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“I think it’s important to pay close attention to new industry trends,” says Charlotte Busch, another Rising Translation Talent that we interviewed recently.
Charlotte is a second-year student of Spanish and English from Maastricht School of Translation and Interpreting in the Netherlands. She hasn’t yet chosen her specialization but she’s already excited at the prospect of localizing for gaming companies. During the next academic year, Charlotte is going to travel abroad for a 5-month internship that she believes will be a challenging but valuable experience for her translation future.
Do you think technology will replace translators or it will help them become more effective in their work?
I think technology will continue to evolve at a rapid pace, and eventually it will be able to understand and apply complex grammar. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that translation technology is necessarily a bad thing for translators. Certain programs, like Memsource, can be an asset and help lift the workload.
In areas such as law and medicine, a living and breathing translator will still be essential because accurate translations are absolutely crucial in those fields. In the case of literature, I don’t see any chance of translation technology ever replacing translators, because there are certain feelings in the original text you have to convey to the reader in your translation that technology cannot express.
Have you personally tried to translate a literary text?
I’ve never translated a literary text as an assignment or test since that’s unfortunately not part of my course, but I do like to translate difficult sentences to Dutch whenever I’m reading an English book. It can be quite challenging but also fun at the same time.
Do you think it’s important to stay up to date with industry trends?
I don’t think you always need to immediately adapt to new trends, but I do think it’s important to pay close attention to them, especially those that can make your job a little easier for you. Also, clients may ask you to use a new kind of technology and you really want to know what they are talking about.
Many people say that studying translation is not enough, one must also study something else to be able to specialize in a particular field. Do you agree?
I do agree, especially if you are a translator of a common language. There is quite a lot of competition in this field and clients will most likely choose a translator who is specialized over one who isn’t.
In the Netherlands, do universities prepare their translation students well for their upcoming careers?
I think my university does a pretty good job in preparing students for what awaits them. They offer mandatory courses in economics, mechanics, and law. They also introduce us to subtitling, localization and interpreting. I do have to admit that I think it would be a smart choice to offer a medical course as well.
What is going to be your specialization?
Before I can pick my specialization, I’ll have a mandatory internship abroad during the first 5 months of my third year. This is, without a doubt, going to be biggest challenge yet, but it’ll definitely be worth the experience. Nevertheless, I’m already leaning towards game localization.
Why would you like to translate for gaming companies?
I’m an avid gamer myself, so it would be amazing if I could combine this hobby with translating. I like to play all kinds of games, but I enjoy action-adventure, (J)RPGs, and open-world games the best. I have yet to localize my first game, but I’ll be doing my first localizing assignment very soon, so I’m very excited for that.
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