Notes on translation:
Translating is to do with dealing with someone else’s work. Whether it is borrowed or stolen. You must respect the source text when translating to the target text. This requires constant moral responsibility and not letting your ego or suggestions lead onto changing things to be ‘better’ than the original text. A piece of work’s value comes in its original form. Not from a translated one. Your job as a translator is to be invisible.
Translation involves a high ethical responsibility, you must be meticulous, a little obsessive-compulsive and have the right attitude to work. It requires intense concentration for long periods of time and attention to the very tiniest of details. You have to care about the details and make reasonable decisions when doing work.
The most important thing is knowing what you know and what you don’t know. If you realise what you don’t know, you can seek the information, but if you don’t know what you don’t know, then it’s near impossible to even question it. Apart from knowing vocabulary and definitions, it’s important to understand the grammar of a language - how things are spoken and written in reality. You need to have an understanding of nuances and subtle changes in syntax and grammar and how that can alter meaning. Otherwise, misinterpretation may occur.
Speaking multiple languages doesn’t make you a good translator any more than being able to see multiple colors makes you a good painter. Translation is an art. It takes talent, attitude, education and practice. Though most theorists agree that it’s best to be a native speaker of the language you’re translating into. It’s important to be able to ask the right questions.
Try to have advisors of the language you translate to who are native. If you have mentors/advisors, be wise, respectful and kind when you approach and work with them. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has things they’ve got the wrong idea about or just don’t know about.
Paraphrased ten-point list of ways to prepare to become a translation or interpreting student:
Read extensively in your native language and in the language(s) you translate from.
Pay attention to the news in all your working languages.
Take steps to make yourself a more knowledgeable and well-rounded person.
Spend time abroad.
Develop your writing, research, analysis, and (for interpreters) public speaking skills.
Get computer savvy.
Don’t stay up for days at a time and live on junk food.
Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Ten ways to become a great translator:
Get good at both source language and target language.
Use the language: read, write, study, research, speak and listen to it. A study or interest in linguistics also assists in speeding up the process of picking up language.