3 SKILLS TO MASTER FOR SUCCESS IN TRANSLATION BUSINESS?
Updated: Jul 10, 2022
Three top skills that will help you to build a successful career in translation and localisation for the next decade and keep the head above water.
What Do Pros Say?
Two years ago at the Translating Europe conference in Brussels, participants identified skills one should develop to be successful in the translation and localisation industry.
Here they go:
digital skills,
postediting, and
transcreation.
The poll results clearly reflect the status quo in the l10n and are true for freelance business, LSP or internationalisation departments of a company alike.
Digital Skills
We need develop digital skills to understand the basic principals of the programs we work with to be able to master new SW in no time. Contemporary instruments are becoming more and more easy to use while providing an unprecedented batch of features and interconnectivity options. The more tools we use, the faster we acquire competency, the more competitive power we get.
Postediting
We have to reckon the fact that machine translation is here and forever. Now we need to learn how to make the most profit of it. Back-end experts take care of fine-tuning neural networks, and we, the frontline word warriors, need to learn how to polish MT results efficiently. Postediting will shape the future of the industry for the next years and mastering it is vital.
Transcreation
As for creativity, this skill importance can hardly be overestimated. And it's not only about being able to reproduce sharp and unique marketing texts in your language. I would zoom it out and say that creative skills, in general, are something that will make you stand out and help firmly establish in the modern localisation world.
If you manage to get to grips with these skills at any level as an addition to your linguistic skills and self-promotion abilities, you can be sure to have a steady income for the years to come as a freelancer or employee.
