Notes on the Profession of the Translator

Regarding music, the great French composer Georges Bizet once said, “What a splendid art! And what a sad profession!” The same, sure, can be said about the profession of interpreter: executed at the professional level, with passion and creativity, it brings bliss and total satisfaction. At the same time much effort, perseverance and routine work is required to gain the highest in it and not everybody is ready to bring this sacrifice to its altar.

For many people translation seems to be an awfully tedious and unrewarding profession. Some people who love it initially get tired of it, burn out on it, and move on to other endeavours. Others can only do it on the side, a few hours a day or a week or even a month: they are writers or teachers or editors by day, but for an hour every evening, or for an afternoon one or two Saturdays a month, they translate, sometimes for money, sometimes for fun, mostly for both. If a really big job comes along and the timing and money are right, they will spend a whole week translating, eight to ten hours a day; but at the end of that week they feel completely drained and are ready to go back to their regular work.

Other people, possibly even the majority, translate full time – and don’t burn out. How do they do it? What skills do they possess that makes it possible for them to “become” doctors, lawyers, engineers, poets, business executives, even if only briefly and on the computer screen? Are they talented actors who feel comfortable shifting from role to role? How do they know so much about specialized vocabularies? Are they walking libraries? If briefly, yes, translators and especially interpreters do all have something of the actor in them, the mimic, the impersonator, and they do develop remarkable recall skills that will enable them to remember a word that they have heard only once. Translators and interpreters are voracious and omnivorous readers, people who are typically in the middle of four books at once, in several languages, fiction and non–fiction, technical and humanistic subjects, anything and everything. They are hungry for real–world experience as well, through travel, living abroad for extended periods, learning foreign languages and cultures, and above all paying attention to how people use language all around them.

Translation is often called a profession of second choice: many translators were first professionals in other fields, sometimes several other fields in succession. They turn to translation for many reasons: lose or quit regular jobs or move to a country where they are unable to practice them, or they cannot be effective at their regular job without doing translations, etc.

A good translator is reliable and fast, and will work for the going rate. To be like this he should meet three requirements in order: professional pride, income, and enjoyment.