Linguistic Monomyth: A Translator’s Journey
Why you need to specialize, where does a portfolio come from, is working hard worth it, can you make a living and the future of translation as a service (TaaS). Or, the article I needed 5 years ago.
I’ve decided to write this article to help translation majors navigate their first steps on the labor market. I’m what you may call a “self-made” translator, proofreader and copywriter – so my insights will mainly revolve around these areas. I hope this will help some of you when deciding whether to pursue a career in translation and localization. For me, it’s indeed an unexpected journey, so I’m still learning and figuring a lot of stuff out, and I’ll be happy to hear your thoughts or any advice you might have.
I Want to Translate…
I’ve seen a lot of young people come out of school or university with a degree in translation saying, “I want to translate.” At first, there’s really nothing wrong with that. The problem is that when asked what exactly they want to translate or what is their area of expertise – they don’t have a clue. They don’t even know they should have one.
I understand that as a fresh graduate, you might not know your area of expertise right away. That doesn’t mean you should tell project managers or agencies that you don’t know. This part is a lot about “marketing” yourself and your services. Although it might seem like I’m encouraging you to lie a little bit, it’s not exactly true…
Think about which texts you enjoyed the most, which ones were the easiest to convey in another language for you. Or if you spend 6 hours a day playing Elder Scrolls, then video game localization might be the path for you. Always keep in mind you’ll need to specialize, or at least give an impression of specializing (I know, sounds bad, but it is what it is).
Another problem might be that you have your diploma and no experience. No portfolio. No clients. No references. Maybe you graduated from a good school, which today means diddly squat.
Fire up your laptop, find a website you like and translate a couple of lines of their web copy. Or take a look at their Instagram and translate a couple of posts. Create your “hypothetical translation portfolio.”
I didn’t do it, but if I’d known way back when what I know now, I would’ve done it.
It may feel like doing work for free, but it will pay off later on. And you don’t need to publish it anywhere, just send it to the relevant agencies or hiring managers.
Saying “I want to translate, give me some work” is simply not good enough. No one will take you seriously. But try not to overplay your hand. Don’t ask to translate, for example, medical texts right from the get-go. Work your way up. Start with shorter general stuff, with a bit of what you supposedly “specialize” in. Be patient; keep learning. You might even find new areas that you’re good at and that you enjoy.
Always ask for the proofed version if you can’t see changes directly in the CAT tool. I always check my translations after they’ve been proofed; I can’t change anything anymore, but I still might learn something new. And I often do.
No references? Not a problem. No portfolio? Not a problem. But here is a problem…
I’m not a Translator
I lived in Australia when I was 3–5 years old. Then one year in the UK and one year in the US. I had a pretty good base when it came to English as my “second” language, but I was basically learning Slovak and English simultaneously. Well, more English than Slovak really. That came back to bite me, especially considering my education path…
The decision of which university to attend was a bit out of my hands; my whole family went to the University of Economics, and it was decided I would simply follow suit. Well, more or less.
While I’ve shown great interest in the markets and economy, it’s never been my forte. Good news was that the university had a program for people like me – the only two things I was remotely good at were English and Spanish. I enrolled at the Faculty of Applied Languages, Foreign Languages and Intercultural Communication studies. What did I expect? Nothing really.
I studied the basics of economic theory, marketing, management and so on. But the largest chunk of the studies was focused on linguistics, lexicology, morphology and translation in English and Spanish.
The second year of my studies showed me the way and I realized I’m pretty good at conveying ideas and transferring them from one language to another. Especially into English, given the years spent living abroad. And I really loved writing. While others struggled with painful word-for-word translations, I was able to craft natural sentences in the target language without really breaking a sweat. Well, it was definitely easier than cramming formulas, charts and Pareto’s principle.
Around this time, I also got my first part time job at a bank as a translator. I was pretty lucky – I was the first to apply and the first one to deliver the assignment in good quality (a test translation). Another advantage I had was that the translation classes at the uni were focused on finance, banking, investments and so on. So, I had a niche without having to actively seek it out. And it nicely fit with my part-time job.
Are there lessons here?
Right, be quick but also precise. Tough one to balance.
Play around and try a lot of texts to find your niche. Don’t just say you “translate anything.”
That’s how I started, not knowing what to expect. I worked remotely for the bank, based on what my schedule allowed. I got to translate brochures, compliance docs, contracts, invitations, e-mails. Whatever you can think of… But still within the area of banking, finance, investments and marketing.
