Translation is a way to travel beyond
cultural boundaries and to share
experiences. Had translation not been
there, human civilization could not have
travelled so far from the age of wheel and
fire to the age of 'mars mission'. In an
essentially diverse world, translation has
provided the way to transmit great ideas
to the human kind and providing them
many solutions for betterment. It can be
said that the first translator of the world
would have been someone who perhaps
had helped someone lost from his tribe or
perhaps a person who had helped mitigate
a conflict between two warring
groups.
But in modern context translation is
not something to just transform a content
word by word but it is something which
beautifully converts the feelings of a content
or statement to a quite different cultural
landscape. So, a translator must be
someone who has ample knowledge of
two languages and more so he must also
swim across the cultural landscapes of
the time. To quote Gracia Marquez on
translation 'it is a most difficult work and a
good translation is always a recreation in
another language'.
In a country like India and also for the
fast changing globalised world, the importance
of translation is growing day by day.
For the knowledge to disseminate further
to the masses it is essential that good
translation should be provided to the
people who do not know essentially more
languages than their native one. For the
growth of tourism and for diplomatic
purposes translators are much in
demand. Even for the sake of security
reasons, governments agencies are
always on look for good translators. Many
countries in this world do not use English
or other major languages and their diplomatic
visits are essentially accompanied
by good translators and interpreters.
In an age where geography is fast
becoming history and internet is cutting
across all sections of society, the English
language is gradually losing its hold,
thanks to the emergence of China, Japan
and India as powers to reckon with. In
such a scenario, the job of a translator or
interpreter is increasingly being seen as a
career option by many.
In India where more than 200-major
languages are in use and which is much
diversified, translation provides tool to
know the diversity of the nation.
Had there not been good translations,
Sharatchandra or Tagore could not have
been popular among Indian or global
masses.
Continued on page 31
Sushant Jha
facebook.com/director.employmentnews
Employment News 17 - 23 October 2015 EDITORIAL www.employmentnews.gov.in 31
z Multinational companies are opening
in India and are looking for
well trained employable individuals.
What to do?
The increased number of options has
added to the confusion. Hence, one
needs to plan a career effectively and be
updated with the changes so that one can
grow with newer careers. One needs to
be well informed about various choices
and plan the next step accordingly.
This can be done by understanding
the major trends that affect jobs, which
will enable a person in making better
career decisions. The trends one is interested
in may be as short as a few years
or as long as 20+ years. Just like waves,
trends move and change everything they
come in contact with. If one is not prepared
for the big wave he or she will be
washed away like a toy in the ocean.
Initially, trends start off so small that
most people don't notice them. Eventually
trends build up to a crescendo.
Somewhere in between they make the
evening news. The trick is to spot trends
just as they begin, so that one has time to
take action and change his or her life
accordingly. An even better trick would be
to predict the trends before they start.
A career plan is a blueprint for success.
The foundation on which one can
build one’s vision- a picture of the success
one aspires for. To construct a
career action plan for oneself , one
needs to have a clear understanding
of one’s real self .To discover oneself,
acquire knowledge of what one is good
at, one likes to do or is not happy doing it.
This will help a person to develop his
or her personal career plan and map
out the route for career.
Choosing the right path is vital to finding
balance, happiness and success.
Hence, it is very important to select the
career in the field of interest.
Facets of Career Decision- Making
Career decision-making is a process
& a skill that can and should be taught.
The purpose of career decision-making is
to help one organize one’s thinking about
factors important in choosing a career.
It’s important to assess one’s style of
decision-making to help overcome obstacles
that might inhibit the process. The
goal of career planning is to link academic
knowledge and real-world experience
to determine the path of one’s
future professional life.
The following definitions are important
to understand the concept of career...
z A JOB is a paid position requiring a
group of specific attributes and skills
that enable a person to perform
tasks in an organization either
part-time or full-time for a short or
long duration.
z An OCCUPATION is defined as a
group of similar jobs found in different
industries or organizations.
z A CAREER is the sequence and variety
of occupations (paid and unpaid)
which one undertakes throughout a lifetime.
