Translation specialisation
- Patrycja Olech
- May 25, 2020
- 3 min read
While finishing my recent legal translation project I started wondering about specialising in translation. Is it so important to specialise within a few areas, rather than be a master of all trades, accepting every type of work that comes our way? Does specialising help or hinder, and do we even have much choice in this regard? Is translation and interpreting specialism in any shape and form beneficial to the actual client?
Looking back at my experience, I began working in the field of general interpreting and translation and not by choice, but due to high demand I received many Polish interpreting opportunities. In addition, those opportunities seemed to had concentrated in medical settings. At that time, my translation business constituted rather an insignificant slice of my projects, in comparison to interpreting between Polish and English. I enjoyed medical interpreting since I possessed quite a broad knowledge within this field thanks to a number of courses I had undertaken, as well as a genuine interest in this area. It was also a good way of gaining professional experience as a Polish interpreter.
As it happens, but not to say it was in any way anticipated or planned, my lifestyle had completely changed with new family commitments appearing on the horizon and in consequence, with the new nature of my work. Suddenly, interpreting became a marginal part of my business as a language service provider and with it work within medical specialism. To my initial fear, followed by amazement, I easily adjusted to that change becoming a very keen translator. As a consequence of my engagement in different types of work, new fields within translation have opened up for me to explore: legal translation, localisation or media for instance. This push has also helped me in adjusting by learning about those new fields and yet again, specialising.
As opposed to many other occupations, flexibility and versatility are great skills to have in this field. It is impossible to know everything as a linguist, and this is where parallel texts and advanced preparation for the projects and assignments come in. Frequently, when working as a Polish interpreter I am given an insight into the details of my engagement, which means, that I can refer to any dictionaries or resources to learn the required vocabulary. And so is in translation – referring to parallel texts or glossaries and beforehand helps to get into the necessary mode of the linguistic processing and output.
Why is specialising within the translation and interpreting profession so desired then? To begin with, any field or specialism has its own jargon, therefore for linguists to sound natural and authentic, they need to be acquainted with the jargon. Specialising also ensures the accuracy of their efforts. Different fields may also require unique skills, like for instance legal documents translation which entails producing a very truthful representation of the given text, contrary to transcreation, which involves completely different set of skills altogether.
From the point of view of the linguist, specialism does not only open opportunities within the area they enjoy or have a particular interest in, but also significantly reduces the time required to complete the project and increases productivity. Specialism gives the translator an edge of becoming the subject matter expert. This status means, they can work with better clients and ask for higher rates. From the client’s standpoint working with the specialist legal or medical translator for instance, ensures the outcome in line with their industry specific language, the best quality format and perfect accuracy and readability.
Owing to the growth of the translation industry as a whole, resulting in an increased volume of work and in consequence broadening the translation and interpreting services on offer, the actual translation process and the skills required have become more complex in some sectors. This complexity indeed requires a specialist linguist, to protect the integrity and the reputation of the business or institution, and to ensure the desired outcome.
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