Contrary to many other sectors, the fields of translation and interpreting are anticipated to grow quickly within the next few years. Of course, job prospects will vary by language and specialty, but there will be more of them across the board. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of language interpreters is projected to increase 22 percent over the next 8 years. Much of this increase is due to strengthened ties between the United States and international organizations, expanded markets due to globalization, and the fact that there is a greater number of non-English-speaking immigrants in the United States.
People in these positions fill necessary roles in today’s global economy. They facilitate cross-cultural communication by transposing one language into another. The best in the field do more than just translate words, they convey meaning and concepts into another language. As such, in this field you might not only be bilingual, but also culturally literate when it comes to the languages/cultures you are translating between. To this end, many in the translating profession have spent extended periods of time in other countries learning not only other languages, but also the cultures that correspond to them. Moreover, they are knowledgeable in a variety of subject matters and possess a wide and sometimes very specialized vocabulary in both languages depending on the type of work they do.
Opportunities are found in many different fields and industries, including business, culinary, marketing/public relations, science, education, academia, film, visual arts, music, history, engineering, social sciences, and non-profit work. Frequently, professionals select a few areas of specialty.
Often, these areas of specialty will expand over time, meaning that one could become an expert in multiple fields.
Though there are many language specialists who are versatile in the types of work performed, these roles are different. Interpreters work with the spoken word and translators work with written texts. Each IT jobs richmond requires a different set of skills. Moreover, due to personality, certain people are suited to one specialty and others are better suited to the other.
Over the next few years, the demand for workers in the business sector is predicted to grow. Businesses use translators for many different reasons, including website and correspondence conversion, document (contracts, etc.) interpretation, product descriptions, and translation of company bios or transcripts of speeches. With the growing number of companies going international, website internationalization – or localization – has become absolutely necessary.
Many companies have versions of their site in multiple languages. Some companies have constantly changing “news” sections of their site or even a blog associated with it. Because this content is always being updated, translation is constantly needed. There are many professionals who make a living translating exclusively for one or two international companies. Though many major international corporations have exclusive contracts with large translation companies, there are many smaller companies that work with freelancers. Businesses also use specialists for interviews, conference calls, speeches, and conference presentations.
“I frequently do correspondence translations for various international companies. The employee from the American company will send me an email or letter, I’ll work on it and send it back to them. I typically bid on these projects in ‘packages’ of 5-10 emails or letters, or we agree on a per word rate. I get a lot of repeat business from these clients. IT jobs richmond are always looking for reliable professionals,” says Jen Westmoreland Bouchard, owner of Lucidite Writing.
Are you interested in working in this field? There is no one prescribed or “acceptable” path to follow. Rather, the education and professional backgrounds of industry workers are typically quite diverse. To IT jobs richmond with, anyone wanting to enter the field should be fluent in at least two languages. Some grew up speaking one language and learned another in school. Others grew up in a bilingual home. It doesn’t matter how one becomes fluent in more than one language, the end result is the same. Moreover, both translators and interpreters must have excellent communication skills (written and verbal, respectively), and a solid understanding of both grammar and colloquial expressions in both languages. It is also highly desirable that job seekers have an understanding of the cultures in which or with which they are working.
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