I got a PDF leaflet, translated it into a Word doc, plain text. OG style – no CAT tools, no TMs, no QA, no nothing. (I learned about Memsource only later on at the university). The thing was, I had no idea what I was doing. I had good English, of course – that helped me a lot, but other than that it was mostly grinding it out in Word. Just me and spellcheck.
After missing a few deadlines due to the regular Wednesday uni parties, I was forced to move on. In the meantime, I had the opportunity to work with Memsource and machine translation at the university – which came in handy a couple of times when working on contracts and directives later on.
Soon enough, a friend of mine told me that the fintech startup where he was working was looking for a translator for blogs, internal directives and ad-hoc stuff. Sure, I can do that, I said. With a bit of experience under my belt, I was eager to get started.
This was about the time when COVID hit Slovakia, so March/April 2020. I was at home and got about 100 pages of financial and legal stuff to translate into English. Intended for the National Bank of Slovakia archives. No biggie.
Being already “experienced” in this area, and with the help of my uni professors, I managed to deliver a pretty good quality with fast turnaround – also thanks to using Memsource, its built-in machine translation engine and TMs. At the time, I had no idea that post-editing machine translation would become so big or such an in-demand skill.
I powered through a couple of nights after finishing my school stuff, squinting at the screen late at night, post-editing machine translation with little to no idea what I was really doing. But I was figuring it out segment after segment. Translation memory? Oh, that seems helpful… 99% match – what in the world is that? Do I want to use a glossary? I don’t know, do I? Where do I find the terminology? Is the machine always right, or…?
Just the process of figuring out what the “tags” were probably took me a couple of hours.
And what do I do after I’m done in the editor? Do I have to rewrite the passages in the original document?
I believe I actually did that the first couple of times. Just copy-pasted my translation from the CAT tool to the original doc. Segment after segment. Good times.
Against all odds, I got the job done. And that’s what mattered back then. I was also paid by the hour as a part-time worker, not per word – which now feels odd.
Everyone seemed to be happy with my output and quality, so I moved on to other tasks which involved translation of blogs and Instagram/Facebook posts. Transcreation, really – but I didn’t know that existed at the time. I shared the workload with one other part-time “translator” and sometimes we did cross-checks of each other’s work – so I did a fair share of QA and proofreading without knowing about it, too.
But it was my first experience with translating and re-creating copy – although I had no idea what “copy” is or that I was, indeed, re-creating it in a foreign language. All I knew was how the words were supposed to sound in English. I knew I couldn’t go for word-for-word renditions, and it did require a certain level of creativity. Then there were also some presentations for conferences and clients, brochures, social media posts, yada yada.
The priorities were simple – fast turnaround, low costs. Actually, not much has changed since then.
I spent one year doing this and it gave me a lot of confidence going forward – I started to think I had a shot at making it in the translation industry. The problem was that my major wasn’t really translation. It just had something to do with it.
So, was I a translator? Not really. A linguist? Somewhat. An economist? Absolutely not.
Not a Translator: Part II
After graduating, I briefly worked at Amazon. The job had something to do with Spanish – or was supposed to have. Well, I got quickly the hell out of there and spent a bit of time wallowing in self-pity, unemployment and scathing criticism of my family and friends.
Somehow, I got to researching translation agencies and thought – well, why not. Let’s give it a shot. After all, it was the field in which I had the most experience. I sent out my poorly written CV as a Word document to a couple of agencies (to no avail). As a matter of fact, one of the agencies only had a vacancy for a receptionist.
I applied anyway, thinking at least I might get a foot in the door – if nothing else, they’ll get to know my name. Serendipitously, I got a call from the company while on vacation in Sicily and got myself an interview for the receptionist/front office position.
Being who I am, I got to the interview and my opening statement was that I’m not interested in the position. What I wanted to do was to translate. Or do anything with language, basically.
That proved to be a surprisingly good strategy. Well, 50/50. I couldn’t translate (yet). But a couple of weeks later, I was hired as a replacement head of QA (again, had no idea what QA was at that point). I had some experience with CAT tools and translation in general, which I believed helped me a lot.
After an arduous first couple of weeks which were probably more mentally challenging for my mentors than for me, I had a pretty good idea of what I was doing. I even got good at it – took me about six months or so. But now I could spot mistakes; I became detail-oriented and successfully managed a team of around 6–8 people. I also learned to do DTP, worked with Trados, Smartcat and other CAT tools and slowly made my way to first translation tasks.
