Poll: Is specialization a "must" in the language industry? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Is specialization a "must" in the language industry?".
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| | | | Luca Adie
Germany
Local time: 21:52
German to English
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You'll get translators who are adamant about specialisation and others who don't care. Usually they have medical or legal degrees and charge excessive amounts (my opinion, c'est clair)
My own thought is that it is helpful, but not essential. If you are good at research and have people to ask, you will be able to produce a good text. I was trained in medical and legal translation, then went on to study fine arts, which has certainly helped me with texts in these fields, but I have al... See more You'll get translators who are adamant about specialisation and others who don't care. Usually they have medical or legal degrees and charge excessive amounts (my opinion, c'est clair)
My own thought is that it is helpful, but not essential. If you are good at research and have people to ask, you will be able to produce a good text. I was trained in medical and legal translation, then went on to study fine arts, which has certainly helped me with texts in these fields, but I have also translated texts on sausage manufacturing, beehive health and the geography of Paraguay...
What I think is more important is one's own ability to decide what NOT to translate and in my case that's technical and financial. ▲ Collapse
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I started out freelancing as a generalist translator, not at all focused within a specific area of specialization, but eager to learn as much as I could. Apart from tourism, economics and marketing, I acquired all my other skills and specializations along the way. This is what builds up to form what is generically called “experience”. I like diversity, but there are subject matters I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole. One has to be honest with oneself and with others, and choose to work wit... See more I started out freelancing as a generalist translator, not at all focused within a specific area of specialization, but eager to learn as much as I could. Apart from tourism, economics and marketing, I acquired all my other skills and specializations along the way. This is what builds up to form what is generically called “experience”. I like diversity, but there are subject matters I wouldn’t touch with a barge pole. One has to be honest with oneself and with others, and choose to work within one's own capabilities… ▲ Collapse
| | | | Luca Adie
Germany
Local time: 21:52
German to English
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| Another thought. | Jul 18, 2025 |
It's important to know when to ask for help - such as my recent terminology queries.
I'm not happy to admit that at the start of my career (20 years ago!), if I didn't understand a part of a text, or I thought the writer got befuddled, I would simply omit or correct it. Over the years I have learned not to be so brazen. Heehee.
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Novian Cahyadi (X) 
Local time: 02:52
Why should I? Even technical writers—whose work I translate—don't specialize.
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| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 21:52
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
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Being specialized in translation is definitely a must.
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It just makes things so much easier: as you focus on a specific field, you get more familiar with the terminology and have to spend less time for term-searching (completely awful when performing an MTPE task, because while the overall speed improves, they don't care that searching/checking a term for 30 minutes still takes 30 minutes); you know which databases and literature to use, which traps to avoid, and start accumulating glossaries and term bases, so you can produce higher quality work, qu... See more It just makes things so much easier: as you focus on a specific field, you get more familiar with the terminology and have to spend less time for term-searching (completely awful when performing an MTPE task, because while the overall speed improves, they don't care that searching/checking a term for 30 minutes still takes 30 minutes); you know which databases and literature to use, which traps to avoid, and start accumulating glossaries and term bases, so you can produce higher quality work, quicker.
But taking a minor task that is out of your field can be refreshing – new point of view, getting out of the routine, etc. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mario Chávez
United States
Local time: 15:52
English to Spanish
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| I wouldn't call it a must but a necessity | Jul 18, 2025 |
Competent translators, even the generalist ones, do proper research into any number of specialized fields, which require extensive and selective reading, writing to ask the right questions from industry or specialization experts (such as doctors, civil engineers, plastic mold technicians and the like), and mental discipline.
It is mental discipline that guides translators to accept assignments in their expert field, in a related field or in a new one, and to say no to assignments wh... See more Competent translators, even the generalist ones, do proper research into any number of specialized fields, which require extensive and selective reading, writing to ask the right questions from industry or specialization experts (such as doctors, civil engineers, plastic mold technicians and the like), and mental discipline.
It is mental discipline that guides translators to accept assignments in their expert field, in a related field or in a new one, and to say no to assignments whenever they lack the writing aptitude to compose confidently in a field they are unfamiliar with.
Specialization has little to do with specialized terminology, although this one is one important aspect in writing specialized translations. To specialize in, say, financial reports or accounting practices takes familiarity in how experts in finance and accounting write those reports.
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