Query: Translator training and translation assessment in the workplace?

Dear all

I'm Maggie, a translation teacher from Hong Kong. Our graduates are supposed to be qualified enough to be translation practitioners after finishing our courses. Some of them work in translation houses.

However, graduates say what they learn in tertiary institutes and what they do in translation firms are very different. I myself was a translator and editor years ago, but I want to update my knowledge of the practical world, i.e. translator training and translation assessment in the workplace. I'd like to see how to prepare students better for the profession. Thus, it would be great if you, translation service providers - firms or veterans, could share your views with us.

For translation agencies/firms and publishers, or any translation service providers (please tell your country if you don't mind):
(a) Do you have a written test when hiring translators? If positive, what kind of texts do you usually choose? How long are the texts? What sort of tasks will be included? Who is to assess the piece of work? And how do they assess if a piece of work is good or not?
(b) Do you offer training to new practitioners? If positive, what kind of training do you provide, and what are likely the contents? Is it conducted on a one-on-one basis, or is it actually a class for several individual translators? What is the duration? What kind of texts do you choose?
(c) Do you have any training for experienced translators newly joining your firms?

For former and current translation practitioners (please tell your country if you don't mind):
(a) Did you work as an in-house translator before? Did you have a chance to receive any on-the-job and/or off-the-job training? If positive, what were the training contents? What was the mode and duration? What kind of texts did you practise? How about the length and the assessment criteria? Who was responsible for training staff? Apart from translation task, were there any other tasks included?
(b) What kind of assessment did you go through when you were hired as an in-house and/or freelance translator? What was the assessment format and contents, and criteria?
(c) Do you think a translation firm has different requirements for hiring an in-house translator and a freelancer? If positive, why the difference?
(d) What do you think translation students should learn in school before they enter the profession, if you also agree with our graduates that what they learn in school is different from what they do in a translation firm?

I hope my questions would not scare people away...

Thanks and best
Maggie (HK)