The important part is that “I made my way” to them. They didn’t come to me. I had to pester a couple of project managers around for a good half a year until I got my shot. So don’t just expect to get out of school and “become a translator.” You need to sort of earn it.
And then learn. A LOT.
First Attempts
My first translations were… Well, they sucked. No one wanted to tell me openly, but they were abysmal. With experience in marketing and finance, I got an opportunity to do a “mock” translation in the area of banking.
After the first round of proofreading, I was a bit disappointed. And angry. With myself, of course. The feedback was not great.
But, well, I tried again.
And again.
And again.
…
I tried to learn as much as possible at work, following our best translators and proofreaders – studying how they did what they did.
(I also wanted to translate into English – which is not my native language. That’s a bit odd, considering that most translators work chiefly into their mother tongue. There are even advocates who say you can ONLY translate into your native language. My advice would be, don’t listen to them. If you strike the right balance between confidence and humility – willingness to learn – it’ll be fine).
Now, working as the Head of QA, my team checked almost every single translation before it was sent to the clients. This way, I got my hands on many topics and types of texts – from legal contracts, creative texts and medical reports to technical documents and literary translations. I was getting better and better – my attention to detail sharpened, and I was able to work faster and more efficiently.
I made huge progress in a span of few months when it got to QA. First because I had to, and also because I simply put in more hours than anyone else in my team. If you work on your craft 30 hours a week and I’m doing 60, there’s no way you’ll beat me in the long run. It’s that simple.
I became the go-to person for a lot of tasks and projects. It also seemed like I could pick stuff up and learn quickly, but that was the result of the time I put in.
From the guy who was trying kinda hard, but couldn’t figure it out, I became the “I need this to be airtight, so I need you on it”-guy.
Just as I hit the peak of my productivity, doing a bilingual review at the rate of about 6,000 words per hour without missing a thing (yes, really), I got offered a position of project manager. In the meantime, I’ve built a reputation for knowing certain specific, niche topics and rules.
I like new challenges so, naturally, I accepted. As a project manager, I started working with some translators, proofreaders and clients regularly.
During this phase, I learned a lot about what it means to make yourself essential. You must show that you have the kind of expertise no one else does, or at least very few people do. Or that you come with some other unique “benefit”. For me, it was putting more time in and doing the extra stuff – reading and analyzing marketing translations.
(Or, in the freelance world, you can go the other way and lowball others on price – but I don’t recommend that.)
I wasn’t a great project manager, let me tell you that. I probably wasn’t even a good one. Somewhat slightly below average. But it taught me a valuable lesson:
The easier you are to work with, the higher the chances of your success. Being easy to work with and communicating well with the project teams and other linguists is easily one of the most underestimated, yet vital skills to have. I think this is true for most professions and freelancers, but translators are notoriously difficult. Being one of those who are actually nice and pleasure to work with might give you the edge you need.
Natural Progression
During my one year as a project manager, I got to work on a lot of projects with many clients and many translators. Specifically, I focused on ad agencies and ad copy. I found out what I wanted to do and what I was good at.
I started with short translations. Sometimes the account mangers needed one sentence translated in a matter of minutes. It was easier for me to do it myself and then have it quickly checked than to write five e-mails and ask someone else to do it. It was a good practice as well. I wasn’t getting paid to do it, but I was doing it during my working hours – putting the reps in.
This way, I found out what I wanted to translate and what I was good at. I could also get direct feedback from proofreaders and learn from them. That’s a luxury you don’t really get as a freelancer.
So, I’d recommend you do the extra work if it’s going to help you down the road. Even for free. Think of it as an investment. This way, I got valuable feedback I would otherwise have no way of getting. I got more confident and learned many techniques for transcreation and proofreading.
One of my initiatives as a project manager was to push transcreation-as-a-service into the forefront of our portfolio. A good way to do that, I thought, would be to write about it. And that’s where my freshly discovered translation path converged with copywriting.
My first articles were, again, crap, of course. It took my like 20 tries to get it “right”, and even now looking back at my first article, I’m not proud of it. It’s terrible. But it was a start.
Now I’m writing e-mails, SEO blogs, posts, ad copy and whatnot in two languages. Discovering this “creative” side was crucial for me to be able to go freelance. I don’t think I would’ve made it strictly as a translator; or strictly as a copywriter. But doing a bit of both gave me a higher chance to succeed, and I took it.
Free Willy or Free Lance?
