Do we respect our own languages? Part 5: Basque

Earlier this year, a series of four articles investigating how native speakers consider their own languages was featured as guest posts on the Lingua Greca website. The series now continues with four different languages. This week, we look at how proudly Basque speakers feel about their own language, Euskara, and whether its neighbouring languages - French and German - are posing a threat.

What do I know about Basque? I know that it is perhaps one of Europe’s most interesting languages. Etymologically speaking, it is completely unrelated to any other surviving language in the world and spoken by around 750,000 people.

I have limited experience with the Basque language – only a day trip to Biarritz. Although the road signs were bilingual, I didn’t really sense much of a presence of the language used in daily life in this French-administrated part of the Basque Country. Perhaps things are different on the Spanish side of the border.

With such a relatively small number of native speakers, is this a language of which its people are as fiercely proud as one would imagine?

 

“For speakers of more influential languages, such as Spanish or English, this question is very difficult to understand, since they have never faced the problem of being discriminated against,” says Itziar Gonzalez. “For us, respecting our language means to speak it, above all. When everyone is bilingual and one of the other languages is more influential (French in the northern part and Spanish in the southern part), respect means speaking Basque.”

 

In the Franco era (1939-1975), speakers of languages other than Spanish (or rather Castilian) were prohibited from speaking any other language in Spain. Imagine two Catalans in Barcelona not being able to converse in their native Catalan language. Fortunately, since Spain’s transition to democracy in 1975, it has come to recognise its linguistic diversity and introduce legislation to protect its regional languages.

The Basque Country (yellow) -
the Basque language is much
more prevalent on the Spanish
side of the border

“Conversations between Basque speakers are sometimes held in Euskañol (a mix of Basque and Spanish) or even just Spanish itself, but the use of Basque is based on the language in which the first contact was made. And it's very difficult to change.”

It is understandable why this is the case. Not everyone in the Basque Country speaks Basque. In the part of the territory on the French side of the border, one is much more likely to hear French – a language that has traditionally not been afraid to assert its dominance over its neighbouring languages. In the southern side of the Spanish Basque Country, very few people speak Basque as well. So how does this work in such a linguistically divided area?

 

“In a shop or public office, a Basque speaker will usually say the first words in Basque. If other person speaks Basque back, then Basque is spoken. If not, then Spanish is spoken. In public offices, civil servants should speak Basque, or at least have a basic knowledge of it, so a lot of people continue to speak Basque, but this depends on the reaction of the civil servant. Some of them are kind and try to speak Basque, but when they say “Talk to me in Spanish” unkindly, the conversation turns to Spanish, but it is not so nice and Basque speakers are annoyed by this reaction. In cases where it is legally obligatory to speak Basque, such as in a public office, people should have the right to speak Basque face-to-face, and it is very annoying, since this is often not respected.”

So, it seems that Basque speakers have to fight for the right to hold a conversation in their own language in their own country. Europe has come a long way in recognising and even promoting its regional languages, reversing traditional trends of oppression. In theory, Spain is one of the most tolerant countries in terms of respecting its linguistic diversity. It recognises Basque as one of its co-official languages, but evidently linguistic legislation isn’t working.

The Basque people are one of
the proudest on the continent, but
still find it a battle to speak their
own language in their own
country

Basque is a group of dialects. More or less each province and each town has its own variation of the language. Until 1968, standard Basque did not exist and each writer used to write in their own dialect. Now we have this unified Basque orthography, is there respect for the written, standard language?

“When writing in official contexts such as school, university, books, reports and scientific writing, then yes. Private writing like text messages, emails and on social networks, then no. Does it matter? No. Standard Basque was created as a unified way of writing, and this goal has been achieved. Also, the spoken language is not one language, but several dialects, so not speaking the standard language is not considered as a lack of respect. But they are considered as mistakes in official language, i.e. if you use a dialectal form of an auxiliary verb in an exam, it a mistake.”

Being surrounded by two of the world’s most dominant languages – French and Spanish – how are foreign words affecting Basque?

“Well, that's not a problem at all nowadays. We do not have any problem saying interneta, telefonoa, autobusa, tableta. We know they are international words, not just Spanish, French or English words. They do not threaten us, they enrich us and we don’t have a problem with that. Our problem is that our language is not spoken everywhere.”

