Do you want to take the CATTI exam? 10 Suggestions for Novice Translators

It's the application season for CATTI. For many beginners who have just entered the translation industry, they must be worried and hesitant. I am worried that my grammar is not good, my foundation is not good, my vocabulary is not enough, and my writing ability is too weak to pass the exam. At the same time, I know little about whether CATTI will help the development of my translation career. In order to solve some doubts and concerns of the majority of translation novices, Tang Neng hereby forwards 10 on the official account of "Translation World" WeChat, hoping to help everyone.

Then, as a novice translator, how should we prepare to become an excellent translator? Let's take a look at the corresponding suggestions ~?

Question 1

Do you want to take a translation certificate?

Because the current national laws and regulations have not set rigid entry requirements for translators, many people think that since translation focuses on practice and accumulation, is it necessary to take a translation certificate? Moreover, it's really time to apply. For example, now, we have received many news from new friends backstage these days. Among them, the most frequently asked question is what level can the CATTI exam reach? To put it bluntly, what is the level to pass CATTI?

In fact, this question is really difficult to answer. Everyone's situation is different, but we can still answer it. At least first, you have to love translation. Secondly, you have to have a certain English foundation. What does it mean to have a certain English foundation? Let's take a look at the syllabus at all levels and see how far your language foundation, vocabulary and knowledge are from the syllabus. Are you willing to skip these gaps? If you understand this, you may be able to provide some valuable information for your application. ?

From the perspective of ability, translation certificate is a test of one's own ability. Every year, many people apply for CATTI (National Translation Professional Qualification (Level) Examination). The scores of CATTI examination are relatively strict, and the requirements for candidates' abilities are also relatively high. Therefore, taking the translation certificate is also a test of my efforts over the years.

With the increasingly hot translation exam in the Ministry of Personnel, the question of whether this exam is useful is often discussed. From the perspective of job hunting, a certificate with high gold content is undoubtedly a good stepping stone to engage in the translation industry, and it is also a bargaining chip that can compete with other job seekers. Look at the picture below first:

Therefore, if you plan to engage in translation work in the future, or plan to do part-time translation, it is still useful to take an oral and translation certificate as long as time and energy permit. The so-called ability is more important than certificate, although it makes sense, but sometimes employers or employers don't have time to test their ability, and having a certificate is somewhat convincing.

Of course, many people will still have such questions: Can you engage in translation with a certificate? I have a certificate, but I have no actual combat experience, so I can't be a translator. Only by constantly learning and growing in actual combat can you become a translator.

So, you want to take CATTI, but you are worried about poor grammar, poor foundation, insufficient vocabulary and weak writing ability. If you have the same worry, ask yourself a question first: Do you really like translation? If it is. Then make up grammar, recite words and practice writing.

To report or not to report is really a question. What should we do? It's up to you. Anyway, pretty girls and handsome guys are ready to sign up.

Question 2

Where should I start to learn translation well?

Many people express their interest in translation, but they don't know where to start or whether to study translation theory. Many people have a misunderstanding of theoretical knowledge and think it is useless. The key is to look at practice.

In fact, it is necessary to learn theoretical knowledge if you want to learn translation well. This is because in the process of learning translation, basic language skills are essential. If you don't learn these theoretical knowledge, you will be hindered in your later translation.

Discrimination of what synonyms; English word formation rules; Translation of negative sentences, passive sentences and long sentences; Without the preparation of this theory, it is difficult to learn translation directly. And these basic skills cannot be learned overnight. Everyone should be prepared for a protracted war.

Question 3

How to improve translation ability?

In the process of learning translation, you may encounter some bottlenecks or setbacks. Many people will feel that their translation level and ability have not been improved, that they have encountered a bottleneck period, and they want to improve but don't know what to do.

In fact, "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step", and the ability of translation grows in practice. Persist in training your own translation ability and persist in translation. When there are obvious differences between the first translation and the last translation of the same book, you will find yourself making progress.

