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Elena Kravichenko, English/German to Ukrainian/Russian translator, tells BeWords more about her thoughts on translation.

Dear readers please feel free to react and discuss/comment on this interview (here on the blog)

1. Could you kindly tell us and our readers about your personal and professional background in a few words? 

I actually started my translator’s and interpreter’s career path when I was about 15 years old. I used to translate excursions for foreign visitors of our town. I also made different translations for my and parents' friends. Though “formally" I started working as a translator in 2006, when I was already a student of the Translation department in a technical university. Since that time I've been working as a communications manager, technical translator, localization QA and technical writer.

2. Tell us please a bit more about your current professional situation and status. What does it feel to be independent and what are the associated advantages and limits?

Currently I'm an in-house translator. I've also been working as an independent translator, and judging from my experience can say that being independent translator is actually a great feeling,  as you realize that you are in charge of yourself, you work the way you like it and the way you think it right, you become more self-organized, as you feel absolute responsibility for yourself. Though what you lack if you are a totally independent  freelance translator is a real, not virtual communication and involvement in the real translation life. Of course, many  independent translators still visit specialized conferences, participate in translation events. But many of them do not, and I think it is not right, as one stops to develop professionally to some extent.  

3. What can you tell us about your mother tongue, the languages you translate from and the business associated to it (trends, sectors, etc.)?

It is very pleasant to observe now that my native Russian and Ukrainian languages gain much popularity. Though Russian still remains more wide-spread than Ukrainian. In the last years demand for technical translations, oil and gas translations into Russian has raised a lot. 

4. The value chain of the translation business is undergoing a strong evolution. With changes and impacts at different levels (players, tools, processes, customer relationships, etc.). What is or are the evolutions your consider the most important for you on the short or medium-term?

I think the first revolution in the translation industry was made by the Internet itself. It is almost impossible to imagine how translators could do without computers and the Internet about 20 years ago. Internet opens up great opportunities for translators, one should be super lazy not to use them. I also think that translation tools are of a great help for translators – you need to spend just a little time to learn about some tool or translation memory (for example, Trados) but will save a lot of time in the long run.

5. Do you think (especially in your country) that the cooperation between players (freelance translators, agencies, CAT tools providers) is satisfying and effective?

Here is yet much to be improved, I think. Cooperation between freelance translators, agencies and customers is not that well established.  Also CAT tools are not that widely used yet. So translation industry in Ukraine still has some directions to develop

6. What about Machine Translation in your language? Did you test some solutions? Any feedbacks to share?

Yes, I did test some solutions here. But they all give awful results. They can not be used by a translator, really.

7. In your opinion, with advances in MT, will translators become "mere" proofreaders? Is-it foreseeable? Opportunity or threat?

Yes, I think it can happen in the future that translators will become “mere” proofreaders of the work done by a machine. Though it is still hard for me to imagine that a machine can do the same good translation as a human would. This primarily concerns translation of feature texts, as they need an extremely creative approach in translation, which is hard to expect from the machine translation. For me being such a “after machine translation” proofreader is rather a threat, than an opportunity. 

8. Being an independent translator, what advice could you give to young professionals starting their career? Or, if you are starting your career, what kind of advice are you looking for? (some of our readers may be able to help you!)

The first advice is: never stop learning and develop yourself. You can not know everything and specialize in many fields, but you have to know a lot from your specialization field in order to be a really good translator.  The second advice: never, under no circumstances compromise quality of your translation.  I think one should never  juxtapose sum paid for the translation and the quality of the delivered translation. After all, it is always up to you to decide which offers you accept and which not. And if you make the translation, you should make it properly. 

9. Concerning websites for translators or translation platforms, do you count on them as a primary source of customers (for you personally) or do you see them as an extra?

For me such sites are primary source of customers. 

10. What about social networks (Facebook, Linkedin, etc.)? How do you use them for your professional activity?

Linkedin and xing are helpful, I have some good professional contacts from there. Facebook is not a professional network, I think finding business contacts there is a very rare case.

11. Is there any other topic you would like to talk about here?

Unfortunately there is still a problem with dishonest customers who pay translators very late or do not pay at all. Even though the translators delivered them good and timely translations. I know there are some sites  (not for translators, but for example the freelancers' sites with the software development jobs) that make it impossible for customers not to pay due to their special services and agreements. Unfortunately, until now we did not have such sites for translators, at least I never heard of them. But we have BeWords now, and besides other great features I'm sure it will help translators with its Escrow service a lot

Discover Elena Kravchenko's profile on BeWords.com