My friends ask me all the time how life is as a translator and interpreter. I am sure most of our customers also wonder what we do in our offices all day. That is why I wanted to write about “A Day of a Translator” and on this blog post, I will tell you how I am spending a workday.
Translator Mornings
The moment I leave the bed, my day begins. Between my flat and office, I often listen to music and try to motivate myself for the upcoming day. Translation is all about concentration. We don’t have the luxury to make lots of mistakes. Because when you make a lot of mistakes it means, the person who is going to proofread your work will have to spend more time on the text. This is why translators work at another level of concentration. You know that when you rush things, you tend to make mistakes. When you don’t have this luxury, you simply educate your brain to work faster with style. Let me use this analogy to explain what is working fast with style; I have colleagues who wake up 15 minutes before they leave their house and manage to come to work with a perfect dress and makeup. I wake up an hour before I leave the house and I am still a couple of minutes late to work and all I wear is a t-shirt and jeans. As a translator, I have to plan and manage my time at work precisely. I work in sets of 45 minutes. 45 minutes of nothing-but-work then 15 minutes of active break. “Active break” is when I rest my mind but also keep functioning. Because translation is almost never the only duty I, also almost none of the translators, have. E-mails to respond, social media accounts to manage, meetings to plan and projects to manage… These are also my duties.
Lunch Time
We have a strict policy at Link Translations. We don’t discuss business during lunch breaks. Instead, we practice our second or third foreign languages. It is always a pleasure to learn something new about languages. A couple of days ago a colleague of mine was teaching me the ingredients in her sandwich in Chinese and I was telling her what my soup is made of in German. We also discuss how it is to be a Turkish translator in New York or a Korean interpreter in California. Anyway, enough about the lunch break, let’s get back to business.
Afternoons
After lunch breaks. I get to work as an editor. I either proofread other translators’ work and give feedback or prepare texts for other proofreaders. Proofreading is also a part of the work of a translator. Some translators make the mistake to deliver texts to the customer without proofreading. Proudly as Link Translations, we are not doing such a thing. I can honestly say everyone makes mistakes. This is why proofreading is a crucial part of the translation.
Summary
On an average workday, I spend at least 6-7 hours in front of my computer. Using various software including CAT (computer-assisted translation) tools, Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat, imaging tools, CRM tools. Because this is a requirement of my job. If you are working for one of the best translation and interpretation companies in the United States of America, you have to 1) love what you are doing and 2) improve yourself every day.
If you want to work with the best, do not hesitate to contact us and get a no-obligation quote from Link Translations.