Tourism Translation Services: "Artist" or "Technician"?
Reference & Education → Language
- Author Armando Riquier
- Published March 1, 2008
- Word count 574
Translation services for tourism activities embodies a very broad range of documents, websites, pamphlets, books and bills, mainly related to hotels, airlines, food & beverage facilities or, last but not certainly least, destinations; it is especially aimed to marketing and advertising, but it is also used to inform travelers and tourists about where, when, why and how to go.
Language and traveling, according to my views, walk arm in arm. No traveling without communicating in another language. No need to learn another language without traveling. Therefore, I have been developing a highly keen interest in connecting the two things over the years and specialized in it. It is a greatly competitive field, but the translation services jobs are endless. So I would warmly recommend it.
I always thought that devoting part of my life into discovering new places was really important. Traveling open your mind. So does translating.
But it is vital to choose a destination. It's hard to keep on wandering about. At first, it is a good idea. Experiencing as much as possible is a good starting point. But ,sooner or later, it is inevitable to stop. Once one finds a traveling style, one feels at ease only when sticking to it. And the same applies to translating.
Let me explain: the first professional translation job I was offered was a sort of data sheet about a new revolutionary type of vacuum cleaner. Not the most engaging or stimulating experience. But I was on cloud nine. I felt I could add that extra bite even to something so technical. Obviously I was wrong. Blissful innocence! Since then I have been going on and on accepting all kind of job offers, till I found my soul mate: tourism translation services. I finally ended it writing something I truly knew about. What a relief!
It is certainly not all plain sailing as it sounds, but it is important to believe in what you do and to truly understand it. I have never really been into vacuum cleaners or gas pipes. It's more of a guy thing, perhaps. Or for people more down to earth than I am. Sometimes it is difficult for me to strictly stick to rules. And I had to choose the possibility of express a sentence in my own words.
Therefore, if you want to become a successful translator, first of all you have to side with whether the "technicians" or the "artists". You can't be both. It's mathematically impossible. And don't you worry: if you don't know it, it probably means you are an "artist". A "technician" knows anything, anytime, anywhere. Next step is to narrow it down, till you find what you are really good at.
Most people in this business consider tourism translation services as a general and easy field to specialize in. Nothing further from the truth. Sure, the vocabulary could appear more malleable at first. But to draw the reader's attention it's much more of a challenge. Creativity, as I mentioned previously, plays a main role.
I have a University degree in Tourism and Travel management. I had realized pretty soon, though, that translating or writing about it was more my thing. I also followed a course as "Tourism interpreter" and now, even though from time to time I accept other fields' translation service jobs, when applying to an agency I mention that my main field is "tourism translation services". No one has ever complained so far!
Armando Riquier and the Author are both freelance translators and writers collaborating with Tectrad, a translation agency providing high quality translation services into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch and many other languages.
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