A Must-Read for Chinese to English translation  - Thoughts from a Freelance Interpreter

chinese to english translation

As a big fan of Toastmasters, I have a special fondness for this organization. Not only have I met many excellent friends there, but they have also introduced me to various translation projects. Visiting there a few times each week is a real joy. When attending club activities, I make it a point to participate in impromptu speaking every week and regularly give prepared speeches about the life of a Chinese to English translation service provider.

Moreover, other clubs often invite me to their annual meetings, birthday parties, and anniversary celebrations. I even perform skits, do stand-up comedy, and tell jokes just to make everyone happy. This has cultivated a valuable “fearless” and “shameless” spirit in me.

Being in this environment, what started as a fun activity gradually improved my language skills. For instance, today’s meeting was a professional training conference on hotel interior design with over a hundred attendees. Design concepts can be quite abstract and difficult to grasp, let alone give it a professional translated version. The language demands for conveying these ideas are quite high.

Whenever our agency handles a translation project, I personally review the documents to ensure they are readable and visually pleasing. Once, our agency was bidding on a business translation project for an American firm. My colleague from the University of Hong Kong and I spent half a day meticulously refining a 500-word test translation. I insisted that any phrases that could be turned into idioms should be translated as such. As a result, our efforts paid off, and we successfully secured the project.

I always tell  Chinese to English translation service provider that when doing translation, the language must be elegant. We should use idioms whenever possible, like the idioms we used today such as “各抒己见” (expressing one’s opinions freely), “相得益彰” (complementing each other), “交相辉映” (mutually enhancing), “绿树成荫” (lush with greenery), and “情人眼里出西施” (beauty is in the eye of the beholder). There are also more vivid expressions like “吃货” (foodie) and humorous ones like “你可以问我，但不可以摸我” (you can ask me, but you can’t touch me) or “我离你远点，怕你打我” (I’ll keep my distance to avoid getting hit). These may seem easy, but try coming up with them on the spot during a business interpretation session. Can you deliver them fluently in real-time?

I require certified interpreters in my agency to follow the speaker’s train of thought and express it with fluency and accuracy. When explaining concepts, the language should be clear, vivid, and elegant. During interactions, the speech should be natural and fluent, reflecting the speaker’s humor and wit. There should be laughter at the right moments and applause at appropriate times.

At Toastmasters, you can easily improve your language skills. You’ll learn to handle unexpected situations and speak confidently in front of large audiences. This is immensely beneficial for us as language freelancers.

chinese to english translation

Today, some students asked their teacher: “With the advancement of artificial intelligence, as we keep chasing efficiency, will the demand for exquisite design diminish or even disappear?” The speaker replied: “We are humans with flesh and blood. I hope we won’t see such a day in our lifetime.”

Sometimes I worry about the idea of translators being replaced one day. It troubled me for a long time. But today, I realized that high-level language activities involving emotion and interaction, requiring mental processing, are hard to be replaced. As I mention in my interpretation courses, if you’re not capable of providing professional language service for major conferences or unwilling to improve yourself, it’s better for you to switch fields early. For those who stay, congratulations—earning five to ten thousand a day is entirely possible.

All in all, I hope all language freelancers can enjoy a daily feast of language and see their wallets filled.

A Chinese to English translation Provider Must Read

On May 20th, I will provide interpretation service for a conference. It’s a big event, mainly because there will be a lot of city bureau and government leaders present, which means more preparation time is needed. Actually, I prefer doing interpretation for technical meetings because they feel simpler to me. You just need to get the hang of the technical terms.

But what really gets on my nerves are those government meetings where they read from a script. It’s hard to know if I can instantly recall certain formal terms like “implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress” or “comprehensive construction of dual reform demonstration zones.” So, I’ve been reviewing the materials over and over again. As professional interpreters, we need to practice a lot. My skills can also be quite inconsistent at times.

Preparing for high-level meetings takes a lot of time and is stressful, while simpler meetings don’t pay as much. Therefore, I suggest practicing as much as possible during your free time, especially by memorizing government work reports. This way, doing Chinese to English translation will no longer be a problem for you. While for English to Chinese translation, daily listening practice is very important.

chinese to english translation

My husband was a bit upset with me for preparing for the meeting every day this week. But, everyone’s got their own struggles. If I outsourced all my work, my language skills would deteriorate. You can’t spend your whole life doing simple exhibition interpreting or business liaison interpreting.

So, everyone, this industry requires daily practice once you’re in. I remember a design conference with over a hundred people in 2019 that kept me up at night. There was another major conference in 2012 that was incredibly stressful. Even though both turned out well, the preparation process was really tough.

Later on, I started outsourcing difficult meetings and taking on simpler ones myself. But now I’m conflicted again, as no money comes easy. I’ve read over a hundred pages of conference materials already. Once I get through this meeting, I’ll share my full preparation process, which can be helpful for those looking to enter this field to see if it’s the right fit for them.

What I share with you is based on real, practical experience. I’m just an ordinary Chinese to English translation provider, and I’ll gradually share more industry information. Feel free to leave comments if you have any questions, and you’re welcome to share your own views.

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