Interpreters and Translators: Stories from People Whove Done It

ByJaime Guillet

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PUBLISHED BY101 Publishing

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: A Little History

Chapter 2: The Profession Today

Chapter 3: The Businessperson

Chapter 4: The Translator

Chapter 5: The Interpreter

Chapter 6: The Literary Translator

Chapter 7: Making the Move

Resources

Footnotes

About the Author

Introduction

British author Douglas Adams introduced a legion of uniqueand witty concepts in his seminal 1979 science-fiction novel,The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Adams immenselypopular book about planet-hopping intergalactic travelers,intelligent alien life forms and the significance of the number42 spawned a television series, radio programs, follow-upnovels and, eventually, a mildly successful 2005 film. In thebook, Adams conceptualized the existence of a universaltranslator known as a babel fish, which bridged thelanguage gap among all communicating beings. The babelfish is a tiny, leechlike organism that, once placed in thelisteners auditory canal, translates all unknown languages,instantly and error-free. According to Adams, the babel fisheffectively removes all barriers of conversation betweendifferent cultures and races. The notion is a memorable one.Unfortunately (or fortunately, maintains Adams) this caliberof universal translator does not exist, nor has it ever. Untilthe era of the babel fish sets in, the job of decoding a certainlanguage and culture for people of a different language andculture remains the purview of a core group of talentedpeople: professional translators and interpreters.

To distinguish between the tasks performed by a translatorand an interpreter, a translator works solely with the writtenword, converting written documents from one language into

another, while an interpreter renders one spoken languageinto another; in the case of the hearing impaired, interpreterswork with spoken communication and sign language.iAlthough these two functions are related and some peoplework as both a translator and interpreter they are differentprofessions requiring distinct skills and aptitudes.ii

The consensus among experts is that working as a translatoror interpreter requires an expanded skill set beyond a simplefluency in two or more languages. To succeed as aprofessional interpreter or translator, a technicalcomprehension of the languages must accompany a culturalmastery, ensuring an absolute grasp of meaning from nativeidioms and references. The widely heralded method forassuring such familiarity is daily immersion in readings fromboth languages, including newspapers, fiction and nonfictionbooks, and magazines. Industry experts, including thosewhose stories appear in this book, agree on this point, sayingthe Internet enables such facility with languages more readilythan ever before.

Chapter 1: A Little History

Tracing the precise history of translation and interpreting is atall order. As long as multiple languages have existed,someone has inevitably attempted to bridge the gap betweenthem. Members of neighboring tribes desiring to tradewith each other, thwart hostilities or find a mate established methods for exchanging information, likelythrough people with a facility for language.

The first record of human as interpreter extends back to theancient Egyptians (around 3000 B.C.) who displayed ahieroglyph that experts believe shows a person interpreting.iiiOne of the earliest records of translation in the East emergesfrom the Zhou dynasty in ancient China (1100 B.C.);documents from that time indicate government clerksregularly performed translation duties.iv Professor WeiheZhong, the dean of the faculty of English language and cultureat Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China, writingon the history of Chinese translation, cites a document from1000 B.C. written by Jia Gongyan, an imperial scholar of thelate Zhou dynasty, who defined translation this way:Translation is to replace one written language with another,without changing the meaning, for mutual understanding.v

Over time, religion served as a forceful catalyst fortranslating and interpreting. Travelers migrating from one

region to another shared and taught the basics of their faith.viWhen ecclesiastical ideas spread across the landscape,religious scholars and monks translated holy texts such as theHebrew Torah and the Indian sutras into Koine Greek andChinese, respectively. Trailblazers employed interpreterstalents at an increased rate as civilization expanded intolarge-scale exploration and sea voyaging, particularly duringthe 16th and 17th centuries. U.S. history distinguishes someof them. One of the most celebrated is the Native Americanwoman Sacagawea, a Lemhi Shoshone tribe member marriedto a Quebec trapper, who assisted Meriwether Lewis andWilliam Clark on their expedition westward across NorthAmerica.

The rise of translation and interpreting as the professionsrecognizable today emerged immediately after World War II.The creation of the United Nations in 1945 not onlyestablished a genuine need for interpreters and translators, italso provided visibility for the profession. The fieldsprominence escalated during the Nuremberg war crimestrials of Nazi officials. Many of the people involved in thetrials were German speakers, and interpreters were broughtinto the courtroom to translate questions and answers.vii

Employment of translators and interpreters increased throughthe mid-20th century. As the need for people working in thisnew occupation grew, the founding of special schools forforeign language training, especially in the 1970s, followed.

Now, into the second decade of the 21st century, theprofession appears poised for further robust growth.