So, what does this personal anecdote mean? Should you pursue the career of a freelance translator or not? That’s what you came here for… Well, the answer is yes. And no.
Let’s ask the guy who went to the very fires of Mordor, Frodo. Or Elijah Wood.
What should you do? Go for it or not?
First is the question of experience. Do you feel like you have enough experience in at least two fields to translate these texts consistently at high quality? For me, it’s law (contracts) and marketing (in combination with banking and finance).
Why at least two fields?
Well, let’s say I’m going to do only marketing. Marketing campaigns and agencies have their peak seasons around Christmas, a couple of days during spring and maybe before the summer vacations hit. So, you get about six solid weeks of work, maybe less.
(I might’ve made it seem worse than it is, but it’s close).
If you add law to it, you get a couple more weeks. Marketing projects are also usually short texts that require a lot of time and creativity and aren’t fairly compensated. Contracts are long and batch projects; the terminology is repetitive; you can sort of get big volumes done on an autopilot.
Second is the question of financial stability. It’s harsh and not easy to hear, but I wouldn’t advise anyone to go freelance (especially in the translation sector) if they don’t have enough savings to fall back on – at least twice their annual expenses. It might seem like a lot, but you must take into account that your first year will be bad. You might not make it. I’m getting by now, but that’s only thanks to a couple of good old friends and connections. And a comfy financial cushion.
If you are coming out of school and you’re looking to make it as a freelance translator right away, there’s a huge chance you won’t. Without the savings or having something to fall back on, that is.
So, how CAN you make it?
Be really, and I mean really, good at a specific area that is in demand; or
Know someone who knows someone who can hook you up with enough work to get by; or
Combine multiple areas of expertise; or
Diversify your portfolio of services – get into copywriting, copyediting, transcreation, proofreading, write a book for all I care. Basically, be as versatile as possible; cover a lot of bases; or
Be a millionaire’s son.
Best case scenario, you’ve got all of them covered. Realistic scenario, you’ve got at least one of them covered.
PS: Remember, be easy to work with. Within the limits of self-respect, of course. I’m not really a people person, but I’m doing my best to communicate well and look for constructive win-win solutions.
Now, if you’ve considered all the factors above, you need to think about the future. No one can predict it, of course, but we can have a look based on what’s happening right now…
The Future of Translation as a Service (TaaS)
Not gonna lie, it’s looking bleak. With so many people thinking AI, Google Translate or DeepL can do the job just as well as a translator, but for free, it’s an uphill battle. What I’ve said time and again is that I think people will eventually realize that the machine-translated and AI texts are crap and will revert back to professionals for guidance and skill.
(The problem here might be that not all machine-translated texts are total crap. Most are, but… If you need a compliance document, legal text or terms and conditions translated quickly and efficiently, it might be the way to go – only for your personal use. It’s also pretty good for short, fragmented, out-of-context word formations, often found on websites. But I’d still argue that publishing or using raw machine translation is never a good idea; certain level of human intervention and expertise is needed. Otherwise, you might open yourself up to all kinds of ridicule or legal problems.)
I might be wrong, though. In this case, being wrong will be costly. The pressure to produce more with less is constantly increasing. More content, more languages, lower budget, lower quality requirements. Professionals who took pride in high-end, high-quality work are being pushed out by machines, AI and newbs working around the clock for peanuts.
Translating 10k words in 4 hours? Sure, no problem.
SEO article for 20 dollars in under an hour? Let’s go.
(Yes, these are real-world examples).
Some tend to simplify the whole situation by creating a dichotomy: those who embrace AI will thrive; those who don’t will perish. I don’t see it that way. AI is going to be a factor regardless of whether we like it or not. The question is to what extent we should “embrace” it and how. AI can be a great QA assistant, helping augment the human skill and expertise in tedious or repetitive activities or areas. Flagging potential issues, learning from previously translated texts, cutting the time needed for review, guiding and directing translators’ focus. And many other things.
But I don’t see it taking over the job end-to-end. At least not soon – maybe not ever. As I’ve stated before, I doubt that machines will be able to learn or grasp a chiefly human concept such as language and achieve “autonomy” when it comes to content creation, quality assurance, proofreading or translation.
So, there is hope. At least for those who are:
Hyper-specialized and freaking good at what they’re doing.
Multi-focused and quick to adapt.
Willing to work harder than the others.
Well-positioned for the years to come.
Open-minded and willing to learn. (But don’t let your brain fall out.)
Easy to work with.
What would you add…?