To be or not to be a Chinese Translator

[angeia]

Hello everyone!

I'm hearing different things around the net about being a Chinese-English translator and interpreter and would love some input. I'm having anxiety attacks about my future and what kind of work I can find, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

So a few questions:

Do translators have a high turnover rate if they are hired by a company?

Since there are so many English speaking Chinese citizens, is it difficult to find work as a professional translator?

Do freelance translators in Chinese-English make decent salary? Are clients willing to hire an American to do work?

Is it easy to be hired by a company/organization as a full-time Chinese-English translator and interpreter?

I passed HSK level 6 and will be starting a masters course in interpretation and translation in the fall, but it is a 2.5 year program and it is at a Chinese university so I want to make sure that this will have some worth or recognition if companies want to hire me either in America or locally.

I currently have a Japanese degree and speak fluent Japanese, so I have done interpreting and translation work in Japanese that has paid quite well. I know that the Japanese-English demand is much higher, but I'm unsure about Chinese.

I worked at a consulting firm in Shanghai as a Japanese Business Analyst and, while job hunting, realized the hard way that having language ability alone is not enough to find a high paying job in China. If I couldn't speak Japanese, then I would have been screwed in my job hunt in Shanghai. I know that without an additional "skill" to add to a language it is difficult to find a job.

So I'm worrying... should I proceed with my masters course to be a translator, or maybe aim for a different degree in another field?

I do love to translate and interpret and want to get better at it, but I would also like to have some kind of stable career... ;)

[liuzhou]

Are you asking about doing translation work in China or elsewhere?

If the former, it is very difficult.

As you say, there are many English speaking Chinese citizens.

Also, many organisations only want the appearance of English and the party secretary has a friend whose daughter once went to an English summer camp, so that will do. Or there are Chinese equivalents of Google translate and that will be even better. Much cheaper than a sensible translation, but who cares?

That's where all the "Chinglish" comes from.

Serious translation work is very difficult to find within China. For general translation work, I'd say pretty impossible. If you have some particular specialised translation experience and knowledge in an obscure field, then perhaps.But it would have to be very specialised.

I wouldn't suggest abandoning your masters course, but I'd ask you to consider if working in China as a translator or interpreter is a sensible career choice. I suspect not.

[roddy]

I think in your case you don't want to be looking at just doing Chinese-English work - look for something were you can use your Japanese as well. Look at the Japanese companies working in Dalian, for example - this, just as a rough indication that there might be something you could do.

[icebear]

Simultaneous interpreters make impressive daily rates - ones that are good enough for high level events can charge around 20,000 a day. Of course very few are good enough for that, and those events may not come often, but it is one skill that you may want to consider including in your studies...

[gato]

How about continuing as a Japanese translator? How old are you? That's pretty relevant when you are considering going to school for a career change, which is what you are doing.

What Chinese university are you considering? Are there enough competent teachers there to teach C-to-E translation?

[angeia]

@liuzhou

Wow, depressing response. Hopefully it's not as bleak as you make it sound!

@roddy

Thank you for the link! I actually love translating Japanese and don't plan on ever giving it up (even if I do finish the Chinese-English interpreting degree). I didn't study Japanese for 6 years for nothin, and I hope one day I can use all three languages...

@icebear

My major at the university is simultaneous conference interpreting. I know that it is EXTREMELY hard and there is no way I could ever hope to simultaneously interpret unless I took a course on it. But like you said, this kind of work is hard to come by and I just hope I'm making the right choice.

@gato

I'm 26, and the masters course that I'm doing is about 2.5 years. I've had 3 years of working experience, only one year being business-industry related. I'm scared I'll graduate at 28 and still be in the same boat where I left off--not being able to find a job due to lack of experience. I was working at a consulting company for a year in Shanghai, and about 50% of my duties was interpreting/translating Japanese. I did it on the side as well and found it pretty enjoyable, so I considered doing it full time. I would love to continue as a Japanese translator; however, I think I need more formal training and guidance to really get "the good jobs."

