A TRSB Company

Translation Intern

Anglocom offers two paid intern positions three times a year: January to April, May to August, and September to December. One is for French-to-English translators and the other for English-to-French translators. The work is often stylistically complex and aimed at the general public.

A translation exam is used to pick the best applicants. All applicants must be registered translation students. Successful applicants may choose any length of internship within the designated four-month period and must perform their internship in person, in Quebec City, Canada.

To Apply

Deadlines:

Internship from May to August 2020: Monday, January 6, 2020

Internship from September to December 2020: Monday, April 6, 2020

Internship from January to April 2021: Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Forward a cover letter, résumé, and any other related document to Grant Hamilton. Please also specify whether you are applying for the internship into French or into English. 

 

Translation Intern Job Description 

Upon receipt of a new assignment

  • Download and verify each new job as soon as it is received
  • Note all client instructions
  • Note any explanations by the project manager
  • Make sure you can meet the deadline
  • Immediately report anything amiss: wrong documents, unclear instructions, etc.

General duties

  • Keep an eye open for incoming work and adjust work priorities accordingly
  • If there is something particularly difficult about the job, discuss it with the project manager, ideally before you begin
  • If you feel the job should be billed on an hourly basis (e.g., advertising adaptation), notify the project manager immediately
  • Follow Anglocom’s Twitter feed and use its advice in your translations
  • Share your research with colleagues by updating the terminology database

Communicating with clients

  • Seek to be a solution provider
  • Remain friendly and courteous
  • Avoid speaking ill of a client
  • Ask all necessary questions, but without inconveniencing the client
  • If the source text contains an error, diplomatically point it out to the client
  • If you need to explain something to a client, do it as simply as possible without being too technical and without forcing the client to make language decisions

Doing a translation

  • Unless otherwise advised, use the translation memory
  • Consider all aspects of the text (style, punctuation, tone, wordiness, accuracy, readability, target audience) no matter what type of job it is (new text, text from memory, postediting, etc.)
  • In the event a pretranslated text is provided as a reference (DeepL), check all research, correct the punctuation, ensure client’s instructions are followed, and make any necessary or advisable changes
  • If no pretranslated version is provided, ask for one before you begin if you think it will be helpful
  • Do any required research to make sure you understand the communication context and can accurately translate all technical terms
  • If a portion of the text is problematic and your preliminary research has not helped, skip that portion and come back to it later—the answer may become obvious later in the text.
  • If, after you’ve finished your first draft, issues are still unresolved, consult your colleagues to see if they can provide a solution
  • If your colleagues can’t help, contact the client directly with your questions
  • Mark any words or passages you’re not sure of to draw the reviser’s attention to them
  • Include references from your research as appropriate so that the reviser does not duplicate your work
  • If the job is being shared among several translators, inquire with the project lead about special instructions (vocabulary, layout, etc.)

At the final quality control step

  • Review all the proposed changes one by one
  • Consider whether the changes are appropriate, remembering that the goal is to deliver the highest quality possible
  • If you think any of the changes are not a good idea, discuss the matter with the reviser
  • Correct any errors of distraction the reviser may have introduced
  • Reread the text a last time and correct any errors that you find
  • Send the text to the client with a short explanatory note and your thanks on behalf of the company
  • If the text includes comments for the client to consider, draw the client’s attention to them

After delivering the text

  • Answer any questions the client asks
  • If you have reason to believe that the client’s queries go beyond the scope of the initial job, notify the project manager
  • If the client makes author’s changes without going through the project manager, forward the changes to Client Service and ask the client to send any additional changes directly to the project manager