In this article we recently discussed the importance of specializing in a field to gain an advantage in the translation industry. We noted that both types of professional profiles exist (those who choose to work in a specific field and those who choose to provide linguistic services in a range of areas), but we also concluded that a constant learning process and working on our documentation skills were key to establishing our potential. It is therefore clear that, at some point in our career, we will be interested in acquiring greater skill in one or several fields to stand out from the pack, or simply gain confidence when translating and have a better understanding of their intellectual context. While it is common for translation students and new translators to think about this issue on a regular basis, it is obviously a question that any professional can consider at any time in their career in linguistic services. So, how do we make our decision?
It goes without saying that it is not a definitive decision that will forever set our professional path. When the time comes, we can always look into another specialty, move away from it or even combine several of them. The main idea is that translators must constantly seek to acquire new knowledge and keep abreast of the developments within a sector and how they will affect the documents requiring translation.
It is important to remember that we can obtain this area-based training before, during or after our translation studies. This is because, depending on our interests, it is possible to study a specific field (medicine, law, or marketing) and subsequently gain in-depth knowledge when we start preparing ourselves as interlinguistic mediators. On the other hand, others start by training in the field of translation and then decide which specific branch they would like to specialize in, paying particular attention to translation aspects of a field with respect to a language pair. However, there are other factors that we should take into account well before we settle on a specialty to study in depth.
Firstly, a translator must know what interests them. Specialization requires a large time investment in preparation, dedication and, sometimes, frustration. So, it is helpful to analyze the areas that we are passionate about and that we enjoy learning about the most. This will ensure that the training process is much more gratifying and, ultimately, working will be more satisfying knowing that we have combined work and pleasure. It will also make us more willing to tackle any setbacks. Another essential aspect when making a decision on this issue is to acknowledge what we are good at and which areas we excel in. Yes, we might be in seventh heaven working on legal translations, but in reality, we lack the skills required for this type of service. We may, on the other hand, be skilled at creative tasks that require personal interpretation and content adaptation. Would it not make sense to focus our efforts on advertising translation? Knowing our strengths is a smart approach, the fruits of which are more quickly noticed. Likewise, we can tackle this issue from a more analytical point of view and research the specialty sectors with the highest translation demand. This way we can specialize in a field with a high volume of work and in which we constantly have access to different types of texts. Here we should note that specializations by sector goes far beyond the traditional classification into medical, technical, legal and literary translation. There is currently a wide range of specific markets that require interlinguistic adaptations and fall within one or more of the traditional options, even though they do not have their own classification: website localization, mobile application localization, videogame localization, social network localization, export of brands to foreign markets, transcreation, etc. The list is endless and becomes longer every day. T he most important thing is to choose several options and thoroughly research them. This allows us to create a solid foundation as a future springboard into translation projects. In the same vein, many professionals choose to be more practical and make this type of decision based on the specialty with the biggest economic benefit. Let’s not fool ourselves, translation is just another business activity, and people working in the sector must make a living. Why not choose a specialty we know will pay more? This is a relative question, since within the same specialty fees for a project can increase or decrease depending on a variety of factors; so we have to remember that our payment calculations may not be realistic or may unexpectedly change. Lastly, we believe that it is worth highlighting the importance of choosing a specialty in which we feel we are contributing, we feel valued and every key stroke counts. If we find a balance between all of these factors, we are sure to be on the right path.
Along the way, we must not forget the importance of connecting with more experienced translators to learn from the wealth of knowledge they have gained throughout their career. At the end of the day, the translation community is interdisciplinary, where we learn from each other every day.
