Thread: How do I decide to become a translator?

Well did u ever translate something?

This was the first question u should ask yourself....

Do u like to translate?

The answer is in you.... everybody has to find his own path....

Originally Posted by Pasionet

I am new here, of course, and had a question. I don't know where else to ask, or whom to ask, so I found this website, and hopefully it will help!

I am thinking about becoming a Spanish Translator, but am not 100% sure I know what a translator does. I'm not sure how to go about 'shadowing' one for a day to find out. Also, I am not sure if I can learn the entire Spanish language! I took some Spanish in school, years ago, and recently started college again. Anyways, I live on the US/ Mexico border, and I have always wanted to be able to speak the language even when I lived up north.

To learn a language is not the same than be a translator, maybe you could strat for learn Spanish...

I agree with Professor, first you need to know if you like to translate. If you do, then you need to have a full command adn knowledge of both languages, not only Spanish but also English. (Speaking English is not enough to translate from and into English.) If you want to pick a career in written translation, make sure you like computers, because you'll have to spend long hours in front of it.
Hope it helps!

Thank you very much for your responses. It definitely told me some things I did not know before.

Thank you again!
Wendy

you also need to know what for you like learning languages... you need to ask yourself if you like working with people or if you like more to work on your own...etc
Because you might like to be an interpreter too, that´s more an "out" and "interactive" profession while translating is more connected to yourself and the text you are working on...
do you get what I mean?