International Translation Day 2022: Careers In Translation and Languages
Happy International Translation Day! This special day happens every September 30th and is officially recognised by the United Nations.
Here on the GMACS blog, we’re going to bring you a little bit of information on what’s happening to celebrate International Translation Day and why it’s an important day to recognise. We’ll also include some handy links and info on some career pathways you could take if you’re interested in translation or Modern Foreign Languages (MFL).
Read on to get all the info! You can also get involved over on the GMACS socials (Instagram and Twitter) or by using the hashtags #internationaltranslationday or #ITD2022.
What is International Translation Day?
International Translation Day was adopted by the United Nations in 2017. Since then, it’s been a popular event amongst language professionals, whether they work in politics, journalism, literary translation, teaching, or scientific translation.
The 30th September was chosen as this day already celebrated the feast of St. Jerome, the patron saint of translators. In the 4th and 5th centuries, St. Jerome famously translated most of the Bible into Latin from Greek manuscripts – and this is why he is celebrated and remembered today.
What makes translation so important?
Translation is one of the most important parts of living in a multicultural society. After all, if we can’t speak to each other, it makes it far more difficult to live together in harmony. Languages are vitally important for our global society, and multilingualism is considered a core value of the United Nations.
Careers in Languages/MFL
Language skills are popular choices, and they can take you into a wide range of different careers. The most common choices include things like:
- Translation
- Interpreting
- Journalism
- Marketing
- Diplomacy
- Customer service
- Teaching
Translation may include anything from live verbal translation to translating scientific or literary written works. Teaching could be teaching a foreign language in the UK, or teaching English abroad. There is also lots of work available in the diplomacy space. This is a chance to be a part of exciting political work – you could even work at the United Nations.
On top of these common choices, don’t forget that lots of businesses offer services to either countries abroad or to those speaking other languages within the UK. This means you can find jobs in a huge range of places that also require some translation or communication skills in other languages. Many jobs may even not specifically mention other languages, but they’ll often be seen as a huge plus in your application.
To explore more careers in languages, search at the National Careers Service or use your Xello login if you have one through your school in Greater Manchester.
Pathways into careers in Languages
There are a few different ways that you could take to start your career in Languages.
A common way is to take a degree in a modern language. These are popular degrees that often include a year working or studying abroad to hone your language skills. You’ll generally need an A level and GCSE in a foreign language to study a modern language degree, although this may vary depending on course and university.
There are also apprenticeships and T levels that you could take into jobs that involve languages. For example, there are apprenticeships into teaching, journalism, and many air travel roles.
You could also go straight into some roles involving languages, either by getting into work straight after school or by applying for internships and other job programmes.
If you’re already bilingual, you could either continue to study your language at a higher level or go straight into employment.
Explore more courses and pathways on the Xello service if you have a login, or look on the National Careers Service website.
Literary translation and International Translation Day events
You might not have thought about literary translation as a possible career, but it makes art accessible to so many people. As a career, it’s becoming more and more popular as more novels are translated into other languages across the world.
Even if you’re not considering working in literary translation, it’s still worth checking out the events on offer about literary translation. They’re a great place to find new works of art you might love, either in the language you’re studying, or translated into English from other languages.
