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Caitlynn
Student
Grundy Center, Iowa
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What are the requirements to get a degree in foreign language translator?
I'm thinking of going to college to become a translator and would like to know what I need to accomplish to do so.
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2 answers
Ron Jones
Solution Manager
8
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Birmingham, Alabama
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Ron’s Answer
Great choice. With translation, you would have to major in English and concentrate on whatever language you look forward translating. There are.optio.s for certifications I this field as well. Your college degree would put in better situations for the future in case you wanted to teach others.
Anna Traykova
Education, Advising and Consulting Professional
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Anna’s Answer
Caitlynn,
What type of translation work do you envision yourself doing? Are you looking to translate literary work, or professional publications? Are you looking to be a translator in the technical writing field or specialty field? Or maybe you want to be an interpreter? Do you already speak/read/write in foreign languages at a fluent level? Or are you looking to go to college to improve your foreign language skills first?
I am suggesting all of these questions as they can inform what major you may look into pursuing. I have worked as translator, interpreter and translation editor. I do not have a degree in translation or a particular language. Rather, I have a very broad interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary liberal arts education from selective and rigorous schools which allowed me to be a good researcher, a content expert in several fields, and a competent writer and communication facilitator. All of my high school and college education has been done in English, which is my foreign language - thus, I was able to develop fluency in my foreign language while exploring the subject matter of the different fields (topic areas) that I later on translated/interpreted in.
I hope these prompts are helpful in refining your question(s) and objective(s).
What type of translation work do you envision yourself doing? Are you looking to translate literary work, or professional publications? Are you looking to be a translator in the technical writing field or specialty field? Or maybe you want to be an interpreter? Do you already speak/read/write in foreign languages at a fluent level? Or are you looking to go to college to improve your foreign language skills first?
I am suggesting all of these questions as they can inform what major you may look into pursuing. I have worked as translator, interpreter and translation editor. I do not have a degree in translation or a particular language. Rather, I have a very broad interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary liberal arts education from selective and rigorous schools which allowed me to be a good researcher, a content expert in several fields, and a competent writer and communication facilitator. All of my high school and college education has been done in English, which is my foreign language - thus, I was able to develop fluency in my foreign language while exploring the subject matter of the different fields (topic areas) that I later on translated/interpreted in.
I hope these prompts are helpful in refining your question(s) and objective(s).
Anna,
I’m fluent in Spanish and hope to become an interpreter. I’m wanting to translate in a job field involving children since I’m very good with kids.
Caitlynn
I believe you will find this info helpful: https://collegegrad.com/careers/interpreters-and-translators
The one piece of advise I could give you is to make sure you study abroad for at least one semester, better if you do at least a year - if Spanish is your secondary language, you have many countries to choose from. The Spanish in Spain sounds very different from that in South America (where it is also different from country to country), so you may want to spice it up.
Anna Traykova
Also, Caitlynn, have you considered becoming an ESL teacher or a bilingual teacher - this would allow you to be involved with kids? As an interpreter, you could specialize in hospital interpreting and look to work in a pediatric ward or a children's hospital. Or you could look into translation of children's books and programming as well as products aimed at children - yet this will not have you be involved with kids directly.
Anna Traykova