Thoughts on Translation Service Competences

I am very interested in becoming a translator since I find translation to be a fascinating field. In all honesty, I had no idea that so many skills were required to be a translator; the skills that I consider necessary are all listed, but there's an astonishing amount of competences that I wasn't aware of.

In my opinion, the 7 most important skills that a translator should have are:

1. "Knowing how to self-evaluate (questioning one's habits; being open to innovations; being concerned with quality; being ready to adapt to new situations/conditions) and take responsibility."

Being aware of one's flaws and weaknesses is very important, since it allows the person to work on them in order to improve as a person and a professional; nothing good ever comes by staying in the same old ways, there has to be room for improvement.

2. "Knowing how to reread and revise a translation (mastering techniques and strategies for rereading and revision)"

Once we finish translating a document is crucial to go over it several time in order to spot and correct whichever mistakes were made. For many years I took this step lightly and did little to no review at all, nowadays I have a better understanding of how dangerous that can be, which is why I invest plenty of time in reviewing.

PD: A great way to spot mistakes is by copying your translation in Google Translate and hitting the speaker button, the machine will read out loud your text, and you will be able to hear what sounds correct and what makes no sense at all.

3. "Knowing how to use effectively and rapidly and to integrate various software to assist in correction, translation, terminology, layout, documentary research (for example text processing, spelling and grammar checking, the internet, translation memory, terminology database, voice recognition software)"

With the rise of technology, many tools have being developed in order to assist translators, whether we talk about CAT tools or online dictionaries, being able to master these resources will massively improve the quality of our work.

4. "Knowing how to recognise function and meaning in language variations (social, geographical, historical, stylistic)"

Recognizing language variations is extremely important while translating; in Spanish, for example, being able to identify the different variations is essential, a simple word such as "papaya" can have an extensive array of meanings, for most Latin American countries, a papaya is a fruit, though if you say papaya in Venezuela, people might be confused, the word you are looking for in this scenario is lechosa, and be very careful in Cuba or Nicaragua, since papaya refers to women's sexual organs.

5. "Knowing how to describe and evaluate one's problems with comprehension and define strategies for resolving those problems"

Having vast knowledge in several languages means nothing if you can't start translating because you don't know how to convert a PDF file into a Word file, or how to duplicate a very complex format, or how to look for a term, expression or concept that you ignore. Knowing how to approach a problem, and being humble enough to ask for help when you need it are important tools that will take you very far.

6. "Mastering the archiving of one's own documents"

Being organized is one of my biggest flaws, perhaps that's why I understand its high degree of importance; knowing how to archive your documents will spare you plenty of headaches and heart attacks, but very much like translating, organizing is a skill that takes time and practice, so if you struggle like I do, do yourself a favor and start now!

7. "Knowing how to grasp the presuppositions, the implicit, allusions, stereotypes and 'between-the-lines' nature of a document"

Which is very important if we are translating a literary piece such as a novels or stories; authors such as Hemingway wrote very deep stories that seemed to convey a simple message, but in reality it had many messages that could only be understood if read a couple of times in depth. It is mandatory that translators submerge themselves in a text in order to see its true and several messages.

All competences, regardless of the group they belong to, are very important. After reading this list, I realize that I have a long way to go, but not as long as I had to who three years ago; overall, I consider that I am quite good at using technological resources to my advantage, I know how to use CAT tools and I know how to research and look for terms that I ignore and lately I have become better at reviewing as well.

If I had to choose, I would say that by best competences are my Technology Competences, and my Production and Textual dimensions. However, I definitely need to work on my my Interpersonal dimension - since it's tough for me to work with other people - and my Research Competences.