More broadly career includes life
roles, leisure activities, learning & work.
z Career DEVELOPMENT is the
process of managing life, learning
and working over a lifespan.
z Career GUIDANCE is an inclusive
term that has been used to describe a
range of interventions including career
education and career counseling.
“The decisions you make about your work
life are especially important, since most
people spend more of their waking lives
working than doing anything else. Your
choices will affect, not only yourself and
those closest to you, but in some way the
whole world.”
—Laurence G. Boldt
CAREER PLANNING
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is Career planning important?
Career planning helps you to take a
close look at your current role and
assess your values, skills and interests.
It provides a framework and
tools to assist you in planning for
your future. Career planning focuses
on improving your employability,
value, engagement, motivation and
performance.
2. Can most of my career development
be done on the job?
90% of our professional development
and learning comes from a combination
of on-the-job experience, observation
of others and receiving feedback.
Most learning happens by
doing. Only 10% of our development
comes from formal training.
3. Who is responsible for my Career
development plan?
You are responsible for preparing
and executing your career development
plan. Your manager/supervisor
and the University can provide guidance
and support along the way.
4. What obstacles might get in the
way of achieving my career development
goals?
It is a good idea to give some thought
to the challenges and barriers you
may face. Although some are unpredictable,
it is important to try and
identify these when preparing your
career development plan and think of
strategies to overcome them. The
obstacles can be internal or external:
External Obstacles are: Time, Money,
Distractions, Family expectations and
needs, Peer pressures/societal
expectations, Childcare arrangements
and cost, Stressful work life,
Difficult working relationships,
Organisational changes, Changes in
field of work, Financial difficulties.
Internal Obstacles are:
Procrastination, Fear of failure, Fear
of success, Perfectionism, Lack of
motivation/apathy, Depression,
Anxiety, Lack of assertiveness, Low
self-esteem, Poor time management
skills, Career indecisiveness
5. Why should I explore career clusters?
Don’t you have to decide on
one job eventually?
You might believe there is only one
career, and what if that career doesn’t
work out. Many different careers
require similar tasks and skills. If your
interests and abilities match one
cluster, there are many occupations
within that cluster that may match
your interests and skills.
6. I don’t have clear career goals or
know what I want to do long-term.
Is there a test that can tell me what
career is right for me or what skills
I need in order to be successful?
There is not a test which will magically
tell you what to do next or for the
rest of your career. You can use a
combination of tools to help. A selfassessment
is the first step.
7. What is a Psychometric Test?
Psychometric test is a tool used
mainly in the recruitment process. It
is recognized as an efficient way to
gain insight into a person’s personality
and psychological thinking. It can
help in developing team spirit in the
workplace and assess an individual’s
priorities.Psychometric testing usually
falls into three main categories:
Ability testing, Aptitude tests and
Personality questionnaires. Such test
are used in various engineering and
management examination
8. Which is the best stream:
Management, Engineering or
Medical to study?
All have the potential of providing you
a platform wherein you can have a
sense of achievement in all possible
respect. All provide the opportunity of
bringing tangible change in the existing
system. As far other incentives
are concerned the achievers of all the
three streams are mighty in their own
respect. As a management student
you can aspire to head a multinational
giants like the Coke and the Pepsi
where as an engineer or technocrat
you stand the possibility of achieving
the heights of the Indian President
(Dr. APJ Kalam). Thus it should have
been clear by now that potential is
not in the stream it is your determination
and the will power that help you
scale heights.
9. What are values?
Values are the principles that people
use to determine how much something
means to them. For example,
you value your personal time, so you
may not want a job that requires travel
or weekend work. If you don’t want
a stressful or risky job, you may not
want to consider being a police officer.
If prestige is important to you, you
may want a job that will cause people
to look up to you and respect you.
10. How can work skills and values
help in successful career?
The value of reliability, honor, dignity,
and effort in the work and in own self
respect may help you. Household
chores, volunteering, and part-time
work can help young people develop
these traits. These experiences teach
responsibility, decision-making skills,
and that there are consequences to
the choices we make.