There is no shortcut to this road, the only way is to keep practicing. A simultaneous translator, before becoming a simultaneous translator, at least listened to a lot of information. To be a qualified translator and reach the level of translation skills, at least 30,000-50,000 words should be translated, and to be a skilled translator, the amount of 10- 15000 words is indispensable.

So, how many words have you translated now? Do you cover all types and styles of materials in your translated text? Whether it is a paper, a contract, a product description, or a poem, a poem, a prose novel, we should be brave enough to try to translate various styles.

It has always been advocated that translation needs professionals. Now, translation needs not only professionals, but also generalists. In addition to mastering professional knowledge in a certain field, we should also study and dabble in other related fields, which is the translation talent needed in the 2 1 century.

Question 4

Is vocabulary important?

Vocabulary needs to be accumulated. It's hard to imagine that a person with only 5000 words can translate things well, because there are no words to express what you want to express. Vocabulary represents a person's thinking ability. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill has a vocabulary of 90,000, which is quite high. A TEM-8 English major should have a vocabulary of 13000, while a well-educated Englishman has a vocabulary of 25000.

Question 5

How to balance the relationship between notes and listening?

Beginner's notes, listening and recording can't be synchronized. Forget to remember when listening, forget to listen when remembering, and forget to record when listening to analysis. Finally, the notes were not written down, the short-term memory was not developed, and the information could not be output.

Interpretation notes are not simple mechanical records or simple shorthand. They are multi-task assignments that integrate listening, analyzing, memorizing and recording. Interpreters need to "multitask" and allocate their energy reasonably. Beginners who interpret and take notes will inevitably have unsynchronized listening and recording because there is no unreasonable allocation.

The energy distribution and coordination of interpretation is similar to listening to the radio while driving. When driving, you need to pay high attention, but when you hear a topic of interest, you will subconsciously divide your energy to listen, and the throttle will slow down, reducing the energy of vehicle control. The same is true of interpretation. You should learn to make reasonable arrangements in various tasks.

When you hear difficult points and main information points and need to analyze them, you can slow down the pace of recording and put more energy into listening and distinguishing. When the content is less difficult to listen to, the energy tends to record, thus speeding up the pace of writing, achieving overall balance and moderate deployment. It's like implanting a valve in the brain to adjust the distribution of energy through the valve.

Through reasonable methods and effective communication, we can improve the energy coordination ability of multi-task and realize the synchronization of listening, writing and memory.

The first method is to write numbers at a relatively constant speed (in a certain order, such as from 1 to 100 or from 100 to 1) while listening to a paragraph, and repeat the paragraph after listening.

Pay attention to the speed of writing. You can't write a number in a few seconds, nor can you write n numbers in a second. I can't write fast for a while, even slower than a snail. You must keep a constant speed. When you need more energy to remember the main information, you should slow down your writing. When the information is relatively minor, the writing speed can be appropriately accelerated. In addition, when writing numbers, the order should not be chaotic.

The second method, while reading, writes numbers in a certain order at a relatively constant speed. After listening, repeat it. Operation form is the same as method 1. In addition, every time you change a paragraph, the starting point of the number will also change. If the last paragraph is written from 1 to 50, then when listening to a new paragraph, don't choose 50 or 49 as the starting point, but choose a number as far away from 50 as possible to avoid forming a formula in your mind, which will not achieve the effect of practice.

Question 6

What is a qualified translation performance?

A good interpreter knows how to grasp the rhythm. A common fault of new translation is that we just keep going without cadence. In the end, I tried very hard to follow, and I didn't necessarily follow. I lost a lot of information.

A mature translator must have his own unique and comfortable rhythm. Everyone has his own habits, but in the process of cultivating rhythm, there are several points for reference.

A. Let's talk about the disadvantages of quick success and instant benefit. Without cadence, the audience will sound tired and gradually stop listening. Plus, I'm too nervous to relax, so it's easy to make mistakes. Sometimes I don't even know where I said it, and then I lose the whole sentence.

