The market for technical and scientific translation has increased manifold over the past few decades.  Earlier little formal training was available in this field and there were few opportunities to work in-house. Even in the late 60s only a few large companies had translation departments and in the 80s even those few were either compromised or downsized to a single-person-department.

It is highly recommended to have a properly equipped and fully functional translation department rather than outsourcing the job to some translation company as that ensures cost effective quality output. Most companies hire a bilingual or multilingual secretary to serve this purpose and depend heavily on various Translation Memory tools. Even the most illustrious of the multinationals have become dependent on external management consultants rendering their translation department redundant.

The good news however is the fact that today professional training has helped external translation services raise the bar and become far more efficient than witnessed even a few years back. Today, Along with courses in interpretation, there are universities offering degree and diploma courses as well as doctorates in translation studies. There are part-time courses as well which can be availed by students of other streams in the form of evening-classes. However, along with the right technique one needs to have a natural flair for translation.

Translators play an important part where scientific works are concerned, but an interpreter’s job is no less significant. Although they are given time to study the documentation well in advance, without an in-depth knowledge of the subject the interpreter may land himself into serious trouble while in a conference.

As more and more scientific applications are taking the help of computers, it has become almost mandatory for the full-time interpreters to have a thorough knowledge of them.

During the World War II the English-speaking countries saw a mass exodus from Nazi-occupied Europe and a large number of scientists turned into translators and the stupendous volume of scientific researches in German were made available to the English-speaking world. Yet, even today there is a dearth of scientific translators both into and from English. It is rare to find a translator who has a proper understanding of what he is translating.

To become a good a scientific translator it is very important to have a good grasp over both the languages. A good course in translation studies might prove effective in honing your translation skills. A hands-on experience as a trainee along with a thorough course in translation can equip you to step into the world of professional translators and interpreters. It is advisable to take the qualifying examination of the appropriate professional body of the country and become recognized as a full-time translator before offering your services to a translation company.

It is important to get yourself acquainted to various widely-used translation aids such as MT (machine translation) and TM (translation memory) etc. These are very useful while tackling large projects. Even though these make life of a translator much easier, translation is a creative job and the translator has to depend solely on his grasp over the languages and his sensibility to render the right emotions and expression in the new language without distorting them.

Apart from being a lucrative career option the scope information gain in this profession is enormous. Apart from learning new words and expressions you get to know the recent advances in scientific research and this is an apt career for those who have an appetite for knowledge and information. What is your field of specialization? Do you want to move your career towards Scientific translation?