Translation as a Profession (Benjamins Translation Library)

328 Translation as a Professioneryone now knows what the contents and methods should be, and those who donot should not really be attempting to set up courses at all.What we now know is that whatever their background, translators must(1) master their working languages perfectly (i.e. be able to understand theslightest detail and subtle shade of meaning of the material for translation andbe able to write clearly and fluently in the target language or languages), (2) beperfectly familiar with every kind of documentation, information retrieval anddata research technique, (3) be at home with terminology and phraseology miningand management (4) have at least a layman’s knowledge of a wide range of subjectsin the fields of science, technology, economics, etc., (5) master all the translationlocalisation(and revision) techniques, methods and procedures, (6) be totallyproficient in the use of all the equipment and software they are likely to comeacross in their professional environments, (7) be familiar with best professionalpractice and professional ethics, (8) have some knowledge of commercial andfinancial management, (9) have some experience of project management and(10) be able to communicate and interact efficiently and amiably with a varietyof people.Translator recruitment profiles (i.e. the sum of generic and specific skills andcompetences required) can easily be identified by:– looking up job offers,– analysing task outlines,– analysing the recruitment criteria defined by the future employers (in particularby translation agencies and companies looking for translators on theInternet),– analysing translators’ working environments – preferably by actually workingthere,– analysing the markets,– talking to translation service or company managers,– analysing reports by students just out of their internships (probably the mostfruitful resource in terms of impending market and technical/methodologicalchanges),– analysing market trends to anticipate any future changes, thus preparing tointroduce new course components or modify existing ones.A survey of job advertisements in the field of translation (over 120 advertisements,irrespective of country or language) carried out in 2005 as a follow-up to a 2002survey produced the following list of expectations on the part of employers (indecreasing order of priority):