B. The correct way is: there should be a pause between sentences and meaning groups, and sentences and meaning groups should advance rapidly. For example, "I'm thinking of adding a feature phone. I used to love texting, but after switching to a touch-screen phone, one of the great pleasures of life died. "

Think of this sentence simply as four meaning groups, each meaning group completes a pause and advances rapidly within the meaning group. That is, each underlined part is fast, and one underlined part is finished. Stop. A little wordy.

C. pause is to help customers break down sentences and better grasp the actual meaning of the speaker. Fast intermediate speech is to keep up with the speaker's speech speed without losing information.

D. Sometimes you will meet customers who speak very fast, so you need your "thin mouth". But there is still a proper pause.

E. to cultivate a good sense of rhythm, on the one hand, you need to be sharp-tongued, on the other hand, you need to understand the actual meaning of the speaker and organize the language effectively. Another point that is easy to ignore: adjust your breathing. If you don't pay attention, it will sound breathless, and the audience will still feel tired.

Question 7

How to judge whether a job should be accepted?

Dare to have a meeting, does not mean disorderly meeting.

In the initial stage, don't frequently attend meetings with excessive technical difficulties, especially technical training and seminars, such as medical or chemical seminars. If you don't have enough background knowledge and preparation time, you'd better not answer.

If you are not prepared enough, you can't talk nonsense in the simultaneous interpretation room, or you stumble at the handover meeting, which will greatly affect the customer's impression of you. Seriously, they will be put directly in the cold palace and fall down before they start.

I advise you to give yourself more time to prepare. If you only attend one meeting a month, you will succeed if you do it well. You received four meetings a month, but each time was not satisfactory, which was not a success.

In addition, if a translation company asks you, "Can you do simultaneous interpretation in an hour?" Or "two hours of dinner simultaneous interpretation, no translation at dinner, only simultaneous interpretation when communicating." This kind of meeting should be answered carefully. It may be that a person has finished simultaneous interpretation for more than an hour, and finally it is not worth the candle. If this overtime really happens, don't lose yourself, but communicate with the translation company or customers in time and tell them the actual working hours. Don't worry about offending translation companies and customers. It is your professional performance to inform them in time.

For newcomers, preparation before the meeting is very important, and summary after the meeting is equally important. If conditions permit, you can record your own interpretation. Listen carefully after the meeting and sum up experience. In short, for newcomers, in the initial stage, don't simply pursue the number of meetings, but pay more attention to the quality of task completion, do every meeting with heart, and establish their own reputation with excellent quality.

Question 8

Do you need to "package" yourself?

Some translators asked, why didn't you get a job opportunity when you submitted your resume on major recruitment websites? That's because your resume is not professional enough to show your advantages, and it was brushed off before you could apply.

When applying for a job, recruiters are most concerned about whether you have been a monitor or organized social activities before, but whether you have relevant translation experience and which related translation projects you have participated in.

Therefore, it is enough for an interpreter to highlight the client's concerns in his resume when applying for a job. In addition, for different clients, you may need to prepare different resumes to let them know whether you are qualified for their jobs.

Question 9

Is it easy to find a job after learning translation?

Not necessarily, because some students are serious in class at school, but they are still far from practical application; Another important reason is the proliferation of "conservative" ideas in many large companies.

The so-called "conservative", the company likes to use some fixed translations, one is that the long-term cooperation price can be reduced, the other is that the tacit understanding is good, and it takes time and cost to adapt to the new translation again. So many companies are reluctant to hire new people. Therefore, in the process of learning, don't forget to participate in practice and accumulate relevant network resources.

Question 10

What is the most important thing to do a good translation?

As I said before, the requirement for translation in today's society is generalist. In addition to constantly strengthening the fields that you are good at, you should continue to learn other knowledge, care about current affairs and politics, understand the economy and culture, and understand the professional knowledge related to your professional field.

Translation needs continuous learning and progress, and once and for all, it is easy to be eliminated. Only by constantly absorbing new knowledge like a sponge can we grow better.

This road has a long way to go, far from being as easy as everyone thinks, and it can't be completed overnight. We should be down-to-earth and persevere, so that we can go further and further on the road of translation.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You can't learn it overnight!