to make you a more confident and productive translator:
1. 15 minutes of marketing a day keeps the failure away
A successful marketing strategy is all about consistency. The most common marketing mistake is that people show a lot of interest in the beginning and lose interest when they do not see the results they want.
It’s much better to invest your time on meaningful conversations on forums and social media platforms than to invest all your energy on cold email campaigns. What you need is the curiosity to know about the latest trends and the ability to contribute to conversations in a creative manner.
Fortunately, there are plenty of resources to keep you motivated and updated in your marketing efforts. I have found tons of useful information by signing up for the Training for Translators mailing list. You can also check out this website for tips and insights. Another helpful resource is a free book by Luke Spear.
2. Keep yourself updated on the latest trends
Translation is a fast-changing field, and you cannot afford to stay away from current trends if you wish to be counted as a reliable professional. In order to know your client’s requirements, you need to look beyond their texts and have a deep understanding of their business and aspirations. To do this, you may subscribe to the newsletters in your niche fields or follow your clients’ messages on social media platforms.
If you want to keep yourself updated on CAT tools and other technical resources, you should definitely subscribe to this newsletter. For the latest industry trends, you can read Multilingual Media’s weekly digest.
3. Hone your language skills
Language keeps on evolving, and as a translator we should keep on exploring the opportunities to focus on certain aspects of our source and target languages. If English is one of your working languages and you want to specialize in any particular area like legal texts, you may want to invest your time and money on legal English courses.
When it comes to figuring out idiomatic expressions or ambiguous sentence structures, language forums are very helpful. They are particularly useful for non-English speaking translators like me. When in doubt, I always consult native speakers on WordReference forums.
4. Theory may enrich your translation skills
Although one can become a successful translator without learning about translation theories, it is always helpful to know a thing or two about translation steps or strategies. It may give you more confidence when you have to translate in a field which is new to you.
Also, novice translators can find useful tips in theories related to translation shifts. They will have a better understanding of the source texts. Furthermore, they will be more confident when they have to introduce changes that make the target text significantly different from the source text.
5. Be an enthusiastic community member
Translators no longer work in isolation like they used to. By sharing information and insights, we can greatly benefit from the existing digital work where we are connected to hundreds of other translators. The ProZ forums are a great place to connect with other translators. You can also find many interesting and helpful forums on Facebook.
Being a list moderator for more than a decade, I can’t stress enough the importance of sharing our thoughts and ideas. I have learned a lot from experienced translators, and they have always been more than willing to help me with matters that are beyond my fields of expertise.
https://translatorsofindia.com/5-ways-to-become-a-successful-translator