Love Your TL, Love Your Bank Account

Proper translating and interpreting is more than just the transformation of words and sounds from one language to another, it’s the transformation of cultural ideas and concepts. Your formal education in translating (or philology, literature etc) is just one part of your translator training – it’s the bread and butter in your linguistic sandwich. But an interest in and ongoing awareness of the news, politics and cultural trends of the countries of your chosen languages are absolutely vital, beyond any question. Knowledge of history and culture are just as important as a good vocabulary and understanding of technique.  This is the salad, mayonnaise, tasty cheese and fresh slices of ham that make your sandwich better than the next translator’s.

Good translators know that the more interest they have in the world of their target languages, the better and more successful they can be. Like the Force, knowledge breeds confidence, and confidence leads to speed. Quicker work output of a reliably good quality leads to... more money! (unlike the Force, which usually leads to awesome lightsabre battles). You can charge whatever you like, but if your work isn’t justified by your rates, you will eventually have problems. Believe it or not, established translators have reputations that carry not only across their home towns, but through their countries and overseas too, not to mention all over the Internet.

And, of course, reputation is what gets you the big money – at the end of the day, it’s all about paying your bills. Robert Kubica doesn’t pay his bills now by having lazed his way through karting and Formula 3. He took a greater interest in honing his driving skills until he could race at the very highest level of professional motorsport (and crash into a variety of foreign churches) in a wide variety of vehicles, and so like anyone else trying to advance in a career, you must know your game. Technique and mechanical skills improve just through doing the job. But style, flair and overall quality come from your own interest in your TL culture.

So every chance you get you need to open a newspaper, turn on the radio or television, surf the Internet or read a book – and do it in your Target Languages! When you do this, you are literally making yourself a better translator. Browsing Le Monde or Der Spiegel from Empik, listening to the BBC’s streaming radio on the Internet, surfing YouTube or actually getting on a train to Berlin or Prague or Rome or visiting a country whose language you work in, is a step towards knowledge – and another step towards paying your next bill.

Let me end this by asking you, how do you stay in touch with your TL culture? Have you found any unique or interesting resources that allow you to stay up to date with your English, German, Spanish etc? Leave a comment and share the mental wealth. :)