(The author is noted psychiatrist and
life skills expert. He can be reached at
email: jnagpal10@gmail.com, Contact
No. 011- 64594939)
EFFECTIVE CAREER...
Continued from page 1
The writings of Munshi Premchand or
even Shakespeare could not have been
known to the people of the world. Also, for
the welfare programmes of government or
international agencies , good translation
is essential for the success of these programmes
and for the spread of messages
they possess.
Translation has a deep relationship
with the language. Though, translation
kills some essence of the content but
good translation sometimes enhances the
essence of the content as well. It is true
that one's mother tongue cannot be
equated with even best of the best translation
as Michel Foucault correctly said
that language is not just a means of communication;
rather it is a thought process.
Obviously, translation does not fit well
with this definition as it comes from a different
thought process but it helps different
civilization come together and builds
bridge between them. For the same reasons
many great scholars of the day have
preferred to read even poorly translated
content in their own language; rather than
reading it in an alien language difficult to
understand or move them heartily.
So what quality should a translator
possess ? Obviously he must be master
of both languages and their traditions and
also master of the subject which he translating.
He should translate the feelings;
not the words without tampering the facts.
Moreover, he should be having more
command over the language in which he
is going to translate or re-produce the
content.
In India with growing literacy rate and
explosion of internet communication,
translation is going to be much in
demand. Government and non-government
agencies, courts, security and diplomatic
institutions as well as corporates
are always in need of translators. Though,
translation could be learnt through self
study but there are several institutes
which are providing translation degrees
and diplomas which could be useful for
the youth to seek employment in this
sector:
M.Phil. in Translation Studies
University of Hyderabad - Centre for Applied
Linguistics and Translation studies
M.A. in 'Translation: Theory and
Application'-University of Pune
Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi for German,
Alliance Francaise New Delhi for French,
Cervantes for Spanish and so on.
In West Bengal, Calcutta University
(CU), Jadavpur University (JU) and
Ramkrishna Mission offer language
courses. The Central Institute of English
and Foreign Languages (CIEFL) in
Hyderabad also offers language courses.
Many other institutions and universities in
the country have been offering translation
courses.
Again, a growing literacy rate in India
is pushing publication houses to enter into
the zone of local language translations
and many global publication houses have
started translation in Hindi and other
national languages. Penguin and Harper
Collins have entered into Hindi in a big
way and they are also getting some success.
So, there are opportunities spurring
up. However it is not essential that a newcomer
coming into this field would get
instant success. Since, there is lot of competition
in a large country like ours, one
should create his name first and do the
work at low rate for some month. He
should also be a good networking person
to get constant work. Generally, foreign
agencies pay well in translation and there
are many websites like proz.com which
provide translation work. Even many government
and non-government agencies
and publication houses offer translation
work on regular basis. But there should
be quality and timely delivery assurance.
Obviously, English to Hindi/other language
or vice-versa is the main translation
work happening in India but in terms
of payment, Chinese, Japanese or
Spanish are more paying. For example,
the rate of English to Hindi translation
varies from Rs 0.75 to Rs 3 per word
depending upon the client, quality, deadline
and reference. The same for the
Chinese to English or Chinese to Hindi
may vary from Rs 2 to Rs 6 per word.
Generally book publication houses pay
less for a new comer, it is good to gain
experience there and create his name.
For students of universities it may also
add to their bio data if they translate a
book or article of a great author.
With the explosion of internet and
social media, good translation will be in
huge demand in future as the character
and trend of the social media is mother
tongue friendly. It has suddenly happened
that people are communicating more and
more in their own language rather than
the languages of the professional world.
The post in someone's mother language
gets more hits and shares than a post in a
major power language. So, internet is
opening up plethora of opportunities and
bringing new dimensions which have yet
to be understood. Again with the world
being more connected and being more
decentralised, translation is the key word
in this world and it will be there for sure.
(The author is a senior journalist based
in New Delhi. He can be reached at
jhasushant@gmail.com)