Top Language Service Providers in 2012

Market researcher Common Sense Advisory compiled a listof the top 25 translation and interpreter companies in NorthAmerica in 2012. Referenced from that research, here is alist of the top five. All have their headquarters in the UnitedStates. (You can find the expanded list atwww.commonsenseadvisory.com.)

Chapter 2: The Profession Today

Translators and interpreters share common qualities, butmake no mistake: A division exists. As experts in cross-cultural communication, translators and interpreters possessthe ability of language combination, which enables them tobe fluent in at least two languages a native, or active,language and a secondary, or passive, language.viiiInterpreters and translators both work in similar arenas:medical offices and hospitals, corporations, courtrooms andlaw firms, military groups, travel and hospitality,immigration services, government agencies, the computerindustry and more. Cross-cultural communicators mustpossess qualities such as concentration and culturalsensitivity; they also need to stay abreast of current eventsand social, artistic and entertainment trends. The best way todo that, experts say, is to read constantly items such asnewspapers, books and magazines from their secondaryas well as native languages. As previously mentioned,however, translators serve the written word, whereasinterpreters relay spoken conversation between speakers ofvarying languages. These different objectives requiresingular faculties. As such, the two divisions tend to drawcontrasting personalities.

Translators, as writers, must have excellent composition andanalytical ability as well as superlative editing skills to

ensure a flawlessly translated document.ix Translationrequires attention to detail, and translators have to get it justright, through checking and rechecking. Because they oftenwork from home, being introverted is no impediment to beinga translator. Translators may use tools to assist their efforts,such as various glossaries or memory software. Localizationtranslation is a newer and growing sector of the field thatincludes adapting products such as software, manuals orwebsites into another language or for other cultures.x

Interpreters, by virtue of their role as intermediariesbetween two varying language speakers, must be able tothink quickly on their feet, maintain concentration and havestalwart memories. Working with groups of people requires asomewhat extroverted nature. The primary types ofinterpreting are consecutive and simultaneous.

- Consecutive interpreters work one-on-one with clients,such as in a medical office or with foreign visitors.xiConsecutive interpreting is marked by its pattern: personspeaks, interpreter listens, interpreter translates speech toanother listener.

- Simultaneous interpreting, on the other hand, is whatpeople may recognize from coverage of meetings at theUnited Nations. The interpreter listens to one language as itis being spoken, instantly translates it internally, and thenrepeats it aloud.xii The result is the synchronized translation

of a speakers words. Interpreters sit in booths translating forpeople listening with earpieces or headsets. Conferenceinterpreting of this manner is the upper echelon of the fieldand may prove difficult for some people. Some employers,including the United Nations, require high-level interpreterswho have the ability to translate from at least two passivelanguages into one active (native) language.xiii

The United Nations is one of the worlds most high-stakes interpreting and translating environments.

(Photo courtesy Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images)

The Marketplace

The sweeping majority of translators and interpreters areself-employed. Thousands work as independent contractorswith a language services company or as freelancers whodevelop their own clientele. Typically, a translator applieswith a firm, whether large or boutique-sized, and onceaccepted is placed in that companys stable of availableinterpreters and translators. According to a 2007 survey bythe industrys member trade group, the American TranslatorsAssociation, 52 percent of its more than 11,000 memberswork as full-time independent contractors. In the samesurvey, only 9 percent of ATA members claim to beemployed in-house with a private firm full time. Nine percentof ATA members work as government employees. Thefreelancing and work-from-home environment may breederratic work schedules, irregular hours or busy workloadsfollowed by periods of assignment drought.xiv Conversely,working as a freelancer can provide enhanced timeflexibility and freedom.

Income

Wages for translators and interpreters vary widely, largelyhinging on a professionals level of experience, certificationand education. The specific language plays a role as well:Translators and interpreters of uncommon languagescommand more money. A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticsreport on the industry states that the median pay fortranslators and interpreters as of May 2010 was $43,300annually, or $20.82 per hour.xv The BLS report further states,For those who are not salaried, earnings typically fluctuate,depending on the availability of work. Self-employedinterpreters usually charge an hourly rate. Self-employedtranslators typically charge a rate per word or per hour.xvi

Demand and Forecast

Globalization and growing worldwide Internet access havegreatly expanded the opportunities for translators andinterpreters, according to those in the industry. The demandfor professional translators and interpreters reflects as much.The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the total U.S.translator/interpreter jobs in May 2010 was 58,400. TheBLS predicts the addition of 24,600 jobs for this field by2020 a 42 percent job growth rate, which the BLScharacterizes as much faster than average.xvii According tothe BLS outlook report:

Employment growth reflects anincreasingly diverse U.S. population,which is expected to require moreinterpreters and translators. Demandwill likely remain strong fortranslators of frequently translatedlanguages, such as French, German,Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.Demand also should be strong fortranslators of Arabic and other MiddleEastern languages and for theprincipal East Asian languages:Chinese, Japanese and Korean.xviii

