10 Best Qualities of a Professional Translator to Learn Today

The translation industry is getting competitive day by day, especially for the beginners. Thus, to maintain your position in the translation marketplace, you need to develop some qualities of a professional translator that will stay motivated and face the competition will a big smile on your face. Continual learning, time management, energy boosts, skills development, inspiration, and focus; these are some of the attributes that you must definitely focus on.

But apart from there are other lesser known qualities that can make you a successful translator. Have a look –

1. Reading

Remember your teacher, who used to say that read newspaper, books etc daily to improve your communication? So, true it was. Reading helps you improve a lot. If you read magazines, newspapers, journals or books in your target language, you will be able to translate and write well in that language. Further, it would boost your vocabulary and improve your cognitive skills. Try to subscribe to some online channels that will educate you and keep you motivated.

2. Proper Planning

Learning the habit of planning is very important, no matter what industry you belong to. The professional translators generally plan their workflow systematically, in order to complete their translation task before deadlines. This way they translate faster, become more concentrated and manage different tasks easily. To imbibe this quality, you can make use some tools such as Evernote, Trello and Wunderlist. You can also use sticky notes, notebooks etc. and organize all your translation assignments.

3. Knowledge about Cultural Diversity

There are multiple cultures around the world and if you want to be a successful translator, you must focus on learning about different cultures. This will not only help you grow professionally, but also, is very interesting. Find out about the business cultures, traditions, etiquettes, sensitive symbols, slangs and others. You can also read about the translation mistakes of other translators and make sure that you don’t repeat the same.

4. Have Some Tea or Coffee

Both tea and coffee contains Caffeine, which has some amazing benefits. Drinking coffee will help you stay alert, be more productive and creative. Generally, it is recommended to drink coffee or tea between 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and between 10 a.m. to noon. But, if you do not like tea or coffee, you have another option too. Try drinking green tea. It helps your brain to work better, even when your work is monotonous.

5. Learn To Edit

Ensuring a quality translation output is a must for translators. Thus, one must imbibe a quality of making revisions and editing (if necessary) in the translated documents. Professional translators generally, have a daily habit of revising their translated document. So, you too must check punctuation, spelling, context, style, collocations, grammar, and others. Keep revising the same unless and until, you find that there are no flaws left in the translated file.

6. Get Some Monolingual Dictionaries

Try to use monolingual dictionaries, as it will help you boost your vocabulary, motivation and productivity. Most of the translators use such dictionaries to make sure that the translated word mirrors the context of the source text. There can be a number of similar words that define a specific word in the source language. But, you need to choose the most appropriate. Hence, to be sure that the word used in appropriate ion every sense, you may use these dictionaries. Once it’s in your habit, you may learn those words and may not feel the need of checking the dictionary for every tricky word.

7. Make Use of Templates

Using templates may help you translate a text effectively and improve your performance. You need to choose the template, depending on what you are translating. This will also help you to avoid providing literal translations in legal documents, Medical reports, tech related files and other subjects that require definitive formats. So, use appropriate temples and make effective use of them.

8. Use Powerful Words

Being a translator, you must know that words have great power. They can be used to motivate, inspire, convince, influence, entice and captivate others. So, while you are searching for an equivalent word, make sure you use some powerful words that enhance the value of the whole text, keeping the original meaning and context as it is. Your chosen words must emotions and message of the original text in an enticing manner.

9. Stay Curious

Don’t let the learning phase stop at any moment in your life. To improve your knowledge in the translation field, you must get out of your comfort zone and learn something new. No matter, you specialize in a specific language and industry; you must inculcate a habit of doing some productive work that would help you in the long run. Try to learn a new popular language, volunteer for translation projects, learn hidden facts about your target culture, translate some funny stories and never step back from taking any translation challenge.

10. Bring Some Changes to Your Workspace

The work atmosphere, the place where you sit and work has a direct influence on your motivation and productivity. So, try to bring some changes to your workspace. Make it clean and cheerful, so that you can fell lively and fresh all day long, despite of having working for long hours. You can also change the colors of the walls, organize stuffs on your work table, buy a comfy chair, stick a motivational chart just infront of your eyes, decorate some flowers or green plants near you and so on. Use ‘n’ number of such ideas and you will definitely feel motivated to work.

Get Started

To grow smooth and faster in your translation career, you need to work on your daily habits apart from polishing your language skills. Once you start following these or similar types of habits, you will yourself feel the difference between who you are today and who you will be after inculcating such great routine habits.

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