What else can translators do?
What else can translators do?
People who are drawn to translation tend to have a multitude of transferable skills, and exploring opportunities in other areas can open up new avenues of interest and provide a more varied range of projects to work on, all while building experience and providing more ways of making money.?
In this article, we’ll list potential growth areas within the language and localisation industry itself before moving on to some opportunities that suit the transferable skills that translators have. We'll finish with some self-employed business tips for freelancers.
Given the unstoppable rise of online streaming platforms, the increasing prioritisation of video content by social media algorithms, and the growing proportion of online content which is now video-based, translation-related activities involving audiovisual content are very much having a moment in the sun, including closed captioning and subtitling for video content, and podcast translation. The combination of pandemic-related restrictions and people’s growing desire to upskill have also meant that translation for e-learning platforms is increasingly important, and indeed Forbes has predicted that this market will be worth $325 billion by 2025.
For the more fintech-minded, the emergence of cryptocurrencies has created opportunities in translating blockchain technology, while the increasingly borderless nature of online payment systems and other platforms means that SaaS (software as a service) localisation is experiencing an upsurge as brands such as Zoom tailor their services to international audiences.
Moving away from traditional translation services, linguists are likely to be good at related tasks such as reviewing translations produced by other people, and proofreading or editing monolingual texts. If you’re the kind of person that enjoys listening into other people’s conversations, then audio transcription (either monolingual or from one language into another) is also something that you might enjoy.?
If you have any kind of SEO knowledge then multilingual SEO is something that could be of interest, particularly if you work with languages other than English, since there is a significant disparity between the amount of online content available in English and the proportion of the world’s population that speaks English.
Content writing (for SEO purposes or otherwise) and social media marketing are also areas that translators are likely to succeed in, given their strong writing component, while translators’ natural eye for detail means that desktop publishing is a possibility you might like to explore, particularly if you can learn to use one of the key DTP software applications.??
Lastly, online tutoring, like e-learning, is increasingly commonplace, and there are a range of platforms that can be used to find work this way, so if you want to teach others while improving your understanding of your own language (or any other language that you are familiar enough with to teach), then this could be a really good opportunity.?
And now for some thoughts on how to best use your talents and stand out in a changing marketplace:?
These are just some suggestions for translators, but in a rapidly-changing marketplace there are no doubt many more, and we’d love to hear your take on this in the comments. In an ever-changing world, it’s always good to have something to fall back on, and we hope our ideas have inspired you to think more about the many opportunities that are suited to language people. Until the next time!?
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