How to Become a Translator

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CHAPTER I - STUDIES OR KNOWLEDGE?

Fifty years ago there were not many schools of translation. In Europe there was one in Geneva, Switzerland, one in Paris, France and one in Brussels, Belgium. In the sixties, 6 Canadian Universities opened a B.A. program in translation. Later on, the translation programs multiplied all over the world. As the world was becoming smaller, the need for translation was greater. Canada became officially bilingual in 1968 and the number of translators in the Canadian Government went from 300 to 3000 in 5 years.

The problem, that the Universities had, was to hire professors of translation. Why? These "professors" never took any translation classes, right? Those who studied in the few schools of translation in Europe were translators. The good ones were working mostly for the United Nations. The entrance exam to the United Nations required the knowledge of 3 languages (your own + two) and the UN salary and advantages were certainly much better than the salary of a University professor.

When I was hired to teach translation, I had 10 years experience in translation, a M.A. in French Literature and 5 years of schooling and thesis writing for my Ph. D. in Roman Philology. This was enough to teach translation in the seventies but not any more.

However, it is not because you are going to study for a B.A. in translation that you are going to be a good translator. In Laval University, out of the 250 students starting in the first year only 60 made it to the third year and I would say that the first 5 of the promotion were good translators and could start working right away. Maybe 20 would get a job in a translation agency or the government and the rest would do something else.

Why so few succeed in being good translators?

Here is the secret.

1) They were good primary school students. They learn the basics of their mother tongue, they learn how to write without making spelling mistakes and they learn how to write or rewrite a text... period.

2) They were interested in the culture of their language which means they were interested in the literature, the history and the geography of their country. I remember hiring a translator from Laval University (in fact I hired several in the eighties%u2026) but I saw this one reading "Les lettres de mon moulin" from Alphonse Daudet during his coffee break. In French literature, this book from the XIXth Century is well known for the quality of its prose. My translator was reading it in order to "impregnate" himself with a good French style that he could use when translating.

3) They were constantly listening to programs in their source and target languages. They were fluent in both languages and they had to maintain a constant touch with both languages.

CHAPTER II - THE TOOLS

1) THE COMPUTER

It goes without saying that you need a computer for two reasons: write your text and communicate on Internet with the rest of the world.

The patron of the translators St Jerome translated the Bible from Hebrew, Greek and Arameen into Latin with a quill on animal skin! Until the invention of the typewriter, we used a pen and ink to write on paper. Then came the electric typewriter and the white liquid to erase our mistakes. Then came in the seventies the ancestor of the computer as far as text writing and editing is concerned: a keyboard with a screen and a 8 inch disk to keep your text in memory.

In 1982, came the first PC from IBM, then the Mac from Apple. These two companies have been the giants in that field and we still have to-day translators working on PC and others on Mac.

This is not a problem any more as all the software are compatible which was not the case in the 80s and the 90s. In my company, each translator had a PC and a Mac and was working on one computer or the other depending on what the client had.

Now we are living in the golden age of translation. We can work on any computer and it will be compatible with what the client has.

2) THE DICTIONARIES

Again, we used to be surrounded by hundreds of dictionaries in every field. We had to be prepared for any translation. Not any more.Ten years ago, I gave away the equivalent of $30,000 in dictionaries and Encyclopediae. I find everything I need on Internet now%u2026 but I go there only when I do not find what I want in my data base.

Depending on the languages you are going to use, you will find a complete bilingual dictionary, as well as unilingual dictionaries in both languages on CDs. you will have your main CD constantly in your CD drive as you will be consulting it on a constant basis. If you need help to find bilingual dictionaries in your languages, email me.

Your data base (dictionary) will be minimized at the bottom of your screen while you will be working on the translation on your main screen in the software required by the client.

In Canada, we have an official data base made by the Canadian Government called TERMIUM. It has more than one million entries in English, French and Spanish (recently added). This CD is constantly in my computer and I use it every day.

When you reach a certain stage, you already know all the words you have to translate but sometimes, the word is not coming and you need to check. I usually go to TERMIUM to remind me of the exact word I should use in a certain context.

You also have online dictionaries in all languages. They are very easy to find on Internet.

3) THE SOFTWARE

The client may send you the text to be translated in different softwares. For the past 20 years now, the translator had to become also a computer expert and learn all the softwares where a text can be input.

The main softwares used are Microsoft Word, Power Point, Excell, Acrobat PDF files, PageMaker, QuarkXpress, Web pages, Flash, etc.

This should not be a problem as you must have used the computer on Internet for some time now and you know more about computer than translation (otherwise you would not be reading this). If you need help, contact me at
cfaucheux@sidacgroup.com

The second part of this volume is at

www.squidoo.com/internettranslator2

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