How to Become a Translator or Interpreter

Thirty years ago, a professional translator could make aliving without ever having earned a four-year college degree;a deep background in English and another language sufficed. In the 2010s, however, that scenario has flipped. Seasonedprofessionals stress the importance of attaining a bachelorsdegree in a foreign language, or in something that assists atranslator or interpreter with having a specialty. Forexample, an interpreter working in the medical field wouldbenefit from a degree in a biological science. Many collegesand universities provide formal programs in interpreting andtranslating, and a multitude of nonuniversity trainingprograms, conferences and courses are available.xix

Professional certification is an important asset in thisindustry, even though, as the BLS reports, no universalcertification is now required for interpreters and translators.Workers can, however, take a variety of tests that showproficiency, including one from the American TranslatorsAssociation, which provides certification for its members in24 language combinations.xx Many states judicial systemsrequire that translators and interpreters become certified forwork in the courts and have their own certification programs.

Dangerous Business

Translators and interpreters, working as message bearers,occupy what historically has been a dangerous profession.The job may not be dangerous on a daily basis, but have noillusions: The record chronicles many disturbing anecdotesof translators and interpreters suffering terribly for theirwork, and in some cases paying the heaviest penalty of all.William Tyndale (1494[?]1536) translated the Bible intoEarly Modern English so successfully that many portions ofthe King James Bible reflect his work. Unfortunately,Tyndales integrity as a translator resulted in his death. Hewas apprehended, strangled and burned at the stake inAntwerp, Belgium.xxi French scholar tienne Dolet publishedtranslations of Calvinistic texts and Plato; believed to bepushing atheism, he subsequently was jailed, tortured andburned at the stake in Place Maubert, Paris, in 1546.

Such stories are tragic but are not relegated to the deep past,unfortunately. The most well-known violence in recentmemory occurred in July 1991 when Islamic militants killedHitoshi Igarashi for translating Salman Rushdies TheSatanic Verses.xxii An assailant stabbed Igarashi, a professorof comparative culture at Tsukuba University near Tokyo, inthe hallway of his office. The mortal hazards of translatingand interpreting depending on where you work haventchanged. Anwar Abbas Lafta, an Iraqi translator and CBSNews employee working in Baghdad, was abducted andslain by insurgents in 2009.xxiii

William Tyndale is burned at the stake in Belgium, crying, Lord ope the king of Englands eies.

(Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Chapter 3: The Businessperson

Jiri Stejskal: Past president, American TranslatorsAssociation; founder and CEO, CETRA Language Solutions;Czech translator; Philadelphia

Working as a professional translator, you never know whatwill come across your desk. Youre always working onsomething different. With each project, you learn somethingnew. Translators enjoy that; theyre like sponges, and it canbe an exciting field. Sometimes you get to interact withpeople from different countries and different cultures, whichmakes the work fun and interesting. Also, it is not a 9-to-5job. Many aspects of the job inspired in me a fondness forthe translating profession.

For more than 20 years, I freelanced my services: translatingdocuments, primarily for international litigation clients, fromEnglish into my native language, Czech. I arrived in theUnited States in 1988 as a political refugee from the formerCzechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). I was going toschool and working as a freelancer, and at that time, I foundout about the American Translators Association. I joined theATA, which helped me to launch my career. Although Ienjoyed it enormously, after many years working on my own Istarted my own language services firm. It took many years ofbuilding it into what it is today: a company that contractswith more than 1,000 translators and interpreters around theworld, offering services in more than 100 languages. Thework served me well during my years transitioning from aCzechoslovak refugee to U.S. citizen, but I translate verylittle now because I run my company, which keeps me busy.

In the early years, I worked for other language servicescompanies as an independent contractor to supplement myincome as a Czech language lecturer at the University ofPennsylvania. At that same time, I worked busily to earn mydoctorate in Slavic languages and literatures. The last coupleof years, Ive been on sabbatical, but Ive taught the Czechlanguage there for almost 20 years. As a translator, you spendso much time alone at your desk, but teaching gave me anopportunity to be around other people. The pay is not thatgreat especially compared to what I could make as atranslator or owning my own company but I enjoyed it. It

was more of a hobby than a job.

Having now worked on the other side of the fence as acompany owner who hires freelance translators andinterpreters I can tell you what businesses and clientsexpect. Typically, a good translator can complete about 3,000words per day. Tools exist now that can maximize output.There are essentially two main tools. One is called CAT, orcomputer-aided translation, which helps recycle any contentthat has been translated before a kind of translationmemory. If you come across a sentence that you havetranslated before, it just plugs it in for you. These tools haveevolved, so, for example, if you have a similar sentence but anumber is different, CAT will plug it in and highlight thenumber for you. It can really boost your productivity. Thesecond tool is machine translation. The machine translationoutput can be in the tens or even hundreds of thousands ofwords per day, but the translation can be very substandardquality. Sophisticated translators and companies use acombination of translation tools and human translation.

