Coursework: Professional Development

CourseworkPortfolioProfessional Development

Intro

At the end of the Translation Studies course, you were given the option to pick out of a selection of modules (so there were four mandatory modules and two choice). The module I didn’t do was the extra theory module that was designed to prime students for a PhD which—despite the university’s urging—I had already decided I didn’t yet want to pursue, so I opted instead to start developing my professional portfolio.

In hindsight, it might have been better to spend two months translating in specialist fields that I wanted to work in and in that way, develop my portfolio properly and get a head start on building my actual employability (it is never too late to do so, I suppose).

That being said, this module was still beneficial because it introduced me to some of the pitfalls of the trade, allowed me to conduct some further industry research and gave me a whole bunch of tips and tricks that a lot of my peers seem to have developed through hard-won experience (in some ways, I feel like I’ve cheated). These mostly centred on an array of professional tools, communities that were available to me and self-marketing strategies which—by writing this in fact—I am definitely utilising.

In Theory

This particular piece of coursework speaks for itself. It sets out my professional goals and shows that I have a good understanding of how the industry works. Many of my short-term goals I have (a year later), already met—having used social media to make my presence known to the industry and making connections with both colleagues and vendor managers alike.

I also am a lot more present in both my current working language (German) and Japanese, which I am making efforts to master to a professional level, and I have created a website as a platform to develop my brand including a name that I trade under (Flying Serpent Translation) and a logo (thank you Rebecca Harrie!).

In Practice

At the same time, the challenges that I learned about through the module are—like with most things—a lot more difficult to tackle in reality than they are on a page. The application grind is distinctly frustrating and, most of all, boring.

Additionally, the lack of interest in my professional qualifications compared to a subject-relevant degree + experience is disheartening and I find myself in the frustrating position of not having enough business to then spend on additional courses, and not being able to get enough business without some kind of further professional development.

This doesn’t mean I’m going to suddenly throw in the towel; I will keep beating the dead horse—to use that lovely metaphor—but my appreciation of the industry is, a year later, a lot more grounded now than when studying the theory alone. It also comes with the realisation that if I did in fact gain the qualifications to make me the Number One German Translator Ever, it would open doors to other careers that would—and I hate to say this—be far more profitable.

And in a world where the value of translation and of human input is vastly underappreciated and misrepresented, losing skilled translators to what is ultimately artificially inflated competition that only benefits business owners and tech giants and not their customers can only be a detriment to the global languages industry as a whole.

Conclusion

This is one of my more coherent essays and if you are interested in some of the methods a freelance translator might use to build their professional career, it is worth reading. You can find the PDF here.

Image credit: moi