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Being a beginner
Thread poster: Jlenia Chessari
Jlenia Chessari
Jlenia Chessari
Italy
Local time: 00:38
English to Italian
+ ...
Nov 25, 2020

I am about to get my master's degree and i'd like to gain experience in the translation field, so any tips on how to get started?

 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 00:38
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Jlenia Nov 26, 2020

Jlenia Chessari wrote:
I am about to get my master's degree...


What is your master's degree in?


 
Jlenia Chessari
Jlenia Chessari
Italy
Local time: 00:38
English to Italian
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Modern Languages for International communication and cooperation. I studied English and Chinese Nov 26, 2020

Samuel Murray wrote:

Jlenia Chessari wrote:
I am about to get my master's degree...


What is your master's degree in?


 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 23:38
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Use this site to the full Nov 26, 2020

Jlenia Chessari wrote:
I am about to get my master's degree and i'd like to gain experience in the translation field, so any tips on how to get started?

I suggest you start by making this site your shop-window, at least for a while. It's the biggest and most easily found translation portal, so it's where the majority of clients are -- translation agencies, other intermediaries (publishers, website developers, marketing and communication agencies...) and direct clients. You can make it easy for them to find you here, whereas it would be far more difficult for you to be found as an individual freelancer on the web. Many other portals take a percentage of your earnings or tend to only offer jobs that are in the "peanut-paying" category. Those exist here too, but so do many far better jobs.

To get work here, you really need to be active and invest both time and money in the site. Becoming a PLUS member gives you a whole basket of goodies, including free professional tools, access to an enormous library of training videos, and membership of a support group of translators with a lifetime of experience and success behind them. ProZ.com membership gives you full access to the Blue Board and instant quoting possibilities for all jobs your profile qualifies you for. Amassing KudoZ points helps you gain the respect of your peers and raises your visibility in the directory. But above all, your profile needs to be the best possible one if you are to turn potential visitors into paying clients. Of course, your quotes and your CV (or whatever you like to call it -- it certainly shouldn't be a normal job-seeker's CV) need to be similarly inviting and give the same strong marketing message.

Visit the Site Guidance Centre and make sure you attend the Meeting Clients free webinar session (there's a more personalised version for PLUS members). Also visit the Scam Centre and sign up for notification of new scams before you accept your first job, as newbies are targeted by the scammers, unfortunately. Check out all the articles and the Wikis here. This Getting Established forum is worth a long browse, as are the other forums.

There are weeks of research available here, even without paying for membership, plus the ability to post your specific questions in the forums. Happy reading .


Angie Garbarino
Jlenia Chessari
Matthias Brombach
expressisverbis
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
mariemiguel0
P.L.F. Persio
 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 00:38
Spanish to English
+ ...
As usual ... Nov 26, 2020

... a complete User's Manual hot off the press at Sheila Wilson Publishings. All good advice from someone who always knows what she's talking about.

[Edited at 2020-11-26 15:31 GMT]


Jlenia Chessari
Christel Zipfel
Matthias Brombach
Angie Garbarino
expressisverbis
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Rachel Waddington
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:38
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Specialise Nov 26, 2020

Jlenia Chessari wrote:

I am about to get my master's degree and i'd like to gain experience in the translation field, so any tips on how to get started?


1. SPECIALISE. If you offer expert translation in one particular field (and its associated fields) you'll find that over time, and with patience, clients will come looking for you.

2. PROFILE. Complete your Proz profile 100% and revisit it periodically to refresh it.

3. KEYWORDS. These are vital. They are the words that a prospective client might enter in a search engine. Make sure that this prospective client finds you. The keywords should be in both languages.




[Edited at 2020-11-26 16:38 GMT]


Mervyn Henderson (X)
Angie Garbarino
Jlenia Chessari
expressisverbis
Matthias Brombach
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Rachel Waddington
 
Sadek_A
Sadek_A  Identity Verified
Local time: 03:38
English to Arabic
+ ...
Wanna a sincere advice? In a more practical direction, perhaps? Nov 26, 2020

If you can score any other job than a translator, go for it.

