Does anyone out there work either as a foreign language translator or interpreter? If so, how’d you get into it? What kind of documents or people do you work with, and what’s an average day on the job like for you? Is there some kind of certification required for what you do?
Thanks!
bamf
I used to be an interpreter for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, Office of the Immigration Judge (aka Immigration Court). I had a B.A. in Spanish, and a few months at a summer job interpreting at a law firm. The boss hired me as a clerk on paper, because he really wanted to hire me (they tested me out in a simulated courtroom situation, and frankly, I kicked butt), but because of the weirdness that is the Federal job application process, he couldn’t hire me - other applicants had better qualifications on paper. So he hired me as a clerk but let me actually work as an interpreter, until I had enough courtroom experience that he could actually classify me as an interpreter. No certification was required for that job; however, to work in Federal District Court, you need to be certified, and the exam is supposed to be pretty damn tough (though I never took it). State and local courts all have their own systems.
Immigration Court was definitely never dull, but frequently draining. I did all kinds of things: routine deportation hearings, asylum hearings, marriage fraud hearings, deportation hearings for people being kicked out of the U.S. for criminal convictions; the works. I learned a lot, and I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. Keep in mind, though, that many interpreters in a situation like that have significant administrative duties as well; I kept case status updated in the computer system, kept status calls moving in the courtroom, announced the judge, called people in from the hallway, answered procedural questions…everything under the sun.
I also worked briefly as a project coordinator for a translation agency. If you’re interested in written translation work, check out the American Translators Association; they offer all sorts of certification exams, etc. in various language pairs.
Hi Eva,
I have a question about this too. I was looking into several online jobs, and some of those include translation. I don’t know if you are of Hispanic descent, but what do you think about the ability of those who have not learned Spanish from birth, but rather later in life after that crucial language learning center of the brain is shut off? Okay not shut off, but you know, you can’t learn a language as a native would after X years. But seeing how America has so many people raised in homes with people who speak Spanish and English from birth, I always thought it would be impossible to compete.
Secondly, you menitoned translation. What about interpreting? Have you ever done that? How is your speaking ability? I have stuided a lot of Spanish in college. In fact I am about 2 courses from a Spanish major, but I dont’ have the time at the moment to finish it. But I have taken Oral Proficiency Examinations. I scored an Advanced Mid, which I was told is pretty good. Do you think I could get a job as a translator? Is there some kind of test that I could take that would verify my abilities? I can understand, in general much more than I can speak, although I speak pretty well. Since I would only be translating into English I think I could do okay.
Do you know of a good way I could use this talent to make some money on the internet?
I’m not an interpreter (and I don’t play one on TV), but I can tell you how I helped get one started. I am a public defender (yes, I’m a real lawyer) in a rural county in Georgia. A few years ago, my assistant had forgotten to get an interpreter for a case we had that day. I was starting to panic, and an attorney who is also a friend came in and asked if we could use anyone. I said yes, it was a guilty plea and not a trial, and we’d had plenty of time to talk to the defendant about his case before this with another interpreter.
He called one of his neighbors, who is in exile from Cuba. He was in IT but lost his job. He showed up in a coat and tie, we let him talk to the judge for a bit, and he helped us out with the guilty plea. He sat in court for the rest of the day, and was so intrigued that he became a certified interpreter. All of the judges love him, and he is great.
Call your local public defender's office or DA's office and find out what's required to become an interpreter. Jorge (the former IT guy) makes more money doing this than he ever made in IT.That sounds really interesting.
My main thing right now, however, is training. I got a degree in my language from my school (Mandarin Chinese) but I’m not nearly fluent, just yet. I’m currently in China and teaching English in a primary school, but I’m entirely certain I’m going to need more training before I can try to get paid for my language skills. Does anyone have any ideas for training resources for prospective translators, while we’re on the subject?
That said, thanks to everyone who’s answered, thus far. I’m really enjoying reading through the responses 
bamf
Not impossible at all. I’m not a native Spanish speaker, and started learning Spanish in the classroom at the ripe old age of 13. I wasn’t immersed in a Spanish-speaking environment until age 19, unless you count my dorm room at just short of 18 (there were lots of native speakers around, including my roommate). I think a lot of people psych themselves out of foreign language fluency. Not everyone will be able to lose their native accent, but that doesn’t mean they can’t become fluent. When I was less rusty, I was frequently mistaken for a native speaker, although always from a different area than the person doing the guessing - I had a faint accent, but people usually couldn’t identify it.
See my first response - I was an interpreter full-time for 3-1/2 years. My speaking ability was near-native then (with some vocabulary gaps), but I haven’t worked in the field for over 10 years now, so I’m a tad rusty on some things. It would probably come back again with a brief immersion, though.
There are lots of tests; the ATA gives one, the Justice Department gives one, and they are pretty tough. I don’t know anything about the one you took, so it’s hard to say. But in what setting do you think you’re only going to be translating into English? And I’m not saying that you have to be a native speaker to make it as a translator/interpreter, but you do really need to be fluent in both languages.
You could try freelancing, but it’s a tough way to make a living unless you have at least one highly developed specialty area of vocabulary (legal, technical, etc.) and spend a fair amount of time building up freelance clientele.
Hi there!
I started working as a freelance translator (or as I called myself, “translator’s apprentice”) in 2000, before I had any formal training, working for a friend of my dad’s. I have worked as a translator since then, but only in the last few months have I started to get enough work to pay the bills. I still work as a freelancer, although I have one main client I work for nearly all the time.
Currently, the biggest source of documents for me is the Quebec health ministry, though there are several other sources as well. They send it to my client, who runs a translation business, and he sends it to me. There are a few other people who send me stuff from time to time; in some cases these are translation bureaux, and in others I deal directly with the client with the document.
