Jess Crutchley describes her journey to becoming an in-house translator for German and French into English.
I never dreamed in a million years I’d end up living in Munich and working as a translator. I’d always been good at languages at school and so it was a natural choice to go on to study them at university. I studied French and German at Newcastle University and I guess it wasn’t until my year abroad that I started to consider a career in translation. Even then, I was too wrapped up in uni life and wasn’t really thinking about what I might do after I graduated. That was still two years away, after all. When it came to the year abroad there were three options: study, teach English for the British Council or do a work placement. Any combination of those options could be done as long as roughly the same amount of time was spent in a French and a German speaking country. At that point I had a friend who was studying in Paris. I’d been to visit her and had fallen in love with the place. I became adamant that I had to spend the French part of my year there, no matter what. I’d already ruled out teaching – it’s really not my thing. My university had no connections with the Sorbonne or any other higher education institutes in Paris and so I was left to my own devices to find myself a work placement there, which I did. Great, I was moving to Paris! That was the dream. But I still had to decide what to do in Germany.
I had no idea where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do in Germany. After speaking with my Mum – rather annoying how she always seems to know best, but that’s another story – we decided that doing a work placement there, too, was the way to go for me.
I had no idea where to even start looking. I went to the Newcastle language school for advice and they told me it had been a few years since anyone had expressed any interest in doing a work placement in Germany. Still, the secretary dragged down a ring binder – covered in a layer of dust may I add – and I began to look through the rather limited contacts to see if there was anything I fancied. To be honest, I wasn’t really bothered. I was so excited about going to Paris it didn’t seem like such a big deal at the time. I emailed a few of the contacts and waited to see what would happen. After receiving several replies and offers, I ended up opting for one that was based in Munich – a six-month placement in the translation department of an international company with its headquarters in the Bavarian capital. What I hadn’t realised at the time was that the company was one the biggest employers in Munich and amongst the top 100 employers in Germany. So I was moving to Paris, but first I had six months to spend working as a translation assistant in Munich!
I guess I was a bit naive when I first started. I had done some translation as part of my degree but I had never learned anything about translation techniques, research, the importance of good grammar... A month into the placement I realised two things: I loved Munich and I loved my job! I was doing a lot of proofreading but I also got the chance to translate some short articles for the company’s intranet site and bi-monthly company magazine. It gave me an amazing sense of satisfaction to see my work published. My two colleagues were amazing. They had both been in the industry for over 20 years and patiently taught me all the skills needed to produce quality translations. Suddenly, six months had passed all too quickly and it was time to move to Paris. I was gutted to be leaving and I knew then that translation was the career for me.
Fast forward a year and my finals were approaching. Friends were starting to apply for jobs and go for interviews. Everyone was talking about ‘London’ and ‘grad. schemes’. I panicked. It was just a few months until I graduated and I had no job lined up. I knew that I wanted a career in translation, but when I looked into it, it seemed I needed either an MA or much, much more experience than what I had. I applied for a couple of positions in the UK but to no avail. Most of the companies didn’t even respond to my applications. I got quite down about it all so I decided to contact the company I had worked for in Munich on my year abroad. They’d told me to keep in touch, after all. They were delighted to hear from me and said I could go back and do another six-month placement with them. I’d secretly been hoping for more to be honest but there was no scope in the company budget for a third full-time translator.
So I moved back to Munich to start building up my experience. The six months came and went all too quickly again and I was back to not really knowing what to do next. I applied for more translation jobs in Germany and in the UK but I still didn’t have enough experience. I didn’t have enough money saved up to start up as a freelancer and ended up moving back to the UK. The job situation had gone from bad to worse as the economic crisis worsened and I ended up temping. Not quite the dream career in translation I’d had in mind. I considered at that point doing a Masters in translation but financially it just wasn’t an option. Sick and tired of it all I decided to go travelling for a few months and when I returned I was lucky to find a job using both my languages. It wasn’t in translation but I’d have been silly to pass up the opportunity. It was by no means my dream job: the opportunities to progress within the company were limited and after three years I began to get itchy feet. After a particularly horrendous Monday I was all for handing in my notice and starting a translation MA. I got home that night to find an email out of the blue from the company in Munich. One of my former colleagues had decided to take early retirement and there was a position available! I had to double take. I couldn’t believe it. If I was interested, the company would fly me out for an interview the following week. I flew out for the interview and got the position. The company looked favourably on the fact that I had done two placements with them previously, that I knew the company and that I had experience in the industry.
And that’s the story of how I became an in-house translator. It wasn’t as straight-forward getting to where I am now as I might have hoped, but I got there eventually and it was well worth the wait. I love my job. It goes without saying that having an MA in translation is seen by employers and clients as greatly advantageous, but my story also goes to show that it is possible to enter into a career in translation without necessarily having the “expected” qualifications. A bit of perseverance, determination and willingness to go out there and find some experience, even if it is unpaid, goes a long way. I was lucky enough to get my foot in the door during my Bachelor degree. If there are people reading this out there who are doing a BA in or with modern languages and are contemplating what to do on their year abroad, take some time to think outside the box. Teaching and studying appeared to be the popular choice going off the track record of previous years’ students at my university, especially for those who weren’t actually studying any business modules. In fact, there’s a whole spectrum of industries that you could explore as part of your course – translation being just one of them. The choice you make could have more of an influence on your future career than you might ever realise at the time.
