| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6] | Keep Getting Ghosted By Agencies After I Submit My Test. Should I Keep Trying to Be a Translator? Thread poster: David McAlpine
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Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| Gold standard | Nov 29, 2022 |
Kay Denney wrote:
The gold standard in the profession has always been that one translates into one's native language, because it's the language that comes most naturally. The native Mandarin speakers understand the source language better of course, but comprehension is much easier to improve than expression.
And yet I've seen many in-house positions (from reputable agencies, mind you) requiring the translators to work both ways. And no, it's not just a phenomenon in my language pair.
Gold standard, or double standard?
| | | | Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 15:43
French to English
Mr. Satan wrote:
And yet I've seen many in-house positions (from reputable agencies, mind you) requiring the translators to work both ways. And no, it's not just a phenomenon in my language pair.
Gold standard, or double standard?
There are plenty of instances where the gold standard is hard to apply, especially in pairs involving English plus languages that are not taught in English-speaking countries (because everyone learns English and native English speakers don't bother learning languages unless they happen to have a natural talent for that and not much else, or move to a foreign country and interact with locals instead of only hanging out in an international community).
Just because people don't apply the gold standard, doesn't mean it's not a standard, just that it's a standard that a lot of people fail to comply with.
If you want to discuss this further, please go and resurrect other threads where we've argued about it, otherwise this thread will be considered to be seriously derailed.
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Gerard Barry wrote:
The only time I go through other people's verbiage and grammar with a fine tooth comb is when I a have a proofreading job at work. Otherwise, I couldn't give two hoots. Honestly, I'm shocked at how pedantic many translators are.
I don't do it deliberately, or consciously, but all these years of checking my own work mean that typos just leap out at me, wherever they may be. Surely that reflex is entirely normal for any writer?
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
Kay Denney wrote:
If you want to discuss this further, please go and resurrect other threads where we've argued about it, otherwise this thread will be considered to be seriously derailed.
Oh, I've seen those threads alright. But I do not wish to get involved in any one of them, at least for now. I just wanted to make a quick passing remark.
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| Keep on trying if you can afford it | Dec 3, 2022 |
David McAlpine wrote:
So I wanted to reach out and ask if any of you had some advice? Should I keep trying to be a translator? Or is my language pair too hard? Is it too hard to get started in 2022? Also are there any other Chinese to English translators on this forum? What was your experience becoming a translator?
Thanks in advance for your response.
I started my career in March 2021. I took plenty of translation test in 2021, but I passed a test for the first time in January 2022.
I still consider myself as a newbie or almost a newbie because there is a lot to learn and to better by practicing in this profession.
In any case, not every client ask you for taking a translations test. In fact, you can pass a test and never get jobs from that client.
Regarding being ghosted, some clients provide me with feedback about my results and others don't. There is a video post on Linkedin, I think, by a very widely known and experienced Spanish video game localizer (in Spanish, unfortunately) that explains that many companies do not send feedback about the results of a failed test in order to avoid revealing how to pass it, I mean, to avoid the risks of the test becoming public.
I am far away from being the best translator around the world, but I think that I keep on translating better and better as I get more translating experience.
I would recommend keep trying in case you can afford it.
Greetings.
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