What are the strategies that you can use for improving your interpreting or translating practice?

December 6, 2019 |

What makes an excellent translator? Besides proficiency in a pair of languages, translation requires many skills across multiple areas, from communication and writing to industry-specific expertise. Furthermore, a good translator is also skilled at planning and adept at managing his or her time. 

There’s no universal recipe for becoming an excellent translator, especially in a highly-competitive market, where hundreds of thousands of language experts perform. But, how can you become a better professional and build a reputation in this field? 

Here are 10 tricks that can help you to master your translation skills and become a better language specialist. 

1. Read in Your Native Language

Most translation projects are into your mother tongue, so the better your writing skills in this language, the more accurate and engaging your translation will be. The easiest way to develop writing skills is by reading as much as you can. 

Not only will reading enrich your vocabulary, but it will also become a source of inspiration, as you expose yourself to new writing techniques and ways to develop ideas. 

Try to read all types of texts, written by multiple authors. From magazines and novels to web content; they’re all necessary when looking to get familiar with more writing styles. If you’ve chosen a narrow niche in the language service industry, you can still benefit from reading about something other than your topic of interest.   

2. Read in Your Second Language

Reading in your second language enables you to develop language sense. It’s also an effective way of familiarizing yourself with multiple life situations in a different language. Again, the wider your reading habits, the better for boosting your language skills. 

Reading regularly in your second language gives a new perspective on how people communicate and why they choose specific words to express themselves. It becomes easier to keep the correct meaning in translation than if you limit your reading to industry-related books.  

3. Compare Other Translations

Peeking on what other translators do can help you master your language skills and make you an excellent translator. It’s not copying what other people do, but simply learning from others and finding new meanings hidden behind words. 

Take both the source and the target texts to see how other translators have handled the message of the book or article. Analyze their choices and try to identify the reasons the translator decided to omit or emphasize specific details of the text. 

Every translator has unique techniques; sometimes, they make mistakes or they come up with non-literary translations that nail the intent behind the original text perfectly. You can learn from all of them and polish your working methods.  

4. Travel

Traveling changes your way of seeing new cultures and handling life situations. It allows you to meet different types of people and know them from the inside. So, next time you’re required to adapt your voice to a specific audience, it will be easier to connect with the readers. 

Moreover, when you travel, you get to exercise your language skills outside your comfort zone. It’s a different learning experience, in which you immerse yourself in new groups and adapt your language to local rules. In the long run, it will make you a better communicator and an excellent translator.  

5. Listen to Your Clients

Listening skills are a must-have for translators who wish to retain customers and build a reputation in their niche. These skills enable you to understand what your clients expect to achieve with translation, as well as anticipate their needs. 

You should remember that often in translation, the client and the end-users aren’t the same. So, the more you teach yourself to listen, the easier it becomes to deliver the benefits the end-users need without ignoring what the client wants.

6. Build a Rich Translation Memory

An excellent translator relies on top-notch resources. Language service providers no longer translate with just their knowledge and some dictionaries on hand. Technology enables translators to store all their projects and use previous work to speed up future projects. 

So, don’t treat every translation project as your first job. Use CAT tools to build a solid translation memory and store your knowledge. This way, you can improve the quality of your translations, while working faster and with lower costs. 

7. Go to Industry Events

Translation conferences and other industry events are great opportunities to connect with new clients and collaborators in the industry. You’ll learn about new trends, innovative translation tools, and better marketing techniques to get clients. You’ll also meet new people, which is almost a must when you have a relatively solitary job!  

Going to events can have multiple positive effects on how you feel about your work and how you choose to manage your business. It’s a learning experience that comes with fun moments and pleasant memories. 

8. Stay Updated About the Latest Technology

Technology is a game-changer for language service providers, regardless of their size or niche. If you don’t use innovative tools, you risk being left behind by competitors, as you won’t manage to deliver the best services in a short amount of time. 

Read magazines, subscribe to newsletters, test demos of new software. Try to keep up with the latest developments in the translation field. Otherwise, you may be underperforming before you know. 

9. Exercise

Exercising is a cost-effective way of boosting your creativity. It reduces stress levels, helps you stay focused, improves your memory, and helps you become more productive.  

Make room in your busy schedule for exercising a couple of times a week. Not only can this new routine make you an excellent translator, but it will also contribute to keeping you healthier and happier. 

