In the modern world, it is impossible to live without communication. That is why translators do not lose their popularity, on the contrary, this profession is gaining new facets and sides, becoming more and more in demand. Now you can find such specialists in the field of IT technologies, software, in the entertainment industry and in many other places, in addition to traditional areas.

The activity of an interpreter directly depends on the direction and his experience. There are a number of distinct qualifications:

1. Linguist. Often a specialist of this profile can boast of in-depth knowledge of the structure of the language, while owning two or more at once. Many universities produce such professionals.
2. Technical translator. This is a specialist who independently (or forcedly) chose a very narrow profile area. For example, pharmacology, mechanical engineering. In his path, his knowledge is in demand, but in general topics he is not always good.
3. Business, business sphere. Legal, competent speech in foreign languages ​​is highly valued today.
4. Often, the industry of document translation is taken out separately from the previous paragraph.
5. Literary translation. Such specialists work with literature, magazines, personal correspondence.
6. Oral translation. Such specialists are in demand, as very high requirements are put forward for them. Not every person can perceive speech by ear and even translate it simultaneously.

Where to apply for a translator

It would seem that in order to become such a professional, you need to go where there will be at least something related to foreign languages. This is not entirely true, although there are really many options for applicants in Russia. You can get knowledge of the profession of a translator in the following specialties:

• translation and translation studies;
• linguistics of foreign languages;
• philology;
• international relationships;
• pedagogy of foreign languages;
• oriental studies.

But if there is a desire to be a translator and quickly find a job, then it is better to choose from the first three points.

What exams and in what form should I take for an English translator

Experts say that the best thing, if you want to get a profession in demand, is to strive to get into the department of English. This is due to the fact that it is the most common and versatile in the world. But if you feel that the soul lies in other languages, the algorithm is not much different.

To enroll as a linguist or translator, you need to take the following USE subjects:

• Russian language;
• English language;
• literature and history (optional);
• mathematics.

Please note that today the exams are held only in four foreign languages:

• English;
• French;
• Deutsch;
• Spanish.

Therefore, if your dream is to translate from Danish or Arabic, it is better to immediately check with the university what exams they offer. It is likely that instead of them you will still have to take general English. For Scandinavian languages, this is often German.

In addition, it is in a foreign language that the main decision on enrollment is made. It is quite logical that the requirements for mathematics or history are not too strict here. But if you translate the assessment into the usual five-point scale, then in many universities even “4” is not always a guarantee that you will pass on the budget.

Experts say that you need to prepare for admission at least a year before the exams. Knowledge of a foreign language must be impeccable, first of all it concerns grammar, vocabulary. At the exam, they check the perception of speech, its understanding, writing, reading.

Additional requirements and personal qualities

You should not go for a translator simply because it is now one of the most sought-after professions. Knowledge here is not easy, in the process of learning you will have to read a huge amount of literature, and not in your native language, learn or at least pass at a basic level many languages ​​​​and dialects that will not be useful in the future. In addition, a real translator, of course, must love his profession, because this is the only way to sit and work on one text for hours and days. The future specialist must have the following qualities:

• propensity for languages. Not every mind is capable of being flexible and receptive to someone else's speech;
• good memory and the desire to develop it. In linguistics and philology, a lot depends on the ability to quickly memorize large amounts of information;
• excellent diction. Especially important for interpreters. The slightest inaccuracy and you will be misunderstood;
• sociability. Working with languages, voluntarily and involuntarily, you have to communicate a lot with people;
• perseverance. A huge part of the time the translator sits and works on the text;
• self-discipline is directly related to the previous point, because organizing your time and forcing yourself to concentrate on the text can be difficult.

In this article, I will tell you where it is better to study the profession of a translator - in state universities or in courses. Or maybe there are some other options?

I myself graduated from the translation department of NSLU, and then I also created my own courses for translators. So I have a completely objective idea of ​​the pros and cons of both options.

And let's start with the classic option - training as an interpreter in universities.

Training as an interpreter at a state university

I must confess to you honestly - now the profession of an interpreter has changed a lot. Earlier, in Soviet times, it was a purely military profession. That is why girls were not taken to the translation faculties to study.

