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Poll: How long have you been working as a translator? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How long have you been working as a translator?".
View the poll results »
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| Over 40 years | Feb 28, 2014 |
But I don't advertise it, as it wouldn't be good business for my clients to know how old I am.
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Tim Drayton 
Cyprus
Local time: 08:18
Turkish to English
+ ...
If you count periods of part-time as well as full-time work as a translator.
1996-1999: I occasionally did translation work and managed translation projects while a partner of a company whose main area of activity was not translation.
1999-2002: Full-time freelancer.
2002-2004: In employment, but did part-time translation work.
2004-present: Full-time freelancer
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Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:
But I don't advertise it, as it wouldn't be good business for my clients to know how old I am.
Hope they don't discover our little secret...
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Allison Wright (X)
Portugal
Local time: 06:18
| Child translator | Feb 28, 2014 |
Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:
But I don't advertise it, as it wouldn't be good business for my clients to know how old I am.
That's some milestone, Muriel!
It is a pity that society cares to ignore obvious competence (as in your case) and focus on age.
After 27 years working as a translator, I may have to start saying I was a child translator, but then that would remind me of my mother, who jokingly began to say she was "a child bride" on birthdays in middle age. This claim became ridiculous from a mathematical point of view at one point. She stopped saying it the year I (as the eldest of two) said, "Gosh, Mom, we're practically the same age!"
At I typed this, I looked down at my hands on the keyboard. My hands are a daily reminder of my mother - but fortunately for me, they are not my chief focus in life!
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Büke (X)
Germany
Local time: 07:18
English to German
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İ kind of slid into translation...a friend asked me to sub for her for a while but then it got permanent:)
Now i am working for 8 years as a translator.
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Nilton Junior
Brazil
Local time: 06:18
Member (2009)
English to Portuguese
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I worked on my first translation project back in 2005, but I started considering myself as a "real" translator in early 2007.
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Don't you worry, Muriel, experience is an invaluable asset.
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Yaotl Altan
Mexico
Local time: 23:18
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
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Before 2000. I love this profession.
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| Experience and keeping up with the times | Feb 28, 2014 |
Allison Wright wrote: Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:
But I don't advertise it, as it wouldn't be good business for my clients to know how old I am. That's some milestone, Muriel! It is a pity that society cares to ignore obvious competence (as in your case) and focus on age.
In my case, not quite 40 years, but only about 10 years behind...
It's one thing to have 40 years of experience, but keeping up with the times and technology, and another to insist on doing things the same way you did when you started 40 years ago. I know a person who used to work as a translator. She was about 50 years old in the late 1990s and she insisted on continuing translating on a typewriter for her single remaining client, who was as closed-minded as she was. Obviously it did not last too long and her translation career came to an end much sooner than it would have if she had made the effort to learn about computers, because she actually was not such a bad translator.
Unfortunately, most people think that all older persons are like her and do not consider that experience is an extremely valuable asset. Whenever I need help with a project I prefer to hire someone with experience, regardless of his/her age.
Therefore, Muriel and Allison, let's keep the secret.
[Edited at 2014-02-28 16:46 GMT]
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Henry Hinds
United States
Local time: 23:18
English to Spanish
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In memoriam | Over 42 years | Feb 28, 2014 |
My age is no secret, I'm 73. And Muriel, it should be good business for your clients to know how old you are, age = wisdom. In our profession we must be life-long learners, and the longer the life, the more learned. Experience is everything.
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Kitty Brussaard
Netherlands
Local time: 07:18
Member (2009)
English to Dutch
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| The wise man (or woman) says... | Feb 28, 2014 |
The more I know, the more difficult it becomes to say that I know. Or the equivalent: The more I know, the less I understand
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I started translating in February of 2007. I did some minor sign language interpreting prior to that, but nothing worthy of mention.
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Mario Chavez (X)
Local time: 01:18
English to Spanish
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| How long I've been working as a translator? | Feb 28, 2014 |
In 2014, it'll be one more year.
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Idalia Martin
United States
Local time: 00:18
English to Spanish
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I think the question or the answer options should be reworded, or the answer could be misleading.
There's a huge difference between a person who has been translating occasionally for 25 years as a means for supplemental income and a person who has been translating full time for 25 years.
If people simply choose an option without clarifying (as some of you have done in this forum), the results of the survey will not be very useful.
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