As a company, we prefer to work with translators who arealready trained, and we do test them. In addition to checkingtheir work history, we require that prospective contractorstranslate some small sample. One of our trusted contracttranslators reviews their work and provides feedback so thatwe can assess the quality of the translator. A good indicatorthat the professional is serious about the industry is a

translator or interpreter who has been certified by anacknowledged and well-respected organization. Forexample, the ATAs certification test for English to Spanish isso difficult, it has a fail rate of about 95 percent. Its a fairlyserious test. That certification gives us an indication andsecurity that the people who pass are competent translators.Also, all members of ATA agree to follow the organizationsestablished ethics code. This is important. Discretion is acore component of this business. And its not just aboutconfidentiality: as a freelancer, you agree that if you take onthe work, you will not subcontract it out to someone else.

This is a great field to enter right now. Translators andinterpreters are in demand. My company is having a verygood year, and weve been growing in the double digits for12 consecutive years. Some years we have 80 percentgrowth; some years we have 10 percent growth. On average,its about 25 percent. My company works a lot with thefederal government on projects. For example, we were oneof the few companies that the government hired to translatethe Saddam Hussein trials. We would get the DVDs dozens of them and we would produce transcripts of themin both Arabic and English. That contract lasted about 18months. We also translated reports about mass graves in Iraqand things of that nature.

As I have said, most language service providers work forthemselves, so it is important to either have natural business

acumen or get educated in business. Some freelancersbecome company owners, as I did, and make this bigtransition to being a businessperson, which is differententirely. Most translators enjoy the creative side of theirwork and have no desire to employ other people.Professional translators and interpreters who build theirniche make good money and find fulfillment in their work.And that is not too shabby.

Chapter 4: The Translator

Dorothee Racette: Self-employed German translator,specializing in the medical field; upstate New York

As someone who has spent her entire professional lifestudying language, let me make plain the crucial andimmutable ingredient necessary for a successful translatingcareer: You must be passionate about language. This traitdwells within all of the translators and interpreters I know.Its a difficult thing to articulate why language fascinatesme. Largely, it can be distilled to my enjoying the infinitenumber of rich possibilities and nuances language offers toconvey a message. The translating community often marvelsat the meticulous nature of language. For example, whencorresponding with colleagues in the field, I find we joke

about all manner of language details such as how oneletter may change a words entire meaning or context. Wefind that tremendously funny. Its probably not funny at all toother people, but we find those small aspects of languagefascinating.

Only by chance did I stumble on translating as a career. Igrew up in Ingolstadt, in Bavaria, Germany. The high schoolI attended focused on foreign languages, which providedterrific preparation, although I was unaware of this benefit atthe time. After graduating, I left Germany in search of otheropportunities. I traveled for several years, met and marriedmy husband, and spent some time living in Asia and Tanzaniabefore moving to the United States in 1991. I felt very vagueabout what I wanted to do for a living, as young peopletypically are.

I had an interest in language, and most of my friendssuggested teaching. Originally, I intended to teach German,but everyone pushed me in the direction of Spanish, sayingGerman-language teachers were not in demand. I earned abachelors degree in Spanish from the State University ofNew York and then began teaching SUNY undergraduateswhile also looking around for other teaching jobs. I found itunrewarding to teach students who were studying Spanishonly because it was a course requirement, which often wasthe case. It was hard to deal with their lack of motivation andpassion. The experience inspired me to search for other

careers. Someone pointed me to the University of Vermont,where I fortunately received a scholarship and eventuallyearned my masters degree in German.

My first translating job arrived as a lucky coincidence. In themid-1990s, my brother-in-law worked in the softwareindustry with a startup in Boston. During this time, thetranslating specialty of localization was beginning toemerge. His company was small, and they were lookingaround for someone to do localization for them, and he said,Oh, I have this sister-in-law from Germany. ... He gave mea number of files to work on, and I just loved it! It was arevelation that this work even existed. I always held animpression of translating as being only about books; my ideaswere outdated. I didnt realize there was this whole industryout there that demanded my skills. I was very fortunate. Icompleted this project, delivered it, and the company wasvery pleased with my performance. This was the moment Irealized I preferred professional translation to teaching. Ikept working other jobs while I tried to set up a business formyself. That took awhile probably the better part of fouryears.

The dominant question people just entering the industry askme is how to build a business, which, for a self-employedtranslator, generally equates to one thing: client base. First, Irealized I needed to set up my company right away because itwould be advantageous to have a name to market. I visited a

Small Business Administration adviser who further advisedme to separate my accounts and my home office workspace.That was excellent advice. My children, who were veryyoung then, knew they could never answer the phone in myoffice. So even before I had regular clients I had establishedthe framework of my business.