With recent regional elections to the Basque Parliament resulting in the Basque National Party maintaining its presence as the largest party in the region, the people are clearly proud of their heritage but must continue to assert their right to speak their own language in their own country. After all, Spanish was once a regional language too.

Itziar Gonzalez is PhD student in Computational Linguistics and Basque Philology. She studied German Philology as an undergraduate degree and also holds a Master’s in Computational Linguistics. In addition to her native Basque language, she also speaks English, German, French and Spanish.

Aventuras Alicantinas

Did you miss the Aventuras Alicantinas series? Well, here are all five parts available in one place. Find out what I got up to during this six-week period in summer 2010, both in and, more importantly, out of the classroom.
 

Part 1: Un Llegado Alicantino

Part 2: La Hora de Clase

Part 3: Castillos, Costas y Ciudades

Part 4: La Vida Nocturna

Part 5: Madrid y Valencia

  

 

Las Aventuras Alicantinas – Part 5: Madrid y Valencia

Being on the Iberian Peninsula for the very first time, I needed to see more of Spain beyond the tourist resorts. Valencia was just 2 hours and 30 minutes away by coach and, what’s more, my friend Jack was studying Spanish too there for the summer.

Two weeks into my stay, I was up bright on early on a Saturday morning to catch the bus, so early that the only people on the streets were hosing the pavements down and sweeping up the litter generated on an average Friday night in Alicante. With Spain being a relatively advanced country, I imagined that its long distance coaches would be modern and comfortable, rather than a vehicle that essentially consisted of the chassis and the frame and stunk of engine fumes for the whole journey. Luckily, the route followed the Mediterranean Sea on the right hand site for most of the journey, so that took my mind off it.

Valencia looked strange. In fact, it reminded me of Brussels because of its vast variety of architecture styles. Coming into Spain’s third largest city, there were only dull residential tower blocks and baron river channels overgrown with weeds - a clear product of more recent expansion to the city - but the remnants of the old town became more apparent as we approached the heart of the city.

Ancient stone buildings were abundant and were a stark contrast to the striking modern complex of the City of Arts and Sciences with its sleek, curved white architecture of the late 1990s. Unfortunately, I had only a few hours to spend in Valencia, not enough by far to discover its cultural attractions, its marina and its hidden treasures.

Just two weeks later, I went to Madrid for the day, taking a short one-hour flight at around 7 in the morning. I made my way around the city, visiting the National Library, the Royal Palace, the Botanical Garden, the Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art and the Madrid’s various squares and prominent churches and cathedrals.

I love trips likes these - trying to take in as much as possible of a sizeable city at a considerable pace within a day - but the thing is that I never get to see as much as I’d like to, as there’s only so much you can see in one day. Nevertheless, I am usually satisifed to just have a self-guided walking tour of a city like Madrid, even in the scorching weather. But I never know when or if I’ll be back in a certain place, so this type of sightseeing is ideal as far as I’m concerned.

It was all these experiences of different places and different people that made this six-week period in Spain one of the most culturally, socially and educationally intense of my life and when all the hype and buzz of a time like that was over, only then could I realise how lucky I am to be a linguist.

Thus concludes Las Aventuras Alicantinas. I hope you’ve enjoyed the series!

Las Aventuras Alicantinas – Part 4: La vida nocturna

Decisions, decisions...

August evenings in Alicante were usually warm and breezy, which was great with a few cold pints of San Miguel on the marina. Naturally, I had to try the local cuisine as well. Paella is pretty much everywhere in coastal Spain, but there are regional varieties. Whereas Paella Valenciana is a chicken dish, Paella Alicantina was principally infused with seafood – particularly types I’d never tried before.

Even though I was a language student, I wasn’t one for being too adventurous when it came to trying new food, but still, when in Rome and all that. So, I did at least try monkfish, calamari and prawns but subsequently opted to eat the rice around the seafood.

A short walk from the marina, past the night-time streets lined with gentlemen selling cheap flashing tack and ladies offering hair braids, were the narrower, cobbled streets of the old town, home to many tapas restaurants.

