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Poll: Have you ever taught the language(s) you work in to others?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
May 7, 2014

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever taught the language(s) you work in to others?".

View the poll results »



 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 18:16
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
A classic way into the job May 7, 2014

1) You leave your native country and immerse yourself in another language
2) You retrain to teach your native language - it was one of the few jobs you could do without the local language, before the Internet
3) You help adult students patch up their English texts; correct exam papers
4) Once you speak the lingo OK, people ask you to translate things for them, unofficially, for a bottle of local wine
5) You see translation developing as a second income stream rather than
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1) You leave your native country and immerse yourself in another language
2) You retrain to teach your native language - it was one of the few jobs you could do without the local language, before the Internet
3) You help adult students patch up their English texts; correct exam papers
4) Once you speak the lingo OK, people ask you to translate things for them, unofficially, for a bottle of local wine
5) You see translation developing as a second income stream rather than a source of booze, so you get trained and official.

That's how it went for me. I carried on both jobs while I was in France but local rates here in Fuerteventura are abysmal: the norm is 7-15€/hr including planning, correcting, travelling (not that there's ever far to go), and that's before the high tax and social security charges. So I concentrate now on richer markets around the world.
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Tim Drayton
Tim Drayton  Identity Verified
Cyprus
Local time: 20:16
Turkish to English
+ ...
TEFL May 7, 2014

Yes, I have taught my native language of English to foreign learners, but not the foreign languages that I translate out of.

 
M. Anna Kańduła
M. Anna Kańduła  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:16
English to Polish
Yes May 7, 2014

I was a language teacher for a few years.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 18:16
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Only informally! May 7, 2014

I’m not a good teacher. Let’s say that I only like to teach students that want to learn and can focus. I tried to give French lessons to my teenage granddaughter and the experience was a struggle, to say the least...

 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 19:16
Member (2006)
German to English
No May 7, 2014

no

 
Yvonne Gallagher
Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 18:16
Member (2010)
French to English
+ ...
yes May 7, 2014

I taught English (lang. and Literature) and EFL , Spanish and French for many years and still do an hour here and there. I also work as an Oral examiner for the State Exam Board and mark English and French exam papers.

I loved teaching but it was getting increasingly difficult as class sizes got bigger with cutbacks. Teenagers also have less and less attention span so teachers are really challenged to get and maintain their attention becoming almost like performing monkeys... Trans
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I taught English (lang. and Literature) and EFL , Spanish and French for many years and still do an hour here and there. I also work as an Oral examiner for the State Exam Board and mark English and French exam papers.

I loved teaching but it was getting increasingly difficult as class sizes got bigger with cutbacks. Teenagers also have less and less attention span so teachers are really challenged to get and maintain their attention becoming almost like performing monkeys... Translating is easier!
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Marjolein Snippe
Marjolein Snippe  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 19:16
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
informally May 7, 2014

Teresa Borges wrote:

I only like to teach students that want to learn


Same here - although in those cases when students do want to learn, I really enjoy it.
I have taught formally, but no languages.
I have taught languages, but not formally.


 
Natalie Lyssova
Natalie Lyssova
Ukraine
Local time: 20:16
English to Ukrainian
+ ...
That's my first profession May 7, 2014

Actually a teacher of English and German is what I have written in my diploma. I taught these languages both formally at the secondary and high school and giving private lessons. But I prefer translations to teaching, that's why I don't teach since long.
Like Teresa, I only enjoy teaching those who are motivated or rather self-motivated to learn.


 
Georgia Morg (X)
Georgia Morg (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:16
Portuguese to English
Formally May 7, 2014

I taught EFL and EAP abroad, then EAP back in the UK at university level (along with study skills to native speakers). I got into translating not because it was better paid (it isn't, in my case) but because it was firstly, a new challenge, and secondly, more "portable" and flexible. I was over 50 when I stopped teaching and started translating.

 
Al Zaid
Al Zaid
United States
English to Spanish
+ ...
Formally May 7, 2014

Actually, I was an English teacher before working as a translator-interpreter. I didn't have any formal training in translation or interpretation, that came later. I taught English at a university to future English teachers. I've never taught Spanish, though.

 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 18:16
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Family as students - NEVER!!! May 7, 2014

Teresa Borges wrote:
I’m not a good teacher. Let’s say that I only like to teach students that want to learn and can focus. I tried to give French lessons to my teenage granddaughter and the experience was a struggle, to say the least...

I hope you're not basing your judgement on your experience with your grand-daughter. I had to pay to have my son coached for his IGCSE English exam, even though I've coached other expatriate kids for exactly the same exam. Teaching him was a catastrophe.


 
Alexandranow
Alexandranow  Identity Verified
Romania
Local time: 20:16
Romanian to English
+ ...
informally May 7, 2014

ProZ.com Staff wrote:

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever taught the language(s) you work in to others?".

View the poll results »



I have the right to work as high school teacher, but I thought was great working as a freelancer....bad idea. I had several pupils, some of them very happy of the results they get after our private sessions. I like to think I could be a good teacher.


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 19:16
Spanish to English
+ ...
Yes... May 7, 2014

I originally misread the poll question and answered "Yes, but only informally".

However, I actually taught EFL, mainly to adults, for several years in Spain before gradually drifting into translation, (pax Sheila, “people ask you to translate things for them”).
I also tried to find TEFL work back in Scotland for a while, but there was little demand and few opportunities close to home so after a stint teaching on a summer course in the south of England, I ended up moving
... See more
I originally misread the poll question and answered "Yes, but only informally".

However, I actually taught EFL, mainly to adults, for several years in Spain before gradually drifting into translation, (pax Sheila, “people ask you to translate things for them”).
I also tried to find TEFL work back in Scotland for a while, but there was little demand and few opportunities close to home so after a stint teaching on a summer course in the south of England, I ended up moving back to Spain definitively.
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Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 19:16
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
Yes May 7, 2014

I taught TEFL English in Paris for 5 years.

 
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Poll: Have you ever taught the language(s) you work in to others?






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