A Translator on the Labour Market
Lecturer: Katarzyna Liber-Kwiecińska, Ph.D.
The goal of this course is a practical preparation for the profession of a translator. The participants will learn about the specificity of the Polish translation market from the perspective of both the translator-freelancer and the translation agency.
During the classes you will learn:
- whether it is worth becoming a translator
- how to enter the translation market and acquire clients
- which contracts to sign, and which ones to avoid
- how to gain experience in the profession
- which form of business activity to choose
- what a translator's responsibility entails
- how to become a sworn translator
- what are the advantages and disadvantages of working as a translator
During the classes you will learn:
- how to price orders correctly
- how to create a simple website
- advertise your services
- create offers
- how to respond to complaints
- analyze contracts with companies, translation agencies and publishers
- maintain a work-life balance
The Sworn Translator’s Workshop
Lecturer: prof. Maria Piotrowska
The main goal of the specialization classes: “The Sworn Translator’s Workshop” is to familiarize the Student with the sworn translator’s profession in Poland, as compared to professional environments in other countries. The three-semester module outlines the scope of the sworn translator’s work and it introduces it as a profession of public trust. It is also a practical certified translation workshop with English and Polish as working languages.
The topics covered in the first semester concern the legal basis and source documents that constitute the foundations of the sworn translator’s job; work ethics; typical professional activities involving certified translations and court interpreting. In the subsequent two semesters students learn about various aspects of the sworn translator’s and court interpreter’s workshop and perform certified translations in Polish and English by translating typical documents (BDM, school, legal and others). The module includes preparatory activities towards the sworn translator’s state examination in Poland and presentations of various job contexts.
Thanks to a fruitful cooperation between the Chair for Translation Studies and translation companies, sworn translators on the market, various employers and translator associations, the module is targeted at professionalisation and connected to building an interface between translator education and the marketplace.