Inspecting the contents of paella

Tapas has a reputation, in the UK at least, of being relatively expensive and not providing a filling meal. In Spain, it tends to be much cheaper – about €2.50 a dish – so four dishes and you have the equivalent of a meal in price and quantity, but richer in variety, especially when sharing with friends. What’s also great is that there is a range of complexity in the food, from potato croquettes and meatballs to chorizo in a wine sauce and tortilla, all with a bottle of Rioja (to share). Beautiful!

Dinner in Spain is around 9pm, much later than the 6/7pm we’re used to in the UK, so by the time dinner was over, it was around 11pm – the earliest point when the clubs would open. Clubs in Spain are fundamentally the same as in Britain, except one that I went to charged €8 entry...if you’re a guy. Girls get in for free. It was probably worth it seeing as we stayed here until around 7am.

Muchas tapas

Alicante isn’t short of clubs, pubs or bars, or people incessantly pestering you with flyers and offering free drinks to entice people through its doors. One of these was an “Irish pub”. I’m not too sure what the obsession on the continent is with so-called Irish pubs. The only pre-requisite seems to be to sell a Guinness for €7 and have a guy called Paddy work behind the bar. But this was where I discovered Beer Pong – a game that involves setting up 10 cups in a bowling pin formation at either end of the table and bouncing a ping pong ball into the opponents’ cups so they have to drink up. The great thing is that even if you’re not very good at it, you’ll think you are by the end due to the vast amount you will have drunk.

Other bars offered karaoke and Salsa lessons. Although I tried both, albeit unsuccessfully, I preferred the latter and still went back a few times, but if there’s ever a time to try new things, that was it – in a new place with new friends...

The final installation, Part 5, will be posted next Wednesday 17^th October as I discover Madrid and Valencia.

Las Aventuras Alicantinas – Part 3: Castillos, Costas y Ciudades

Castillo de Santa Bárbara

For most northern Europeans, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Spain is its high-rise coastal resorts like Benidorm. Very few people think of its cities, steeped in history and stunning architecture. Alicante boasted two castles, both near the centre of town. One castle was nothing more than graffiti-covered ruins full of empty cans of lager and cigarette butts, but the other was a larger fortress that was very much intact and stood on a piercing hill that kept watch over the city.

The paved spiral ascent from the foot of Castillo de Santa Bárbara took about 30 minutes. In the searing heat of the Spanish summer, this is not for the faint-hearted but the 360° view with fantastic views over the city, the sea, the harbour and the hills proved rewarding, so much so that towards the end of my time in Alicante, I climbed up to the castle again to see the view of the city at night.

The intimidating Benidorm skyline

Back at sea level, I was taking time to explore beyond the city as well. Benidorm was about an hour away by tram and I was keen to discover whether this town deserves the stereotype held by northern Europeans of being an ugly collection of grey block towers or whether there was some hidden beauty to it. Fortunately, the latter proved to be true. The skyline of Benidorm, particularly at the beachfront, is indeed striking, but it has one of the most beautiful beaches and harbour areas on the Costa Blanca.

Just a short walk away was a beautiful part of the town that looked more Greek than Spanish. It was a high projection into the sea that overlooked the two beaches on each side and was dominated by white and blue tiles. There were no residences or shops; rather it seemed a place for relaxation, although it was an isolated place that no one else had seemingly discovered.

The more traditional village of Altea

Further along the tramline was a small village called Altea, and this was the real Spain I’d been searching for – narrow, steep cobbled streets with white buildings overlooking the calm turquoise waters. I was quite content to spend the rest of the afternoon here.

Back in Alicante, the city itself had plenty else to explore – the vast indoor market, the impressively high fountains, the overpriced boutiques and of course the city’s two beaches. The city’s main beach, Playa de Postiguet, was practically right in front of the school and just a couple of minutes from the city centre, so I naturally spent a lot of the six weeks there. The other beach, Playa de San Juan, was about 20 minutes away by tram. It was a longer strip of coastline in a quieter location, with more room to spread out and more intense waves. With much more closed on a Sunday in Spain than back home, this is where I’d spend peaceful Sunday afternoons, usually with the friends I had made, but after many of them had left I went back on my own and spent hours enjoying the tranquillity, often forgetting the real reason I was in Spain, but what can I say? The more relaxation and fun I had out there, the more motivated I was for classes...

Part 4 will be posted next Wednesday 10^th October. Find out what a night out in Alicante is all about.

