Working as an Institutional Translator

Institutional translation is the translation of documents carried out for institutions or international organizations. It can range from political documents to legal documents.

If you feel more comfortable translating written documents that interpreting, institutional translation might be your dream job.

In this article, you will find more information about the steps to become an institutional translator, the skills required, the resources that institutional translators work with and the challenges they face on a daily basis.

What are the Steps to Become an Institutional Translator?

To become an institutional translator, you don’t necessarily need a master’s degree in translation, but your language and translating skills have to be up to scratch. One minimum requirement is to master at least two official languages that are used in the institution you want to work for. If possible, learn a more exotic or less common language (Arabic, Russian or Korean) to stand out from the crowd. The competition is pretty fierce, so the more languages you master, the better.

During your master’s degree or before applying to be an institutional translator, try to do a traineeship in an institution or an international organization to discover how they work and get more experience in the field. Many institutions organize traineeship programs every year. If you don’t get the opportunity to do a traineeship, try at least to learn more about the content of institutional texts and to be up to date about what is going on around the world by reading articles or simply watching the news.  

Don’t underestimate the power of your network, it could be a bridge to more opportunities. Try to perform training sessions or to attend translator-training workshops and social events where you can meet and talk to professionals.  

Right before applying for the job, find information about the institution you want to work for. In your resume or cover letter, highlight your interpersonal skills and show your interest in the fields the institution works in (e.g. economics, politics). Once you get the job, it will even help you to handle complex documents.

The most challenging obstacle you will face along the way is probably the tests you may have to take to assess your general and field-related skills before becoming an institutional translator, such as the EPSO tests. But don’t panic, if you can dream it, you can do it.

Where Do Institutional Translators Work?

Not all institutional translators work in the institution’s in-house translation department, even though most well-known institutions have one. Indeed, three options are available:

• Being an in-house institutional translator. You can become one through recruitment agencies and admission tests.
• Being an external institutional translator, which means working remotely for the institutions. You can become one by sending out spontaneous applications, thanks to your personal network, by responding to job offers, etc.
• Being an external institutional translator most of the time and working occasionally in the institution to perform in-house translation projects (temporary contracts).

What are Their Skills?

Institutional translators have so many skills. It goes from basic personal skills to professional skills. First, an institutional translator is asked to master their language combination in every shape and form (linguistic skills) and translation skills are also a basic requirement. They also need extralinguistic skills, such as being organized, thorough and having general knowledge. Thematic skills are also very important, which means being familiar with economics, financial affairs, legal matters, technical and scientific fields.

On top of that, institutional translators acquire professional skills, such as learning how to use the software and resources they are asked to work with. When translating, they have to remain as neutral as possible (avoid personal preferences) and respect confidentiality. Even if editors will proofread their translations, institutional translators must provide good quality translations.

What Resources Do They Work with?

The translator’s skills are, of course, a valuable resource, but there is a multitude of other resources to support and help them in their work. Let’s begin with the client’s resources. When working as an institutional translator, you will be given access to style guides, databases, glossaries and translation memories by your clients. These resources are like goldmines for translators. Indeed, style guides and glossaries will enable you to better understand a client’s preferences, as well as grammar and spelling rules, norms and helpful advice. As a result, you will work faster and more serenely, since you won’t need to send loads of emails to the client or to look everything up on the Internet. If these resources are not sufficient, you can also find a lot of reliable resources on the Internet: databases, online dictionaries, corpora, grammar checkers. Last but not least, CAT tools will probably be your best asset against your clients’ tight deadlines.

What are Their Challenges?

As an institutional translator, you will inevitably face a lot of challenges. Translating for institutions involves very high stakes, as they operate on an international, a regional or a national scale. Working under pressure is common in institutions. The translations done by institutional translators are essential for the institution to operate smoothly. A document will be translated by several translators in multiple languages, and the different translations have to match perfectly to avoid any misunderstanding. Institutional translation has nothing to do with literary translation, which means that you have to remain consistent and clear throughout the translation and to stick as much as possible to the original text. You will be asked to translate complex documents such as financial reports, press releases, official or legal documents. Quality expectations vary depending on the institution you are working for, but in any case, institutions have pretty strict and demanding requirements.

How Much Do They Earn?

Although their work is difficult and seems stressful, institutional translators are highly rewarded for it. Indeed, an institutional translator generally earns twice as much as any other translator. For instance, the minimum wage of an in-house and permanent institutional translator at the European Commission is around 4,500 euros per month. In the United Nations, their average salary is around 5,000 euros per month. In addition to their salary, they have additional benefits, depending on the institution they work for.

To conclude, the steps to become an institutional translator and the challenges they face on a daily basis might scare you at first, but institutional translation is very enriching. Good luck!

Written by Alison MARNAS