Following her degree in French and Hispanic Studies, Nikki White is now a freelance translator. She works for many different clients, through agencies and also private companies, and is based in Barcelona but work with clients from all over the world.
The Careers and Employability Service got in touch to ask her some questions about her experience and any advice she would give to students looking to pursue a similar career path.
How did you find out about your current position?
First, I completed a master’s degree in translation and interpretation (following my first degree at Aberdeen), with specialised modules in legal, healthcare and administrative translation. Then, I did an internship as a translator at a hospital in Terrassa, Barcelona. From this internship I managed to get a job as an in-house translator for a well-known translation company, learning how to work with specific clients/instructions/terminology, as well as learning the ropes in marketing, medical and pharmaceutical translation. In this company I worked my way up from a junior to senior internal linguist. Following that, I worked for a short period both in a company as a creative translator/copywriter as well as a freelancer, and now I work 100% of the time as a freelance translator.
What kind of skills and experience did you bring to the position?
1) Pharmaceutical knowledge (from extra courses in medical and pharmaceutical translation as well as my time as an in-house translator);
2) Knowledge of official European terminology regulations for medical and pharmaceutical translation (also from my time as an in-house translator);
3) Time management (deadlines are extremely tight in the translation industry and you have to be able to provide good quality and fast);
4) Flexibility (it is important to be able to switch and change between projects as priorities change);
5) Colloquial language skills, very much needed when taking on creative projects;
6) Positivity (the translation field is not an easy one to get into and succeed in, but you can make it!)
What advice would you give to students thinking about employment in your field?
I would advise students to pick another field alongside languages to specialise in, such as law, pharma, medicine, engineering, computing. These are the types of translation that pay well, and you need to know what you’re talking about. I have learnt (and am still learning) to specialise in medical and pharmaceutical translation through courses and otherwise, but it would have been so much easier if I had studied an extra speciality whilst at university.
I would also advise students to study non-European languages or minority languages whilst they have the time. Competition is high for European languages into English, because that is what everybody studies, but if you can do Swahili into English, or Thai into English and can do it well, you will come up against far less competition.
Learn your own grammar. It is so important to master the grammar of your own native language. There will be no end of times a client will ask you, “why?” on a decision you have made (and suggest changes that are quite often ridiculous), and you have to be able to defend your decision. What really helped me here was teaching English as a foreign language. I learnt so much! Could you explain to a client in grammatical terms why you wrote “a seven-year-old girl” and not “a seven-years-old girl” when they are insisting the latter is correct?
Run spell checks! It is amazing how many spelling mistakes you make without realising it, even as a professional in the industry. I cannot count the amount of times I have read CVs for potential candidates that have spelling mistakes in them, which of course, when applying for a job as a translator, boils down to an immediate “no”.
Keep learning and keep on top of current affairs in all your language pairs. As a translator (and interpreter), don’t let your passion for languages die out, constant learning is key!
What advice would you give to current students moving from university to working life?
1) Perseverance. University gives you the foundations for the working world, but there is so much more to learn. You cannot expect to go in at the top, you will start from the bottom, but if you’re willing to keep learning and persevere, you’ll be fine! What worked for me was a specialised master’s and an internship, but everybody’s path is different;
2) Network. If you are interested in translation, join as many LinkedIn and Facebook groups as you can;
3) Research. Do your research on the industry/company before taking on any job. For translation, research the current rates, translation is notorious for being underpaid due to the amount of people who do it as a side job and the lack of understanding of the profession. If you undercut the market because you are inexperienced or “need the money”, you are damaging the rates both for other translators and your future, more-experienced self. If you stick to your rates, and know you are worth it, you will get regular work, but this also brings us back to point 1.
Any additional comments?
Contact me via LinkedIn if you need any advice about becoming a professional translator.