Las Aventuras Alicantinas – Part 2: La Hora de Clase

Enforex Spanish school

My flatmates – Giorgio and Veronika – and I left bright and early to start our first day of Spanish school at 8:30. It was a casual fifteen-minute walk downhill to the school, which was on a busy palm-tree-lined avenue and pedestrian promenade on the edge of the marina. The walk took us through town, down La Rambla, a bustling shopping street by day and a lively strip of clubs and bars by night, which was crossed by narrow, winding alleys of the Old Town.

The school was small, yet modern, and as soon as we arrived, we sat a placement test to determine our level of Spanish. The first part was grammar exercises – my strong point, great! The second part was an oral test – my weak point, not so great! Despite slipping in the odd subjunctive in the speaking part, the two tests balanced out to place me at level B1 (the European language proficiency levels being A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 in ascending order).

Veronika, Giorgio and me on
the beach - for the record,
I no longer own that hat

Classes were to be a demanding five hours every weekday with the first three weeks being from 14:30 until 19:30 and the final three weeks from 09:30 until 14:30, and I found myself in a class taught by Laura, a softly-spoken lady from Argentina, and Pedro, an energetic Spaniard, (both in their late 20s/early 30s). I was put in the same class as my flatmates and eight other students from Germany, Japan, Italy, France, England, Belarus and Russia.

As school was in the afternoon, we had a few hours to explore the city, but after a five-minute stroll, we found the hectic city beach, where we set up camp for the rest of the morning.

Back at school in the afternoon, we started off with talking about Spanish customs and comparing them to our own. It wasn’t just grammar drills we did in class, it was more practical than university classes. We learnt Spanish recipes; Pedro even gave me his family’s paella recipe, which my flatmates and I tried out. Talk about deliciosa.


My class at Enforex - that was only
window in the room so we weren't
distracted by the beach

We learned about Spanish card games, Spanish hand gestures, Spanish idioms and Spanish dances, like the flamenco. It was very culturally oriented – the ideal way to learn a language – and at the end of each day, I’d come home with a sheet of A4’s worth of vocabulary.
 

At the end of the six weeks, I came away with a certificate with my “marks”. Although there weren’t any formal exams, the teachers had naturally been keeping an eye on our progress, and it was quite emotional when I finished at Enforex Alicante to read the certificate with Laura and Pedro’s comments saying how promising Spanish would be for me...

Part 3 will be posted next Wednesday 3^rd October when I discover the city, its castle and the coast.

Las Aventuras Alicantinas – Part 1: Un llegado alicantino

Alicante at night -
the view reminds me of hot coals

When I was a kid in the 90s, summers in Britain were genuinely boiling hot. It’s only in the last decade or so that they have turned into monsoon season. In August 2010, I had the opportunity to escape to southern Spain for some sun, sea, sand and sangria, but this wasn’t just a holiday – it was a linguistic holiday. I set off for six weeks in Alicante, spending five hours every weekday at Enforex – a Spanish language school – and spending the rest of the time enjoying the language and culture of my surroundings.

Just two months after I had left my life in Toulouse, I was back at Cardiff Airport ready for part two of my Year Abroad. It was a beautiful summer Sunday evening and the skies remained clear throughout the flight, which made for a beautiful sunset as we flew further into the darkness.


My home for six weeks -
the tree-lined Calle San Vicente

Once we touched down at Alicante Airport, I watched most people on my flight make their way to various coaches to take them in all directions to their holiday destinations, but as for me, I was on my own, no tour guide or rep. Ten o’clock at night and the heat was still incredible. I took a taxi into town – the first opportunity to practise my two years of Spanish with the taxi driver, but I elected to just enjoy the journey into the eerily quiet city.

Eventually, I did have to speak, but to the gentleman at a hotel who was retaining the keys to the flat I was staying at, and of course he spoke quickly with a thick accent as he gave me directions to my building – not great for my first encounter of Spanish in a native situation. Dragging 20 kg of suitcase behind me, I strolled the dark, humid and breezy streets in the direction that the man had pointed, arriving shortly afterwards at the four-storey building on what was a long deserted street of shop fronts with the shutters down under bright orange street lights.



