Seeking career advice: interpreter

[ncaraway]

My Taiwanese niece just graduated from university with a degree in German (she's also fluent in English). She is considering a career as an interpreter/translator (English/Chinese). To pursue this, she is planning to get a masters degree in interpreting. Before she and her family make the investment I suggested that she might want to talk to someone in the field to get some more insight. However, I don't know any interpreters/translators here in Taiwan. She's currently in Kaohsiung. If anyone has recommendations, please feel free to contact me.

Many thanks!

[tsukinodeynatsu]

Tell her to go up to Wenzao and talk to a few people there, because there are plenty of translators and interpreters coming out of there!

English/Chinese are a dime a dozen, I'd think she'd be more in demand with German, personally.

I don't know anybody working in it in Taiwan personally, but I know Sandman's wife is a professional translator/conference interpreter and ironlady is a professional translator. A chat to some people at Wenzao should put you in the right direction, anyway..

[Nuwanor]

Yes, German and Spanish are better choices than English.

[ironlady]

I'm a confernece interperter and did an MA in Conference Interpretation in Taiwan.

Chinese<>English conference work in Taiwan: market is saturated and has been since the mid-1990s. The schools are turning out more student candidates than there are job opportunities -- especially Shi-Da, which must take a minimum number of students each year (Fujen takes what it likes, or used to -- they've reorganized the whole thing and merged the Institute into another part of the university now.)

German might be better -- but unless she also translates, she is unlikely to find enough German<>Chinese interpreting work to keep going in Taiwan.

Seriously -- unless you really KNOW (like, in your bones KNOW) you MUST do languages, do something else and just enjoy or study them on the side.

[sandman]

Sure, my old lady does translation and lately, more and more interpreting. ALL her work -- and I really mean ALL of it -- comes from her connections built up over 15 years. She is very good indeed at her job and almost all her work now is "return business," with bookings through until 2015 or so. If she were to throw herself out there on the open job market today, though, she would happily admit she'd have NO chance of making anything even close to a living, let alone a decent one.

[tsukinodeynatsu]

Sure, my old lady does translation and lately, more and more interpreting. ALL her work -- and I really mean ALL of it -- comes from her connections built up over 15 years. She is very good indeed at her job and almost all her work now is "return business," with bookings through until 2015 or so. If she were to throw herself out there on the open job market today, though, she would happily admit she'd have NO chance of making anything even close to a living, let alone a decent one.

I think that's the main issue with translation. It's quite a closed market, people tend to stick with the people they know. If you're serious about it it needs to be an on-the-side gig for a while while you build up the connections!