What is the best language for a future translator to learn?

Question

I want to be a translator when I am older. What language should I learn in order to make the most money? Do you know how much I would make? Thanks!

Answer 1

Depends on where you live and what is the most common second language in your area. Be aware that people who were *raised* bilingual are heavily favored in the industry and if you still haven't even learned a second language you may be fighting for work.

I do written English to Spanish translation for a local organization and I earn $35 an hour. I don't know how that compares in the great scheme of things, because it's a second, part-time job for me. Hopefully you realize already the difference between "translation" and "interpreting"... translation is always written, interpreting is always spoken.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Firsly, you have to like languages in order to do anything with them, and this is true of anything you will do in life. If you don't like it, you won't be good at it. So my advice is that you only study a language you may want to work as a translator in if you really want to be fluent in that language. The best languages are always those recognized as the official languages of the U.N as well as those which are the most commercial. English is the number one commercial language in the world, as well as being the most in demand in technical and scientific areas. But I would also suggest that you think about Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

Answer 3

If you're going to translate or interpret for money, you'd be better off not doing it at all. The people who are going to need you are going to need you to care, as well.

As far as what to learn, the second most spoken language in American right now is Spanish. Learn that, but for business, also learn Chinese, most likely Mandarin. I also would recommend American Sign Language.

Answer 4

I would go for Spanish - no question. It is a very very growing language in this country. I don't know how much you would make. but then again, there may be other languages that are even more hot on the market as far as being used world-wide. Maybe check into Japanese or Chinese.

Answer 5

Probably Spanish, because it's the second most common language in the United States

Answer 6

Learn the basics first, such as spanish and french. Those two languages will get you far in America.

If you want to branch out a bit more, depending on where you would like to work, leanr the languages. If you wanted to work in europe, then you should learn Italian, German, French, and other European languages. While if you wanted to work in Asia, you could learn Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and other languages like that.

Answer 7

It's very good that you're fluent in Spanish - that's opened a lot of opportunities to you already. If I had to choose one from your list, I would say Arabic. You will have no problem finding a job with fluent Arabic. Some other languages you should really consider: Chinese, Japanese, and Russian.

Answer 8

English, Spanish (not Mexican), Cantonese and Mandarin. My opinion.

English because this is the language of business.
Spanish because if you know English and Spanish you can communicate anywhere in the world.
Cantonese and Mandarin Because in the next 25 years the world will be overrun with the yellow race.

Money? Who knows, depends upon who you work for.

Answer 9

it all depends where you live and where you work ,whatever races is dominant in your area ,learn the language most people speak.hard to give you a good choice without more info, but i would say Spanish,Chinese,Japanese, are a few safe choices

Answer 10

it has to be more than one language because otherwise what can you translate into .
English,Spanish,Chineese .and French seems a good start