How to Maintain Your Translation and Interpretation Skills
Similar to learning a new language, your translation and interpretation skills could be lost without constant practice. To prevent this from happening, there are certain ways you can maintain your own skills and find success. There’s no point in letting these valuable skills go to waste, so read on to learn how you can ensure you maintain your translation and interpretation abilities.
Place Yourself Where Growth is Inevitable
Place yourself in an environment where continued growth is inevitable. When you are constantly being challenged, your skills continually develop. If you don’t know where to start, there are many ways to reach out and offer your translation and interpretation abilities within your community. Look for volunteer programs, schools, churches and organizations that may need assistance. By forcing yourself directly into situations that require your translation and interpretation skills, you’re ensuring retention.
The more you practice the more success you’ll see! Without repetition and practice, you run the risk of losing your skill.
Learn from Your Mistakes
Mistakes are inevitable, so learn from them! Oftentimes we are our own worst critics. When you embrace your translation and interpretation failures, you give yourself room to develop. Each conversation is a journey, so learning to appreciate the process will make the end result that much more satisfying!
Partner Up
The continued support of someone who speaks the language with you can help keep your translation and interpretation abilities sharp. Find a partner with a desire to continually improve, and have fun together! This is a great way to keep each other accountable and exchange helpful tips.
Focus on Fluency, but Work Towards Accuracy
In some cases, a hard focus on accuracy will make you sound stuffy, forced, and unnatural. Since we use slang and informal language daily, it makes sense to focus on fluency and work towards accuracy. Translating and interpreting is similar. You want to focus on the context and verbal emphasis so that you sound as authentic as possible.
Akorbi
Akorbi is a US-based company that has been empowering people and companies to achieve global success for years. From transcription services to multilingual staffing solutions and business process outsourcing, Akorbi’s customer-driven solutions connect businesses with talented bilingual individuals around the world. For more information on services offered with Akorbi, please visit our website here.