Hi Marcellina,

Thanks for your question. This article a reblog was originally posted by Kevin Lossner on TranslationTribulations.com, but I have a few thoughts in response to your question that I will share here.

First off, I think that by joining ATA, listing yourself in their directory, and following The Savvy Newcomer, you’ve already begun to position yourself as a professional (as opposed to one of the casual amateurs Kevin lists who only picks up work when they feel like it). In line with this, I would encourage you to continue taking any steps you can to develop yourself as a professional translator and/or interpreter. This may involve creating a website that will help advertise your services, attending conferences in the field (whether ATA or other associations), honing your skills, sending your resume to potential clients, finding an internship or mentor program where you can learn more tricks of the trade, etc. You’ve classified yourself as a professional by making the move to switch careers; now it’s time to develop your skills and professional profile in order to take the leap and become someone that those best directories in your country would be proud to list.

I hope this helps!

Best,

Jamie Hartz
jamie@tildelanguage.com
The Savvy Newcomer Blog

How would you classify a person who, after a couple of decades in one profession in a foreign country, decided to make some changes and start with something new? I recently joined the ATA and am happy to be listed in their directory. Without certification, or several more years of experience, I have little to no chance of getting onto my country’s best directories right now. What does one do in the meantime, if not align oneself with the “starving stundenZ” et al.?

Hi Helen,
This post was reblogged from another author’s blog and includes just a brief list of some translation and interpreting associations. I encourage you to check out the original post at and perhaps do some research and ask around about translation associations in Japan that could help you could get connected.
Best of luck!
Jamie Hartz
Moderator, The Savvy Newcomer Blog

Hi Perla and William,

Thank you for your comments. The Savvy Newcomer team acknowledges that this list is not complete; we have reblogged this post by Kevin Lossner and I believe his intent was to provide a sampling of the different associations that are available, not to offer an exhaustive list.

If you have a specific association in mind and would like to request that he add it to his list, I encourage you to reach out to him at his site, where this post was originally published:

Thank you and best regards,

Jamie Hartz
Moderator, The Savvy Newcomer blog