How to Become an English to Telugu translator?

Posted by g11n on October 23rd, 2019

The Telugu language ranks third in the population with the number of native speakers in India (74 million, 2001 census), sixteenth in the Ethnologue list of most-spoken languages worldwide. It is one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of the Republic of India the fastest growing language in the US and has grown by 86% in the last seven years, which is why it’s a good to time to become a English to Telugu translators or Vice Versa.

Image Source : US Department of Commerce

So if you’re dreaming of a career as a Telegu translator, follow these steps :

Step 1: Pick the right language pair:

The first step in becoming a Telugu translator is being as fluent as a native language speaker  If your English is stronger than Telugu you become a Telugu to English translator or If like me your Telugu is your native and strong language, you become Telugu translator.

Step 2: Get Certified

Once you have chosen your preferred language option to translate, get some certification. ATA offers certification programs for translators in over 23 languages. Additionally, Both Andhra Pradesh & Telangana state conduct Language Pandit Common Entrance Test for admission to one year Language Pandit Training Course (LPT) in government IASE/CTE’s and Private Language Training Colleges across both the states. This is required for language jobs with the respective state govt jobs and other peoples etc.

Step 3: Learn Industry Specific Terminology

Once you’re certified in a language, you should learn industry-specific terms for whatever field you’re interested in translating in. An easy way to do is taking free courses from companies such as https://www.coursera.org/ or searching in youtube itself. Subscribing to industry specific journals is also a easy to keep yourself updated on latest terms.

Step 4: Marketing Yourself

After getting certifications and learning terms, it’s time to market yourself and get yourself Freelancing gigs in translation.  While the most difficult part of being a translator is finding new clients. Working for translation companies and job boards like Freelancer, Proz and Upwork are a great way to get your foot in the door. It’s also important to get your translation business out there on social media. If you have no experience at all, then you should try as a Volunteer (translators without borders) and have your documents proofread so that you can learn from industry veterans.

If these steps are useful to you, then please share it with your friends, they might benefit from it too!