I hate to be a naysayer but this kid just looks too good to be true. I hope he’s not overstating his abilities because I’ve learned that such behavior inevitably leads to public embarrassment. The optimist in me wants to give him a chance though. Tim, you have made some very impressive videos. I’m excited to see what you will do next!

Language Liars

If you’ve ever sat in class and wondered when you would use what you were learning in real life, you’re not alone. It can sometimes be difficult to understand how certain subjects will translate into everyday living. Basic math? Yes. At some point you’ll shop and have to balance your budget. Trigonometry? Well, unless you plan to become an engineer or chemist, that particular skill will probably become a little rusty after high school.

But what about a foreign language? If you think you won’t need it because you never plan to live outside the United States, think again. More and more people all over the world, including in the U.S., are learning two and even three languages. As the world evolves to be truly multicultural, and multilingual, you need to be prepared. You also have to start thinking about college, and what you’d like to study once you get there. Take the right classes now, and you’ll be ahead of the game once you enter a university, and that includes foreign language classes. So how do you choose the right one? Here are some things to consider for popular languages taught in most high schools.

Spanish

Spanish is quickly becoming the key to success in the business world. According to the Association of Spanish Language Academies, ten percent of the global population will speak Spanish by 2050. The Association also speculates that the United States will become the largest Spanish-speaking country by that time. It’s not a far stretch considering that the U.S. currently boasts more Spanish-speaking residents than Spain.

Colleges are taking note, and encouraging students to pursue a course of study in Spanish because the Hispanic market in the United States is “now ranked as the third largest Latin American economy behind Brazil and Mexico.” If you want to get ahead in business, regardless of what kind of career you plan on pursuing, Spanish will give you a boost in the right direction.

French

The ultimate Romance language, French is known as the language of love. The Romance languages are a branch of languages derived from Vulgar Latin, which was the official language of ancient Rome. Romance languages include French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, as well as at least 20 more languages spoken around the world. Learning French can be fun, and will come in handy if you ever travel to France, Belgium, Canada, or a handful of other countries where French is commonly spoken.

It can also help bolster your understanding of Spanish, as their structures are very similar. On its own, though, it may not be the most helpful language to learn speaking from a business standpoint, unless you plan to work for a French company, or a company that has offices in a French-speaking country.

Latin

You may think Latin has no use whatsoever, and would be a waste of precious classroom time. True, few people out there are able—or willing—to hold a conversation in Latin. But Latin can be an important building block, depending on your aspirations. Because Latin is the foundation for Romance languages, taking it first can help you quickly build your vocabulary in any of those other languages.

If you have an interest in medicine, and think you may pursue a career in any related discipline, knowing Latin will help you learn and understand medical terminology much more quickly and thoroughly. To pursue medicine, it would also be helpful to learn Greek as many medical terms are also derived from that language.

Any Other Language

Most high schools offer Spanish, French, and Latin—and that’s it. If you’re fortunate enough to attend a school that has a broader language program, consider taking advantage of it. Learning Spanish is still your best bet when it comes to planning for the future. But taking one year of German, Russian, or Japanese won’t derail your college admission, or your retention of whatever other language you may take. In fact, it may help.

It may not seem likely, but although Germanic and Slavic languages are grouped differently from Romance languages, they still share some grammatical structure, as well as many cognates (words that sound alike in more than one language). In addition, taking a class in German, Russian, or whatever other language your school offers, may give you the opportunity to participate in an exchange program. A few weeks or months in Russia, Germany, Japan, or any country whose language you’re learning, is an experience like no other, and one you don’t want to pass up.

Before you sign up for just any language in high school, give it some thought. Consider what college you want to go to, and what their entrance requirements are. Also think about the career you want to pursue, and how a second language could help you. Taking those things into account will give your language class choice more meaning than just filling up an hour of your school day.

If you would like to get in touch with Ms. Taylor, she can be reached at the following email address: susanrctaylor at gmail.com

I hope you enjoy a conversation I had with a friend of mine who is also a language enthusiast. In this podcast, we talk about languages, language learning and fluency, among other things. Please let us know what you think.

