Oka TMP Translation Application Why are you interested in joining the translation team?

Two years ago, I launched an event with a friend on the official account: recruiting a group of volunteers to translate The Economist, hoping to present the best articles in The Economist in a bilingual form, so that More people can learn to appreciate the articles in this top international publication, benefiting more English learners.

After the event registration was sent out, I received a lot of applications. After screening, we formed a translation team. From weekly topic selection, translation, proofreading, finalizing to sorting out new words, we slowly developed a complete process. In the first three months since the translation team was established, more than 200 articles were translated and appreciated in one day, and all articles were shared for free so that more people could see them. In this process, we have received many thanks from readers. The efforts of the translators have enabled many readers to develop the habit of reading and appreciating The Economist, and their English proficiency has also been greatly improved.

Today, the translation volunteer team reopens applications for translators, hoping to attract more outstanding translators to join.

What requirements do we have for translators?

The most important thing is intention. From March last year to now, we have received more than hundreds of trial translation articles, and a translator's translation attitude can often be seen from these translations. For example, for the same translation in the form of a word document, does the document only have the Chinese translation or does it have a detailed comparison between Chinese and English? For example, are there any typos in the translation? Is the Chinese fluent? Did the translator read it carefully after the translation? For another example, after translation, did the translator make notes on the difficulties and background knowledge in the article? These are details, but they can reflect whether a translator is attentive. And intention is a very precious quality. You can learn English if you are not good at it, but it is difficult to learn a sincere attitude.

Secondly, you must be interested in translation. The interest I am referring to here does not refer to the kind of love that Ye Gong loves dragons that you have on a whim after reading this article, but the kind that can make you suffer from frustrations, think painfully during the day, and not sleep well at night. Get up at five o'clock in the morning, smile bitterly and curse at your mother, and still be able to finish it with a grin on your face, the kind of true love that comes from the heart. A spirit that can fight to the death with oneself. This is what interest is. And I hope that you are a person who is really interested in translation.

Lastly, I hope you have a good command of English. The minimum requirement is to be able to read The Economist without any barriers and be familiar with basic translation theories. Our volunteer recruitment does not have strict requirements for academic qualifications and certificates, but the premise is that your English and Chinese must not be too poor.

What can I learn in a volunteer translation organization?

A person can go fast, but a group of people can go further. Those who can join the translation organization are students who have good English proficiency and love translation and sharing. The volunteer group includes professional translators, graduate tutors, the most reliable ESL teaching experts in China, as well as fellow English college students and international students. If you have any confusion about learning English, I believe they can give you some advice. If you love translation and communication, then they will be a group of like-minded people and partners who can learn from each other.