The current market is no place for languages-major bachelor degrees, let alone languages-major master degrees.

A good number of suppliers are high-school & non-languages-major degrees (lower than bachelors, even)!

And, if you are actually planning on providing Chinese, then it would be like competing with ocean's fish at swimming!

Of course, you can still try your luck in whatever com
... See more
If you can score any other job than a translator, go for it.

The current market is no place for languages-major bachelor degrees, let alone languages-major master degrees.

A good number of suppliers are high-school & non-languages-major degrees (lower than bachelors, even)!

And, if you are actually planning on providing Chinese, then it would be like competing with ocean's fish at swimming!

Of course, you can still try your luck in whatever combination and for whatever time, but if it doesn't work seek another direction because no one else will be helping you! Remember, talk is cheap, but it doesn't pay the rent!

[Edited at 2020-11-26 20:12 GMT]
Collapse


Jorge Payan
 
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Mervyn Henderson (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 00:38
Spanish to English
+ ...
Chinese to Italian Nov 26, 2020

Is demand fully covered in the market from Chinese to Italian? There's a huge amount of Chinese manufacturing going on, so check that out. Don't worry about scaremongers. Jump into the ocean and see what's there. You might find a lot of sharks, but friendly dolphins also use the oceans.

[Edited at 2020-11-26 19:59 GMT]


Jlenia Chessari
Christel Zipfel
expressisverbis
Sheila Wilson
Rachel Waddington
Fatine Echenique
Angie Garbarino
 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 00:38
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Begin with that! Visibility is key. Nov 26, 2020

Sheila Wilson wrote: Amassing KudoZ points helps you gain the respect of your peers and raises your visibility in the directory.


Best regards and good luck!


Jlenia Chessari
expressisverbis
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
expressisverbis
expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 23:38
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I couldn't have said it better myself Nov 26, 2020

Mervyn Henderson wrote:

You might find a lot of sharks, but friendly dolphins also use the oceans.

[Edited at 2020-11-26 19:59 GMT]


Perfectly said!


Matthias Brombach
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Angie Garbarino
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
mariemiguel0
mariemiguel0
United States
That is nice, indeed perfectly said Nov 27, 2020

That is nice, indeed perfectly said

expressisverbis
 
expressisverbis
expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 23:38
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
At Proz Nov 27, 2020

mariemiguel0 wrote:

That is nice, indeed perfectly said


Fortunately, we can find more colleagues with brains and who can give good advice and support.


P.L.F. Persio
Angie Garbarino
 
Liyana Aziz
Liyana Aziz
Australia
Local time: 07:38
How to get more out of Proz! Nov 28, 2020

Hi, I will soon finish my interpreter and translation course. An I just got to know about proz.com
Can you please share how I can get the most out of this website to build up myself as an interpreter.

Kind regards,
Newbie=)


 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:38
Member (2008)
Italian to English
start here Nov 29, 2020

Liyana Aziz wrote:

Hi, I will soon finish my interpreter and translation course. An I just got to know about proz.com
Can you please share how I can get the most out of this website to build up myself as an interpreter.

Kind regards,
Newbie=)


Begin by making your profile 100% complete. After that, there's more.


Mervyn Henderson (X)
P.L.F. Persio
Liyana Aziz
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 23:38
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Interpreters aren't so much in evidence here Nov 29, 2020

Liyana Aziz wrote:
Can you please share how I can get the most out of this website to build up myself as an interpreter.

The vast majority of us seem to be translators, or maybe translators who do a bit of interpreting. My own experience is that the two are incredibly different jobs calling for not just totally different skills but a different type of personality (I gave up interpreting after just three assignments).

There are resources here specifically for interpreters, but not a lot.


expressisverbis
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Angie Garbarino
Ahmed Burkeba
P.L.F. Persio
 
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