We all have our strengths and weaknesses. Some of us are great at listening, others excel at writing, and yet others were born to be educators. No matter the industry, you should always focus on your specific strengths, or at least that’s what everyone says. Really, though, it’s even more important to know what you can’t do.
Of course, it’s wonderful to know what you’re good at, to improve that skill, and to earn a living by focusing in that area. However, people often neglect their weaker areas. It is common for people to focus so much on their natural strengths that they give little thought to areas that need improvement.
For translators and interpreters, however, knowing what you can’t do is actually a positive trait. It is helpful to know those areas in which you are less proficient, industries in which you have no experience whatsoever, and those areas that you could work in if you brushed up on your existing skills.
As an example, let’s say you are a legal translator who regularly works with birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage licenses. You feel comfortable and confident with these forms, the vocabulary used, and your speed as a translator. If one day you receive a legal contract for a newly-established company and are asked to translate their articles of incorporation, you may feel unsure. Since you don’t work with legal contracts, you aren’t as familiar with the terminology, you find it hard to guarantee a specific turnaround time, and you really aren’t sure what to tell the client. In short, since you don’t know what you can’t do, you may accept the translation, only to realize it is far beyond your abilities.
In this type of case, it is very important to know what you can’t do confidently and is equally important for you to feel comfortable in communicating that to your client or to the agency. It is much more professional to turn down a project you don’t feel comfortable in taking on than it is to accept a translation or interpretation assignment for which you do not have the appropriate skills.
Most clients and agencies will not look down on you for turning down a project because you aren’t familiar with the subject matter or vocabulary. As a matter of fact, it demonstrates your commitment to quality because you insist on being honest about your abilities, even if that may mean somewhat less work for you.
If you find that you often must turn down projects for a particular type of work, use this as an indication that you may want to focus more in that area, especially if it is related to another area for which you already provide language services. In our above example, although legal contracts are not your primary interest, you may want to learn more about this type of translation work in order to increase your professional availability.
What do you do when you receive a project you don’t feel comfortable accepting? How important is it to know what you can’t do, and how does that impact the translation or interpretation services you provide? What advice would you give others in a similar situation?