Alicante the morning after -
the bull ring stands out rather prominently

After two flights of stairs, I entered the spacious but minimalist faux-marble flat to find no signs of life, but two bedrooms (with the doors closed) as well as my own. Like the rest of the flat, my room was simply furnished and naturally the bed was as hard as a rock, but it was only for six weeks. The sheer humidity at what was now around midnight meant I had one of the worst night’s sleep ever.

Waking up the next morning, I looked outside from the balcony to find Alicante transformed into a bright, bustling, palm tree-lined street and was surprised to see the city’s main bullring stadium just a few hundred metres down the street.

I was then greeted by my flatmates, a German girl and an Italian guy, both just a few years older than me and as eager to kick off our ventures in Spain as I was...

Part 2 will be posted next Wednesday 26^th September. Find out how I fared in class.

Mastering without a Master’s – Part 2

Tina Muller

In Part One, three freelance translators told me why they studied for a Master’s in translation and never looked back. We looked at whether the course was too heavily weighted in theoretical elements, if the content is truly relevant in practice and how the course helped get them to where they are today.

In this concluding part, three professional translators without a postgraduate qualification talk to me about why they feel a Master’s is not a prerequisite to get into translation.



Tina Muller (@TinaSMuller) studied Business Administration before proceeding to do a three-year translation and interpreting course at a language institute in Germany that focussed on translation between English and German. She is now a "state-certified translator and interpreter" for the English language.

Lizzie Whiteley (@ditto_languages) studied for a BA in Modern Foreign Languages (French and Italian) at Bristol University and attended the prestigious School of Modern Languages for Translations and Interpreters in Forli, Italy on her year abroad. She now co-runs Ditto Languages in Cardiff.


Lizzie Whiteley

Caroline Lakey has a BSc Hons in International Management and French from University of Bath, which included a 13-month placement in a company in Paris. She also did a short translation course with University of London Institute in Paris. She is now based in Mayenne, northwest France.

Let’s start with what we want to know above all...

What reasons are there for not wanting to pursue a Master’s in translation?

There were multiple reasons identified for going straight into practising translation, but as far as Caroline Lakey is concerned, the two that stand out the most are practicality and value. “I can’t convince myself that I really need one enough to justify the various sacrifices it would entail, both for me and for my family.


A discussion on ProZ (a prominent translators’ forum) convinced me that I wouldn’t be able to make the money/time back that the course would cost me.

 

Caroline Lakey

I was also put off by the fact that most Master’s courses require you to translate in both directions, which is something I would clearly never do on a professional level. Not to mention the fact that, if I’m honest, the theory of translation bores me stupid!”

 

Some, if not most, translators don’t always know that they want to go into translation, so unless they start their Master’s more or less straight after their undergraduate degree, it may be rather impractical in terms of finance, location, family circumstances, the time required and, indeed, interest. Moreover, we must remember the value of our Bachelor’s degree according to Caroline. “Without wishing to sound like a snob, my first degree is actually fairly prestigious, so if I was going to put a Master’s behind it, I would want it to be a top-level one, which means investing time and money, and unfortunately I don’t have enough of either.”

This is a good point. We should not forget that a language degree is very valuable, enhanced even further by the year abroad, which provides the opportunity to apply everything we have learnt since school. The year abroad give us the opportunity to experience foreign cultures and integrate into different societies. But this need not end once our Bachelor’s degree is over.

After Tina Muller had finished her course, she wanted to see how translation was handled in the real world, yet she still wished to experience the society of the language she had studied. “Some of my friends went on to do an MA, but I had had enough of theoretical studies. I was also very eager to move to Britain for a while to immerse myself in the culture and language (and I'm still here after almost 5 years!). So I moved to Britain and after a couple of weeks I already landed a job as an in-house translator.” 

Lizzie Whiteley felt the same. “After I graduated I knew I wanted to return to Italy and break translation, but finding a job from the UK proved difficult. I found out about the Leonardo Da Vinci scheme, which puts students on a short language course and then finds them a 3-month work placement. A translation agency in Florence took me on, where I quickly learnt how a translation agency worked, and after 3 months they offered me a permanent job.  

While I did take some short and distance-learning courses in translation and proofreading, for me this first-hand commercial experience was invaluable and something that could never be replaced with a Master’s. The route I took was also much less costly, plus I was able to live abroad and refine my language skills at the same time.” 

