What Are The Qualities Of A Good Translator?

From whichever perspective you intend to observe this subject, either as a client or someone who is into the profession of translation, the fact is people only want to associate with those who know their onions. For anyone who intends to swim the waters of professional translation, what are those core things they ought to know to keep them at the top of their game?

For starters, you should know that high quality translation certainly means more than just being proficient at translating. The content below will be highlighting one or two criteria that determines a good translator.

Language Qualification

Good Christian translators are expected to possess a great deal of language skills. These sort of translators are not only good at using foreign languages, but they also know how to use it like their native counterparts – that is going to take some knowing. Right? You need to also understand how you can smoothly execute a translation task with respect to the cultural context. And while it is good for you to familiarize yourself with, and understand the source text perfectly, you should also be proficient at detecting all ambiguities, nuances and irony in the original piece, and you should be able to translate them accordingly.

Good Writing Skills

A no brainer should able to figure this one out! Translating a text can be pretty annoying when you lack decent writing skills to represent your thoughts in writing. The more skilled you are in writing, the easier it will be for you to coin your words in the course of your translation. Also, get in the habit of experimenting with a few words from your target language and try as much as you can to be less clumsy in your use of the language.

Area of Specialization

While what you get mostly these days are translators who claim to be proficient in every field you can think of, the most successful translators are those who major in a particular field. There are projects that require more than just surface knowledge to get it translated. If you decide to focus only on a particular field, the chances are that you would end up losing some of your clients. But sincerely speaking, you stand to benefit more from such a discipline later on. And moreover, the act of specializing in a particular niche is indicative of your expert knowledge in that field. This is what makes successful translator thick. So distinguish yourself today by sticking to the field you know you are most proficient at.

Learn New Things

The best translators never rest on their successes. They are always looking for something new to learn. If you seek to be like them, then you should always thirst for new knowledge. Try staying up to date with all the latest innovations and translation techniques that are trending in the field. The day you allow your colleagues to be miles ahead of you, is the day you succeed in making yourself irrelevant in the translation market.

You need more than just copying, reading and translating a text into its target language if you truly seek to be a successful translator. We run a service that parade the best of Christian translators.

Christian Lingua is relied on by ministries the world over for accurate Christian book translations into various other languages.