Le risorse della traduzione

 

1. What are the legal/professional/ethical requirements to be a translator?

 Ethical: convey meaning faithfully, accurately, and impartially; keep confidential information confidential; represent qualifications, capabilities, and responsibilities honestly, enhance capabilities through continuing education and practice, act collegially by sharing knowledge and experience, define mutual agreement and abide by terms of business transactions, ask for and offer due recognition and compensation, good faith to resolve disputes

professional: ATA certification program: identify professional translation skills, most respected and recognized credentials, demonstrate that they meet certain standards, can use CT and ATA-issued seal, pass exam in a language pair including always English, continue education, not for beginning translators, tests for ability to produce translation that is accurate, intelligible, and appropriate for intended purpose, compliance with instructions, understanding of the source text, familiarity with translation strategies, good writing skills in target language, 3 hour open book, 2 passages, 250 words each, terminology challenges can be met with good dictionary, 17 or less errors per passage to pass, you don’t need certification to work, although it helps to find jobs, you can take a practice test before registering for a real one, they provide feedback and is evaluated by a real exam grader

legal: there are no licensing requirements for translations, best thing is a certification, many jobs require a bachelor’s degree and proficiency in at least 2 sentences  

2. In which sectors do the greatest number of translators work today? In other words, do literary translators make up the majority of professional translators in the U.S.?

1. Legal translation 2. Medical translation. 3. Business and Finance Translation. 4. Industry and Technical Translation 5. Literary Translation (make up highest-paying translation services)

3. Are the prospects for landing a job as a professional translator relatively good in the coming years? Look up the average salary, according to the latest data from the Labor Department at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/interpreters-and-translators.htm (Links to an external site.) . Is it what you expected?

 It looks like there will be a 20% job growth for translators and interpreters in the next 10 years, which actually surprises me because I know a lot of translation software and technology is beginning to replace translators. The median pay was 51k, which I think was about what I expected; I’ve read before that that literary translators start at less than 40k and as they gain experience can begin making a bit more. 

4. How do you envision a typical day in the life of a professional translator?

I wanted to ask you that. But to answer, reading a text before agreeing to translate it, so reading, then working through the translation bit by bit, writing emails and calling colleagues to work through challenges, learning new formatting and programs, attending conferences. Writing proposals. 

 

5. What is attractive and not so attractive to you about this career path?

I don’t think it’s lucrative. It can be a lonely job. If you’re a literary translator, I doubt you would work for an agency and so it’s entrepreneurial and your success depends on your ability to land good projects. 

I like it because it combines two things I love: literature and languages, I like that it’s a job you’re always striving for more in, I like that it can be self-paced given you meet deadlines, and completed at the schedule that is appropriate for you, and that it is probably work from home. 

 

What kinds of resources do they offer?

• ALTA Guides to Getting Started in Literary Translation

• MLA & ALTA Evaluating Translations as Scholarship: Guidelines for Peer Review

• PEN Model Contract for a Work of Literary Translation

• FAQs on the Model Contract

• Checklist for Negotiating Translation Contracts

• Authors Guild Survey: US Literary Translators’ Working Conditions

• Undergraduate and Graduate Translation Programs:

• PEN's US University Guide

• Iolante's UK University Guide 

• Charlie Coombe's Literary Translation Database (for publishers, awards, residencies, grants, etc.)

https://www.authorspublish.com/8-literary-magazines-seeking-translations-essays-on-translations/

Exchanges Iowa Translation Workshop journal – where i will eventually be attending