Top 3 Habits of Excellent Translators

Are you a language learner or you love to study new languages, then this is a career you can do whenever, you travel abroad. This language career is called “Translation”. So who is a “Translator”?   

Translators are people who convert written materials from one language into another. They must have excellent writing and analytical ability. Also, they need good editing skills because the documents that they translate must be as flawless as possible. This means translators need to do a lot in order to improve their language skills.  

Below are top three (3) habits that translators need to take to improve their language and career skills. 

Habit 1 - 
Read broadly, especially in the Non-Native Language(s)This is to encourage all translators, language students to read broadly in the non-native language. This helps as they get to learn and know a lot of technical words and sentences. So the following 4 things must be done to achieve the above:  

• Read high quality newspapers EVERYDAY for at least a year; (e.g. the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Daily Graphic or a Major National Newspaper (in your country), and others). 

• Read high quality news magazines e.g. the Economist from cover to cover; really know the material in all working languages, the Scientific American, and other technical magazines.  

• Read your favorite topics in your non-native language(s) e.g. dating, cooking, politics and others. 

• Read other well-written material that will help broaden your vocabulary base and general knowledge of the language.  

Habit 2 - 

Listen to radio news and Watch the TV news in all working Languages.

This is another step very necessary as it helps the professional or student to listen to how words are pronounced and how the natives themselves speak the language.

Some few tips to do to achieve step 2.

• Do not just listen to news stories; analyze and try to discuss with a friend in the target language.


• Know current events and issues in the non-native languages.


• Really know the material in both native and non-native languages.


• Tape the interviews so you can listen to them later, this helps to hear the pronunciation and to analyze the situation very well. 

Habit 3 - 
Strengthen your general knowledge of economics, history, the law, international politics, and scientific concepts and principles in that order.

This means reading a lot of documents on the various topics and in various fields, it helps you to learn, know and increase your vocabulary and knowledge base.  

Again some few tips to consider:

• In order to meet this goal, the student or professional need to take college-level courses, review high school texts and other materials.   

• Also, it will be a good idea to strengthen your knowledge in a specialized field, (preferably in a technical field, like international business, climate change or computers).

Conclusion

I hope these top 3 habits assist you to become an excellent student in translation or expert translator in your chosen career – translation.

Do not forget you can begin practicing your translation skills by applying to this translation job agency where you can do translation jobs to get paid and improve your language skills. So what are you waiting for, just sign up for a minimal fee and get started to earn some income while still studying. 

In another article we will discuss other ways of continuously improving our language skills and giving off our best to our employers and clients.

Towards a successful translation career,

Peace.