Breaking the Experience Paradox: Volunteer Opportunities for Aspiring Translators (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Here's a dilemma that new professionals often have to face early in their careers. This is Jane. Jane wants to become a professional translator, but she's just starting out. She's looking for places where she could possibly get some work. But here's the problem, she soon realizes that a lot of potential clients are turning down her application. And there's one particular explanation they seem to use a lot. You don't have enough experience. So Jane is officially trapped in the experience paradox. She needs work to get experience. At the same time, she needs experience to get work. So how can Jane break the cycle? There isn't a straightforward solution to this problem, especially in the translation industry. Typically, there's a number of things Jane has to put together in order to become more appealing to customers. Think of it as a puzzle. Each piece of that puzzle is a type of action that Jane takes, or a new skill that she learns and masters, and so on. The goal is to complete the puzzle, that is, to become more employable. Let's put it that way. So today I'm going to talk about one of the pieces of this puzzle. If you're like Jane, and you're just starting out as a translator, one of the things you can do to start gaining some experience is volunteering. It's one of the ways to start building a professional portfolio. And because you're normally able to choose what sort of projects you want to volunteer it's also an opportunity for you to gain a new level of expertise in a specific field. For instance, law, engineering, geography, retail, and you get the idea. Start building specialized groceries and other important translation assets, and generally get a more thorough understanding of the different stages and dynamics of translation. I've prepared a fairly long list of online platforms where you can volunteer as a translator, so I'll try to keep this video short and straight to the point. I'll leave a link to my blog in the description, where you'll find the links to these platforms, as well as more info on the concept of building a professional portfolio. And if you like the video, why not giving it a thumbs up, and perhaps following the channel too? I'll be very grateful if you do so, it really helps me a lot. Anyway, let's get started. Here they are, 20 websites for volunteer translators. 1. Coursera. Here's a platform I worked a lot with back when I was a translation student. Coursera is a freemium learning platform with thousands of courses for people who want to develop new skills, in all sorts of fields. In case you're interested, there's even some courses related to translation. But the main feature for the purpose of this video is the Translators section, that you can find at the bottom of the page. You can register to translate the subtitles of whichever course you like, provided that nobody has done that course into your language already. Once you set up, just click Translate on the left-hand side menu, and choose a course from the list by clicking Start. There are thousands to choose from, and the interface is excellent, with the source text being displayed on the left, divided into segments. This is probably the closest you'll get to a CAT tool experience from this list. And this is time for a quick side note. For those who don't know, a CAT tool is a specialized piece of software for translators. There are many different ones on the market, they're pretty much essential to translators nowadays, and Coursera gives you a very basic idea of how they work, by replicating their typical interface. Now back to the video. 2. Wikipedia. I don't think I need to introduce you to Wikipedia, so let's just skip that part. To cut a long story short, if you find an article in your source language that doesn't exist in your target language yet, then you can be the one who makes that happen. Again, you can choose the topic, which gives you the chance to specialize even further in your favorite fields of knowledge. Just a quick note, make sure you read their guidelines before you start. 3. Khan Academy. Another internationally acclaimed learning platform, Khan Academy has been offering free courses to people for a number of years now. There's two ways in which you can contribute to the platform. First, by giving them a small donation, or a big one if you fancy. And second, by making their content available to more people. Just click volunteer and register with them as a translator. 4. TED Talks. Another popular platform that needs no introduction. You can join their community of volunteers to transcribe and translate their talks. Just click apply now and follow their instructions. 5. Bubblecube. This one is a bit different. It's a platform that puts writers and publishers in touch with translators. In simple terms, if you find an ebook in their catalogue that hasn't been translated into your language yet, you can get in touch with the author directly and offer your services. You will essentially be a volunteer, but you may actually end up getting paid in the end. And that's because you, the translator, will receive a percentage of the royalties every time a book that you translated is sold. So you'll put the work up front, but you will earn a share of the royalties once the book is published. 6. UN Volunteers. You all know what the United Nations does, so I won't waste much time on this one. This is all you need to know. You can join their volunteering program and keep an eye on the translation section. There's also some opportunities for interpreters once in a while, so keep that in mind if you're also an interpreter. 7. Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a Linux developer that specializes in open-source operating systems such as, well, Ubuntu. They're always in need of volunteers to translate their operating systems, so here's another great opportunity to gain some experience. 8. WordPress. Another major open-source tool. This one focusing on website creation. Here's a super quick note. Remember that puzzle analogy at the start of the video. Creating a professional website for your translation services is one of the pieces. If you want to learn how to do that with WordPress, check my post on the subject. Link in the description. WordPress is free to use, and honestly, I can't say enough good things about them. You can support them by offering your translation services, while growing your professional portfolio at the same time. 9. Translation for Progress. It's a platform where charities meet with volunteer translators. Just click Proceed to Translator Registration and fill up the form to join them. 10. Translators Without Borders. Another well-renowned platform for charitable activities. You can keep an eye on their translation job board in case something in your language pops up. 11. Permondo. This one is actually managed by a commercial agency named Mondo Agit, but focuses on volunteering. According to them, if they like your work, you may actually end up receiving requests for paid translations too, so it's something to keep in mind. I haven't worked with them myself, but if any of you has done so, please let me know about your experience in the comments section below. 12. Global Voices. Global Voices is a large, multilingual community of bloggers, journalists, translators, academics and human rights activists. Again, you can volunteer to translate their content into your target language. Fill up their form to register with them. 13. Kiva. Kiva is a non-profit lending platform dedicated to help people across the world with no access to financial services. According to their website, they are currently looking for volunteers to translate into French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. English native linguists may contribute with editing and proofreading tasks. 14. Charity Translators. This one has some similarities with Translation for Progress, so it's another place where you can apply to in order to become a volunteer. 15. ICDL. A digital library that focuses on books for children. They appear to have plenty of small projects with a low volume, so there's a lot of flexibility with regards to how much time you can dedicate to it. 16. Audiopedia. Audiopedia is a free audio library that distributes content to help women and girls who have no access to education. Just fill up their form on the right-hand side of their page to find how you may support them as a translator. 17. The European Southern Observatory. If you're planning to specialize in astronomy, this is the place to go to gain experience as a translator. Just keep in mind that all their content is written in English, so this one is mainly for non-English translators. 18. Peace Brigades International. A human rights organization providing support across the globe. Linguists who translate between English and Spanish can easily apply as volunteers. 19. Children for Health. A lovely small charity helping to provide health services to children around the world. And they have a section dedicated to volunteer translators. Now they don't always have open positions for volunteers, but it's worth keeping an eye out once in a while just in case. And 20. Any other open-source software. We've seen how you can volunteer to translate content released by Ubuntu or WordPress, two of the largest open-source software developers in the world. So keep in mind, the same applies to thousands of other open-source developers out there. They provide their softwares for free, and all they need now is someone to help them get their software translated into other languages. If you use any free software, chances are it's open-source, so consider getting in touch with the developer and ask whether they need your help. And that's all from me for today. You've got plenty of options to choose from, so feel free to take a look at a couple of them and give them a go. Thank you so much for watching. I'll see you again next time.