Am I at a huge disadvantage if I only speak one foreign language?
Not at all. My experience has been that most translators are proficient in only two languages (native & second) anyway. Of course, learning should be a life long endeavor and learning additional languages will only help you learn your native language better. If you had to choose between learning another language and improving your primary second language / your translation skills, I would choose the latter every time. In terms of earning potential, there is ALWAYS work out there for good translators. What defines the good ones? I'll leave that for another blog entry. 
How can I learn about different translation technologies/programs, etc.?
Like in any profession, i.e., if you consider yourself a professional, it is important to keep up on current events and the latest technologies in your industry. Â With that in mind, below is a short list of ideas to make this happen for you in language services:
- Industry publications: For translators and linguists in general, a very good resource I have mentioned in the past is MultiLingual (www.multilingual.com). Each month's edition has interesting and stimulating articles on the state of the industry.  Other publications include the ATA Chronicle (www.atanet.org/chronicle), ATA's Language Technology Division (www.ata-divisions.org/LTD), and others.
- Conferences / seminars: People and companies who exhibit and present at such events often present the very latest.  Of course, if you are based in the US, ATA (www.atanet.org/conf/2010) attendance is important.
- Technology providers: Most technology providers offer free information about and training for their products. Â This would include (but is not limited to) SDL Trados, Across, Wordfast, etc.
- Webinars / online training: Countless training opportunities are available, both free and fee-based.  For quick list, check out www.proz.com/about/overview/education.
- Colleagues: Ask your friends! Â Word can spread fast and as you develop your skills and pool of trusted associates, friends are often the first people to know about the very latest.
Do you have ideas? Â Please share them with us!
How do you get started? Most companies require 5 years of experience or more?!?
Admittedly, it can be difficult and slow getting started in translation. I didn't have a mentor and it probably took me a good two years before I had a steady flow of work. Â Below are a few things you can do to speed up the time it takes you to get into translation.
- Memberships: All translators should join their local and/or national translators association(s). Â If you live in the United States, there is the American Translators Association (www.atanet.org). Apart from the obvious benefits, membership in such associations shows the companies you work for that you are interested in current events and the current state of the industry. All things being equal, I am more likely to hire a translator who can demonstrate active membership in their relevant translator associations.
- Find agencies: Another benefit of memberships is they often help find local, national and international agencies that you can the contact about translation and getting registered in their translators' databases. Â In addition, if you are not already a subscriber, downloading MultiLingual magazine's annual resource directories (http://www.multilingual.com/resourceDirectory/) is free. Â This is an easy way to find and contact agencies.
- Translation test: Once agencies begin to respond to your inquiries, offer to take translation tests for them. Â Many agencies are willing to work with new(er) translators if they have an opportunity to evaluate your translation skills and the quality of your work. In addition to editing your translations anyway (which every agency should do if they are reputable, i.e., there should be a 2-step process at a minimum), agencies may be willing to send you a translation test. The great thing about a translation test is that you can have as many other people review your translation (e.g., kind of like having several people review a term paper in college) before submitting it.
- Competitive pricing: When you first get started, give yourself an obvious advantage over others by offering competitive prices for your work. Â Of course, you don't want to be half the price of your "competitors" because agencies may not take you seriously. On the other hand, you do want to be equal to or less than your competitors. Margins in the translation industry can be very small and anytime an agency can save even 2% on the cost of working with you, for example, it will be just that much more in your favor. How do you know what your competitors' pricing is? In addition to asking colleagues, translators often list their prices on sites such as Proz.com.
These are just a few things you can do to get started. Â Please share with us your thoughts and what other things you have found helpful in getting started.
What “challenges” did you have to personally overcome in order to really succeed?
I know it sounds cliché, but I believe most entrepreneurs and more specifically, successful translators would say that "real success" is never achieved, rather a process over your entire career.  I get the opportunity to speak with humanities students at the local university a few times a year about what they can do with their degrees after graduation.  I often say that "becoming a good translator is like an apprenticeship — it takes a long time and you are never done".  Although not exhaustive, allow me to list just a few of the things that come to mind that distinguish good translators from great translators (good to great, as they say).
- Be willing to learn: My experience (both personally and from what I have observed) is that many translators going into the business think they know exactly what it takes to be great. Â Unfortunately, that is rarely the case. Â Great translators are constantly learning and improving, from learning difficult structures to learning from others.
- Learn from a mentor: Speaking of learning from others, learning from a mentor is invaluable.  Not only can you speed up the time it takes to start making a real income from translation, you cannot put a value on the insights you can gain from someone who's been through it already.
- Ask for feedback from everyone: It can be "scary" to ask for feedback because you may not always want to hear what they have to say. Â But most people are happy to offer feedback, and are honest and kind when doing so. Â They understand you are only trying to improve and only then can you really go from good to great.
- Face the music: Along the same lines as asking for feedback, sometimes we make mistakes (it happens to the best of us). Â When that happens, be willing to "face the music", i.e., accept that you blew it, make good ("wiedergutmachen" as they say in German) and learn from your mistakes.
- Be a great writer: What is a great translator other than being a great writer in their target language? Â This cannot be stressed enough. Â Know and use the correct structures, punctuation, terminology, etc.
I would enjoy hearing what you think it takes to succeed. Â Send me your comments.
If the majority of those who work in translation are not actual translators then how do I profit by studying translation/interpretation?
First, I personally would not say that most "who work in translation are not actual translators". Â If you define "actual" as "professional" (certified in some way) or "full-time" (being their sole source of income), this may be the case. Â Not being certified or translation not being their source of income may often be the case. Â However, it does not mean that they are not very good or not professional.
