Tuning in to technology

How do you navigate the specific technology that you'll need to set up as a translator and what are the benefits it can bring? Emily Ruston investigates.

Securing your first professional job in the field you are passionate about is a stress that almost all university finalists know all too well. For those of us who are graduating in translation studies with the aim of setting up as freelancers, it can feel quite overwhelming at times: we’re  going to have to hone our translation skills, navigate client  relations, and create those all-important business links…As a soon-to-be graduate from a translation MA programme, I was particularly interested in how this works for graduates like me, who haven’t come from  a previous industry or don’t have prior translation experience, and so don’t have a natural route to specialism.

This is particularly so when it comes to technology. We may be the ‘digital generation’ but we still need to know what is going to be required. With a lot of talk in the media and within translation studies literature about the ways technology is changing the industry, I found myself curious about how this would impact – and potentially help – graduates looking to set up their careers as freelancers. From seemingly limitless bilingual and monolingual dictionaries and a wealth of subject knowledge at the tip of your fingers online, to more specialist translation tools, or to networking and marketing opportunities, technology can provide powerful support for graduates…but where do you start?

For me, this was the million-dollar question, and so during my MA studies I decided to look deeper into what I felt was a relevant and under-researched topic within translation studies. As someone launching my own career in the language industry, I find it fascinating to learn how technology can both help and hinder my journey. My research into the
area won the 2023-24 Association of Programmes in Translation and Interpreting Studies (APTIS) award for Greater Learning Gains.

From long-standing support to new innovations

Most MA programmes focus heavily on CAT tools, ensuring students are familiar with working with tools like translation memories (TMs) and termbases. After starting work in the industry, they play a central role in the freelancer’s toolkit. But it is still useful to consider their uses in practice at this stage.

CAT tools serve a range of purposes, all of which potentially help increase your efficiency and improve the quality of your work: essentially, they consult the database of your previous translations for a match to a term you’re working on at the moment. The problem for a fresh graduate is that you’re unlikely to have this broad bank of previous translations to harness. One option that’s been suggested is to do some work (even if you are mainly working freelance) with translation agencies, which typically have large TMs and termbases from which freelancers can benefit as they begin building up their own resources.

Of course, most CAT tools also offer a variety of quality assurance (QA) functions such as, among others, number and tag checkers, or filters for different punctuation styles, as well as spellcheckers. Newbies don’t need any previous translation work experience to benefit from these, and they can be a huge boon in ensuring quality of translation.
I recall one of my own university lecturers saying that he had always been astonished by linguists delivering work without even running a spellcheck on it first.

For diligent graduates who understand the various functions of the CAT tool and who have the patience to run QA checks and to build up their TMs and termbases, CAT tools thus represent a long- term solution to ensuring quality and increasing speed of translation. Obviously, they are by no means essential, and
many translators may prefer not to work with them, but they do offer advantages, particularly in the long term, for graduates looking to establish themselves in the industry.

Learning and working with artificial intelligence

Needless to say, it would be impossible to have any conversation about technology in the translation industry without giving thought to large language models (LLMs) and generative AI. In fact, I feel that this is something that MA programmes are very good at teaching. Certainly, during my own MA studies, there was a consistent focus on creative ways to use LLMs and GenAI such as ChatGPT to our advantage.

Instead of fearing the incursion of machine translation (MT) on their job prospects, graduates are taught to be confident working with the technology, and to communicate with (prospective and existing) clients to explain when it may and may not be useful or appropriate to use automated solutions. In this way, new entrants to the industry can exploit this technology and their knowledge of it to gain credibility and build relationships with clients, as well as leverage the technology itself where appropriate in their work. 

Networking through tech too

A slightly less obvious area where technology can support us is in networking and forging connections – which is essential for anyone trying to establish themselves in this particular industry. There are plenty of online forums where translators can ask questions about absolutely anything – from how to perform a certain task in a specific CAT tool, to understanding others’ experiences with certain clients or agencies, or discussing appropriate translations in a job.

These online forums help build a real sense of community, which is especially important for an industry in which many freelancers tend to work from home in a fairly solitary environment. In my opinion, this is particularly important for new graduates, as the thought of entering an industry without any support might be discouragingly daunting. Being a freelancer is not like working in-house, where you can ask your more experienced colleagues if you are unsure about something, and so it is essential that new freelancers feel they are a part of a supportive industry where they can get advice and support.

To this end, a boom in the availability of online video conferencing technology has seen the number of webinars and. remote networking events increase drastically. These are a great way for translators to meet like-minded professionals, seek advice and guidance, and learn from each other – and again, I’d argue that this is even more important for new translators, who don’t necessarily have a strong network from whom to gain this guidance.

The internet has also made it even easier to join and take part in the work of professional institutions such as ITI. It has enabled those organisations to share training and guidance materials – articles, webinars and so on – as well as to offer an easily accessible directory for prospective clients across the world, and various networking
events. (If you haven’t taken a full look around the ITI website yet, do so now!) Specialist translators’ networking sites like ProZ and Translators Cafe have also made it easier to market translation services, and LinkedIn can be a place to make new connections, both with other translators and potential clients.

There’s a real range of opportunities available to make professional connections and for new translators to gain work. It’s possible to have clients across the world, as well as to collaborate with other translators, working together to make translation decisions, or to revise each other’s work.

Costs and benefits: but on balance it’s worth it

Of course, nothing is without drawbacks. As far as technology is concerned, one of the main factors recent graduates have to consider is cost. Accessing the various technologies, programs and software can quickly become expensive. From purchasing licences for CAT tools, to subscriptions for professional dictionaries, and so on, setting up as a freelancer requires some not insignificant investment. For recent MA graduates, who don’t necessarily have an alternative income source, this cost can be quite prohibitive. However, with a bit of patience and planning, it seems that the investment is worth it and the benefits ultimately outweigh the costs.

Finally, remember that technology is not the be-all and end- all of a new freelancer’s career or indeed their skills. Even if we can’t afford the full toolkit at the moment, we have other things that we can offer the market – especially those of us from varied backgrounds and with differing skills and interests. We can bring unique perspectives and enthusiasm to pursue fulfilling careers and offer tailored and specialised services across an evolving linguistic and technological landscape.

This article first appeared in the November-December 2024 edition of ITI Bulletin.

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