Hey, Translator: Diversify!

At most conferences since the start of the pandemic, I haven't spoken about my "regular fare" -- technology and the impact of technology on us and our working lives -- but instead about an area that I felt has become one of the (high)lights in an otherwise potentially darkish time: the need to re-evaluate our professional strategies and our position in the marketplace.

But before we talk about that, another interesting development has been on my mind (note that I truly am talking only about myself here): online meetings and conferences have become increasingly successful. I know some of you have attended more conferences than I have during the pandemic (and you're smart to do that as it allows you to access information and networking at a fraction of the usual cost and effort), so you might have a lot more to say about this than I. Still, I've noticed and celebrated how well we have adapted to this new way of getting together. This is not meant as a plea for continuing online conferences after the pandemic, but it's instead a recognition of the adaptability of people and the quick development of technology to match the needs of its users. In the last couple of conferences where I presented, I marveled at how I felt I could connect with the audience -- something I felt I had regularly failed at in previous online events. Also, I had one-to-one digital meetings with people from around the globe at these conferences that felt up-close and personal. Again, just like you, I am looking forward to hugging people again and looking into people's actual eyes, but it is also true that we've made huge strides in the workarounds we've had to deal with in the meantime. As I've been thinking about upcoming years and conferences (I'm speaking just about me again), my sense is that flights around the world to give a one-hour talk (and, of course, meet with people, etc.) are going to be a lot less frequent. Too bad for my frequent flyer status, but good for virtually everything else, including my six-foot-seven-inch (two-meter) body and the environment.

Back to what I actually intended to write about.

The beginning of the pandemic seems like at least a decade away, but it's actually just been a little more than a year (I know: WHAT??). Depending on where you live, during the first few months of 2020 things changed from one day to the next. Certainly privately but also professionally. The early surveys tracking the decline or rise in the number of jobs agreed on one thing: The market certainly did not respond in a homogenous way to the lockdowns. Some translators were suddenly swamped with work (especially in the fields of community translation, gaming and subtitling, online shopping, human rights, and, of course, COVID-related translations) whereas others (more or less all other fields) were suddenly out of work. Generally speaking, that changed a few months into the pandemic, but it was a great reminder that while specialization is really important and vital for professional translators, diversification into more than one specific field is as well.

The more I've been thinking (and talking) about this, the more I've realized that we might have focused much too much on specialization and failed to combine it with a more crisis-safe (and possibly sanity-safe) diversification. Any specialization in translation requires both a very targeted approach (to learn the language and field of knowledge you've specialized in) and a much broader approach (to understand how even that specialized language and field of knowledge changes within the framework of broader changes in language and society). The most obvious example might be changes in gender-specific language and what impact that has on your specialization. But, as we translators understand, there are many, many other changes that are continuously happening on a broader scale that have an impact on the specifics of language in any field. Now, how does one stay broad? Likely the most obvious way has to be an ongoing engagement with the cultures of the languages you're translating to and from. But another is to take a broader approach to specializations. Becoming an expert in not only one but in two or three fields might actually make you a better and more well-rounded translator (and human being?) in any of those fields.

It's also true that as human beings, we're anything but one-dimensional; we're far too complex for that. So why not look at your existing interests and experiences and see whether there's a translation market for those? Chances are there will be (whether it's one that pays well is another question...).

There is also another kind of diversification that I find even more appealing. If adding specializations within translation could be called vertical diversification, then horizontal diversification entails a diversification into fields that are not immediately translation-related. This doesn't mean that it's a complete break from the areas you have strengthened and excelled in as a translator.

Here is a rather random list of possible areas into which many of us should have easy entry:

• Copywriting: Especially if you have experience in highly creative translation, this could be an attractive field for you, and you should be an attractive candidate in return.
• Copyediting: To learn more, please read Karen Tkaczyk's excellent recent post in Savvy Newcomer blog.
• Consulting: Depending on what you have worked on in the past, there may be more areas of relevant experience here than you might think. The obvious ones are translation and cultural consulting, translation technology consulting, process and workflow consulting, etc.
• Technology as a whole is an area where we often have expertise that can easily be utilized beyond its immediate application in translation. This might include file handling and conversion (especially when it comes to tagged formats), content and database management, social media (especially as it relates to culture-specific areas), graphic design, or machine translation in all its shapes and forms.
• Academia is another obvious area. While it might be difficult to find a position as a lecturer or professor without an advanced translation degree in countries with a well-developed infrastructure for translation studies, in the still-underdeveloped US, for instance, this might be a lot easier.
• Peer-to-peer help: Making a business out of teaching or advising other translators is often an area in which less-than-qualified colleagues try their luck, so it's a crowded field and you'd better have something more helpful to say than "How to make a six-figure income as a translator in your first year out of high school." (There are, of course, highly qualified and super-helpful translators-turned-book authors, bloggers, podcasters, and coaches!)
• +++

There is also a less-than-obvious route to finding an area in which to diversify.

 Let me tell you a story.

 I celebrated my 57th birthday a couple of weeks ago. It's admittedly not a very memorable milestone (but I received a cezve for a present so it worked out just fine for me). However, when I approached my fiftieth birthday, well, seven years ago, I felt that was indeed a good time to kind of take stock. So during my daily beach walks, I reviewed in my mind what I had done in my life -- academically, personally, professionally. The longer I did this, the more I realized that there is likely no one else in the world (!) who has the exact same set of experiences and -- one might hope -- the same accrued knowledge and expertise that derives from all these episodes, encounters, and explorations (you like my e's?). Taken together, these make my capabilities unique (remember: "no one else in the world").

Many people tackle similar questions around that same age, and I found it extremely liberating. Even more so when I realized that I -- along with many of you -- am in the enviable position of having the professional flexibility to diversify, something that the typical 9-to-5 worker cannot do as easily.

Once I had mapped myself out, I dreamed up a project that would fit that strange but unique potpourri of e's and started to look for someone to support me in building that project financially (remember: this was not supposed to become my "evening hobby" but was instead designed to diversify my professional life). Well, long story short, after a couple of years I did end up finding a sponsor, and that sponsor has paid me now for close to four years as a part-time designer and curator of the Translation Insights & Perspectives tool. I have mentioned the tool a number of times, so I don't want to go into detail (but I do encourage you to explore it). Still, the reason I'm telling this story is as an encouragement to you. The road toward diversification might not be only a good economic and business-strategic decision, but it might allow you to break new ground. Really new ground. Something that has never been done before!

Has all this made me a better translator as well? Maybe. More importantly, it has most certainly made me a happier translator.

(Excerpt from the 325th Tool Box Journal)