Immigrating and Entering the Canadian Translation Market
Thread poster: Cássio De Oliveira
Cássio De Oliveira
Cássio De Oliveira
Brazil
Local time: 14:43
Portuguese to English
+ ...
Nov 8, 2018

Hello!

My name is Cássio and I am a Brazilian translator/proofreader (ptbr-eng). I do not have any graduation on languages or translations at the moment (but since I am bilingual I am able to work as a proofreader) and I will be studying next year in Canada. I would like to know a few things about how the translation market works there

1) Here in Brazil we have several translators who do not have majors and are self-taught. Is it possible to work as a translator in Can
... See more
Hello!

My name is Cássio and I am a Brazilian translator/proofreader (ptbr-eng). I do not have any graduation on languages or translations at the moment (but since I am bilingual I am able to work as a proofreader) and I will be studying next year in Canada. I would like to know a few things about how the translation market works there

1) Here in Brazil we have several translators who do not have majors and are self-taught. Is it possible to work as a translator in Canada with only the fluency and previous proofreading and translation experience?

2) Is there any college (1-2 years, since immigrants pay more than 3x for colleges than native people) that I could take in Canada that could help me get a starting-point job?

3) Is the translation market in there heavily focused on the pair eng-fr? I got that impression from my research (not to worry for I am already studying french)

4) Do you need a license to work as a translator in Canada, or that is just for translation official documents and such?

I would really appreciate the help, thanks in advance.
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Lorraine Dubuc
Lorraine Dubuc  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 13:43
Member
English to French
Welcome, Cassio Nov 9, 2018

Here are my thoughts about your questions.

1) I think you can work as self employed doing whatever you like, as long as you comply with your clients needs. There might be times when you will be asked to show your credentials, and for some, being graduated in translation is a must.

2) Getting employed as a linguist, I think will definitely require at least a bachelor's degree in translation most of the time, but some organizations employ on the basis of experience.
... See more
Here are my thoughts about your questions.

1) I think you can work as self employed doing whatever you like, as long as you comply with your clients needs. There might be times when you will be asked to show your credentials, and for some, being graduated in translation is a must.

2) Getting employed as a linguist, I think will definitely require at least a bachelor's degree in translation most of the time, but some organizations employ on the basis of experience.

3) Yes there is a lot of work in the English into French pair, however, you should stick translating into your own mother language, in my opinion. This will make you even more special to the market if you can translate from English or French into your mother tongue. I do not think that learning French will make you capable or delivering French Canadian translation. One has to be born here in order to be familiar with a lot of idiomatic expressions.

4) If you work for authorities like the Canadian government, or any other government be it provincial or territorial, I think you definitely need a degree and sometimes a certification from a professional accreditation from OTTIAQ (in Quebec), for example or ATA.

You can still do business with your native country through the Web and with any country indeed. Your services in Porguguese from Brazil might even be welcome in your country of adoption. Should you earn more than $30,000, you will have to register for a tax number and charge the local clients with proper tax rates, both at the provincial and federal level, should you be a freelance working for local companies. Even if you work only for companies abroad, you will still have to declare all your earnings in your tax report.

Hope this helps a little.

Best regards,

Lorraine

[Modifié le 2018-11-09 12:46 GMT]
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Daniele Heinen
Daniele Heinen  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 13:43
Member (2006)
English to French
+ ...
Training in translation for immigrants to Canada Nov 9, 2018

If only translators born in Canada were competent to translate into Fench or English for Canada, a lot of us should look at alternate sources of work, considering 25% of the Canadian population is born elsewhere. I for one do not speak, and will probabaly never speak the language of my birth place, but yes you should translate preferably into your native language so Brasileiro for you.

As an immigrant to Canada with graduate degrees in other fields than languages, I was looked down
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If only translators born in Canada were competent to translate into Fench or English for Canada, a lot of us should look at alternate sources of work, considering 25% of the Canadian population is born elsewhere. I for one do not speak, and will probabaly never speak the language of my birth place, but yes you should translate preferably into your native language so Brasileiro for you.

