Long story short, I currently work as a translator during my free time and the pay is good.

But after spending the month of September translating up to 30+ Chinese projects, I find myself questioning my standards of English.

Do you guys ever encounter such situations when you suddenly experience a sudden decline in your standards of English?

And what do you do to ensure that your it doesn't decline any further?

nice, my friend translator, they have problem looking for job

I am currently doing freelance translation for mostly English-Malay projects for various international clients. Personal experience, I don't think my proefficiency for any language has deteriorate rather with more than 50++ projects/jobs, both languages are enhanced, especially for Malay.

It is quite impossible for your proefficiency in the language to decline if you say you are working on projects on a constant basis. (Unless all your projects are just based on translation of certificates etc, simple formal official languages).

I would suggest read more books, articles in English. So many books are available out there.

Truth be told, I am working on my projects on a continuous basis. I don't get breaks in between partly because my deadlines are quite tight, and at the same time, I don't want my work to accummulate too much.

Going back to the consistency of my English, I notice that the quality of my translation work is still very much on par, but my grammar pool has definitely shrunk a bit, since I have set range of vocabs to work with, and rather than using flairful language, I'd have to use simple English instead, since I'll have to take consistency and viewer readability in to account.

https://www.worldofbuzz.com/12-times-malays...ogle-translate/

TS is that you?


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HAHAHA. NO, but I saw something even funnier than that.

sos

https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/4669421/all

perhaps u will need to blance it out by reading novels or the proper english articles when u hv the free time to breakfree fr the translation works

I am assuming you are hired by a 'shell' translation company then? In a sense, these companies do not have their own in-house translators but rather they sub the job to people like you and me? If that is the case, yes, the deadline is very tight because these companies hire you to the messy ground work and then ask another 'reliable' proof-reader to proof-read your work.

Are you translating articles? If yes, which field? I do tonnes of technical translations, mainly for mobile apps and websites. So I would say I am familiar with most of the technical terms and hence, my Malay vocab in the field of translation is extremely vast.

Maybe its just that you are doing too much in a short span of time? When you are worn out, your abilities might decline a bit. But it's temporary.

Probably would advise to take more short breaks to help. Even for 15 mins. Just my 2 cents

Out of topic : May I ask TS where to start to get translator job? Can I get it part time freelance?

Haven't heard of a shell translation company, but these guys do have their own dedicated team of translators, but outsource most of their work to freelancers to keep the staff cost minimal. I'm lucky the company I'm tied to turned out to be decent, they pay well for most parts and I get to do something I like, which is language. Oh, and I don't translate for articles. My translation work is probably for mass viewers .

It is, I find my vocabs coming back these days. But pretty soon, I'll have to deal with a bulk of project in a short period of time again :'(.

I got mine through job portals. You could try your luck with major job portals like jobstreet, or you can go internationally for freelance translation. Although I find that international standards are much more strict and certain websites bar your application solely based on the fact that you lack the necessary skillsets, or you have minimal skillsets. If you've got good translation skills, consider applying for international based translation work, they pay so much better and the rates are in USD.

This post has been edited by MerryGoRound^2: Oct 11 2018, 08:07 PM

That explains the deteroriation in language. I did a stint for viral websites before. The pay was ridiculously low and the content, even written in English, is utter bullsh*t. Hence there is no surprise if you are doing something similar, your level of languages will deteroriate.

Hmm... I won't say its a bad translation job la. But I have limited words to work with in a line, i.e. only x numbers of letters on a line, so that means whatever I translate must be simple, short and concise. The tricky part comes when I have to deal with beautified sentences, translating that from one language in to English can be a challenge because certain phrases in said language may not exist in English.

I see...Thank you for the info!

What are some major local/international companies in the translating field? Also what is the standard pay rate? Can it be a full time career or would you say it's more suitable as a side gig?

What are some reliable companies that you would suggest, if you don't mind me asking? I came upon Linguo Go in JobStreet and was tempted to apply for the vacancy, but there are many complaints in reddit claiming that they exploit their employees and are generally dodgy. Is this usual for shell companies?