Continuing studies in UK

[Joren]

I completed a year studying Mandarin in Shanghai and reached my HSK level 4. My major isn't anything to do with languages and actually is I.T. based. I worked for over 4 years in I.T. and left because I wanted to start a new career in translation as I love languages.

The problem I'm finding is being back in the UK and as my Chinese isn't fluent that I'm unable to find a job using my Chinese. I thought about doing an MA in translation but they require me to either be native or up to my HSK 6. Learning in UK is much slower and I don't want to spend 3 years on another degree. Is it a risk to go back to Shanghai for another year and get my HSK 6 and then apply for the MA or if it can be recognised HSK 6 on its own in the UK?

All the courses I find in the Uk only teach up to HSK 4 and I read on one site that this was the recognised level of proficiency within the Uk but it doesn't seem to be true. I want to find some intensive course in the UK which has classes every day... Is there such a thing?

[OneEye]

I'm not a professional translator (although I do get some translation work occasionally), so take this with a grain of salt.

If you think about it, the important thing isn't simply "getting into the program" with the lowest possible qualifications, but becoming as qualified a translator as possible. The program isn't the goal, the career is. In that light, I think your options are more clear. If it were me, I'd be moving to China with the aim of getting my Chinese to as high a level as possible. I don't see how that could possibly be a risk. If you're set on being a translator, that is. Or really, if you intend to do anything professionally with your Chinese. You're not going to find such work without having professional-level ability in Chinese, and it will be really hard, if not impossible, to get your Chinese to that level in a reasonable amount of time in the UK. By the way, I think you ought to think of HSK6 as a decent starting point, not the finish line (there's an almost unfathomable gap between HSK6 and native).

You're going to be up against bilingual speakers when you apply for these jobs, so you're going to need to be able to present yourself as being more qualified than, for example, the 華僑 who grew up speaking Chinese with his family in the UK, did his BA in Chinese at SOAS (and spent a year in China in the process), and then got his MA in translation in Taiwan. You'll also have to be better qualified than the American guy who grew up monolingual in the US, but then moved to Taiwan during high school when his parents got jobs here, learned Chinese, and then did both a BA and an MA in Chinese at 台灣大學, entering as a local student rather than a foreigner, which means he took and passed the college entrance exams in Chinese, and tested into the MA afterward (his Chinese is that good). I know both of those guys, by the way. Now, they're both doing higher-paying jobs than the kind of stuff I get, but that's exactly the thing. I can't make really good money as a translator (though since it isn't my profession I'm happy with what I do make) because my Chinese isn't nearly as good as theirs, and thus I'm not as qualified.

I don't know what it's like in China, but in Taiwan it's reasonably easy to get translation work without having any sort of certificate, as long as your Chinese is up to the task. If you can do that on the side while you study Chinese at a school, you'll get a taste of what the work is like (so you'll know if you really want to do it for a living), and it will be good for your Chinese too. You might even consider doing your translation MA at a university in China or Taiwan, which will help your Chinese along significantly. If you're doing translation at a British university, you really need your Chinese to already be "there," because your classes and your daily life will likely all be in English. In China or Taiwan, you can more or less completely avoid English in order to improve your Chinese if you so choose.

My two amateur cents.

[Baron]

There are a few places in London that do more advanced Chinese, eg the Confucius institutes, Westminster uni evening language centre and Meridian Dao.

As for the MA, you might be able to get on one if you prove yourself by showing examples of your work. I did the practical Chinese translation modules at SOAS while doing a different MA and I reckon with a bit of cajoling and persistence they'd let you on, but maybe not until your Chinese is better. If I were you I'd do the Msc in Medical/technical at imperial as they teach you how to use translation software and you could use your it background to specialise in translation for the tech industry. The SOAS modules were fun and useful, but if you don't feel ready to get work as a translator now, it's unlikely you will at the end - it's just a bunch of practice.

I have to partially disagree with oneeye. If you want to go into corporate in house translation you'll have a problem competing with native bilinguals who'll be better in the competitive interview tests, but in most other contexts it won't matter so much. If you have better language awareness (pragmatically, rhetoric, semiology etc) you can get the edge over native bilinguals easily.

Agree you should do the MA in Taiwan/mainland/HK. You'll get the language environment, the opportunity to make connections and be in a better market for translators.

[OneEye]

I have to partially disagree with oneeye.

Me too, actually. Now that I'm actually working as a translator nearly full time, I'm finding out that there are more important things than my Chinese ability, though of course that's also really important. Things like having the right connections (I freelance), having really strong writing skills in your native language, and being resourceful in searching for the right word.

Having a strong knowledge of Chinese grammar helps a lot in preventing parsing mistakes. I got a big job sent to me this past week when another translator kept making very basic mistakes because she was parsing phrases the wrong way. I've even found my ability in Classical Chinese to come in really handy in some of the more academic/formal things I've translated, because there are a lot of 文言文-influenced constructions that get used.

[Baron]

That's interesting about the classical grammar... What kind of thing are you translating?

[imron]

having really strong writing skills in your native language

I would argue that this is what differentiates a great translator from a merely competent one.

[OneEye]

That's interesting about the classical grammar... What kind of thing are you translating?

Right now, a sociology paper written in a fairly formal register. There's nothing too out there, but just a lot of stuff like using 是 to mean "this," or using 之 as a pronoun. Things that, for me, weren't covered in class, that I learned studying 文言文.