How To Become a Good Translator? 5 Skills A Translator Should Have

What if there is a chance of you becoming a good translator?

¿Qué pasa si existe la posibilidad de que te conviertas en traductor?

E se houver uma chance de você se tornar um tradutor?

번역가가 될 기회가 있다면?

If you enjoyed reading all these languages, you probably have an interest in becoming one. Want to know what it takes to be a translator? Read further….

Language is tricky but fun. You can really get stressed about catching up with the phrases in different languages but it would be worth it when you’ll get a good salary for it.

Yes, it’s high….

It’s a growing industry and as the demand for translation becomes popular, the profits are increasing more and more. So, now that you are convinced, shall we start knowing how to become a good translator for real human translation?

Skills To Become A Translator

1. Study the Language You Want to Become Specialized in

First, select and study the language you want to be specialized in. Almost every language that is spoken around the world is eligible for translation. And now you can easily learn any language you could name.

Of course, more work comes for common languages like Spanish, French, Russian, and so on. Since more people speak these languages, more work is there. This means that there would be fewer jobs for uncommon languages.

So while choosing the language to learn, be wise.

2. Improve your Writing Skills

It would not be something you don’t know. To become a good translator, you need to have excellent writing skills in your target language. You should have the ability to write with flair. You will need to build the skills across a variety of text styles- marketing and promotions, technical, legal, casual, and so on.

It’s a skill that can be improved with some below-mentioned tips:

✓ Work with your fellow members to know how they do consistent business translation or any other type of translation.
✓ Read your translated version of documents aloud to know where exactly you went wrong.
✓ Write down the words that impressed you.

3. Prefer Becoming Certified

Generally, a certificate is not really important for any translator to get work, but obtaining one will show that you have the right skills essential for doing the job perfectly.

It will also bring you many employers.

For example, if you get a certificate for legal translation, you will easily get a job in the legal field as a translator.

4. Learn The Terms Of Your Chosen Industry

Once you have learned enough about a specific language, your next step should be knowing industry-specific terms for whatever field you want to translate for.

Being fluent is not always necessarily important to work on relevant terminology you need to translate. Therefore focus on industry-specific terminologies more and learn them properly to make correct translation strategies.

For example, you may consider learning words that are targeted for business, medicine, education, or government industry. To do that, you can choose from many courses available online that are focused on these fields and make your learning easy.

5. Good Cultural Knowledge

This is the most important point of all. Good translators need to have an in-depth understanding of both source and target cultures.

Why it’s important you ask? It’s because this ensures you are not offending anyone through your translation. This means you are making sure the value systems and beliefs of people are respected.

This skill is often needed to manage the implication of the text you are translating. Having a good understanding of the cultural differences between your source and target language will notify you about the text that won’t have the same impact in your target region.

So, how will you extend your cultural knowledge? Here are some tips:

✓ Invest your time in understanding both target and source culture countries
✓ Prefer going to cultural events
✓ Research the aspects of the culture that are not commonly known.

Lastly, if you decide to become a translator, it is important to stay up to date about your specialization and concentrate on credible translation checklist. Having a good knowledge of the ongoing trends, developments and regulations will keep you in good stead. Terminologies changes, so improving your skills and knowledge is a must.

Conclusion:

If you dream to become a translator, you need to work on the above-mentioned skills. Once you are ready to translate professionally, reach us. At Tridindia, we have a team of well-experienced and knowledgeable translators who works for international clients from different industries.

To ensure your marketing message reaches the right audience, get it translated with the help of our experienced translators in over 121 languages. Reach us at +91-8527599523 or send us an instant quote.