I have translated press releases, responses to complaints, business letters, investigation reports, newsletters, advertisements, academic papers, medical research studies, and (once) an 84-page draft policy on prescription drug insurance.
I also copy-edit documents from time to time.
I always work from French to English. One nearly always translates into one’s first language, because one must understand the source but also be an excellent writer in the target.
I accept the job, and then translate it over the deadline. Depending on my stamina, I can usually get through 1500 or so words a day, including the time to look up terminology (a major time constraint).
Once the job is finished, I print it out and copy-edit it. I then send it off to the client, along with my bill. They may or may not contact me again for my opinion on their revisions.
It then takes me between 1 and 8 weeks to get paid, all depending on the client (with about 4 weeks being the standard).
When I have work, I usually start working at about 11 PM or midnight and finish by around 3 AM, due to my ditzy sleep schedule and the fact I have school from 6 to 9 PM. See below.
I very much enjoy working as a freelancer and intend to continue doing so indefinitely, simply because I get to distribute my time as I see fit. I know that if I were working in a bureau, I would get burned out in no time at all. The only hassle is waiting to be paid, but considering the speed with which I translate, my returns are great for the amount of time I invest.
Since I am bombastically lazy, it’s nice to have a job where I can make a reasonable income by cranking insanely for just a few hours a day, leaving the rest of the time to loll about the house; I would much rather do this than make a fabulous income by commuting half an hour and being chained to the desk for the same eight hours a day.
As I said, I started translating (learning by trial and error, God knows) long before I started taking courses. After finishing my BA (major in linguistics, minor in Hispanic studies), I took a certificate in French to English translation in McGill University’s Faculty of Continuing Education, which took one year. I am now doing a graduate diploma in the same program at the same school, which will allow me to enter OTTIAQ more easily.
I might suggest that the ease with which I entered the field is probably unusual for anyone who doesn’t also live in a heavily bilingual society. Even here, there’s probably more call for translation into French than into English, though I am doing pretty well for myself.
Thanks for starting this thread, Shirt Ninja! I’ve really been enjoying all the responses. I’ve been considering translation as a way to make the most of my major in French.
Yeah. This is the best part of such job. Flexible hours although it is true that if you don’t have enough self-control you might fall late on schedule and than work franticly 10-12 hours a day to catch the deadline. I have an erratic biorhythm, working till the morning (the local time here being 6:30 am) and then waking up at 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon.
I work as a freelance translator mainly for one of the two biggest publishing companies in our country. This is not my only income (I do a crapload of other stuff from teaching to theatre, although these days are coming to an end with my graduation approaching in the summer) so I really don’t translate that much. I get a book every two to three months and get considerable deadlines to finish them. These are mainly children’s books (here are some of them if anyone’s interested) but I’m slowly climbing my way up to adult literature and hope that in a few years’ time I’ll manage to convince someone that Robert Rankin books are worth publishing 
I got my first job at a student-organized translator camp when talking to one of the lecturers and showing her some of the translations I’ve done as a practice for myself.
In a non-English speaking country one of the possibile translating jobs are also the movies and TV shows. I consider trying this at some time in the future but will probably have to attend a seminar or something similar to learn all the fineses of translating for the subtitles. I’ve done this only once when my friend asked me to help her with the rap texts in 8 Mile. Sometimes it was frustrating when I came up with a brilliant translation but I couldn’t use it because it exceeded the character quota for one subtitle.
I’ve also done some other non-literary stuff but this was mainly done for my friends or the people I’ve been working with.
The reason I probably won’t be working as a full-time translator anywhere near in the future but will rather be teaching, is that I don’t find a thrill in translating non-literary texts. I feel that translating various manuals or legal texts is like having a repetitive job in a factory (although in majority of cases with a lot of more responsibility, of course) because the technical terms can be translated only in one way and the style tends tu be too dull for me. On the other hand, when translating a book, I have a wider variety of words and phrases to use plus more freedom. Luckily I can be picky at the moment, but I’m interested in what you think on that subject.
Dang. My computer started acting up so I hit the submit button before it froze without previewing my post. Please ignore the gratuitous spelling mistakes.
Shirt Ninja 13, thanks for starting this thread!
I’d love to do translation or interpretation for a living. I’ve done Spanish to English and Portuguese to English translation of documents on the side now and then. I’ve thought a little about expanding my clientele, but I haven’t actually done it yet. I’d never really considered trying for translation certification or working in the courts. But that’s something I should really check out. Thanks to everyone for their info and suggestions!
Thanks for the help, Eva Luna!
I’ve got one big problem now though… I just switched to a Mac, and the Spanish keyboard seems different. Normally in windows, I hit the '/" key to put an accent on a vowel, but on the Mac its the [/{ key! I just figured that out today.
The wierd thing is that for me to find Spanish to English work online the only place to look is on Spanish job sites! Very fortunately, I found an offer looking for a native english speaker willing to give classes over the internet. The only caveat is that is is desired that they live in Madrid in order to have an event (as far as I can tell only one) to go to eat or to the movies, etc. I am going to be living in Denmark. But fortunately, I planned to fly to Madrid to visit a friend for a while. I offered to meet with the guy while I was there. Otherwise I’d fit the job perfectly. But I tried to emphasize my enthusiasm for the idea and how I had taught many others English although I wasn’t a teacher.
But its somewhat ironic, isn’t it? There is little work for a Spanish to English translator in America, but the deal in Spain is that it is quite popular! It makes sense, of course, but its funny. Hopefully I’ll get some response.