INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH

APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Project report
Name : Nguyễn Hà Dư Khánh
Student ID No: 20131140
Class: 201313B

INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, language has an important role in our life and it is becoming
popular now. No matter what your job is, language is the key to success.
There are various type of jobs, but it always requires our language
certificate such as IELTS, TOEIC,…. And when you work in
multinational companies, there are over hundreds employees, which
come from different countries around the world , you have to cooperate
with them every day. And if a company need to hire a person who can
translate all profiles into another languages fluently. Don’t worry! There
is a unique job that I can recommend for you. I am going to tell you
about translators and interpreters.
SUMMARY
This report will provide you some useful information of translators and
interpreters, which help you understand more clearly what a translators
and a interpreter do in this field. First , there is some meanings about
translators and interpreters that we need to know.

First, I have a question that many people may ask about this job :‘ Do
you think money is a standard to show that how good a translator or an
interpreter is ?’, and in my opinion , the answer may be NO. Actually,
high salary is not a necessary factor to translators or even an interpreter.
So we will move to the first section to identify what a translator and an
interpreter truly need .

There are three most important parts in this section: Reliability,

Involvement in the profession and Ethics.
-Reliability is seen as a factor related to honesty and belief in this section
, which each translator or interpreter always remember. You have to be
really careful with what you write although there’re tons of deadline to
do. The reason why you should concentrate on your job is that you
usually translate with all kind of documents such as politics, medicines,
education,…and it requires a strict accuracy without mistakes and your
viewpoints, it means that you don’t have any permission to add your
critical ideas or opinions about its topics. Like an idiom said: “ ONE
FALSE STEP LEADS TO ANOTHER”.
- Involvement in the profession is known as an obligatory part in your
field. It comprises your college degree or a certificate recognized by
convincing organizations. If you get an excellent degree, the employer
may hire you with a great positon. But on the other sides, you can apply
your CV to a well-known company by gaining experiences. To
accomplish more experiences, you can join in foreign associations,
unions, conferences or work as an intern in ambassadors. The more
experienced you gain , the better position you have. The users may be
impressive about a translator’s profession , you will be received in an
influential company, be promoted in higher position , be got a high-paid
job. We can acquire more special skills to enhance our field, and expand
the relationships with other professional translators and interpreters help
us realize our mistakes .
- The final integral part in this section is Ethics. The translators and
interpreters must respect, under all circumstances, confidentiality and
privacy of the information contained in all documents provided by the
client for the purpose of translation. “Every translation shall be faithful
and render exactly the idea and form of the original – this fidelity
constitutes both a moral and legal obligation for the translator.” –
International Federation of Translators (FIT).

Second , we are going to talk about the section which all people consider
most is Income .Nowadays, most people think that this job gets a lot of
money and it is quite comfortable. So this is some facts you need to
know
-Almost all translators and interpreters really love their job, they can
spend all day to translate documents. The income depends on how good
the results you did. But sometimes, the translators and interpreters don’t
feel that they don’t earn enough money for a livelihood… so they try to
find many ways as much as possible to improve their finance problem ,
for instance : creating your own agency and farm translation jobs to
other amateur translators, translating faster, joining in talkshow to tell
the public the importance of translation or interpretation and the client
will be willing to pay you premium fees.
* But on the other hand, Speed is also a dangerous factor which
almost translators and interpreters are worried about. Speed and
income are not directly related for all translators and interpreters.
They are for freelancers. If you work for a company, you may
depend on the rules or you don’t have so much time to do what you
want. But if you’re a freelancer, you can receive many documents
as you want without being controlled by the leader. Translation
speed is enforced in a variety of unofficial ways, mostly though
phone calls and visits from engineers, editors, bosses, and other
irate people who want their job done instantly and can’t understand
why you haven’t done it yet.
Third , after working for long hours with pressure and stress, many
translators and interpreters can’t take the liberty of doing what they
want, so they try to look for some enjoyment to get rid of sadness,
angriness, pressure,…

Translating from one language to other languages is interesting but

challenging , you have to have a razor-sharp mind to adapt with
high and dry situation. You usually keep your temper in any
circumstances in spite of meeting hot-tempered client. They can
communicate with people that come from around the world. They
 may discover some wonderful things they’ve never heard before
and they can also improve their essential skills or knowledges.
 And here is some personal outlooks of translators and
interpreter about their job.
“ I love the challenge of having to learn about new concepts –
I’m constantly learning new words in my own other tongue
( like “hygrochromic” and “postprandial”) because my job
involves reading other people’s ideas”.
“The thing I enjoy most about translation is that it gives me to
be creative I especially love translating video games, comics
and short stories because I like figuring out how best to
express the character’s personalities and feelings in the target
language”.