In such a prestigious industry, it is vital to have a means to enter this career for those who are not attracted to the idea of a postgraduate course. Naturally, it would be unacceptable to practise as a translator without any formal training, but fortunately this is largely recognised by those without a Master’s, who proceed to acquire experience in relevant fields, such as working in-house and studying on a short translation course.

How can translators break into the industry without a Master’s?

One issue is being recognised by clients as a professional translator without a postgraduate qualification, but Tina has never encountered any problems. “I have never been asked the question if I have an MA, nor has it ever hindered my success to get the job I wanted.

I worked in an agency as a project manager but only lasted 3 months there and then I went freelance. I stayed on good terms with my previous employer, so I started out as a freelancer with one client in the bag already. I marketed myself to selected translation agencies and built up a client network relatively swiftly. To this day I still work with most of those initial clients, so I do not look for more very often.”

Caroline took more time to build up experience before going freelance: “I had worked for 12 years in bilingual corporate environments, translating and interpreting (albeit informally) on a daily basis, before I went freelance. Also, having studied business and worked in large companies, I perhaps had more of an idea how to market myself than people with different experiences might.”

Our translators had clearly planned their transition to freelance meticulously, after having learnt how to market themselves. As freelancers know too well, work does not come flooding in automatically. Postgrad or not, freelance translators must market themselves as much as any local business you see in your town or city, certainly even more so without a physical presence that a bakery or florist will have.

Do translators without a Master’s learn more through experience rather than through additional qualification?

There is also the matter of the quality of translations – do postgraduate translators produce better translations? Tina is convinced that the route she took was the right one. “I don't think an MA would have done me any harm, but I feel that my education at the language institute was so comprehensive that there was no need to study further before starting out as a professional translator. As with every other job, a translator learns most things through experience and an MA cannot replace that.”

And Caroline completely agrees. “Without a doubt. I’m sure a Master’s gives you an excellent theoretical knowledge of translation, but I’m not convinced that it teaches you how to manage customer expectations and produce decent translations under pressure with limited access to relevant information! At the end of the day, I see myself running a translation business rather than “just” producing translations.”

This is the most convincing argument, as far as I’m concerned, about not studying for a Master’s in translation. The objective of producing good-quality translations is a given. What many unfamiliar with the translation industry don’t realise is that freelancers are running a business. They are their own accountant, secretary, IT support, PA, account manager, business development manager and project manager too, skills a Master’s can’t provide, such that postgraduates are not ready to set off as freelancers as soon as they graduate.

So, would our freelancers turn back the clock and take up a postgraduate course instead?

Tina certainly wouldn’t. “I don't think that an MA, especially straight after graduation, would have given me any more insight into the world of translation nor can it replace any experience I've gathered in the field so far. As a freelancer I also think very much in business terms: will it literally pay off to do an MA? My clear answer to that is no. You will not be able to achieve higher prices for your work than without an MA – I'd rather invest in a course on how to market yourself as a freelance translator.”

Lizzie sees commercial experience as what made her a better translator. “I don’t regret taking the route I did, I’ve never been refused for a job because I don’t have a Master’s.  Now, when I recruit translators, I look for many things, but would choose a translator with real business experience in a particular specialist field over a translator with a Master’s. In my experience this is what makes a well-rounded, more resourceful, more punctual linguist.”

In many fields, qualifications are reflected in a pay slip, but it seems that it doesn't work like that in translation, and those without a Master’s would do well to invest the money typically spent on an MA into technology and resources, and self-development and specialisation.

Conclusion

Is it better for a translator to have a Master’s or to have richer practical experience? Unfortunately, the answer to this will always remain subjective. We have seen compelling arguments from both sides, but it will depend on personality. What’s important is that all six of our translators are happy with the route they took.

Certainly, there is nothing to suggest that it is not worth following a Master’s course at all. For those looking to break into the industry but who perhaps lack direction, this is probably the best route. It provides a solid theoretical base, with the benefit of receiving feedback on translations from academic professionals, and empowers its holders with confidence in their career.