I hope that this story inspires anyone considering a career in translation who perhaps finds themselves in a similar situation to the one I was in. Good luck and don’t give up on the idea!
I had no idea where I wanted to go or what I wanted to do in Germany. After speaking with my Mum – rather annoying how she always seems to know best, but that’s another story – we decided that doing a work placement there, too, was the way to go for me.
I had no idea where to even start looking. I went to the Newcastle language school for advice and they told me it had been a few years since anyone had expressed any interest in doing a work placement in Germany. Still, the secretary dragged down a ring binder – covered in a layer of dust may I add – and I began to look through the rather limited contacts to see if there was anything I fancied. To be honest, I wasn’t really bothered. I was so excited about going to Paris it didn’t seem like such a big deal at the time. I emailed a few of the contacts and waited to see what would happen. After receiving several replies and offers, I ended up opting for one that was based in Munich – a six-month placement in the translation department of an international company with its headquarters in the Bavarian capital. What I hadn’t realised at the time was that the company was one the biggest employers in Munich and amongst the top 100 employers in Germany. So I was moving to Paris, but first I had six months to spend working as a translation assistant in Munich!
I guess I was a bit naive when I first started. I had done some translation as part of my degree but I had never learned anything about translation techniques, research, the importance of good grammar... A month into the placement I realised two things: I loved Munich and I loved my job! I was doing a lot of proofreading but I also got the chance to translate some short articles for the company’s intranet site and bi-monthly company magazine. It gave me an amazing sense of satisfaction to see my work published. My two colleagues were amazing. They had both been in the industry for over 20 years and patiently taught me all the skills needed to produce quality translations. Suddenly, six months had passed all too quickly and it was time to move to Paris. I was gutted to be leaving and I knew then that translation was the career for me.
Fast forward a year and my finals were approaching. Friends were starting to apply for jobs and go for interviews. Everyone was talking about ‘London’ and ‘grad. schemes’. I panicked. It was just a few months until I graduated and I had no job lined up. I knew that I wanted a career in translation, but when I looked into it, it seemed I needed either an MA or much, much more experience than what I had. I applied for a couple of positions in the UK but to no avail. Most of the companies didn’t even respond to my applications. I got quite down about it all so I decided to contact the company I had worked for in Munich on my year abroad. They’d told me to keep in touch, after all. They were delighted to hear from me and said I could go back and do another six-month placement with them. I’d secretly been hoping for more to be honest but there was no scope in the company budget for a third full-time translator.
So I moved back to Munich to start building up my experience. The six months came and went all too quickly again and I was back to not really knowing what to do next. I applied for more translation jobs in Germany and in the UK but I still didn’t have enough experience. I didn’t have enough money saved up to start up as a freelancer and ended up moving back to the UK. The job situation had gone from bad to worse as the economic crisis worsened and I ended up temping. Not quite the dream career in translation I’d had in mind. I considered at that point doing a Masters in translation but financially it just wasn’t an option. Sick and tired of it all I decided to go travelling for a few months and when I returned I was lucky to find a job using both my languages. It wasn’t in translation but I’d have been silly to pass up the opportunity. It was by no means my dream job: the opportunities to progress within the company were limited and after three years I began to get itchy feet. After a particularly horrendous Monday I was all for handing in my notice and starting a translation MA. I got home that night to find an email out of the blue from the company in Munich. One of my former colleagues had decided to take early retirement and there was a position available! I had to double take. I couldn’t believe it. If I was interested, the company would fly me out for an interview the following week. I flew out for the interview and got the position. The company looked favourably on the fact that I had done two placements with them previously, that I knew the company and that I had experience in the industry.
And that’s the story of how I became an in-house translator. It wasn’t as straight-forward getting to where I am now as I might have hoped, but I got there eventually and it was well worth the wait. I love my job. It goes without saying that having an MA in translation is seen by employers and clients as greatly advantageous, but my story also goes to show that it is possible to enter into a career in translation without necessarily having the “expected” qualifications. A bit of perseverance, determination and willingness to go out there and find some experience, even if it is unpaid, goes a long way. I was lucky enough to get my foot in the door during my Bachelor degree. If there are people reading this out there who are doing a BA in or with modern languages and are contemplating what to do on their year abroad, take some time to think outside the box. Teaching and studying appeared to be the popular choice going off the track record of previous years’ students at my university, especially for those who weren’t actually studying any business modules. In fact, there’s a whole spectrum of industries that you could explore as part of your course – translation being just one of them. The choice you make could have more of an influence on your future career than you might ever realise at the time.
I hope that this story inspires anyone considering a career in translation who perhaps finds themselves in a similar situation to the one I was in. Good luck and don’t give up on the idea!
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