As an immigrant to Canada with graduate degrees in other fields than languages, I was looked down at when I wanted to do a Masters degree in translation and I needed to work so a full time Bacheleor degree day course was out of the question for me. I did a Certificate in translation through evening courses but these are geared indeed to the EN-FR and vice versa language combination, though Spanish is added now but not Portuguese. I took and passed very quickly the Certification exam EN-FR (contrary to popular belief we are not certified into Canadian French). Nowadays there is a larger range of on-line courses (St Boniface in Winnipeg and UQTR in Quebec come to mind) A former client of mine MCIS in Toronto is also offering on-line courses as they know nothing is available for speakers of other languages and Toronto has 172 different languages spoken and they are also very immigrant friendly. So their courses teach the basis of translation techniques in English.

There is the small matter of your visa. Under what regime are you coming to Canada? With a student visa to learn French or are you going through the immigration process? The fees you will pay for a course on site will be different as a foreign student or as a landed immigrant and depending of your province of residence (Quebec is the cheapest one), while I don't think it will make any difference for on-line courses. And with a student visa you can only work a limited numer of hours though of course noone will check what you might do from your computer.
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Cássio De Oliveira
 
Eliza Hall
Eliza Hall
United States
Local time: 13:43
French to English
+ ...
Degrees in translation likely not necessary Nov 9, 2018

Look at job boards in Canada and see what credentials employers and translation agencies require. I'd be very surprised if they require degrees in translation. In my experience translators usually have degrees in their second language (a la "German language and literature"), not translation degrees. Alternately you might see a degree in their specialization from a university that teaches in their target language (e.g., a law degree or certificate from a German university for someone who translat... See more
Look at job boards in Canada and see what credentials employers and translation agencies require. I'd be very surprised if they require degrees in translation. In my experience translators usually have degrees in their second language (a la "German language and literature"), not translation degrees. Alternately you might see a degree in their specialization from a university that teaches in their target language (e.g., a law degree or certificate from a German university for someone who translates legal documents from German into their native language).

Just google North American or Canadian job boards and then search on "translator." Look at all translation jobs, not just Portuguese. See what they're looking for in terms of credentials, and get those credentials.
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Cássio De Oliveira
 
jyuan_us
jyuan_us  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 13:43
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
Did you intend to work with direct clients in Canada? Nov 10, 2018

If not, where you live won't make a lot of difference. Your agency clients will treat you the same way as you were based in Brazil.

[Edited at 2018-11-10 00:33 GMT]


Cássio De Oliveira
 
Cássio De Oliveira
Cássio De Oliveira
Brazil
Local time: 14:43
Portuguese to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Additional info Nov 10, 2018

Hello and thanks for the kind answers.

I am interested in doing the whole express entry point immigration process to become a Canadian citizen. Things in my country of birth are pretty bad right now and will get worse, and I belive it will be safer to leave. But due to the nature of the immigration process for my profile, it would be easier if I have a college degree of at least one or two years completed in Canada before I can apply to the permanent resident visa.

But
... See more
Hello and thanks for the kind answers.

I am interested in doing the whole express entry point immigration process to become a Canadian citizen. Things in my country of birth are pretty bad right now and will get worse, and I belive it will be safer to leave. But due to the nature of the immigration process for my profile, it would be easier if I have a college degree of at least one or two years completed in Canada before I can apply to the permanent resident visa.

But, as pointed, college is more than 3 times more expensive for immigrants, but I belive I can afford a 1 year college, just not sure which.
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Mirko Mainardi
Mirko Mainardi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 18:43
Member
English to Italian
Institutional websites Nov 10, 2018

Maybe you could check the official (national and provincial) Canadian government websites to get some specific info.

For instance, concerning regulation: http://www.cicic.ca/938/translators__terminologists_and_interpreters.canada?id=94


 


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Immigrating and Entering the Canadian Translation Market







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