That is, there 100% of the students were guys. And now it's the other way around. If you go to any perfak, you will see that 98% of the students there are girls. Now a translator is a person who sits at a computer and translates instructions and legal documents. No romance =)

Another interesting entry point is that after graduating from the Faculty of Translation, only 5-7% of graduates work as translators. The rest do something - they teach English, open their own business, retrain as dentists.

This happens because the training program at the translation faculties is very outdated. They mostly continue to write translations by hand in notebooks. There are still very old teaching materials.

Disadvantages of public education

When I studied at the perfak, we did technical translation from magazines from the 60s. But these materials were approved "from above", and the entire curriculum was built on them.

The next disadvantage of formal training is that you are not taught how to work with a computer. Today, a translator simply has to be very good at at least the Word program. But by default, it is believed that today everyone has a computer at home, and everyone can do something in the Word themselves.

But in fact, this is not enough. Creating a document, printing text there is not enough. You need to be able to format the text on the fly, draw up images in translation, and do all this without unnecessary characters, with a clean layout. 100% of graduates do not know how to do this. Because it is a separate professional discipline.

Why 95% of Translation Graduates Can't Find a Job

If we return to educational materials, then graduates of translation departments are very surprised when they find out what a translation assignment actually looks like. They get used to translating texts of 5-10 paragraphs, where everything is written in good English (or whatever?) Language.

And they have 2-3 days to translate this piece of text, so that they can analyze it long and hard in class together with the teacher.

In reality, everything is much tougher.

You are given 10 pages of terrible quality text. There in half of the places it is generally impossible to make out the text. And often there is no text as such. There are some drawings, and inside the drawings there are small icons with which it is not clear what to do.

And the worst thing is the words with which these texts are written. These words are simply not in any dictionary of the world. Or because this is a new industry and the terms arose only yesterday. Or because the author himself invented them. Or sealed up. Or a text was written in English by a person for whom English is not native, and he simply inserted the wrong words, because he does not know the correct ones.

And add here the fact that you only have a day to translate these 10 pages.

This is where 95% of graduates “merge”. Because their life did not prepare them for this. And I should have. And the remaining 5% merge when they find out what pennies they will be paid if they still cope with this text.

Let's be honest with ourselves. At the translation faculties today, unfortunately, they do not prepare for the profession of an interpreter. This is not just a problem for perfs. 95% of graduates across the country work outside their specialty for about the same reasons. But translation has its advantages.

What is actually taught in translation?

Speaking quite frankly, today only foreign languages ​​are taught at the translation faculties. This is not to be taken away. If you enroll in translation, in 3 years you will perfectly learn at least two foreign languages.

I still remember how we passed translation tests. First, we were forbidden to use dictionaries. Which is already strange, because the main skill of a translator is precisely the ability to use dictionaries.

Secondly, we had to translate dozens of terms from memory. Just single words. That is, we were taught not to translate, but to memorize the correct words. And it gave its results. We have learned a foreign language. But this has nothing to do with the profession of a translator.

Why do people go to public universities

Perhaps you, my dear reader, are now at that tender age when it seems that you have to study at a university in order to get a diploma, and then a job. But here I will disappoint you. A translation diploma will never give you any job.

You will come to get a job as an interpreter - and you will be asked for work experience, not a diploma. In general, after graduation, I got my diploma only two or three times. I needed this in order to be a translator at a notary.

But if I didn’t have a diploma, I could have passed with a school certificate. I tell you this in all seriousness. I personally brought our Ukrainian, Uzbek and other translators to the notary, who had only a school certificate, where it was written that they studied Russian at school. And that was enough for the notary to agree to certify their translator's signature.

All this, of course, is sad, but there are also positive aspects.

"Career" of graduates of translation faculties

One of these moments is that the majority of perf students are not going to work as translators at all =)

As I wrote above, the main contingent at translation faculties today are girls. And they come for translation with a very clear goal - to learn a foreign language, marry a foreigner and go abroad.

And it's not funny, it was on such a "career ladder" that so many girls went, who studied with me in the same stream.

What are the Words, document formatting and notarized translation of documents. They now work in France as sellers, in America as sellers, again in France as waiters ...

If you are consciously or subconsciously striving for this, then it is better for the translation faculty to come up with nothing. Problems begin if you suddenly, for no reason at all, really want to work as a translator.