English

Mandarin Chinese

Japanese

Please remember Ziad is new to making videos and is not a world traveler who get’s to speak his languages with natives everyday. I think we should all be encouraging to Ziad and see if he won’t make some more videos. Your thoughts and comments and encouragement are welcome.

Pay Your Dues

You need to spend LOTS of time reading, writing, speaking and listening in your languages. It is easier to do this abroad but not absolutely necessary. While your native language probably needs less work, don’t neglect it. People who are raised bilingually often have a false sense of confidence. I have never met a perfectly bilingual person. No matter who you are one of your languages will be significantly stronger than the other. Interpreters should focus on having easily understood accents and translators should focus on their reading and writing skills in both languages.

Translating and interpreting are skills so you will need to practice a lot before you get fast. University degrees are nice but are insufficient and not always necessary. Spending some time doing work for free or for a very cheap price is one way to get this practice. However you get it, you need to get it before you can expect to become good and start supporting yourself/family on being a full time translator/interpreter.

Stretch Yourself

You are probably better than you think. Push your limits! How else can you know where they are? You may surprise yourself on your first job. You may feel horrible about it. As you push yourself you will see how you need to improve. This is a simultaneously painful, exhilarating and necessary part of becoming a good language professional.

Specialize

Being fast and accurate is not enough. There is very little need for translating novels and interpreting for movie stars. Those jobs are nice but they are scarcer than jobs for pharmaceutical companies, cell phone companies, oil companies, etc. Specialized knowledge will set you apart from the incompetent and the amateurs. It will give you more regular and better paying work. It also may be totally necessary if you have a language pair that is common or not needed much.

Network

Websites like Proz and Translators’ Café are a good place to start. You may also want to contact businesses directly and try to undercut the agencies. Whatever you do, you are going to need to do it a lot. You are generally going to need a lot of clients to keep yourself a float. Remember, turning away work is a better problem than not having enough.

Treat Your Clients’ Trust as Sacred

Few people are as trusted as interpreters and translators. Whatever the job is do it as well as you can. If you don’t know what is going on or you need time to look up a term, ask a question to clarify or look up the word. While you may look less competent than you would like it is better than making things up when you don’t really understand. This trust extends itself to your relationship with translation agencies. If you have been hired to represent an agency do not give the client your business card and tell them to call you directly next time. Cheating your clients will earn you more money in the short run but will kill your career in the long run. Nothing will hurt your career as badly as a former client saying to a present one, Who do you have translating your Thai? I’d stay away from her. I’ve worked with her and she can’t be trusted. Conversely, no advertising is as effective as a present client saying something like this to a potential client, You need a Portuguese interpreter? Oh, I have someone great who takes care of that for me. Let me get you his contact information.

How Is Translation Different from Interpretation?

Translators are expected to be very exact and thorough. They usually get paid per word. The faster they can translate, the more money they can make. This means that the more time you spend on a translation, looking up words and editing, the less money you make. Consequently, more and more translators are becoming specialized in only one or two fields. Many find it boring but it is efficient and profitable. They are also buying more and more software like TRADOS. TRADOS, and other programs like it, remember the way a person has translated in the past and automatically translates similar or identical texts. This can cut down on translation time considerably.

How Is Interpretation Different from Translation?

Interpreters usually have almost no time think so they are given more leniency than translators.  Interpreters get paid in a variety of ways: per hour, per day, per half day, etc. There are two main types of interpreting: consecutive and simultaneous. I had a professor who called consecutive interpreting “ping-pong” interpreting. The client says a sentence or two and waits for the interpreter to repeat the information in the target language before speaking again. Simultaneous interpreting is usually done with an interpreter sitting in another room watching and listening to the speaker through a TV and earphones. The interpreter then repeats what is said in the target language into a microphone so certain listeners (usually in the meeting room with the speaker) can listen to the speech while wearing earphones. The term “simultaneous” is a bit of a misnomer because it is usually impossible. To interpret simultaneously you would have to be able to read the speaker’s mind to know what she was going to say to be able to say it right when she said it.