Equally, there is nothing to indicate that entering the industry directly is not appropriate. Our translators said they have never experienced any hindrances without the Master’s. Most agencies require a minimum 5 years’ experience in practising translation; this is something that both postgraduates and non-postgraduates will face. What a Master’s doesn’t give you is commercial experience, so crucially, it may be tricky to find ones feet for postgraduates who wish to go freelance as soon as they graduate.

Mastering without a Master’s – Part 1

One of my posts back in July 2012 briefly analysed my first year in translation and pointed out that I came very close to studying for a Master’s degree in translation, but I didn’t feel I could turn down the offer of a job as an in-house translator straight after graduation. While I am happy about the path I took, I still wonder how different my career would be if I had taken this alternative route into translation.


Sarah Dillon

Six experienced freelance translators told me about why they did or did not decide to study for a Master’s and how it shaped their career. Part One looks at whether those who did study for a Master’s feel they are better for having one, and Part Two examines if those without a postgraduate qualification feel complete without one.

Kim Sanderson (‏@sandersonkim) studied for an MSc in Translation and Conference Interpreting at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh on the advice of a school teacher that having a Master's was the norm for freelance translators and without seeing any other feasible way into the industry.


Verena Saura

Sarah Dillon (@sarahdillon) wanted to start up her own translation business and studied for an MA in Technical and Specialised Translation at the University of Westminster in London in order to gain guided, hands-on translation practice using real-life texts under the tutelage of practising translators, and to forge contacts and gain a good understanding of the industry.

Verena Saura (@unbabeling) entered the Translations Studies course after pursuing Arabic Studies, and is now studying Institutional Translation (economic and legal translation), all at the University of Alicante, with the opportunity to go on to a PhD. She is working as a freelance translator at the same time.

So let’s start with the fundamental question…

Why should one opt to follow a Master’s in translation?

I don’t have a Master’s. Instead, I work in-house under the guidance of experienced senior translators, who provide feedback on my work. But why do others not begin their career in this way? Sarah Dillon told me, “I would have had to compromise other aspects of my goals to achieve it, e.g. work for a couple of years for someone else for little more than minimum wage, possibly gaining a relatively one-sided view of the industry in the process.”

 

That is a crucial point. Industry professionals can provide an invaluable range of views on how to approach a translation. Whilst this could also be the case in working in-house with more experienced translators, the working methods and procedures are inevitably subjective and may well end up being dictated by an employer.

So besides perhaps providing a less biased and more direct route into freelance translation, Master’s courses could be an ideal way to start specialising. Verena Saura’s course offers the chance to dive into the fields of legal, institutional (UN, EU, etc.) and economics translation, so much so that this course at Alicante University entitles its graduates to apply for the title of Sworn Translator, which will be a major advantage in attracting more prestigious clients.

What’s more, Verena believes a Master’s can provide a sort of reassurance for practising translators. “I feel more confident when translating, as with these studies my background is wider and deeper. Since the very first day, I realised the knowledge I was receiving was useful for my everyday work.” This is something that an in-house job may not provide, in the early stages at least.

How relevant is the content of a Master’s degree in practice?

My impression of a postgraduate translation course was that it would be predominantly theoretical, so I questioned if it would sufficiently prepare you for practical work in the industry, but it depends on the area of translation, according to Kim Sanderson. “As I am moving towards more literary/non-business work, I feel the theory is becoming more relevant. I do think my studies in translation theory helped me think about the different ways you can treat an author's work, such as the audience and their expectations.”

Don’t get me wrong, translation theory is obviously an indispensable element of the course, but is there too much weight placed on the theoretics rather than the practicalities?

“I don't think any course can really teach you about the work environment,” Kim said, “and it takes time to learn your own translation speed and abilities, longer than the duration of an academic year.”

But it turns out that it could be more applied than I thought. Sarah told me that her course was “extremely practical and geared towards preparing students for a career as a practising translator and other related roles in the industry. We also had access to a very wide range of speakers and visiting professionals, so there was no excuse for not leaving with a thorough understanding of the range of options open to us as translation graduates.”

The degree of flexibility in the content studied may vary between universities, but a translation degree is what you make of it. You can choose modules that are more theoretical, or ones that are more practical if available. In any case, learning how to translate well only appears to be a fraction of the degree, as Sarah quite rightly pointed out.