Next , we move to the section called Duties. So what a translator and an

interpreter have to do to make their work entirely successful?

Translators and interpreters usually work with business, technical, legal

and scientific written materials including letters, reports, articles, books
and so on. Their work incorporates:
 Reading documents
  Writing and editing copies
 Using software and bespoke application to upload contents, if
required by a client
 Preparing summaries, consulting with an expert if required
 Developing contacts and building relationship with clients.

Finally, we will discuss one of the most essential sections that we always
use in our job to make your work more flexible. Skills are an
indispensable part in our life, and to all translators and interprters how
efficient these skills affect their work .

1. Advanced language knowledge:

You can’t translate something unless you understand it. And if you
don’t understand the text fully , you risk misinterpreting it and
delivering a translation that’s not completely accurate. So good
translators need to understand all meaning – including all the
subtle nuances implied in the text. That level of understanding
requires advanced, near native level, knowledge of your source
language.

2. Excellent writing skills

 To be a good translator you must be a very good , and not merely
adequate, writer in your target language. You must have a way
with words, the ability to write with flair. And you’ll likely need to
do that across a variety of text styles – promotional and marketing,
formal/legal, casual, technical, etc. To some extent you either have
excellent writing ability and expression or you don’t. But it’s also a
skill you can hone and improve with experience and application.

3. In – depth cultural knowledge

Good translators have a deep understanding of both source and
target cultures. That’s general cultural knowledge like values
systems and how people view the world. And culture-
specific aspects like pastimes, customs, etc. You’ll often need
cultural knowledge to grasp the significance or implication of text
you’re translating. And understanding the differences between
your source and target language cultures will alert you to text that
won’t work well or will have reduced impact when translated.

4. Sound research skills

Translators are always researching things – wording, meanings,
vocab, jargon, background info. The more efficiently you can do it
the better.

5. Best practice translation and review processes

Translation is mentally challenging, and it’s dead easy for the odd
shortcoming to slip through. A little inaccuracy here, less than
ideal wording there. That’s why good translators stick like
barnacles to proven translation processes.

6. Sound translation judgment

Good translators make consistently good translation decisions. On
vocabulary and structures to use, when to be more literal / freer,
what and how much to research, etc. Much of this is instinctive,
but with the right effort any translator can markedly improve this
basic skill.
 7. Computing and CAT skills
You’ll need to have good command of commonly used office
programs – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. And you should be an
expert on your chosen TM software.

 Take advantage of Microsoft’s training videos, especially

those for Word
 Watch on-line tutorials and YouTube how-to’s
 Search for solutions to specific problems you have or areas
where you’re a little weak
 Do a course
 Compare notes with your colleagues for TM productivity tips

Career opportunities
But now with the development of technology devices, there are some
modern and useful apps people to translate words or even paragraphs
such as Google Translate, Grammarly,... The users can translate an
artical or a report to different languages within a minute and their
accuracy is up to 70%.
As i am a student of Faculty of Foreign Language, how can i get a good
job after i graduate?
- I think i will apply to a language center in Ho Chi Minh city to
improve my english speaking’s confidence. Then , after 6 months
or 1 year working there, i will apply my CV as intern to companies
such as Nestle, Bosch,.... In case , there are no choice for me, i
would choose to be a freelancer translator by translating in small
area namely books, articles,,...
References
https://www.raise.me/careers/media-and-
communication/interpreters-and-translators

https://support.gengo.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/223530727-
What-do-you-enjoy-most-about-being-a-translator-

Book: Becoming a Translator by Douglas Robinson