Becoming orientated
When I started out as a freelance translator, I completed a course that I would highly recommend to anyone setting out in the field of translation: the ITI Orientation Course. The initial selling point for me was that the course was run online via an email forum, which meant I would not have to lose any time or money on attending in person. From a financial point of view, at less than £200 for 10 weeks, the course was a bargain. It was set up in such a way that you could log in and out of the group as you pleased, so if you were busy on translation assignments for any days of the course and unable to take the time to read the forum updates or contribute, this was not a problem.
Once I started the course, I realised that the Orientation Course had a lot more to offer than just its user-friendly set-up and translator-friendly price. The email forum was a gold mine of information, not only for the fledgling translator but also for those who had been in the profession for a while; everybody went away having learnt something new. The rule was that you could ask anything you had ever wanted to ask about becoming a successful freelance translator but had been too scared to ask. This resulted in honest debate on a whole range of translation-related subjects with opinions and suggestions being put forward by a team of friendly and highly-knowledgeable mentors with years of experience in the translation industry. They had been carefully selected to cover all bases; we had expert advice ranging from CAT tools to cover letters and from formatting to fees. I was able to get answers to all of my burning questions and was surprised at how much I learnt from the other mentees’ thought-provoking contributions; they put forward things I wouldn’t have even thought of asking.
Alongside the lively and interesting debate, we were set exercises every week. These ranged from how to choose a translation specialisation to how to set up your office as a translator. We also learnt vital formatting skills to enable us to produce beautiful reproductions of documents, an integral part of being a translator, as well as how to write an eye-catching CV. Based on our language combination and choice of specialisation, we were also divided up into smaller groups to individually complete a number of translation exercises. The deadlines for these were a luxury compared to the usual 24 hour turnaround and receiving detailed and honest feedback was a real eye-opener in comparison to sending your translation into cyberspace never to know how happy the client is until the next assignment comes in (or doesn’t!) (although, I must add that I am fortunate to work with some excellent translation companies who put a lot of time and effort into giving feedback, which of course benefits both parties).
As well as all of the above, I was also introduced to the idea of joining the ITI networks relevant to me and I am now a proud member of the ITI Western Regional Group and the ITI Medical & Pharmaceutical Network with the intention to join the relevant language networks (Spanish, Italian and Portuguese). The groups organise translation/subject-related events and social get-togethers and, like the course, use an email forum to share interesting and useful information, post translation jobs and answer terminology-based questions.
So, if you want to be a freelance translator, doing an MA or diploma in translation gives you a solid foundation to start from but completing the ITI Orientation Course is the icing on the cake.
POST MADE: 7 Apr 2011