Students entering a Master’s translation course will generally have an undergraduate qualification in one or more foreign languages and will have studied translation at least briefly. Contrary to the myth that anyone who speaks another language can translate, however, they would certainly not be ready to start working as a freelance translator, sending off their work without it having been proofread or edited by someone more experienced. “I do think having your work revised is vital, and this is increasingly rare outside a teaching environment,” Kim continued. Whilst my work is revised and commented upon by senior translators, I cannot comment upon the extent to which translators starting out in other companies receive feedback on their work, let alone those who practise without any qualifications or experience at all.

Does a Master’s help its students to enter the industry?

Kim said, “My course was useful because I got my first job in an in-house translation company through an advert posted on the noticeboard at Heriot-Watt. The boss was an experienced translator, and still expected to have to train people on the job. This, in turn, helped me get my subsequent job (at what was then the Ministry of Agriculture), which was advertised in the national press, so there was a lot of competition. Incidentally, when I went freelance 5 years on, my first work came through a contact I'd made during my Master's.”

That’s the thing – Master’s graduates are likely to end up working in an in-house role or go freelance without any contacts or leads. Is it worth the cost and duration of a Master’s to end up in the same boat as translators without a postgraduate qualification? Even with the Master’s, in-house experience is vital from my point of view.

Sarah, on the other hand, also built up contacts made during her course, but decided to take a different direction in her career and did not foster this connections. “I initially got cold feet and took the safe route of working with a management consultancy in a completely non-translation related role. My idea was to save "enough" and then leave to set up my own translation business. In any event, I didn't take to it, and left within a year to go freelance with a cold address book and no savings. I think the sense of urgency served me well though, because I had a full book of clients within 3 months and I've never looked back. I literally couldn't afford to fail.”

So even though Sarah had managed to acquire enough contacts during her course in order to go freelance immediately, she let the trail go cold by working in an unrelated role after graduation. Moreover, not all postgraduate students would necessarily show the initiative and proactivity that Sarah did in attending translation talks and events and using the opportunity to network.   

Verena’s degree offered an internship at an agency – helping to break the loop of needing experience to get a job, but needing a job to get experience. It also allowed her to work in the last year of the degree, with her first jobs coming from work that some of her teachers had procured. But what next? “Then, I started looking for jobs on the internet, via Proz, and other job search sites. I worked a little, but definitely not enough for me to have jobs on a regular basis.”

What’s interesting in Verena’s case is that, despite their best efforts, only three or four out of 15 of her classmates are actually working as translators, and she cannot rely on working as a freelance translator to earn a living, even with a Master’s. However, this can perhaps be put down to the economic crisis that is hitting Spain a lot harder than the UK, with unemployment at nearly 25%.

So, what do our postgraduates think about learning to translate in-house rather than in class?

Sarah and Verena said exactly the same thing – there are rubbish translators with a Master’s, and excellent ones without one. Verena doesn’t see having a Master’s as a must to be a good translator, rather a way to specialise, to improve oneself, to feel more confident in one’s work, to get to know other translators and teachers and to see things from different points of view.

Besides the neutrality in approaching translation, it is important to lay the theoretical groundwork of a career in translation, which acts as a safety net of confidence for freelancers.

But Verena also suggested that it is ideal to strike the right balance between an academic and professional background. It boils down to what Sarah said - all good translators learn through on-the-job experience regardless of how their translation career is formed.

In Part Two, we’ll see what some translators have to say about their decision not to study for a Master’s and draw conclusions on the validity of both paths into translation.

Do we respect our own languages?

It may seem like quiet season on the site at the moment, but this is due to me working on more in-depth posts that require more research.
 
One of these is entitled Do we respect our own languages?, which I wrote as a guest post for the Greek translation company, Lingua Greca. This series focuses on the views of speakers - linguists or not -regarding their native language. Can one be proud to speak a certain language?

You can find the article posts here as they are published:

• Part 1 - English - 28 June 2012
• Part 2 - German - 12 July 2012
• Part 3 - French - 26 July 2012
• Part 4 - Spanish - 11 August 2012

Thanks to Catherine Christaki at Lingua Greca for publishing this! The Lingua Greca blog has regular features relating to freelance translation and beyond.

Finally, research for a post investigating the value of a Master's in translation is still ongoing - something to look forward to for August.