Translation is a professional activity that pertains to the language services market. This apparent obviousness reflects the clear fact that translation is a commercial activity which aims to obtain an economic benefit by providing specific language localization services. As such, translation is subject to a number of aspects largely related to marketing and client acquisition skills. In other words, if we want to translation to be a sustainable business, we have to study where we are going to focus these services, what niche market we are going to target, what type of clients we are going to work with and, of course, what work dynamics we are going to implement to achieve satisfactory results that meet the needs and expectations of the people we work for. All these variables are key to achieving success, since not all markets have the same needs nor do they have the same language combinations, the same remuneration for services, the same professional recognition, or the same legal considerations. The decisions we make will determine the extent to which we get it right. For example, there are many opportunities for IT translations from Chinese to English, so we will find a lot of work in that market and, therefore, greater competition. On the contrary, direct sworn translations from Hindi to Swedish are much less frequent, so the demand will not be as high, although the financial remuneration will be higher precisely because of the few translation professionals who provide this specific service.
This leads us to think about the need to actively plan the role we want to have in the translation industry. This can be by either taking advantage of the market niches that we can access or for which we are trained, or by studying where we can find the opportunities that interest us the most and prepare ourselves to be able to provide the related services. In the field of translation, these decisions start to be considered at a very early stage, to the point that, at university or other related educational institutions, students reflect on which paths they should take towards their specialization and where they can get the most benefit. Of course, this decision can also be made based on personal preference or motivation, but here we are looking at it from the perspective of economic profitability. As we discussed in Salidas profesionales de la traducción, translation assignments are framed within specific specialty areas and, when a client or a translation agency seeks a professional translator, it does so following specific criteria relating to the fields said professional dominates or the fields in which they have worked and can guarantee a certain quality.
Therefore, in today’s article we are going to discuss the most common specializations in the field of translation, and to do so, we will talk about their nature and the most frequent types of text.
One of the most common specializations is legal translation, which must not be confused with sworn translation, as we explained in Traducción jurada para no llevarse sorpresas. In this specialization, translators will have to localize legal texts, informative texts, or texts involved in legal proceedings. This includes texts about legal notices on a website, agreements, court records, rulings, birth, marriage or death certificates, contracts and a long etcetera of bureaucratic documents. Therefore, the profile for this specialty must understand legal terminology and be very detail-oriented, since any mistake in a translation can compromise its validity and lead to a number of negative consequences. It represents a modality in which literal translation prevails, sometimes to the detriment of textual fluency; however, one of the positive aspects is that all language combinations require translations to be able to operate in international markets. This means that it is a specialization with a high demand for work.
Another leading specialization in translation is clearly medical or biosanitary translation. This specialization involves texts from studies and research, in addition to all kinds of descriptions of surgical procedures and the use of medical devices. It is a modality that is closely interrelated with other specialties: sometimes intertwined with legal translation to create texts related to a patient’s consent for a clinical intervention, while other times intertwined with advertising translation to promote a groundbreaking new medical product in different markets, and even sometimes intertwined with technical translation to provide comprehensive descriptions of medical devices in order to market them, meeting all the necessary standards. For this reason, it is another major field in which rigor and precise terminology are essential, and the fact that the translator has knowledge pertaining to the specific branches of medicine in which a translation project is framed is usually valued.
Nowadays, translation undeniably plays a central role in the technology industry. As we evolve, we continue to introduce new inventions into our society that allow us to lead a safer, more efficient and comfortable life. Of course, the life process from the idea of an invention to the product’s launch on the market involves a number of industrial processes that produce many materials that must be translated. To correctly localize them, translators will have to carry out major terminology documentation tasks, and sometimes create neologisms to name the proposed new realities and impart great consistency on each of the projects to achieve standardized terminology.
Finally, regarding a specialization that is less literal than the previous ones, we can highlight the existence of audiovisual translation, which allows us to localize movies and series and consumer goods today. This type of translation requires much more creative profiles that are able to interpret original meanings and reproduce them in the target language in a fun and attractive way, sometimes to generate the impression that they are new and original. For this translation, it is necessary to master technology, since it is usually used along with other computer programs that allow the translated text to be edited within the audiovisual sequence (e.g., subtitles or scripts for dubbing).
In fact, the translation industry conceals many different specializations that sometimes interconnect and give rise to the creation of hybrid profiles. The most important thing to ensure success is to analyze the clients’ needs and enhance our translation skills to put them at their service.
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