Poll: Would/did you encourage your child(ren) to become a translator/interpreter? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Would/did you encourage your child(ren) to become a translator/interpreter?".
This poll was originally submitted by Victoria Batarchuk. View the poll results »
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 11:05
Spanish to English
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At one point, I thought it might be an option for my daughter, but no longer, as she currently works in the travel industry and is happy with her lot. The way things are heading nowadays with the upsurge in AI and increasingly efficient machine translation, from my point of view as an ageing translator, it seems like a race to the bottom in many aspects, so I wouldn't encourage or recommend it.
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When my children were young, I strongly encouraged them to become whatever they wanted and to be the best they could possibly be. My children are all grown-up now! I have three children: a lawyer, an interior architect turned restaurateur and... a translator (working in-house in the field of in vitro diagnostics).
| | | | Zuzana Novotná 
Czech Republic
Local time: 11:05
Member (2014)
English to Czech
I encourage my kids to do whatever they want, if it brings them joy. But I hope that at least one of them will be able to enjoy the independence that I have as a freelancer. And who knows what will translation business look like in some 10 year, they are just 6 and 8 now .
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| It's not what I signed up for | Oct 22, 2023 |
Luckily my son has found his own career - having grown up bilingual he is living in a third country and working hard at his fourth or fifth language, but is not a professional linguist. Too early to say what the next generation will do, but my grandchild hears four languages regularly and speaks two.
Translation is very different from the job I signed up for 25 years ago, so I am a little hesitant about recommending it to young people. Still, language professionals will be needed, a... See more Luckily my son has found his own career - having grown up bilingual he is living in a third country and working hard at his fourth or fifth language, but is not a professional linguist. Too early to say what the next generation will do, but my grandchild hears four languages regularly and speaks two.
Translation is very different from the job I signed up for 25 years ago, so I am a little hesitant about recommending it to young people. Still, language professionals will be needed, and I would not discourage them either, if they are prepared - and qualified - for PEMT and revising and editing texts written by non-native speakers. These tasks call for a very different approach from the kind of translation I do, but that seems to be the way the profession is going.
Interpreters will probably be needed too. I am hopeless at interpreting, but I really respect those who can do it! ▲ Collapse
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I would encourage my children to become translators/interpreters. Because translation and interpretation are wonderful professions. They give immense joy and satisfaction. The translators and interpreters could earn a lot of money. Only minus point is translators and interpreters have to work hard in order to achieve perfect translation and interpretation.
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 13:05
Member
English to Turkish
I'd force my son to be a professional footballer even if he has no aptitude for it. He can just sit on the bench and earn 100k a week (just like the extremely talentless former Fenerbahçe goalie is doing right now at Man Utd.)
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I strongly encouraged all my children to become astronauts but most have become marine biologists and about a dozen are chefs.
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Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 10:05
Serbian to English
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| Not specifically translating/interpreting | Oct 24, 2023 |
but anyone who has any early-age opportunity to develop bi(tri/..)lingualism should jump on it.
Mastering another language is far more valuable than a second university degree, and will give you a significant advantage in many professions. Never mind the hype about AI & MT & "easy free apps" & Co ...
[Edited at 2023-10-24 09:18 GMT]
| | | | S_G_C (X)
Romania
Local time: 12:05
English to Romanian
Knowing at least 3 foreign languages, yes.
Becoming a translator/interpreter, hell, no, not now and not ever.
I don't even recommend staying (in the country), wish I could simply open the door to the universe for her.
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