Interpreter job OR hotel job?

frederick666

I basically work in a hotel and I have applied for an interpreter job in one of d translation service companies n got accepted. the thing here is I have no experience in translation or interpretation jobs at all. I am based in Galway and I would say it is very likely I wont get enough hours per week as there isnt really a big translation service demand here.

my question here is sud I quit d hotel job I have at the moment n just do d part-time interpreting job, or retain d job I have n see how it goes...? I know it sounds stupid to quit such a stable job I have now as I havent got a clue how many hours I'll be getting for d interpreting job however I'm afraid I wont be able to make to d interpretation appointments if I stay with d hotel job...help pls...

plus, Im getting around 20-30 hours per week in d hotel n its just min. wage. whereas d interpreting job offers me €15 per hr thats how tempted I am...

Fight_Night

Well first things first, you haven't actually said if you like your job in the hotel? If you don't mind it then I would say keep it, interpretation is very hard to get into. If you dislike it and think you have a passion for interpretation then by all means quit and follow your dreams.

You have to ask yourself, how much do you want the interpretation job over how much you dislike/are unsatisfied with your hotel job.

frederick666

I have always dreamed of being an interpreter since I was a kid, I absolutely love being an interpreter. however d financial side of that is turning me away as I dont know how many hours I'll getting, worse case wud be 2-3 hours per week if so I'll be screwed. I dont mind d hotel job n it provides me with a regular stable income....hard to decide really.

Lingua Franca

I have a friend working as a Polish interpreter in Northern Ireland. The work is very irregular and so he maintains a flexible day job in sales. It helps that he has a good relationship with his boss. The work is irregular because he is mostly called out to police stations and hospitals.

I think you should keep your hotel job and ask your boss for some flexibility.

frederick666

Lingua Franca wrote: »

I have a friend working as a Polish interpreter in Northern Ireland. The work is very irregular and so he maintains a flexible day job in sales. It helps that he has a good relationship with his boss. The work is irregular because he is mostly called out to police stations and hospitals.

I think you should keep your hotel job and ask your boss for some flexibility.

I think you are right. thanks for your advice

frederick666

nig1 wrote: »

well I do reckon my English is good enough to be called a "near-native" speaker.

Fight_Night

Yeah don't worry your english is more than understandable, they were just talking about your use of 'text slang' like 'd' instead of 'the'.

I think that you should at first try to do both. If you it is too hard to balance both jobs then you'll have to make the decision, but at least by that stage you'll have had a taste for interpreting and what the hours are like, so I say try both for now.

Mrs OBumble

Some nonsense posts deleted.

OP, please don't use txt-spk ("d" instead of "the", etc)

Everyone else, if you see something wrong, you know where to find the Report Post button. Please use it.

Grrr at wasting my time posting this ...


/moderation

P_1

OP it might be worthwhile keeping on the hotel job for a while till you build up a few interpreting gigs.

Out of interest. what language is it that you do?

Some of the bigger places, Transperfect et al would have contracts with the Guards etc but that really isn't pleasant work.

Have you gotton onto the books of many Translation places? Usually you wouldn't have any bread and butter gigs for interpreting so the more you get your name out the better

frederick666

pithater1 wrote: »

OP it might be worthwhile keeping on the hotel job for a while till you build up a few interpreting gigs.

Out of interest. what language is it that you do?

Some of the bigger places, Transperfect et al would have contracts with the Guards etc but that really isn't pleasant work.

Have you gotton onto the books of many Translation places? Usually you wouldn't have any bread and butter gigs for interpreting so the more you get your name out the better

Im an English, Cantonese, Chinese Mandarin and Japanese speaker. I guess it gives a big hint abt where I come from.

I have been put on database of the interpretation company I applied for also.

P_1

frederick666 wrote: »

Im an English, Cantonese, Chinese Mandarin and Japanese speaker. I guess it gives a big hint abt where I come from.

I have been put on database of the interpretation company I applied for also.

Thats a pretty decent language base, certainly there is a demand for Chinese.

TBH being on the database for only the one translation company puts you at a slight disadvantage though.

I'd recommend you get onto the following companies to get yourself onto the list:
STAR, Cipheron, Transperfect, Wordperfect, Lionbridge are probably the big 5.

Do you have any qualifications to back yourself up?

You might have to do a free gig or 2 to get your foot in the door though