Practical training courses for translators

When I just graduated from the Faculty of Translation, I had a problem that I could not translate. Then I learned by working in a translation agency for a penny. After some time, I opened my own translation agency. And then the next problem arose - the translators did not know how to translate.

That is, the same yesterday's graduates came to us to get a job, as I myself was a few years ago. And they made the same mistakes. And one day I got tired of explaining the same thing to every translator.

Then I just took and wrote instructions - how and what to translate, in what situation. Separately, instructions - how to work with the Word, how - with personal documents. Etc.

After that, I could simply give instructions to a new translator, and he immediately, and not three years later, began to work quite sanely.

I was delighted with the first success and began to gradually supplement my instructions. As a result, it grew first to 100 pages, then to 300, and then almost to 1000. And there were analyzed all the translation situations in great detail.

It turned out to be a real course of practical (rather than theoretical) training of a translator. I remember I was still surprised - why no one before me had guessed to do such a course. After all, beginners mastered it literally in 2-3 months, and immediately began to earn “in an adult way”.

Otherwise, they had to learn everything from their own experience for several years. And all this time - to live "on bread and water", because no one pays good rates to beginners.

Now I strongly recommend my course to all novice translators, which I called “Work! Translator". You can read more about this course.

Now let's make a small conclusion.

Conclusion

The question of where to study the profession of a translator is not an easy one. The answer depends on what you actually want to get. Learn a foreign language and try to "blame" - you're on a perfak. And if you really want to make money with translations, then you will have to learn this on your own.

And here are two options. The first is to learn by doing while working in a translation agency. The second is to take our course, where years of experience are packaged into step-by-step training. Personally, I went the first way. I mean, I taught myself. Simply because there were no such courses as before.

I had to plow for a penny for several years. And, unfortunately, few people endure such a life. And if you would also like to shorten your path from "beginner" to "pro" - use our course as a springboard.

See you later!

Your Dmitry Novoselov

What do translators study and where do they work?

Competitions for faculties of foreign languages ​​sometimes amount to 10 or more people per place, many strive to become translators. In 2007, the competition for the translation department of the Russian State Humanitarian University was 11 people per place, at Moscow State University - 10 people, at the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages ​​and the Moscow Linguistic University - a little less.

Applicants are waiting for interesting and not the most stressful years of study and a good company - a cheerful contingent gathers at the linguistic faculties. But what awaits them after graduation? Most likely, students will even learn a foreign language well, but no matter how fluently a person speaks a foreign language, no matter how long he lives in a language environment, this does not mean at all that he can be translator. Just like not everyone who can write is a writer. It is not enough just to correctly understand information in a foreign language - you need to be able to process it and present it in another language.

"English translator I dreamed of working at school," says Tatyana, a sophomore of the Moscow Linguistic University. "I have not yet decided on my future profession, but I think that knowledge of foreign languages ​​(and most English) will make me in demand on the labor market, "says Alena, a student of the Dubna University near Moscow. Both Tatyana and Alena chose English language because it was taught in school. However, if the girls talked to experienced recruiters, they might be disappointed.

"Demand translators from European languages in Moscow it is falling, and in the provinces it has always been low,” explains Mikhail Levshin, CEO of Brightmen Recruiters recruitment agency. - Rare languages ​​are in demand, and young professionals with knowledge English or French there are many times more jobs on the labor market than there are vacancies." "We have orders for translators, but usually companies are looking for specialists with work experience," adds Olga Chervyakova, the territorial director of the Kelly Services recruitment company.

Difficulties translators

It is clear that different types translation require different abilities and temperament. Interpreter must be able to collect himself: his task is to convey information as fully and immediately as possible. It is unlikely that he has the opportunity to rummage through dictionaries, consult with experts. Qualities required interpreter, - resourcefulness, the ability to overcome gaps in their knowledge with the help of common sense and general erudition. Plus artistry, the ability to transform into a speaker, without which it is difficult to convey all the information to the audience.

If a simultaneous interpreters abilities are often affected consecutive interpreters store in memory a five-minute fragment from the speaker's speech in order to later present this fragment in another language, then the ability simultaneous interpreters speaking at the same time as the presenter obviously intimidates everyone else.