What about finding clients? I recommend you put yourself outthere in the beginning on a large scale. I volunteered almostfrom the start. A very lucky decision I made, in hindsight,was volunteering as a moderator of a Listserv. It was aYahoo job-posting Listserv for translators. It often allowedme to see job postings first. That was a good move.Sometimes I got the job and sometimes I didnt. Initially, youare just fishing around for available work. I signed on withseveral large agencies and completed their qualificationtests. I filled out many online forms so that I would be in thedatabases of language firms both the large firms and theboutiques. The boutique places can be picky and often dontwork with beginners; the larger corporations are more likelyto offer work to beginners. So when youre starting out, itmakes sense to submit applications with whomever you can:Cast a wide net and see what happens.

Joining a professional organization also is vital for atranslator. You cant possibly overestimate the value ofnetworking and guidance that membership provides. Lookingback, that helped me a lot in establishing my career. I went to

my first American Translators Association conference in 99,and I just really liked all the people. It provided confirmationthat I was headed in the right direction and that this careerwas right for me. At that conference, they asked forvolunteers for the ATAs German-language division. I raisedmy hand. It was a good start. Translators are generally afriendly bunch; they are not as competitive as Ive seen inother fields. That may be a function of an abundance of work,so no one feels territorial.

Distinguishing good jobs from bad ones is imperative. A fewearly jobs took me for a ride because I was a rookie.Eventually, you will be able to separate the wheat from thechaff and accept only the good projects assignments thatallow for a suitable time period; a reasonable pay rate; andwhere the client is willing to provide feedback and answerquestions. There are a lot of middlemen in this business.Beware of bottom feeders who are not interested in helpingyou or improving your business; they just want to take theircut, so you better not bother them with any questions. At theother end of the spectrum are good agencies that truly addvalue to your work with the work they do.

Agencies will be looking at your rate and considering yourbackground, years of experience, previous work done forthem, client evaluations, level of expertise and availability.One good piece of advice for people who are looking to gettheir foot in the door is to take weekend work. When I look at

the workweek and the number of inquiries I get, the slowestday would be Monday and the highest day is Friday. Often,the weekend client produces a text and they hope to get itback for the beginning of the next day. Also, often the work isavailable because many of the established translators forgoworking those hours. So for a beginning translator, a smartthing to do is to offer services on evenings and weekends.Thats where a less experienced translator has a chance.Then later on, when things are going well, you can startscaling back evening and weekend work.

Chapter 5: The Interpreter

Virginia Perez-Santalla: Spanish-language medical/legalinterpreter and translator; New Jersey

The key virtue of an interpreter the attribute to embody is that of a machine. Clients prefer interpreters to beunobtrusive, near-robotic presences: completely colorless.The desire makes sense, especially in my specialized fieldsof medical and legal interpreting. Putting forth anemotionless demeanor while interpreting a pancreatic cancerdiagnosis between doctor and patient, or a brutal rapetestimony from witness to courtroom, is a vital component ofthe job.

I learned this lesson in the beginning of my career. I worked

on a legal interpreting case for a local department of youthservices. I was interpreting for a young girl, a runaway whohad been suffering horrible abuse. I remember thinking, Oh,I should tell her she is welcome to come to my home. I justthought about it; I didnt say anything out loud. She just madean impact on me at that moment. Thats the last time Ivethought something like that. I learned to separate myself fromthose concerns. If you are an interpreter, you are supposed tobe like a machine. It is sometimes hard. During a medicalinterpreting assignment, I worked for a client who wasrecovering in the hospital from a car accident. She had justcome out of a six-week coma and was experiencing memoryproblems. My job entailed being there every day interpretingfor her all of her services, all her appointments with herneuropsychologist and other doctors, and all of her therapy. Itwas difficult because her memory had been affected. Shewould introduce me to her husband every time he returned tothe room, having not remembered she had done so multipletimes previously. I interpreted for the woman for six months,at the hospital and the rehab center, until she returned to hernative Dominican Republic. Although sometimes difficult,the experience is not without reward. I received ample jobsatisfaction seeing her, over those weeks, get better andrecover her memory.

As both a translator and interpreter, Im a rare species withinmy industry. Another unusual ability is that I translate intoEnglish, which isnt my first language it is usually

reversed. I work in various areas of language services:conference interpreting, legal translating and interpreting fortrials and depositions, and medical interpreting andtranslating.

