India is progressing at a fast rate and there are many career opportunities opening up for students. One of them is translation, which can be a full-time vocation or add up as a supplement to your income for the love of writing. Another form of translation is interpreting the spoken word in another language.

The primary thing to become a translator is to know another language. One need not be a native of that language to master it. According to experts one needs to learn both the craft and the business to master it. In order to equip oneself with a course, one ought to do a post graduate diploma course. 
   
Exerts are of the opinion that some focus on translating into and out of certain languages. Some others emphasise on knowing many languages and translating into the native tongue, while many translation courses also give supplementary language classes. There are many approaches, each suitable for a different kind of translation. If one wants to be a literary translator, one probably specialises in learning just one language thoroughly. If one translates commercial texts, multi-lingual skills would be important.

Just like in any other field, translation too has various sub-divisions. A good experience would help one to find jobs easily. Once specialization has been achieved one can quote a higher price.

Never begin a career in literary translation, even though it may be challenging and glamorous. One should begin with prosaic subjects and find work with import-export companies. Experts say that large number of text-memos, business plans and minutes, are some of the things that are translated from one language to another and the corporate sector is also a good pay master.

One can work as a freelancer and be associated with an agency or a particular client. People seek qualified translators. Never get disheartened if there have been a few rejections. Rise in the career by working for small companies and agencies. Freelance work can be rewarding for those who want to work from home, or work on particular subjects. Experts say that freelancers sometimes reach pacts to do a fixed amount of work every week. If one takes up a regular job it means working for one client in his office, which could be a newspaper looking for foreign news or a MNC and can mean full-time or part-time work.

Some translators work on software, internet related materials or a variety of documents, including legal, business-related, technical, or ‘literary’ texts, and are paid according to the wordage. Sources say that interpreters are paid on an hourly basis at business conferences, courts or government proceedings. Many times we have seen simultaneous interpretation taking place especially when foreign dignitaries arrive. They speak in their language and an interpreter translates the same in the language known to the common people. One needs to achieve great fluency in translation to reach that level.

In translating a script, one has to be careful in achieving a perfect copy. For this one has to refer to dictionaries, glossaries and other reference tools.

Learning a language is important if one wants to pursue a career in translation. The language could be a foreign one, which if mastered properly could help you to fly abroad too. In India as there are many languages one can translate from one language to another too like from Telugu to English or Hindi and vice-versa. There is no dearth of jobs if one has mastered the language.

Many universities and institutes offer courses in foreign languages such as French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Persian and Chinese. Each course needs eligibility criteria for seeking admission to the courses.

Course details:

    * Bachelor's degree course in foreign language, Duration: 3 years, Eligibility: candidates must have completed their 10+2 examination in any stream.
    * Integrated Master's course in Foreign Languages, duration: 5 years, Eligibility: undergraduate or graduate candidates can apply.
    * Diploma or Certificate courses. Duration: 6 months - 1 year, Eligibility: 10+2
    * M.A, Duration: 2 years, Eligibility: graduation in the language applied for.
    * M.Phil, Eligibility: M.A in the language applied for
    * Ph.D, Eligibility: M.A in the language applied for.

Pursue courses at:
    * School of Languages - Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
    * Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages (CIEFL) - Hyderabad
    * Benaras Hindu University - Varanasi
    * University of Delhi - New Delhi
    * Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Jawaharlal Nehru Academy of Languages - New Delhi
    * Alliance Francasie - 15 branches across the country.
    * Max Mueller Bhavan- major metros.
    * Indo - Italian Chamber of Commerce - Mumbai
    * Japanese Information and Cultural Center - New Delhi
    * Ram Krishna Mission - Kolkata
    * Indo-Japan Chamber Of Commerce & Industry, No.21, K.B. Dasan Road, Teynampet,  Chennai
    * Pune University, Ganeshkhind, Pune
    * Rajasthan University, Jaipur, Rajasthan