What kind of people are suitable to be translators?
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Original by Translator Fei — Republished from “Translation China”. From my experience, not everyone is suitable for being a translator. Translation is an extremely complex task that requires extensive and broad knowledge, as well as a good character. 1. To do translation work, one needs to have a good personality and the ability to tolerate loneliness. Some people can’t stay seated for more than 5 minutes; they become restless and keep wanting to go out for a walk. However, translation work requires the ability to sit still, and a responsible translator might refuse to eat or sleep just to study a sentence or a word in detail. While others are having fun, you might still have to hunch over your work; while others are going out to party or enjoy the outdoors, you might still have to spend time alone with words. Carelessness and a bad temper are also major enemies of translation. When faced with difficulties in translation, instead of sitting down to carefully think of solutions, if one gets angry and frustrated, it is impossible to do a good job of translation. Furthermore, people with a rough personality are most prone to errors such as misinterpretation and omissions. 2. One must have good character. Translating, whether it is written or oral translation, is a service provided for two parties who wish to communicate in two different languages. When translating, some people are not responsible for their work; they translate whenever they want to, or simply say a few words if they don’t want to translate. This is a way that does not lead to good translations, and such situations indeed exist. In translation, one must adopt a serious and responsible attitude; careless or random translation is absolutely unacceptable. Additionally, one must be honest and trustworthy; especially when working as a part-time translator for a translation company, meeting the delivery deadlines is the most important principle to follow. Failing to do so could affect the contracts between the translation company and its clients. If it’s truly impossible to complete the task, it’s necessary to contact the translation company in advance to request a delay in the delivery date. 3. Lazy people are not suitable as translators. Translation is an extremely complex and demanding task that requires continuous learning; it also demands constant thinking and memorization. Therefore, lazy people cannot do a good job at translation. 4. Those interested in foreign language studies* and translation. Interest is the best teacher; it is interest that provides the true motivation for striving forward. The motivation driven by the pursuit of money is superficial and temporary. The great translators in the history of translation were all those who had an extremely strong interest in translation, which led them to devote themselves to it and spend their entire lives working in this field. 5. People with an open and active mind. Translation is one of the most complex tasks in human history, and therefore requires a broad and active mind. With the above conditions met, you then have the basic requirements to become a translator.
Although this article is short, it hits the key points; those who wish to pursue a career in translation should read it several times!
I’m completely unsuited; I barely meet two of the requirements. 2/4/5 – I can barely come up with two points. I’m interested in English, but not much in translation. When I first started working at the company, I was assigned to translate technical documents, and it seemed really tedious at the time. Last edited by niuky on 2009-3-26 10:52.]
It seems that apart from having the right character traits, the other issues are laziness, an inability to tolerate loneliness, and a lack of interest in studying.
1. To do translation work, one needs to have a good personality and the ability to tolerate loneliness. Not often irritable; sometimes: lol. Often impatient, but can generally tolerate solitude——score of 6, just passing. 2. One must have good character. It’s not self-praise, but I’d give it an 8. 3. Lazy people are not suitable to be translators. Basically meets the criteria for those who are lazy – 3 points. 4. Those interested in foreign languages and translation. Well, I’m quite interested; I’d give it a 7. 5. People with an open and active mind. "Quite “open and active” – 8 points. Average score: 6 points. Is my conclusion regarding Echo appropriate? :lol
I think having good character is the most important thing; everything else can be achieved later. Whether one has good character or not is something that others have to judge. To do a job well, points 1, 3, and 5 are all essential conditions. Only when the work is done well will people pay attention to one’s character； If you don’t do your work well, people won’t think you have good character, because they don’t care. Of course, if you can’t even understand English, none of this is possible, haha
It’s a job done occasionally, but once you get involved in it, you can still find some enjoyment in it; no matter what you do, what’s most important is the pleasure that comes from interest~~
:Compared to translation, I still prefer computer technology. :For example, on public computers the functions are restricted; my computer is prevented from accessing hard drives, there are management restrictions, the registry is disabled, and downloads are blocked by restricting DHT routing, so materials downloaded from CNKI cannot be saved to a portable hard drive. . . . . . I’ve only managed to overcome the download issue; the materials from CNKI that I downloaded still need to be organized.:’( Well~~ I have to admit it: at least now I can download large movies, videos, and other files~~ After all, the internet speed here is pretty fast.:lol
It’s over; I’m completely unsuited for this. Thankfully, I didn’t have any plans to do this:victory: (Otherwise, I might have ended up in trouble.)
It is indeed a necessary condition for being a translator, but in practice, there are always unexpected difficulties. Translation cannot be mere translation; what he translates is also something he needs to learn*. To convert one language into another, it is more about understanding its background. Different industries have different levels of knowledge required. A good translation has to play multiple roles.
Hehe, having these qualities means one is pretty much a professional translator. As for my approach, I feel I still fall short; I need to keep working hard.
I meet all the criteria listed in the Echo section; hehe, I’m not sure if I’ll have another chance to do translation in the future! 1. Highly capable of enduring loneliness; time has proven this ； 2. Has an excellent character, O(∩_∩)O haha~; that’s what everyone who knows them says:victory: 3. Is quite diligent and rarely sleeps in:lol 4. Has an interest in foreign languages; has been studying them for over 10 years now ； 5. Has a broad way of thinking and extensive knowledge; has studied a large number of books on subjects such as politics, history, and economics! The above is just a joke, meant to liven up the atmosphere in the foreign language section! If Echo is interested in taking on a disciple, she might consider me. :lol
Romie is underutilizing his translation skills! If Romi wants to find a mentor in a foreign-language speaking area, I’ll recommend a genuine university professor to you next time. But whether they accept it or not depends on individual fortune. :lol :lol
If it’s just text translation work, it can be a bit boring; but being able to talk with people and improve one’s English skills step by step is actually quite interesting, haha
It’s really a good summary. I’ll likely have to deal with English quite often in the future, but my skills aren’t yet up to par; it seems I need to think about this and figure out where I should focus my efforts.:)
Willing to learn from those beneath one, with strong skills in information gathering and processing.
Once you see it, you’ll realize that the original poster is perfect for being a translator
I’ve been learning about translation lately; thinking about giving it a try