I presume my abilities stem from my childhood education. Igrew up in Havana, Cuba, and attended a British bilingualschool in kindergarten. The school mandated each subject betaught in both English and Spanish simultaneously (forexample, we had world geography, world history in Englishand in Spanish, and so on and so forth). I fled to the UnitedStates as a refugee in 1960, after the revolution. I wasalready married and I had a 5-month-old baby. We went firstto Miami, and then moved north, eventually settling in NewJersey. I had more children a total of six but after theygrew older, I started working as a Berlitz Spanish teacher.This was 30 years ago. The manager there liked my workvery much. He approached me with a test, a document totranslate. He and his colleagues evaluated my work and werevery pleased. Another day, he sent me an interpretingassignment from a local law firm. The attorneys were very,very happy with my work and subsequently called me everytime they needed an interpreter. The combination of mychildhood education and a serendipitous part-time job withthe Berlitz proprietor launched my interpreting andtranslating career.

A college education has become almost de rigueur in

language services, but when I started 30 years ago, it wasnt.Someone likely would have a difficult go of it today enteringthe profession the way I did, with zero formal education orcertification. Certification is the most critical action you cantake to further your career, education or not.

After a few years of assignments, I discovered the AmericanTranslators Association. I joined and also took the ATAscertification examinations so that I would have something toshow my next clients. Not long after, New Jerseyimplemented a court interpreters certification program; Itook the exam and passed it with flying colors. By then, Iqualified as a master interpreter. Subsequently, I took thefederal interpreters examination, which is a certificationevery interpreter desires. I passed that exam as well. Thesecertifications elevated my credentials. Of course, clientswant to see a lot of experience, so I worked steadily duringthe various certification acquisitions.

To work in either interpreting or translating it doesntmatter which one I recommend a lot of reading in bothlanguages: newspapers, magazines and books of fiction andnonfiction. It is an integral part of being an interpreter andtranslator. It is infinitely easier with the Internet. Do not readtranslated websites read in the language, from the countryin which your language is spoken so you get the originalcoverage and language. This is very important so you cankeep abreast of all the changes in terminology and current

idiomatic expressions. Sometimes you will not know how tomake the words make sense in context. If you are in courtinterpreting for a witness and this happens, you can addressthe judge and say, Your honor, the interpreter is not able tointerpret the idiomatic expression. The judge will ask theinterpreter to describe what the expression means, more orless, or say it doesnt matter. That is for the judge to decide.

If you are just getting started, I recommend volunteering yourservices to organizations that cant afford translation. Thisputs your name out there, you have something to show clientsand youre doing something charitable. For example, letssay there is a local food bank that needs a flyer. Say, OK,Ill do it pro bono this time, but in the future I will need youto pay. There are valleys and hills in this field, for someonewho is self-employed, of assignments and income. You canget nervous and feel like, Oh my God, Im never going towork again. Or you feel swamped with a lot of work. Itfluctuates.

I have enjoyed my career so very much. The hardest aspectsome may encounter, especially the newbies, is nervousnessabout new assignments. Getting over your discomfortrequires confidence. You may have butterflies in yourstomach because you dont know what is going to come upthe pike. Thats hard. You have to be confident in your abilityto store words in your memory. When you start anassignment, you may have butterflies, but as soon as it starts,

thats it youre immersed in it, and you forget about yournerves. If you dont if you stay nervous then yourresults might not be as good.

Chapter 6: The Literary Translator

Alex Zucker: Translator of Czech literature and 2010National Translation Award winner for Petra Hlovs AllThis Belongs to Me; Brooklyn, N.Y.

Its a gratifying thing, translating a slice of Czech literature.Ive come to view it as a type of service. My translationhelps deliver the authors work to an expanded audience,which hopefully advances the Czech literary community topeople who might never have encountered it. The mostsatisfying part of being recognized by the American LiteraryTranslators Association was witnessing how excited myCzech friends were. For a Czech author to win a nationalprize in the United States is huge. It was front-page news inCzech Republic. Petra Hlov, the author, was out of her

mind she was so happy. Her elation filled me with pride.

In terms of the actual translating work, I enjoy the puzzleaspect of it trying to figure something out and thatmoment when it crystallizes in your mind. Thats a reallynice feeling. Its a satisfaction I dont experience normallywhen writing a news release for a nongovernmentalorganization or when Im updating the website orsummarizing a policy paper on genocide. Its a feelingderived from doing something creative. The other thing I likeabout translation is at the process end there is this physicalobject, this book that I can hold, I can look at. I can show itto other people, and I know its going into libraries and inhands all around the world.

Translating literature demands great responsibility. It entailsmore than simply deciphering prose from one language intoanother. There are people within the field who believetranslation requires personal knowledge of the culture,understanding of sound, rhythm and musicality, as well as theauthors intent. There are others who will vehementlydisagree; these folks maintain if there is not some kind oftheoretical, technical basis for making decisions, then theprocess is just random and not well-informed.

