How To Get Into A Simultaneous Interpretation Career

A job in simultaneous interpretation can be a financially rewarding career. It may also be something that you can easily be hired for if you have the skills required. Very few people actually have the training fit for the job. However, in a world where national borders are being overcome with trade and diplomacy, the demand for people who can serve for such assignments has increased. Consequently, the high demand has also pulled up the salaries and benefits of a certified interpreter. What is needed, on the other hand, is the education and training which could land you in such a position.

Unlike other careers, the interpreter service requires a more specific training. If it is one being done simultaneously for a person speaking in another language, it can require you to be knowledgeable about the subject being discussed so that you can anticipate the next flow of words effectively. Of course, this cannot be done easily if you are just in your first few stints. However, the longer you are in the job and in the same field or subject for interpretation, and then your knowledge is improved to make you anticipate the person whom you are interpreting for. The following are some tips on how you can get such a career.

1. Make yourself bilingual, at least. The job certainly requires you to be fluent in one or more languages. You can do this by actually learning a second language in school or by enrolling in short courses offered online.
2. It is important that you master one subject aside from the language course. For example, if you wish to have a career in the United Nations by doing interpreting jobs, then you may need to learn about international diplomacy and global politics. This will prepare you to easily comprehend the topics for discussion and allow you to anticipate verbalizations as one of the conference interpreters.
3. Even before starting the job of interpreting simultaneously for a person, it would be good if you have enough experience in translation and interpretation first. This means that you may have a background of translating in writing first or in consecutive interpretation. These types of interpretation jobs may not be as real-time as simultaneous interpreting, but it hones you for it.
4. Do not expect to make big steps immediately. At first, you may just have to accept escort interpreter jobs at first for tourists. These may not pay well, but the training you get in speaking another language, as well as in handling people of different cultures, can be very advantageous for your career growth ahead.      

Apply for in-house translating or interpreting jobs as your early steps in your career such as that of Spanish medical translation. From there, you can then make further advances by getting into better opportunities. A career in simultaneous interpretation is indeed one that cannot be prepared for just by a college education. It is mostly through actual practice in the field. 


Source: http://www.howtodothings.com


For quality interpretation services, please visit www.lexcode.com.ph. It's Philippine office is located in Ayala Avenue, Makati.


"Let's Communicate!"                                                          

Three Principles in Fast-tracking Foreign Languages

Facility Principle

What you don't have to do is always easier than what you do have to do.

In other words, the less you have to think about in learning a language, the more rapidly you will learn it. And the fewer mistakes you will make. As I will demonstrate below, French has certain features and characteristics that make it dramatically easier than English. Take advantage of them.
Here is the second principle that can smooth your way.

Familiarity Principle

Familiar habits and patterns of thought are often hard to break.

Paradoxically, some of the aspects where another language is easier than English at first glance appear unfamiliar - and therefore falsely difficult. Although it may take you some time to accept them, once you begin to think in the language, you will rapidly come to appreciate them and enjoy their benefits.

Here is an anecdote to illustrate the point.

One time I was talking with a Dutch-speaking friend. He agreed that English is fundamentally simpler than his own language; nevertheless, he complained that he just couldn't get used to English's simpler sentence structure. In certain instances, Dutch grammar requires the order of the words in the sentence to reverse; this never happens in English. Objectively, then, English sentence structure should be easier than Dutch. But to him, not reversing the word order just didn't seem natural.

Here is a third principle you will find extremely useful.

Context Principle

By themselves, words and sentences have little meaning; often they can be understood only in relation to other words and sentences.

This is very reassuring. It means that even if you say something incorrectly, in general people will still understand you because of the context in which you say it. Likewise, even if people say something to you using unfamiliar grammar or vocabulary, in general you will still be able to understand them because of the context in which they say it.

In short, you don't have to approach perfection in a language in order to use it effectively.

By: Philip Yaffe (http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1295292)

World Languages Translation Inc.