I love Chinese as well, but my Chinese is not as good as my Japanese. I was hoping the masters course would help with that and maybe teach me some overall translating advice that I could also apply to Japanese.

I'm going to 上海外国语大学 in Shanghai. While it is ranked as the #2 translation school in China, I'm a bit apprehensive. I met the professors and they are all working simultaneous interpreters that have connections with the UN, etc.. But when I went to the school they just seemed kind of... unorganized. They don't have a proper website and it's hard to find any information about the program--even in Chinese. I know all China universities are pretty 乱七八糟 but it's worrisome when I'm going dedicate 2.5 years of my life to a program that can't even tell me what courses they offer.

I got a full ride scholarship, so that's why I want to give it a try before I quit.

I know they have one western teacher that probably focuses on C-E, but I think most of it will be E-C.... it's a bit scary.

Do you think this degree would be recognized elsewhere? Because it's a language degree I figure it would have more value coming from China, but I'm not sure...

Thanks again!!!

[liuzhou]

Wow, depressing response. Hopefully it's not as bleak as you make it sound!

Sorry to be depressing, but I do think it's a fairly accurate assessment, made after spending 16 years translating in China and seeing business decline as more and more Chinese people are able to do the job, or as people don't care about having things done properly. Fortunately, I have other strings to my bow, so I am still able to buy the odd bowl of noodles.

Nothing would make me happier than for you to tell me I was wrong.

[gato]

I would love to continue as a Japanese translator; however, I think I need more formal training and guidance to really get "the good jobs."

If I were you, I would try to get more training in translating in Japanese, and focus on translating J-to-E, E-to-J, and C-to-J as a career direction.

There are fewer competent foreign language speakers in Japan than in China, but Japan's per capita income is much higher than China's. That suggests to me that the career opporuntity for translating for the Japanese market is much better.

I'm going to 上海外国语大学 in Shanghai. While it is ranked as the #2 translation school in China

That is a good school, but maybe you should try to contact and talk to some teachers in the program and sit in on some classes to see what it's like to be a student in the program.

[frankwall]

Yes, I would also certainly focus on the Japanese interpreting. Perhaps its a good idea to focus on that extra bit of training and guidance and try to get a good job in Japan.

[angeia]

Hi everyone,

After a semester here I decided to quit (despite receiving CSC scholarship), because it's really just too painful of an experience to continue.

For the sake of all future translators or people that want to go to SISU for MIT (masters in interpreting/translation), I want to shed light on this program so I can save potential translators from abroad some very precious time.

Pros:

-All teachers are Chinese

-98% of your classamtes are Chinese

-Program is crazy hard, so if you can keep up with teachers or perform as well as Chinese students you are automatically amazing and should go work for the UN

-Teachers are famous (UN interpreters, etc)--problem is they never teach classes

-Somehow this school is UN and EU approved. This school is very chummy with the EU, so you'll get pretty 厉害 people like the Director of Interpretering and Translating Board at the EU come to your school and give a speech about how you should 努力. You'll also get some top notch interpreters from the EU come and give speeches--but like I mentioned above, they never teach you. You might see them once a year/semester.

-This school is EU/UN approved, so if you were to graduate from here I think the degree does have merit.

Cons:

-School will not tell you when semester starts or ends

-Cannot choose classes and have no idea what classes you will take

-Class schedule changes EVERY WEEK (yes, you heard me, they send you a new schedule every weekend so it's impossible to plan an internship or do anything else...) and...

-The teachers change every class (the same teacher teach the same class? Wow, call me crazy but I thought it was helpful for students to get to know the teachers...(I guess that's too hard for this school to do)

-Besides the interpreting classes, the other classes are a complete waste of time.

-Classes are only 3 times a week for 2 hours each time. So you will have 6 hours of class a week, the rest of your time is supposed to be studying, but...

