Poll: What influences your decision to specialize in a field? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "What influences your decision to specialize in a field?".
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Why did I specialize in certain areas? First of all, 20 years working as staff translator at an EU Institution gave me a lot of experience. After that, I must say though that if there was a conscious decision, it wasn’t really mine, but my clients’. Of course, there are areas that I recognise are beyond my capabilities and even my interests, and I will never touch on those, but in this profession, we are always learning, and specialisation follows on from that. Anyway, I would like to get a ... See more Why did I specialize in certain areas? First of all, 20 years working as staff translator at an EU Institution gave me a lot of experience. After that, I must say though that if there was a conscious decision, it wasn’t really mine, but my clients’. Of course, there are areas that I recognise are beyond my capabilities and even my interests, and I will never touch on those, but in this profession, we are always learning, and specialisation follows on from that. Anyway, I would like to get a better understanding of the interdependent nature of all the parts and pieces related to environmental science (global warming, climate changes, rainfall, droughts, floods, heat waves, etc.). I have some free time now… ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lieven Malaise 
Belgium
Local time: 19:04
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
I've never decided to specialize in something. In my 5-year inhouse employment I translated everything I was offered, whatever the topic, so in the beginning of my freelancing career I decided to continue that same approach and it was probably the best professional decision I have ever made. 21 years later I can say that I'm comfortable in translating basically everything that crosses my path. Some topics obviously take way more time than others, but I'm never nervous about my ability to deliver... See more I've never decided to specialize in something. In my 5-year inhouse employment I translated everything I was offered, whatever the topic, so in the beginning of my freelancing career I decided to continue that same approach and it was probably the best professional decision I have ever made. 21 years later I can say that I'm comfortable in translating basically everything that crosses my path. Some topics obviously take way more time than others, but I'm never nervous about my ability to deliver a good translation. As I've said before: my specialization is translation itself.
The principle of "specializations" in the translation industry has always been problematic. No-one is specialized when he starts and it would take many years of regular translations to be able to say you are specialized. Yet a translator is supposed to specify his specializations from the very beginning. If you wouldn't, there would be simply no work for you. It's stupid and ridiculous. I've always had a "not a single f**k given" approach if I'm asked to specify my specializations: I always mention a ridiculous amount of them. If that raises questions, I simply answer by saying that I'm always willing to deliver a test translation in any given specialization.
A tip for the road: if there is one thing that AI is good at, then it will be its capacity to give you or at least point you in the right direction of the proper terminology you should use in basically any topic, at lightning speed. Once again, just like MTPE, it's a matter of practice: learning to prompt properly is important. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Luis M. Sosa
Ecuador
Local time: 12:04
English to Spanish
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| Strongly agree with Lieven | Apr 24 |
when he says: "it would take many years of regular translations to be able to say you are specialized." I believe in specialization, and one's choice has to come from academic and professional backgrounds + those years of regular translations. Successful test(s) in your chosen field(s) normally help you get established. I would not venture into say chemistry or environmental.
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| Strongly disagree with Lieven. Knowing one's limitations is a good thing. | May 2 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
No-one is specialized when he starts and it would take many years of regular translations to be able to say you are specialized.
Plenty of people are specialised when they start translating and have experience, qualifications and even degrees in areas other than languages/translation.
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Yet a translator is supposed to specify his specializations from the very beginning. If you wouldn't, there would be simply no work for you. It's stupid and ridiculous.
In my experience, it's actually easier for a specialist (as opposed to a generalist) to find work. Jack of all trades, master of none.
Think about it: Would you not agree that it's easier for someone with e.g. a PhD in Biology to learn a foreign language than it is for a translator to "learn" Biology.
In translation, there are plenty of blow-ins, career changers, Quereinsteiger...
Lieven, you're speaking from your experience, I'm just speaking from mine. And that has been that the best translators avoid certain subjects like the plague. Knowing one's limitations is a good thing.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 19:04
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| Definitely different experiences | May 2 |
Cilian O'Tuama wrote:
Plenty of people are specialised when they start translating and have experience, qualifications and even degrees in areas other than languages/translation.
That's true, and the fact that they are in the first place specialized and only in the second place linguistic professionals is also their Achilles' heel. I've edited quite some of their translations in a distant past and the quality of their work was often... bad: mediocre comprehension of the source text and mediocre knowledge of spelling and grammar.
Cilian O'Tuama wrote:
In my experience, it's actually easier for a specialist (as opposed to a generalist) to find work. Jack of all trades, master of none.
First of all, I've never really understood what a "generalist" is. What do they actually translate? Could you give specific examples?
My very first important translation I had to do, was for my final paper in college: translation of several German articles from the magazine Der Spiegel (high-level magazine at the time and I believe it still is) about dumped drug laboratory-related waste. Hard stuff, but I was a would-be environmentalist at the time, so I went for it. After a lot of sweat I submitted my preliminary version. Result: my supervisor coming at me in anger, accusing me of having called in a professional translator. She simply couldn't believe I had done the translation. (Basically a beautiful compliment, but at the time I remember the ground slipping from under my feet.) Do you think I knew anything about drug laboratories and their waste at the time?
Second example: one of the first professional translations ever I had to do was during my internship in the translation agency that a few months later would become my first employer: it was about golf and I knew nothing about golf. I hardly new what the green was. But why would that have to be a problem? The internet was already there. It obviously took time, but I found everything I needed to.
So, let's get to the "Jack of all trades". You could probably describe me like that, but apparently I'm a master at the same time. Would you describe the following topics as generalist: development plans for a grid operator, a year report for an airline company with high demands on style and terminology, user manuals for the most diverse industrial and medical machinery, implantation manuals for surgeons, environmental assessment plans for nuclear power plants, contracts of all kinds, regional laws, court rulings, touristic websites, and so on, and so on.
Cilian O'Tuama wrote:
Think about it: Would you not agree that it's easier for someone with e.g. a PhD in Biology to learn a foreign language than it is for a translator to "learn" Biology.
Sure, but as I stated above chances are high that the Phd in Biology will fall short on linguistic skills. I always find it amazing how those lingustic skills seem to be downplayed in the world of translation, while they are way more important than specialized knowledge. Because all knowledge is there, a few clicks away. You don't need to be specialized in biology to translate biology (you need to be specialized in biology to write about biology, which is a total different ball game). You need to know how and where to look for all necessary information.
I once translated a text about mathematics. I know hardly anything about maths (I also sucked at it when I was young), but I found every possible explanation for every possible term on the internet.
Cilian O'Tuama wrote:
Lieven, you're speaking from your experience, I'm just speaking from mine. And that has been that the best translators avoid certain subjects like the plague. Knowing one's limitations is a good thing.
I respect your experience, but I'm proving every single day for over 21 freelancing years now that there is another way, until this very day.
[Bijgewerkt op 2026-05-02 14:35 GMT]
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