We’ve all heard that the secret to a happy life is when you’re working in a job that you really love doing, and then, of course, it’s not work! It’s certainly true that a combination of a passion for your job and the determination to succeed will ensure that not only will your professional life be successful, but you’ll lead a happy life and your rewards should definitely match your expectations.
Combining Passion and Discipline to Achieve Your Goals
People not involved in the translation industry may believe that, when you’re a translator or interpreter, there’s no passion involved of any kind, unless perhaps it’s the desire to succeed at everything you do. But, that’s not our reality. Most translators who are really good at what they do weren’t thinking of a translation job when they started their tertiary education. Most likely they were young people who had a general passion for literature, specifically language learning, and no doubt their informal education involved hour after hour of vocabulary and grammar studies, together with hours of reading original foreign literature. So, in addition to their formal language studies at University, they would also have acquired a different kind of knowledge of the languages they were studying - a ‘sensory’ knowing of their chosen languages.
When preparing for any future career involving foreign languages, a lot more than just university courses is required; which means that the moment you start self-educating yourself with home-study, the better! You’ll start making huge progress.
Language Careers Require Solid Foreign Language Preparation
If you’re considering pursuing a career in translation of creative writing, then you need solid foreign language preparation. Preparing for a career in language needs delving into several areas of language study. True professional translators have a love of language in general, and their general knowledge in addition to their language knowledge far exceeds that of a common individual – this is not only because they studied foreign languages at University, it’s also because, either as a hobby or as part of the conscious education process, their self-study was based on thorough reading practice.
Write it Down!
When you have a love for a foreign language it can perform miracles to those who desire more than to simply become fluent for academic purposes or daily conversation. If there’s something you’d love to write about and share with the world, then why not share it in your foreign language? Obviously, it’s going to be difficult, certainly a lot more difficult than writing in your mother tongue, but it won’t be impossible. And what an incredible exercise for your brain: to get your ideas down on paper and polish your sentences until you’ve achieved perfection!