Still considered the highest caste simultaneous interpreters- people who are able to translate on the go. In Moscow, such specialists are paid 100,000 rubles a month or more. Their services are required at international conferences and government events. This is the pinnacle of a career. translator, which units are able to climb.

On the other hand, one should not expect a miracle interpreter equally qualitatively translate oral negotiations, and then in the same breath perform written translation. It is also not easy to be a master in written translations. But equally good to do translations of literary texts and technical instructions is an almost impossible task. Qualified technical translators most often specialize in one fairly narrow area. Declarations like "Doing technical, legal, economic, medical translations, as well as any other texts" cause distrust among professionals: it is extremely doubtful that such interpreter can really do a good job.

Good ones technical translators at best, they can count on a salary of 50 thousand rubles a month. Some demand for these specialists is created by oil and gas companies, but there are only a few such vacancies. Besides technical translators must know the industry vocabulary very well - the transition to work in a company in another industry is very difficult. Even if a non-specialist, due to common sense and a good knowledge of grammar, understands a completely new situation for himself, then, without knowing the necessary terminology, he will not be able to convey his understanding to a specialist reader. And the consequences of this can be the most deplorable. After all, if "hard disk" with translation from English to call instead of "hard" "hard disk", then this will only cause a smile, but if in an algebraic article we translate from English"prime ring" with the words "primary ring" - and not "primary", then this will make the statement of the theorem incorrect, since there is also a "primary ring", but corresponds to English"primary ring".

Legal translators required legal companies and legal departments of large companies. Recently, Kelly Services had a vacancy for such a specialist. The requirements for knowledge of terms are even higher here, lawyers always need one hundred percent accurate translation. Salary - the same 50,000 per month, vacancies rarely appear, and they will hire an experienced worker rather than a graduate.

Most often, graduates have to do written translations- as a rule, these are single orders. Similar work exists in publishing houses and in any companies that have foreign partners. The initial salary of such specialists in Moscow, if there is a permanent place for them in the state, is 15 thousand rubles - not much by the standards of the capital.

Where to transfer?

There are two professions in which a certified interpreter has the best chance. The opportunity for girls is to become an assistant to the head of the enterprise if he has to deal with foreigners. An option for young people is to get a job as a sales representative.

Igor, a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages, knowledge languages(English, French, Spanish) allowed to work as a sales representative in Russia of foreign clothing brands. Igor is looking for buyers in our country, concludes contracts and organizes deliveries.

Although in modern business, a university specialty often does not play a big role in employment. There would be a head on his shoulders and energy - a career can be made in almost any field. For example, the Moscow Linguistic Institute was once graduated from the co-owner of the Promsvyazcapital holding, billionaire Alexei Ananyev, and the managing director of Kit-Finance, Leonid Bershidsky. Yes, and the leader of the LDPR party Vladimir Zhirinovsky is a graduate of the Institute of Oriental Languages ​​at Moscow State University.

On this page you will find more than 30 institutes of foreign languages ​​and faculties of foreign languages ​​in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia and neighboring countries. This will allow you to choose the language university that is most conveniently located and offers exactly the profile of language education that you need.

As for ratings and preferences, it is still considered that the highest level of language teaching and translation is at the Moscow State Linguistic University (former Maurice Thorez Moscow State Linguistic University - Moskovsky Inyaz). Indeed, the Inyazov traditions and methods remain. But the teaching staff has changed a lot over the past 40 years. Teaching at a university, even in such a seemingly elite one as the Moscow State Linguistic University, has ceased to be prestigious and profitable at all.

Not to mention the fact that the former Inyaz itself has turned in the post-Soviet era from a fairly compact target university into a kind of all-encompassing monster, where they teach everything, not just languages ​​(the status of a "university" obliges). Such omnivorousness and universalism have both their pluses and minuses.

As for the level of education of specific students, it is "as lucky." Much will depend on the composition of teachers (and the turnover is now very high: it doesn’t happen year after year). And we should not forget that when teaching languages ​​and translation, 70-80% depends on the student himself: on his efforts, on how much time and effort he spends on mastering the language.