As I mentioned and probably cannot emphasize enough, the profession of a translator or interpreter (and I dare to say most language-related jobs) is like an "apprenticeship". Â You cannot expect to be a good translator from the start. Â Good translators are those who (1) recognize their weaknesses and (2) make the commitment to continuous learning and to expanding their knowledge. Â In other words, good translators recognize their weaknesses (e.g., subjects, styles, technologies, etc.) and are willing to do over time what it takes to make those weaknesses into strengths.
A good translator, for example, is a good writer in their own language. Too many times have I worked with translators who may in fact be very fluent in their first and second languages, but have little idea how to even write in their first language. Â How can a translator expect to deliver quality text when he/she doesn't even know how to punctuate a complex sentence? With this in mind, for example, it becomes clear why it is important to study writing, grammar, common/excepted uses, etc. in your native (target) language.
If you get a chance, you might read a couple discussions on ProZ.com:
- http://www.proz.com/forum/professional_development/143908-what_makes_a_good_translator.html
- http://www.proz.com/forum/translation_theory_and_practice/55956-what_makes_a_good_technical_translator.html
Enjoy and add your comments.
Getting into Translation
I was recently asked to attend a panel of translation professionals for a group of university students. Â I so enjoy interacting with students and benefiting from their excitement and enthusiasm! Â Unfortunately, time was limited and we were unable to get to everyone's questions.
Over the next few weeks, I would like to address the some of the questions students submitted that we were unable to respond to:
- If the majority of those who work in translation are not actual translators then how do I profit by studying translation/interpretation?
- What "challenges" did you have to personally overcome in order to really succeed?
- How do you get started? Most companies require 5 years of experience or more?!?
- How can I learn about different translation technologies/programs, etc.?
- Am I at a huge disadvantage if I only speak one foreign language
- What's the difference between a good translator and someone who really needs work?
- How do you get started in translation? What are the first steps?
- As a freelance, how do you go about finding clients?
- How plausible is doing part-time translation? Does it need to be full-time or nothing?
- What is a good rate to ask for?
- How do you keep up your language skills?
- How do you network?
- What is the benefit of getting listed on Proz or tranlsator's cafe?
- What is Proz?
- What would you suggest for translator's whose native language is English? It seems there really is more demand to go into non-English Languages in the US?
I hope it is beneficial to anyone interested. Â Please feel free make any comments or add questions you would like to discuss.
Sami I Ami!
If you had to guess in what part of the world Sami is spoken, what would you say? I honestly had no idea! Through research I found out that Sami is a European language spoken in parts of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Russia. Thus, it is closely related to the Baltic-Finnic languages.
Although descended from a common language, each form of Sami is essentially a different language. It can be divided into two main groups: Western and Eastern. The Western classification includes Southern, Ume, Pite, Lule, and Northern Sami. Eastern Sami features the Inari, Kemi, Skolt, Akkala, Kildin, and Ter forms. As with most languages with small speaking populations, most Sami speakers also speak another language, generally the official language of the country in which they live.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sami_languages
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/520482/Sami-language
More Bolivian Languages!
Since our last post covered Quechua, I felt it only fitting to follow up with one exploring two of the other languages native to Bolivia, namely Aymara and Guarani. It should be noted that most speakers of indigenous languages are at least partially bilingual, speaking Spanish in addition to their native language.
The terms Aymara and Guarani refer to the people, culture, and language of their native speakers. While Aymara is spoken almost exclusively in the Andes, speakers of Guarani can be found in Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. And, while Guarani has more native speakers, Aymara is still considered an official language in both Bolivia and Peru.
Sources:
Yuyay Allinta!
This week’s post is dedicated to Quechua, a language I had a brief run-in with during my time in Bolivia. Yuyay allinta means “remember well†which is very applicable as I remember how hard Quechua was to learn!
Although I had never heard of it before I moved to South America, it is the most widely spoken indigenous language in the Americas. This is likely because it was the official language of the Incan Empire. It is still spoken widely in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. Speakers of Quechua can also be found in Northern Chile, Argentina, and Southern Colombia. Estimates on the total number of speakers range between six and thirteen million.
Another interesting fact about Quechua is the way it differs across countries. Quechua exists in what is called a dialect chain across most of Western South America. This means that speakers of one Quechua language can understand the languages spoken by their immediate neighbors, but not a language further from them.
To find out more about Quechua, check out the following sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quechua_language
http://ullanta.com/quechua/
http://www.quechua.org.uk/Eng/Main/i_INTRO.HTM#Andes
http://www.native-languages.org/quechua.htm
Sign Language: A Powerful Voice
The first language up for examination in this journey of exploration is sign language. Although sign differs from other languages in obvious ways, its importance as a world language is significant.
The structure and rules of sign are quite different from that of spoken language and differ from country to country. However, just as spoken language is not universal, neither is sign. The gestures upon which it is based as well as the methods employed to increase understanding, (such as mouthing words or fingerspelling), vary by area.
Additionally, sign is constantly evolving. Inefficient or outdated signs are being replaced by newer ones. And, “local signs†you would only see in a particular area are constantly being developed. Thus, although different in significant ways from other world languages, sign language is nevertheless a powerful voice.
Much of my material was taken from a PowerPoint that can be seen in html here: http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:93P8IGLPz3AJ:www.deafed.net/PublishedDocs/Comparison%2520of%2520ASL.ppt+sign+language+world+wide&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us