The way I conceptualize translation is very much the wayRob Wechsler does. Wechsler is the author of PerformingWithout a Stage: The Art of Translation. The metaphor he

uses is that literary translation mirrors performing a musicalcomposition. For example, Beethoven wrote a symphony andplayed it a certain way. Not only did it contain Beethovenspersonal execution, it was contextual to the time he wrote itand played on certain instruments built 200 years ago. Fast-forward to modern times and contemporary people are stillperforming the piece, but its not going to sound exactly thesame. How could it? Violins arent made the same way, andthe players bring to it their own personality. Even though thenotes are black and white on the page, theyre not going tosound exactly the same between any two orchestras becausethe personalities are different. Translation is kind of like that.Youre performing this literary work in another language,essentially.

The first step I take when I translate a book is to read it anddevelop an understanding of the work. If you and I read thesame book were going to glean dissimilar emotions,contrasting messages and diverse opinions. A single word inEnglish perhaps does not bring up the same thoughts for youas it does for me. I say the word tree, and someone whogrew up in a pine forest is going to consider a different treethan someone who lived in a jungle. People readily believethe word tree simply means tree, but the truth actually isthat the word conjures a different image for different people.

So my mission when translating a novel my duty, really is to try to create the same thoughts and images in the English

readers mind as was created in the Czech readers mind. Ofcourse, that is nearly impossible because I just proved yourenot going to get the same thought in even two Czechs minds.So how does one attempt to translate? You do the best youcan. I believe one must have a clear understanding of theculture and also speak often with the author or nativepeoples. In the process of translating, I frequently discusswith my Czech friends what particular words mean to them,because Im never going to be Czech. So, for example, letssay the word smrk, which in Czech means spruce tree maybe its the first word in the first line of a famous Czechpoem that every kid learns from the time theyre 12 yearsold. Im not Czech, and I wasnt there so I didnt learn itfrom the time I was 12, and its not going to evoke the sametone for me. Im never going to have the same culturalexperience. That said, time spent in the country of origin andspeaking the language is invaluable. I wouldnt advise takingon a project without it. It was through word of mouth andnetworking that I received requests to translate the projectsthat I did. Pragues publishing community is a very smallworld.

I can pinpoint the precise time frame that Czechoslovakiacaptured my affection. It is a very strange story. Ive told itmany, many times, and it never ceases to amaze me. I had acollege girlfriend who read The Unbearable Lightness ofBeing by Czech author Milan Kundera and told me about it.I read my first Kundera novel, The Book of Laughter and

Forgetting, and loved it. This one experience I almostwould call trivial if it hadnt informed the rest of my life as itdid. In 1987, I visited Czechoslovakia for a month. Uponreturning, I entered a graduate program at the School ofInternational Affairs at Columbia University. I earned mymasters degree and moved to Prague in 1990. It was all sorandom! Nobody I knew had ever visited Eastern Europe,much less spoke Czech or Slovak or Polish. My paternalgrandfather originated from what is now Poland, but I didnthave any consciousness of being Polish. The only otherCzech references in my life growing up was as a child I usedto play hockey and, for whatever reason, I noticed my puckswere made in Czechoslovakia. Also, I watched SaturdayNight Live and enjoyed Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd asthe wild and crazy Czech brothers.

After graduating I planned to work for the human rights groupHelsinki Watch (the predecessor to Human Rights Watch),but when communism fell, there wasnt an attractive prospectfor me to work on human rights. So I accepted a jobtranslating the Czech news agency wire service into English.I worked at the Czech news agency for two years, then took ajob with an English-language newspaper while freelancetranslating. There were authors Czech nationals whomI knew personally and in whose writing I was interested, so Ijust started working on translations. Demand was high, and Itranslated articles for an architecture magazine, a book abouta modernist architect, a book on the history of the koda

automobile factory, a memoir by an Australian Czech whotraveled around the world going to brothels, for artmagazines just everything.

It was in this writer community that someone passed mePetras book. By then, I had translated several Czech novelsto English. I read it and I liked it. Unfortunately, as ardent asmy passion for translating is, there is little money in it. Idont make my living translating, and I only ever did when Iwas living in Prague. I dont know anybody who earns aliving working solely as a literary translator. I think itsimpossible unless branching out into other professionaltranslating. I find most literary translators are academics whowork on their projects during their summer break or duringvacations, weekends, on off-days or after hours. Or they aretranslators but not just literary translators. It would be a hardway to live, especially if you live in a higher-rent area. Aperson would really have to hustle.