Foreign language and translation are applied disciplines. No knowledge of theory will save here. You either know the language or you don't. Therefore, the final criterion for the level of language knowledge acquired at the university will be practice. Even the best language knowledge obtained in the best specialized university will disappear in a year or two if they are not consolidated in practice. Yuri Novikov

BELGOROD

Belgorod State National Research University
Faculty of Foreign Languages

YEKATERINBURG

Ural State Pedagogical University (USPU)

IZHEVSK

Izhevsk State University

IRKUTSK

ISLU - Irkutsk State Linguistic University
ISLU official website (islu.ru)

KIROV

KIIA - Kirov Institute of Foreign Languages, Kirov (formerly Vyatka) - founded in 1998

KRASNOYARSK

LIPETSK

LGPU - Lipetsk State Pedagogical University
Faculty of Foreign Languages

NOVOSIBIRSK

NSPU - Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University

OMSK

JIFL - Omsk Institute of Foreign Languages

(1989, ifl.ru)
Specialties and areas of study at the Institute of Foreign Languages: translation and translation studies, qualification Linguist, translator. Linguistics, academic degree Bachelor. English, German, Spanish. Full-time day and evening forms of education. Second higher professional education. Additional professional education. Foreign language courses, Russian language center, faculty of additional professional education, school of translation, translator in the field of business communication, school of referent translators.

In the parable of the Tower of Babel, God, wanting to punish people for their pride, forced them to speak in different languages. And this parable is not only about the fact that pride is a bad quality, but also about how important it is to understand each other. The question of mutual understanding has arisen especially acutely in recent times. And here translators come to our aid - people who know foreign languages ​​and work to make peoples understand and respect each other.

In the parable of the Tower of Babel, God, wanting to punish people for their pride, forced them to speak in different languages. And this parable is not only about the fact that pride is a bad quality, but also about how important it is to understand each other. The issue of mutual understanding has arisen especially acutely recently, when we began to feel acutely that people who speak different languages ​​are getting closer and closer to each other every day. And here we come to the rescue translators- people who know foreign languages ​​and work so that peoples begin to understand and respect each other.

Of course, in order to understand the meaning of what was said or written by a foreign colleague or friend, you can use the appropriate dictionary or electronic translator. But with its help it is impossible to capture all the nuances and details of a text or story, which in the end can carry very valuable information. After all, a professional "live" translator conveys not just a literal translation of a set of phrases, but also the specifics of the translated text, taking into account the peculiarities of a foreign language.

It seems to you that there is nothing difficult in translator's work No, and just learning one or two foreign languages ​​is enough? Wrong! In the professional activity of an interpreter, there is a huge number of specific features, due to which this profession is available only to a limited number of people who demonstrate curiosity, linguistic abilities and the desire to constantly work on the "purity" of speech. Want to know more about these features? Then read this article carefully.

Who is a translator?

An interpreter is a highly qualified specialist whose main task is to provide a high-quality and maximally complete written or oral translation of speech from one language into another.

The name of the profession is a tracing paper (literal translation) of the Latin translatio - to transfer something, to transfer something. In other words, representatives profession translator conveys the meaning of what is said in a foreign language. In Russia, translators were called interpreters (interpreter is a Slavic word, akin to the word “interpret”, “interpret”). This profession arose at a time when people realized that they speak different languages, but they need to communicate. Most likely, this was the period of the early states, when it became obvious that contacts without an interpreter were impossible.

Today there are three main types of profession: technical translator, translator of fiction and simultaneous interpreter. Note that a technical translator does not deal exclusively with texts of a technical nature. This title rather reflects the essence of the work, rather than the content. Most often, this is an employee of a translation agency dealing with texts of various kinds.

A translator of fiction has a higher qualification. It is not an easy task to convey the style and figurative structure of the author of literary texts, and such translators themselves must have artistic talent. Among such people there are also great translators, for example, Tatyana Schepkina-Kupernik or Mikhail Lozinsky, who opened Shakespeare and Hugo, Dumas and Schiller for the Russian reader.

Finally, simultaneous interpreter is a person who translates oral speech online. It is generally accepted that only a highly qualified interpreter can become a simultaneous interpreter. Why? Yes, because the simultaneous interpreter must not only know a foreign language perfectly, but also have a good reaction, speak his native language at a very high level, and also have the makings of a diplomat. After all, he has to perform very quickly not only accurate, but also the most diplomatic translation. That is why there are quite a few simultaneous interpreters, and their work is paid very high.