-There is no homework

-There are no tests

-There is no textbook

-One test at the end of the semester, but there is no pass/fail or evaluation so you will never know how good/bad you did

-Chinese students are nuts, speak perfect English and can already do high level consecutive interpreting--get ready to compete with study robots that literally study English from 8 AM to 11 PM everyday. Not exaggerating. (Of course, keeping up with the Chinese students is one form of motivation, I suppose)

-90% of classes are taught by Ph.D students that are terrible, terrible teachers and probably 25-26 years old

-I'm sure you can tell by now, but there's no set curriculum--basically you interpret a random speech every class and the other Chinese students tell you how bad you suck when you finish making a fool of yourself in front of the entire class. You get used to 丢脸 on a daily basis after the first 3 days of class

-Ph.D teachers make students do research work for her--it is mandatory (they tried to force us to teach English to other SISU students and do transcription for her thesis paper)

-Teachers never smile, talk to you, or make any kind of action showing they care about your overall education or well-being--which, of course, is probably normal in China but very different from what I experienced at Tsinghua during my language studies program.

Dorms:

-It's free so I can't complain, but after living in downtown Shanghai last year this switch was pretty rough. The dorm here is basically a hotel and you have to share it with another person. Dealing with listed cons above and coming back to a roommate and living in a room the size of a Japanese business hotel has made me want to jump out the window more times than I can count.

Result:

IF YOU ARE PURSUING MIT TRANSLATION OR INTERPRETATION DO NOT GO TO SISU (Shanghai International Studies University). I heard at Beijing University and BLCU they actually have structured, organized courses with tests/homework included like a regular school. At the least, they probably provide a textbook in which you can self-study, as opposed to just randomly finding speeches on the internet and wondering how you should self study.

I did some job hunting and a famous company wants to hire me as a Japanese/Chinese/English interpreter... I hate to say that I'm distraught about whether to stay at the school or not, but after this first semester of suffering, the thought of staying another 2 years and dealing with this crap is simply unbearable. I plan on going to the Monterey Institute in a few years where I'll have structued class and high quality education.

In China, you really do get what you pay for. It's really obvious to see that teaching is their 'part time job' and they don't enjoy it. Teachers in SISU's MIT program really don't care about you. BUT if you self study and push yourself really hard to keep up with the Chinese students, you will definitely graduate to be something amazing. But also, keep in mind, when you're looking for jobs after graduation the Chinese students are also the same (and they're very young, 24 when graduating) and they are mind-blowingly good at what they do. I'm sorry, in the west we didn't undergo the torturous education they have here so we simply can't compare with them. After graduation the only hope of getting an interpreting job in China with a high salary is, well, not getting a job in China. After the degree, going back to your home country and being an interpreter will probably be lucrative, mostly because you're not competing with your crazy classmates that can simultaneously interpret the statistics of China's labor cost report at the blink of an eye with no error--for them to go to the EU or US and get hired would be extremely difficult.

So. I just want to warn all those people that were considering SISU. Spending 2.5 years to get a masters in interpretation here, to me, just isn't worth it. SISU is famous for being THE BEST translation/interpreting school in China, but I think that was 20 years ago. It's really gone downhill, and I can't stress enough how you should just stray very, very far from this place.

[xuexiansheng]

@angeia

Nice write up, thanks for sharing your experience. Is there some way to link this to the SISU forum page for people who are interested in a first hand experience there?

Shanghai International Studies University

[gato]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience, angeia. Unfortunately, teachers spending all their time out making money instead of teaching is rather common in China nowadays considering how little teaching pays. University teachers' salary is about the same as that of an entry-level office worker, about the same as that of a fresh college graduate. The incentives are all screwed up.

[roddy]

I've put a link into the existing SISU topic. However, regarding: "It's a terrible school" - I'd be wary of reading across from one fairly atypical course to the rest of the school.

[angeia]

Hi guys, I changed the 'terrible school' part.

I don't know about the language program, other exchange students here say it's not bad, so I don't want to say the entire school is crap. I just found the interpreting/translation department to be very poorly organized and executed.

