Poll: Have you attended any course to strengthen your expertise after you started working as a translator? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you attended any course to strengthen your expertise after you started working as a translator?".
View the poll results »
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 10:15
Spanish to English
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Too busy working and acquiring experience hands-on.
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Lots of factory visits and product orientation sessions in customer showrooms or training centers.
I'm a technical translator.
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Isn't it a "closed" question?
Logically, either you attended a course to strengthen your expertise after you started working as a translator (yes, my reply), or you haven't attended any course to strengthen your expertise after you started working as a translator (answer No).
I can't see any middle way.
Philippe
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When I worked in-house, translators were actively encouraged to learn as many official EU languages as one could. I attended Swedish and Greek courses, but soon discovered that learning those languages was a real struggle, so I decided to turn my attention to Italian and to keep on perfecting my other 3 source languages: French, English and Spanish.
I also went to lots of translation related seminars, conferences, workshops and experts meetings on topical issues like Fighting Povert... See more When I worked in-house, translators were actively encouraged to learn as many official EU languages as one could. I attended Swedish and Greek courses, but soon discovered that learning those languages was a real struggle, so I decided to turn my attention to Italian and to keep on perfecting my other 3 source languages: French, English and Spanish.
I also went to lots of translation related seminars, conferences, workshops and experts meetings on topical issues like Fighting Poverty and Social Exclusion, Donor Coordination and Aid Effectiveness, EU Enlargement and Integration, Concrete Consequences of EU Membership, ACP-EU Economic Interest Groups, Cooperation between Regional and Local Governments and Civil Society Organizations, Double the Translation Challenge…
Since then, nothing! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Chavez (X) 
Local time: 04:15
English to Spanish
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| A yes-no poll, but… | Sep 4, 2015 |
…it reminds me of something that has been hovering over my thoughts about translator education.
Here in America there's this buzzword, training, that is being applied to anything that has to do with education. Especially translator and interpreter education.
Government agencies, state organizations, corporations, hospitals, colleges and universities, even translators associations talk more about training translators or interpreters than educating them.
... See more …it reminds me of something that has been hovering over my thoughts about translator education.
Here in America there's this buzzword, training, that is being applied to anything that has to do with education. Especially translator and interpreter education.
Government agencies, state organizations, corporations, hospitals, colleges and universities, even translators associations talk more about training translators or interpreters than educating them.
Sure, I have attended university classes and seminars, symposia, as well as long and short courses on a number of subjects. As an in-house translator, I have received education on appropriate company courses.
The word training as it is used here in America evokes in me the idea of a short period of time to hone a number of given skills to achieve a preconceived level of competence in a profession or trade.
For example, training for brazing (a form of welding) as part of a minimum set of skills could take as little as four classroom hours (reference: http://www.lucasmilhaupt.com/en-US/training/nate/).
Most college translation and interpreting certificates go for as long as 1 year.
My direct experience teaching technical translation courses for a highly recognized private university in New York has informed me that their individual courses (the final certificate requires the completion of several, with a few electives) go for as long as 10 weeks. In other words, ten in-class sessions. Each course costs about $700 (US dollars) to the student. It sounds like a bargain, right? Imagine yourself a beginner translator who wants to be, say, a medical translator. Well, this university has the $700 10-week course for you!
There are many ways to strengthen our expertise, whether we are translators or plumbers or dentists: practice, book reading, classroom study, formal and structured courses, etc. We pick and choose based on our economics and personal preferences, and peer pressure. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Marjolein Snippe
Netherlands
Local time: 10:15
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
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When I had a bit of time, I participated in a couple of MOOCs (massive open online courses) on Human Physiology and on vaccine trials. I enjoyed both and I do believe they were useful, to some extent, for a better understanding of some of the texts I translate. I did another one on statistical analysis but had to give it up halfway through due to time restraints. I am planning to do another one at some point, when I have a bit of time - some of them are given by excellent lecturers from good uni... See more When I had a bit of time, I participated in a couple of MOOCs (massive open online courses) on Human Physiology and on vaccine trials. I enjoyed both and I do believe they were useful, to some extent, for a better understanding of some of the texts I translate. I did another one on statistical analysis but had to give it up halfway through due to time restraints. I am planning to do another one at some point, when I have a bit of time - some of them are given by excellent lecturers from good universities. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Two-year Bachelor's Degree | Sep 4, 2015 |
Hi colleagues,
Over the next two years I will be attending a Bachelor's Degree in English with 20-year-olders.
Any tip on how I should behave with them, since I am a little put off?
Cheers to everyone!
Natalia
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Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 06:15
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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Philippe Etienne wrote:
Isn't it a "closed" question?
Logically, either you attended a course to strengthen your expertise after you started working as a translator (yes, my reply), or you haven't attended any course to strengthen your expertise after you started working as a translator (answer No).
I can't see any middle way.
Philippe
I have taken many courses that strengthened my expertise in many areas (a lot actually), however, none of them specifically in translation techniques, language, or the like. They were all in specific areas of Tech/engineering, Law/contracts/patents, and Business/finance. Yet, I can guarantee that these courses were a lot more profitable to my career than any course in translation, language, etc. would have been, as we can clearly see by the level of the translators specialized in translation/languages as compared to those specialized in the areas they translate.
| | | | Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 04:15
English to Spanish
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Natalia Pedrosa wrote:
Hi colleagues,
Over the next two years I will be attending a Bachelor's Degree in English with 20-year-olders.
Any tip on how I should behave with them, since I am a little put off?
Cheers to everyone!
Natalia
That depends, Natalia. Are you put off by age difference or by a perceived gap in experience or in serious attitude towards studying?
I would say, behave just like you always do.
| | | | | 20 year olds#2 | Sep 5, 2015 |
Mario Chavez wrote:
Natalia Pedrosa wrote:
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Any tips on how I should behave with them, since I am a little put off?
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Natalia
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I would say, behave just like you always do.
Yes, just be yourself and don't dumb down your language to their level. Lead by example. 
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