The world evolves very fast today and manages to change every now and then. Sometimes, this might happen so often that you don’t even notice how your life has changed completely over the course of only several weeks or months. The year 2020 managed to prove this statement to us especially vividly. It seems that the remote work and social distance have been a reality for many years while, in fact, less than 1 year has passed since the lockdown announcement. And as the remote work gave us much more time, we started thinking more about mobile work, meaning that now you can travel more without even taking a vacation.
Travel and Translation
Languages are very important in our lives as they help us form and communicate our thoughts as well as sort them out and organize properly. Being a very strong mediator between the languages, translation plays no smaller role in our communication. Despite the fact that the world has become so connected that more than half of the Earth’s population can talk regardless of distance using the internet, language barriers still exist and disrupt lots of processes, from business and politics to understanding our distant relatives and loved ones. This is one of the reasons translators are so much valued and demanded today. But what do translators actually do?
A translation job is not as boring as it might seem as it doesn’t always deal with the written text and various documents. In fact, working as a translator can be very fun. Some of the options that you can take to work as a translator or interpreter include:
- Speech interpreter and translator,
- Movie subtitle translator,
- Song translator,
- Video game translator and localization specialist.
And those are just a few choices you can take as a language specialist. At the same time, working with languages can earn you lots of money. You can read reviews at TranslationReport and see that most of the translators find themselves happy with what they’re paid. Additionally, various trusted resources provide that on average, a freelance translator working around 40 hours per week can earn as much as $60,000 with the salaries lying anywhere between $30,000 and $130,000 per year, depending on different factors, including the location, type of work, and the number of hours you work per week.
On top of all that, there’s another important benefit that also plays a practical role in translators’ work. And that is traveling. It’s certainly impossible to disagree that visiting different places in the world works well for the translators’ job. Here is just a couple of benefits that traveling gives to translators.
- You might learn new languages in their natural environment. As a practicing translator, you might need to not just learn the language but also learn its proper use. And the best way to do that is to learn it from the native speakers, which in turn can only be done by temporary living in their country.
- Immerse into new cultures. Somewhat similar to the previous point, immersing in the culture of your language gives you a better insight into the use of this language as well as its cultural framework. This way, you’ll be able to understand the works you translate better as you’ll look at them from the perspectives of their authors. At the same time, you can also improve your interpreting skills, as it’s also pretty fun.
- Change your own environment. This might help in resolving the feeling of being stuck and non-productive. You might feel stuck and not being able to work as productively simply because you’ve got tired of the sameness of everyday life, which might still be filled with the routine even despite your flexible schedule.
- New experiences and having fun. Traveling is fun, there’s no doubt. And having fun and experiencing new things is great and useful for any human being in order not to get bored with life and constantly learn, develop, and improve.
Yet, it’s still not exactly possible to answer whether translators travel much. Theoretically, traveling is not necessary for the translators as they can just stay in one place and work from home, either as freelancers or as full-time employees. But from a developmental standpoint, traveling is rather important for translators.
Work Hard, Rest Harder
Yes, work is a very important part of our lives as it brings us money and doesn’t let us stay in one place, thus, becoming stagnant and unproductive. Yet, the work alone cannot do us any good without a good rest. And one of the best ways to put things off for a while is a vacation, preferably somewhere abroad. While for most people, it might help to relax and have a good time, for translators, it might bring much more serious benefits along the way.
About the author: Specializing in writing about traveling, work, leisure, and modern lifestyle, Mark Blackwood tries to give you one little tip every day. By investigating each of his subjects, Mark manages to get the most important and the clearest points from them. As you join Mark on his adventures in knowledge, you might learn that you’re able to do that too.