How Are Interpretation and Translation Similar?

The obvious answer is that they both act as a bridge between languages. Apart from that, they both require regular learning. You need to keep up with the times and know how to say things like smart phone, IP address and other such words. That is in addition to keeping up with the terms of the industries which you work in. Medical translators need to keep up on new drugs and procedures and legal interpreters need to study up on new laws.

They are also similar because they are mostly freelancers. Fewer and fewer organizations hire people just to be translators and/or interpreters. They are expensive and not always needed for full time work. Translation and interpretation agencies are often the gatekeepers because translators and interpreters usually don’t know where to find regular work and the organizations that need them are clueless about hiring competent language professionals.

Their industries work in the same way: It’s either feast or famine. One month you may make $12,000 and next month you may make only $3,000. Some language professionals work around this by specializing in two or three areas. Another way around this is to find a niche so you are always in demand. How many good Japanese/Hindi translators are there who have a knowledge of computer programming?

The more specialized a language professional’s knowledge of a certain subject, or subjects, is the more he can charge. Then there is the issue of demand. For example, certain languages, like French and Spanish, have a high demand but also have a high supply (lots of people who know those languages plus another). Other languages, like Chinese and Arabic, have a high demand but disproportionately small number of translators and interpreters.

Free Tips
Before moving on to talk about working with languages as an academic, businessperson or technical professional, I’ll follow up soon with a post including tips for translators and interpreters.

Zoolander – Well I guess it all started the first time I went through the second grade. I caught my reflection in a spoon while I was eating my cereal, and I remember thinking “Wow, you’re ridiculously good looking, maybe you could do that for a career.”
Reporter – Do what for a career?
Zoolander – Be professionally good looking.

Have you ever asked yourself if you could study or speak languages for a career? If you are reading my blog then I am guessing that you have or that you already did to one extent or another. Did you or are you having difficulty figuring out the answer? The odds are good that you did or are. Part of this is due to the fact that you’ve asked yourself a question that leaves so much open. Over the past five years I have asked myself that question and made many observations of those who work with languages in one way or another. Some are successful and happy with their careers while others feel disappointed and sad.

Over the next few weeks – or months – I would like to share my perspective with those who are wondering if a language oriented career is for them and if so, which one? This will be done from a very American point of view but I still think that those of you from other countries will get plenty of food for thought. From where I am sitting, careers that involve language can be split up into two broad categories which can then be broken down into several subcategories.

The first category includes the traditional language careers: translating/interpreting, teaching/academia, and government. The second category consists of the hybrid language careers which can be broken down into business and tech. Hopefully I will start with these posts in the next few days. I hope you enjoy them.

There does seem to be some confusion about the fourth category: Exotic Languages. Exotic is a word that is often used to describe Rio de Janeiro. It’s a lovely, vibrant city that is unlike any other city in many ways. When Dr. Arguelles mentions exotic languages he is referring to the fact that they are unlike the languages of one’s back ground and/or culture. Rio may seem like an exotic place but the Portuguese language they speak there is anything but exotic if you speak a European language, like English.

Exotic languages have different grammar, few cognates (similar words like carro and car) and, usually, a different writing system. The cultures they come from should also be very different from one’s own culture. I smile when Mexican friends I have say that their culture is so very different from American culture. They should try spending some time with Koreans, Eastern Turks or Bushman Africans. They would then see that the Christian, Latin, Western background that we share actually makes us much more similar than they think. That similar cultural background leaves a big imprint in the languages of Europe. To break away from that and fill in the fourth spot in Dr. Arguelles’ list, you need to learn a language (and therefore a culture) that is completely unlike your own and that has a completely different background.

Something else that has surprised me about people’s reactions is the aversion to the first category: A classical language of one’s own culture. Is learning some Greek or Latin such a big waste of time for Americans, Russians, Spaniards and Dutch? Is studying Sanskrit not beneficial to the Indians and Pakistanis? I’m a bit hypocritical here, since I haven’t filled this category myself, but I see merit in studying these languages.