Thanks for your support guys! It wasn't the best experience, but I did make really good friends and I did realize just how hard it really is to become a simultaneous interpreter. I'll definitely become one someday, but I don't think I have the patience to go through 2.5 years at this establishment.

Again, thanks!!

[roddy]

Can I ask what assessments you went through before being accepted? I did at one point years back look at the Beijing equivalent at UIBE, and have spoken to a couple of (Chinese) folk who've gone through the course. But it's a lot of time, very intense, and... well, I'm doing quite nicely as I am, thanks....

[angeia]

On the website they said HSK Level 6 was necessary, so I literally studied day in and out for 3 months to pass Level 6. When I called the school to confirm this, the department said: "Whatever. 5 is fine too." I was a bit upset about this because I was originally going to take 5 in the first place instead of taking 6 right away. I'm the only foreigner in the program that has Level 6.

They said there was a test and interview, and I asked what kind of test it would be. One of the directors said to me, "Oh no no, we just talk to you in Chinese--we want to see if you can really speak Chinese or not, that's all, and since I'm talking to you now you'll be just fine."

I called the school for two weeks asking when the interview would be and they just said "later." Then, one day, they called me and said "come in this afternoon for the test." It was a bit sudden, but hey, nothing I can do about it. Imagine my surprise when I went to the school, they took me to a room, and every single professor of the department was facing me to give me an interpretation test (like an interview with 10 people judging you).

I was not allowed to take notes.

Listen to a 5 minute speech in English. Immediately interpret into Chinese.

Next.

Listen to a 5 minute speech in Chinese. Immediately interpret into English.

I did really terrible, I was completely unprepared for such a hard test, and it was my first time to perform interpreting without being able to take notes.

Later that evening (10 PM) they sent me a translation test from Chinese to English, English to Chinese, on topics that were very difficult (theory of probability and the issue of maritime territory) and needed it hand written and scanned by the next day at 11 AM. I was up until 4 AM translating and I sent it to them typed. When they gave me a hard time about how it was typed, I yelled at them and said their sudden 'e-mail' was very unprofessional and if they weren't taking it typed then they can just fail me.

To be completely honest... If I were Chinese I would have failed that test and I wouldn't be admitted into SISU. But I think they really want native speakers in the class and went easy on us, because there are no teachers that are native speakers of English in the department. They always ask us to correct the Chinese student's English interpreting in class (btw, there's only 2 native speakers this year--me and another British girl), so they need us, so to speak.

So. It was crazy hard. I think only the best of the best best best get into SISU, which explains why all my classmates spoke flawless English and could fluently interpret speeches about nuclear energy.

Sorry for the long reply and for sounding like a whiner--I think it was just so different from US education and that was hard for me to deal with.

[gato]

Funny stuff, angeia. Sounds like a blast, actually -- except for the classes.

[roddy]

Sounds like they have very little idea how to assess non-native-Chinese speakers for entry, and are a bit too keen to get foreigners onto the course. I wouldn't fancy doing it without a lot of hard speaking experience behind me - using Chinese constantly in a challenging work environment, something like that. A recent and crammed-for HSK 6 pass - kudos for doing your best, but I'm not too surprised it didn't end well.

Stick around and let us know what you get up to next though...

[angeia]

One of my classmates in the course has a Chinese degree from Cambridge, another one has been studying Chinese for over 10 years and has a masters degree in the language (we've all lived in China for quite some time). And we're all pretty much in the same boat when it comes to the difficulty. I guess the Chinese students are used to this kind of education..

Thanks for the support ;) Will definitely support this forum in the future!

[Angelina]

You said it yourself, they probably let you guys in for the sake of diversity, they are highly selective when accepting Chinese students.

At BLCU there is a similar Master's designed for non-native speakers of Chinese. I think this program focuses on interpreting from Chinese into other languages. I would be cautious when applying there as well, interpreting is serious business.