Carrera De Traductorado Publico / Interprete Simultaneo

[syngirl]

Just an update, the bilingualism thread reminded me about this one.... Fifs2 I'm sorry I never got back in touch in december with you -- I actually ended up having to fly home due to a death in the family at the end of november and with prices at that time of year being so exagerrated I ended up staying for about a month.

Anyway, I had originally asked about possible degrees/studies in translation or interpretation. In the end I found a programme for Simultaneous Interpretation at McDonough in the centro. It's a long haul -- 3 years of course work and then one year of apprenticing at conferences. But it's only a couple of hours on weds evening and a couple of hours on friday, so I'll keep working my regular job as I go through the programme. I interviewed right before I got on the plane home and the director of the programme liked what I had to offer, and hoped that she'd be able to put me in the 2nd year of the programme, but I didn't sit the entrance exam until end of January. She explained that it is basically a headhunting programme -- they start with 18 students and if you make it through you are pretty much guaranteed some work with them afterwards. She needs more native english speakers, so that definitely works in my favour.

The exam was quite easy, they just handed you a speech from a meeting of the IMF in english and you had to read it back to the in spanish (no prep, just off the cuff), and then they gave you another in spanish and you had to do the reverse. Then after that there was a parroting test -- I had to listen to an Alfonsin speech and she stopped the speech every 10 words or so and I'd have to say it back, then every few sentences, then she put it on for a couple of minutes. So I am rather annoyed with myself because I messed up on a few economics terms that I read every day in La Nacion and I also messed up on use of passive voice enough times that the director said that no, I'm stuck in the 1st year.

We'll see how it goes. I think it's something that you really can't tell if it's for you until you start, so I'm taking the approach that I will continue with my current job while studying, and see where it takes me. Maybe it's for me, maybe not. I also just have the feeling that now that I've committed to a programme my husband will probably end up with a transfer before I can complete it!

 

[nlaruccia]

Thanks for the update and info Syngirl.

 

[Girino]

Has anybody of you thought of taking the ATA exam here in Argentina?
There is one sitting in Rosario toward the end of June. I believe it is a little late to enroll, but I was considering getting a certification to boost my business sooner or later.

Just like frenchie here, I never thought I was going to be a translator. I am an electrical engineer and I have been translating since when I was still studying at the university. For 6 years I worked both jobs, then I was left home from my former employer and I now live off translations - that's the main reason I decided to move to BsAs. Earn in dollars, have a decent lifestyle in a nice place with a nice weather, and forget the commuting and the grey office suits.

I never had an education in translation, I learned by doing. And I also never thought to get certified before because, after all, my main job was being an engineer.
The only language certification I have is a mere PET in English from the University, so I don't even mention it on my resume.
However I passed the selection to be a freelance linguist for the European Union in 2012, so I trust my skills in the field. (No job from the EU has come through, tho!)

I, too, browsed UBA's courses and I found it not worth it - I am already making my living from translations, and I specialize in technical ones, so I don't see the point in putting everything off to go back to school to resume what I am already doing now.

I'll just look for 'my pool' and live it the frenchie way!

 

[Peony54]

If you're getting enough work from outside the country I wouldn't bother. You would benefit from having it if you do translation for Argentina but pay is much lower. I guess you could do it to just have something to add to your resume though I don't think it would make much of a difference.

 

[Girino]

You would benefit from having it if you do translation for Argentina but pay is much lower.

ATA is American, I think I'll never have any Argentinian customer given the rates they pay.

 

[Peony54]

Oh sorry I just assumed!! I do translation work and never get asked for any certification so I guess it probably just depends on the type of work you do. I feel like the more public it is or a high level of difficulty is when things like that come in handy!

 

[Girino]

The American Translation Association is considered one of the most qualifying certification in the industry worldwide. So far, I have never been asked to be an ATA member, but perhaps I was screened out because of that and I don't even know.

 

[natykerouac]

I studied public certified translation in a private university in Buenos Aires and ended up changing careers. The program here is very difficult because you must study law. To be a translator you need a licenciado, aka Bachelor's Degree, then you can study for your Master's Degree in simultaneous interpretation. You the must get certified en the Colegio de Traductores Publicos because all translations must be legally certified. In the States that's not the case. You can get a lot of translation work in the States via the internet but from Argentina, and get paid in dollars and you don't have to certify the translations. The downside is that a native English speaker might find it difficult since it's taught from a Spanish speaking perspective and you'll have to take a lot of required grammar classes and syntactic analysis of the English language when what we need is to study those same subject matters in Spanish. I wish you the best of luck and applaud hour desire to return to the university. Education is never a waste of time. One other thing. Because of university bureaucracy you can't sit English exams or fast talk your way out of English classes and they won't help improve a Spanish accent. They will however force you to learn to speak with a British accent.

Does a degree from IUNA, a national universitarian art institute, count as a bachelors that I could then move on to get the certification?

 

[Montauk_Project]

Does a degree from IUNA, a national universitarian art institute, count as a bachelors that I could then move on to get the certification?

No, here licenciados are specialized degrees, not like the US where you have a liberal arts degree. you can also be licenciado in medicine or law, and with a licenciado you can teach in a university. so a degree needs to be specific to translation to get a masters in it.