Chapter 7: Making the Move

The whole idea of studying translation is relatively new. Inrecent years, various universities and colleges haveestablished translation and language studies programs. Someuniversities offer only a masters degree or a doctorate;others offer only graduate or professional certificates; andstill others offer all of those options.xxiv Choosing a particulareducation program should follow some essential careeroutlining namely, determining what specialty interestsyou. Do you want to work in the medical field? Do you havean affinity for the legal world? Only after considering theenvironment and, essentially, the subject you will beworking with for years to come should you makeeducation choices. Remember: A degree in translating maynot be necessary; an educational background in a particularfield of study can provide a natural area of subject-matterexpertise.xxv But interpreters and translators generally needspecialized training on how to do the work, particularly infields that rely on jargon, such as the law or medicalinterpreting or translating.

Resources

An important initial step that all of the experts advise is toaffiliate with the appropriate member organization. Thesegroups are invaluable for networking, resources andmentoring.

- The American Translators Association (www.atanet.org) isthe largest professional association of translators andinterpreters in the United States, with more than 11,000members in more than 90 countries. The ATA providescertification in 24 language combinations involving English.

- As of 2011, the National Association of JudiciaryInterpreters and Translators (www.najit.org) touts amembership of more than 1,200 professionals.

- The International Association of Conference Interpreters(www.aiic-usa.com) represents professionals specializing insimultaneous and consecutive oral interpretation services.The AIIC the initials refer to the companys French name,Association Internationale des Interprtes de Confrence provides certification, and members undergo a rigorousadmissions process to join. The AIIC vouches that itsmembers hold the highest levels of professionalism andethics in the industry. Members, according to the AIIC,typically hold professional credentials from graduateinterpreter and translator schools from all over the world and

are accredited with many international organizations such asthe Department of State, the United Nations, the EuropeanUnion, the Federal Government of Canada and many more.

- The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters(www.healthcareinterpretercertification.org) offers twotypes of certifications: the Associate Healthcare Interpreter(AHI) for interpreters of languages other than Spanish,Arabic and Mandarin, and the Certified HealthcareInterpreter (CHI) for interpreters of Spanish, Arabic andMandarin.

- The National Board of Certification for MedicalInterpreters (www.certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org), anindependent division of the International MedicalInterpreters Association (IMIA), conducts the CMIcertification program.

- The Occupational Outlook Handbook from the U.S.Department of Labors Bureau of Labor Statistics alsoprovides a good summary of resources for beginners(www.bls.gov/ooh/Media-and-Communication/Interpreters-and-translators.htm#tab-1).

Footnotes

i. Michael Farr, Top 100 Careers for College Graduates, 7thed. (JIST Publishing, 2007), 284.

ii. Ibid.

iii. Tamra Orr, Interpreter (Cherry Lake Publishing, 2010),6.

iv. Weihe Zhong, An Overview of Translation in China,Translation Journal 7, no. 2 (Apr. 2003),http://translationjournal.net/journal/24china.htm.

v. Ibid.

vi. Orr, Interpreter, 6.

vii. Ibid., 8.

viii. Farr, Top 100 Careers for College Graduates, 284.

ix. Ibid.

x. Ibid., 285.

xi. Orr, Interpreter, 20.

xii. Ibid., 21.

xiii. Farr, Top 100 Careers for College Graduates, 286.

xiv. Ibid., 285.

xv. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,Occupational Outlook Handbook,http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Media-and-Communication/Interpreters-and-translators.htm.

xvi. Ibid.

xvii. Ibid.

xviii. Ibid.

xix. Ibid.

xx. Ibid.

xxi. Maria Khodorkovsky, Translation: History of aDangerous Profession, ALTA Blog, Oct. 3, 2008,http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2008/10/03/translation-history-of-a-dangerous-profession/.

xxii. Ibid.

xxiii. Alfonso Serrano, CBS News Translator Slain byInsurgents, Feb. 11, 2009,http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/08/27/notebook/main3207414.shtml.

xxiv. Jes Gearing, Top 10 U.S. Translation Schools, ALTABlog, Sept. 23, 2009, http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2009/09/23/top-10-us-translation-schools/.

xxv. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics,Occupational Outlook Handbook.

Jaime Guillet Bio

Jaime Guillet is a New Orleans-based reporter who hascovered industries such as transportation, retail and film, aswell as city and state government. She worked as a seniorstaff writer for the city's premier business publication, NewOrleans City Business, and contributes to several nationaltrade publications. Guillet has won numerous awards fromthe Louisiana Press Association and the Press Club of NewOrleans for her coverage of business and city government,including a first-place award for her investigative seriesabout transparency of public contracts. In addition to thegratification she receives from covering pre- and post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, she loves going to themovies, writing so she can feed her animals (including twohorses, Cisco and Penny), Tina Fey, and all things comedic,

even if she is not (though she tries real hard).

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IntroductionChapter 1: A Little HistoryChapter 2: The Profession TodayChapter 3: The BusinesspersonChapter 4: The TranslatorChapter 5: The InterpreterChapter 6: The Literary TranslatorChapter 7: Making the MoveResourcesFootnotesAbout the authorCopyright