The Mind of Fadhli

Saat menjadi pekerja lepas, tidak hanya penerjemah, satu pertanyaan yang pasti muncul adalah seberapa tinggi harga atau tarif yang harus kita tetapkan untuk jasa kita.

When becoming a freelancer, not just a  translator, the inevitable question that comes up is how much we should charge our services.

Kalau berbicara mengenai penerjemahan, ada suatu insting dalam penulis untuk selalu menggunakan bentuk kalimat atau pengejaan yang benar atau baku, terutama bagi lulusan bahasa.

W hen it comes to the act of translation, especially if you have a language major background, there is perhaps a certain instinct that you have to always use the correct form of languages or correct spelling of words.

  Bagi orang-orang yang ingin menjadi penerjemah, pertanyaan yang mungkin muncul dalam pikiran mereka adalah apakah gelar sarjana sastra Inggris (atau bahasa asing lain) dibutuhkan untuk membangun karier di bidang ini.  Ini merupakan pertanyaan yang bagus. Menjadi penerjemah membutuhkan penguasaan atas dua bahasa, maka dari itu dapat dipahami apabila orang-orang bertanya apakah mereka membutuhkan gelar yang setidaknya menunjukkan kemampuan mereka dalam berbahasa. Oleh karena itu, apakah memasuki jurusan sastra Inggris diperlukan untuk menjadi penerjemah? Singkat cerita tidak. Namun, memang gelar ini dapat membantu dalam beberapa kasus. Saya memang telah menemukan beberapa lowongan penerjemah yang secara khusus menyebutkan bahwa posisi itu harus diisi oleh lulusan sastra Inggris (contohnya jika ingin melamar menjadi ahli penerjemah muda di instansi pemerintah), tetapi ini tidak wajib dimiliki. Nilai dari jurusan sastra Inggris adalah pendidikan dan jaringan sosial yang di...

For Indonesians (or perhaps people all over the world in general) who want to become a translator, the inevitable question that comes up is whether or not you need a degree in English (either in Literature or Linguistics), which is understandable. Given that becoming a translator involves mastery over two languages, it’s understandable to think that you need a degree which at least showcases your capabilities in the foreign language that you are translating from and/or into. Bearing that in mind, does having a degree in English is necessary to become a translator? In a word: no. However, I do believe it can help in certain cases. I have come across openings for translator position that specified the necessity for a degree in Englisg, but for the most part it’s not a must-have. The value in English major is really in the education and the network that you obtained in the degree, but even then, it’s something that can also be obtained elsewhere. There is a plenty of English courses...

While I’d love to be able to just attend a single social event and be done with it, networking is, unfortunately, a process that we have to constantly do. Bearing this in mind, I decided to attend another event held by the Association of Indonesian Translator (HPI). This time however, it’s an informal meet-up organized by the West Java branch of HPI. After my first networking event, I was feeling somewhat confident, though I still am afraid of embarrassing myself and offending other people. Luckily though, this time around, a friend of mine from my university days was also attending the event. The presence of a familiar face helped a lot with easing my tension. Because of this, I don’t have to worry about staying quiet in the corner while wondering what to do, I can just talk to him. It also helps that the person that I am sitting across with quite happily divulge not only advices in becoming translator, but also life backstory from what major did he picked during college to how ...