Is training or continuing education required to be a translation specialist?
(If not, why is it important to get it then?) Certainly there is no training of continuing required, officially in the U.S. The somewhat scary—but also exciting—fact is that the door to becoming a translation specialist is wide open and anyone can hang out their shingle as a translation specialist.
Therefore, it is, to some extent, very much a case of buyer beware, which is why training or continuing education is actually important, ironically, to separate yourself from the rest of the herd when you don’t have any experience to boast of. To get started in the field, to get good quality work, and to build a good reputation, it is definitely helpful to get some training and/or continuing education. Otherwise you may make some awful mistakes in your early days—and your business and/or initial reputation may suffer. You may also hurt your first clients—and who wants to do that to people who are counting on you and who were kind enough to give a fledgling translation professional a chance?-By Adriana Tassini
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