10. Ask for Help

Translating may seem like a job for one person, but sometimes teamwork brings better results. If you struggle to get to the bottom of your text or meet deadlines, don’t be afraid to ask for help. 

Whether by asking for more details from your clients or by including another translator into your project, help is sometimes necessary to reach your goals and deliver better results. 

Becoming an Excellent Translator

These simple tricks can help you deliver a high-quality translation service regardless of your niche or language pair. They’re also useful when looking to streamline your projects, as they can help you cut translation costs and eliminate inefficient activities.

Learn the nuances of translating. Understand what it takes to become a translator with 5 tips that will help you improve translation skills.

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Table of Contents

• 5 Tips to Improve Translation Skills
• Conclusion
• FAQs

A common belief is that a translator’s job is to take a text written in one language and transfer (translate) it into another language. In reality, it is not as simple as that. Also, knowing the language does not mean you have translation skills. Professional translation requires much more than just language knowledge; it also needs to improve translation skills constantly.

However, it is mandatory to know the language you are translating in. For translating a document, you need to be well versed in the literature and the culture of the language. Translators must stay true to the original script, and the translated document should flow as smoothly as the original language.

With various translation tools available, it is important to remain true to the core of translating and not just rely on artificial intelligence. Our tips on improving your translation skills will help you improve your translation skills and make your translating journey easy.

5 Tips to Improve Translation Skills

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In this ever-evolving, fluid business of translation, we bring you five key tips on how to improve translation skills to remain adept in this craft.

1. Read, and then read again

One of the first steps to ensure that you improve your translation skills is, as much as possible, to read meaningful content in the target language. It is impossible to know all the vocabulary of even your mother tongue, as languages are dynamic in nature and ever-evolving. To improve translation skills, a dictionary is your best friend, and you should invest in the latest versions of it.

As new words and expressions appear daily, do not be content with what you have learned already. Read as many local newspapers, magazines, and books as you can in the target language to understand the trends, jargon, and cultural nuances. Also, focus on reading other translated texts to pick up the original and target language tips.

2. Talk or converse

The best way to be fluent in a language is by constantly speaking with experts or native speakers of the target language. The more you converse, the more your confidence grows. Talking is also the ideal way for picking up on phraseology and slang in your target language. Talking to other translation professionals will also help you get their insights and the common challenges they face.

Traveling for language immersion can hone your translation skills. This will also help you to understand the linguistic differences in the same language from one region to another. Speak as regularly as possible in the target language to maintain your proficiency, as, without practice, it will deteriorate over time.

3. Back translation

To further hone your translation skills, try back translation. Pick a text in the target language and translate it back to the original text. This will improve your knowledge and help you understand the relationship between the two languages. Back translation helps in comparing translation for quality and accuracy and helps in evaluating the meaning between the original and target texts. This will also help you in two-way translations between languages.

4. Practice makes one perfect

One of the easiest tips on how to improve your translation skills is practice and more practice. The more you can translate, the better your expertise becomes. Translating and then retranslating is one of the most effective ways to improve translation skills. Select a random text or document to challenge your translation skills. Another great alternative is translating a text that others have already translated. Then compare your work with the approved one. This will help you in understanding your mistakes.  

5. Using Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools

Understanding the CAT tools, such as SDL Trados or MemoQ, is also important to improve your translation skills. These computer programs help with the translation speed and quality. These tools maintain consistency where multiple translators work simultaneously on a project. Remember, translation software is meant to help humans and not replace them.

Conclusion

Languages are constantly evolving and growing. To improve translation skills and be on top of your game, focus on talking, reading, and learning every day. A good translator needs to read magazines, advertisements, newspapers, etc., in the target language, as it gives insights into the culture and mindset behind the language.

FAQs

1. What are translation skills?

Translation skills are the ability to convey cultural elements, style, and tone, from one language to another accurately.

2. What are the skills of a good translator?

Translators’ basic skills are language knowledge, cultural knowledge, and writing skills.

3. What are the rules of translation?

The basic translation rules are that every translator must understand the source language, comprehend the target language, and have knowledge about the subject of the document.

4. How important is it to be fluent in a language to be a translator?

Being fluent in both the source and target language is the most important requirement for translation.

5. What is the basis of translation?

Typically, the basis of translation can be defined as the process of transferring, replacing, reproducing, or interpreting the source text, material, or message, into another language while focusing on the original text’s style and meaning.