On Specialization

Translation industry pundits often extol the virtues of specialization. They argue that translators or interpreters who find the right niche can hone their skill in areas where demand for competent linguists exceeds supply. This theme is the crux of Chris Durban’s book The Prosperous Translator.[1] More precisely, she argues that plenty of work and money are to be had by skillful translators who specialize in the right subject matter and work for demanding and wealthy clients.

In reality, linguists tend to become relative generalists. This tendency is natural since any translator or interpreter, especially at the beginning of a career in the field, will want to be available to perform a broad gamut of services as scarce opportunities arise. This seems to be the safe route, but the question remains as to its viability in a sector where, although quality work is not necessarily the norm, competition is fierce.

Chris Durban and her co-author Eugene Seidel do not seem to fear a scarcity of opportunities. Her logic is that, if you find a virgin market where your potential clients may not even have been aware of the added value that you can offer them, the issue of competition from colleague translators becomes immaterial. In other words, by finding and capturing such new markets, the translator is cultivating and developing segments of industry that did not exist.

According to Durban and Seidel, the linguist explores a branch of industry that matches his or her skill set, such as finance, law, medicine, advertising, etc. Entrepreneurial linguists then attend professional events to take the pulse of the sector and identify hyper-specialized growth areas. By making contacts in the prospective industry, translators can acquire technical information and recommended reading to sharpen their skill and narrow their focus.

One primary source of information that Durban suggests is trade journals. After having developed a portfolio of sample translations in the most strategic area of specialty, the translator can begin to seek business contacts to whom to market services, potentially among the contacts already made along the way.

I assume that an approach along these lines has succeeded splendidly for Chris Durban. And, although I have not yet employed the strategy, it makes sense to me intuitively. However, since our industry’s professional publications (and probably those of virtually every other industry) are replete with suggestions intended to bring fabulous success, a certain degree of skepticism about Durban’s assessment seems only healthy. In particular, the notion that there is an insatiable source of wellbeing for translators just waiting to be tapped seems too good to be true. This is not to reject out of hand the merits of Durban’s advice based on her decades of experience, but the devil is in the details.

One often-heard argument against specialization is that it narrows one’s skill set and makes one less able to respond to changes in the market. Of course, from the outset, learning a specialization and locating the respective clients are likely to be time-consuming. And what happens if a linguist’s market research proves faulty? Not to mention the foreseeable boredom of doing the same thing day-in, day-out ad infinitum. Durban counters this reservation with the assertion that it is more satisfying for linguists to have previous intimate knowledge about every text they work on than to tackle new subject matter daily.

Generalization as an alternative, although the natural path for any linguist entering the field, will tend to lead to a vicious cycle of subsistence translation. Translators who want to be prosperous will have to invest in a better future and embark on unexplored territory. Durban maintains that the key ingredients to her recipe for success are excellent language and writing skill and specialized knowledge. The feasibility of her approach, however, is probably uncertain for anyone, as would be any other entrepreneurial pursuit. If the road to prosperity were sure, the book probably would not sell.

Whether or not Durban’s strategy is viable for every skilled linguist, it implies a salubrious side effect: if it expands the market for direct, high-paying clients of translation and interpreting services, our profession as a whole stands to benefit.

Originally published in The Gotham Translator.