But if we discard the lyrics, and formulate a generalized list of professional duties of an interpreter, then it will look like this: written translation of documents and literature, interpretation (including simultaneous translation), accompaniment of foreign citizens, unification of terms, improvement of definitions and concepts according to the subject, etc.

What personal qualities should a translator have?

The professional qualities of a translator are determined by his activities. And above all, the translator must have an excellent memory, constantly expanding the stock of foreign words and knowledge of the language. For example, in the rich and beautiful Chinese language there are about 84 thousand hieroglyphs, 30 thousand in common use, and 10 thousand the most necessary ones. It is quite natural that a person who does not have a good memory will simply not be able to remember such a volume of information. Besides, professional translator must possess such personal qualities as:

• Analytical mind;
• patience;
• accuracy;
• responsibility;
• sociability;
• stress tolerance;
• attentiveness;
• literate and clear speech (both written and oral);
• neatness and external attractiveness (not required, but welcomed).

The specialization of the translator also imposes certain requirements on the specialist. For example, the translation of fiction is inconceivable without a "sense of the word", an understanding that the word is the same tool for the writer as paint is for the artist or notes for the musician. It is also necessary to have an excellent sense of style, an impeccable command of Russian and an understanding of art. In turn, reaction, diplomacy, and the ability to quickly respond to emergency situations are important for a simultaneous interpreter. Knowledge of the basics of psychology is also important for such a translator.

Benefits of being a translator

Translators have a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the whole world, with a variety of cultures, with the traditions and customs of states through the language. This possibility infinitely expands the possibilities of a person in cognition can be called one of the main advantages of the translation profession. One of the main ones, but not the only one.

Since the profession of an interpreter is an intellectual one that develops the mind, memory and attention of a person, specialists in this field are almost always distinguished by their erudition, which allows them to feel some superiority over other people.

The specifics of the "interpreter's" work is such that people with disabilities can be translators. Moreover, the latest advances in science and technology allow interpreting (including simultaneous) without leaving home (for example, using the free Skype software).

And most importantly, the work of a translator, as a rule, is highly paid (according to statistics, the average monthly salary of a translator in Russia is about 50-60 thousand rubles). Moreover, a good translator is cherished and cherished, because the success of negotiations, speeches and communication at various levels depends on his efforts and knowledge of the language.

Of course, the level of salary largely depends on the qualifications of the specialist and the language that he speaks. In particular, translators of rare or complex languages ​​(for example, Japanese or Chinese), as well as specialists who studied the language not only in the university curriculum, but also lived among native speakers (that is, are familiar with the peculiarities of and the nuances of the language firsthand).

Disadvantages of the Translator Profession

Disadvantages of the Translator Profession are associated with a high degree of employment and an irregular work schedule. This is especially true for simultaneous interpreters, whose working day entirely depends on the working hours of the parties who need the services of such a specialist. Simultaneous services may be needed both late at night and on weekends/holidays.

Despite the high level of payment, it is not always possible for a translator to immediately receive the money earned by his honest work. Quite often, the client makes the payment in a few days. It should also be taken into account that on the professional path of translators sometimes there are unscrupulous clients who may not pay at all for the services rendered to them (mostly freelance translators face similar situations).

High psychological stress from the awareness of one's own responsibility (after all, multimillion-dollar contracts and good-neighborly relations of states sometimes depend on the quality of translation), as well as the constant need to quickly respond during simultaneous translation can cause enormous fatigue and stress. That is why the professional disease of translators is considered to be "chronic fatigue".

Where can you get a job as a translator?

If you have shown pronounced linguistic abilities since childhood, or have lived in another country for a long time, then you can start working in the profession after completing language courses. However get a job as an interpreter high class with great career prospects is possible only after graduating from a prestigious university. At the same time, it is desirable not only to obtain a diploma from a Russian university, but also to provide for the possibility of postgraduate practice abroad.

To the best linguistic universities of Russia whose graduates are in demand on the modern labor market not only among domestic companies, but also among enterprises with foreign news, can be attributed to:

• Moscow State University M.V. Lomonosov;
• Peoples' Friendship University of Russia;
• Russian State University for the Humanities:
• Moscow State Institute of International Relations;
• Moscow State Linguistic University.