To begin, a good translator must devote his entire being to his work. But that isn’t enough. To be a good translator, one must:

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  • be able to write quality texts

You must not only understand and translate well, but you must also be able to write well. Texts that are poorly written always indicate a poor translator.

  • have a broad vocabulary

You can only develop a large vocabulary and thus general knowledge by reading a lot. This broadens one’s vocabulary whether one reads books, magazines, journals, or even advertisements.

  • always conduct research and be up to date

You sometimes lack knowledge when getting specific technical translations. As a result, research is essential, and Google can be extremely useful. There are also numerous portals, such as Wikipedia, glossaries, encyclopaedias, and so on, that can be of great assistance to us.

  • collaborate as a group

Many translators work as freelance translators or freelancers, but there are times when you must collaborate with other translators, editors, or specialists. Sharing is caring… and this also applies to translators.

  • be able to use CAT tools

Some translators continue to work without CAT tools, but good CAT tools improve performance, standardise terminology, and save time. A translator should also be very precise, and he should always double-check his translation at the end.

  • good value for money

Many people believe that translations are incredibly expensive, but when you consider how much more there is to a translation (see above), you can see that the job of a translator is not easy and requires a great deal of dedication. So keep in mind that if the price of a translation is very low, you should really consider whether the quality can be good. A good translation can contribute a lot, while a bad translation… well, we’d rather not know…