Professional guidance - How to break into the field
Hello everyone,
I graduated back in May with a degree in Languages and Literature from a Canadian University in Ontario. I speak, read and write French and Spanish and I also took a 4th year Spanish translation course. I would like to work with French-English, since there's not much demand for Spanish in Canada from what I have been able to gather.
I've worked in customs processing, bilingual customer service (French/English), tech sales, and as a financial services representative. Although I have work experience, I don't have any translation experience except for the 4th year course I took back in University. What would be my best route ? I know Montreal or Ottawa would be the ideal locations to become a translator. Should I start applying to agencies or companies? I would appreciate some guidance from any professional translator.
Posted Dec 20, 2016, 8:01 PM UTC
The fact that this has no comments is discouraging. I'd have liked to see the answers as well. :-/
This question comes up once or twice a month. You can find some good answers searching past posts.
I'm looking for advice more specific to my location but I'll definitely browse some past posts.
It doesn't really matter where you are located, as most translation occur over the web. Our translators live all over the world, while we (TinCan Translations) are located in Denver, Colorado. Is there any specific benefit to working for a company only in your area? You are probably limiting yourself, and would gain more clients by opening up your options to other areas. You will probably end up working from your computer at home anyway.
I would recommend following a few companies whose policies/pay/corporate responsibility you agree with. Engage with their content and get your name known. Then, get in touch with them and offer your resume. And don't forget to follow up! Pay attention to grammar and spelling in your comments previous to applying, as they will for sure go back and look at them.
Get some volunteer experience on your resume by offering your services for free to charities. You can also offer your first translation (up to # of words) for free as a sample for a company you are interested in.
I would recommend searching the feed, as there are similar posts every month with more information.
Good luck!