Your personal interests as translation specializations?

Greetings, Training for Translators readers! It was fantastic seeing so many of you at last week’s ATA conference (I’m writing this from the plane on the way home; yay for Southwest now offering free Wi-Fi for Rapid Rewards members!). If you missed it, mark your calendar now for ATA67: October 28-October 31, 2026 in San Francisco, California! 

November classes open for registration

T4T has three offerings for you this month, all in different flavors!

• November 11: Free webinar! Getting started as a freelance interpreter. I’ll talk for one hour about the basics of running a freelance interpreting business. Everyone who registers will receive the recording. Limited to 250 registrations. 
• Direct client research lab. Registration closes November 16, or when all 20 spots are filled. Registration is $160; after filling out a profile form, you’ll receive a personalized video with specific recommendations of potential direct clients, then we’ll meet for a group session where I’ll demonstrate my research techniques and contact methods (recordings provided). 
• Breaking into the subtitling market. Registration closes November 23. An expanded version of guest instructor Molly Yurick’s popular webinar by the same name! Registration is $110, you’ll get six months of access to the recorded course materials on Thinkific (see the course page for a full outline), plus two live bonus material/question and answer sessions with Molly in January. 

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If you’re an audio person, have you subscribed to Training for Translators in Apple Podcasts or Spotify? You can also listen directly on the T4T website; here’s the most recent episode. As of today, it has 7,994 downloads (total across 18 episodes); maybe you could be the 8,000th download! 

This week’s topic: Your personal interests as translation specializations? 

“How do I know when I know enough about a specialization?” It’s a hard question, because (stop me if this sounds like our profession in a nutshell), it really depends on the context. 

• Many specializations demand expert-level subject matter knowledge that not many people have; for example there are levels of medical and scientific translation that are handled almost exclusively by people with MDs and PhDs
• Some specializations have a lot of self-taught/learned on the job translators (in my experience, this is the case with international development)
• Some specializations are so specialized or so new or niche that most people rely primarily on their research skills (I once translated a thing about Mecca’s pneumatic trash collection system; I guess you could call it waste management, but it’s sort of a cross between waste management and the old-fashioned vacuum tubes in the bank drive-through??) 

This leads to a lot of fear and imposter syndrome, and sometimes that’s a valid and good thing. You don’t want to get in over your head with the operator manual to an MRI machine, or the maintenance specifications for an aircraft engine. But here’s one pathway I think we overlook: our personal interests, about which we often have expert-level knowledge.

Translators and interpreters are generally very energetic and passionate people. Many of us are really devoted to our non-work interests. Get me going on cat fostering, learning the cello, hiking 14’ers, backcountry skiing, mountain biking, vegetarianism, and you’ll be sorry you asked! 

Among translators and interpreters, I’m not an outlier; most of my colleagues have interests about which they are very passionate, whether that’s French baking, dog agility, playing the piano, singing opera, making homemade soap, or a million other things. You’re already an expert!! 

When you’re thinking about translation specializations, do not discount these types of interests, and think of how you could “follow the money” to clients with the budget to hire you. 

Let’s use my example, and “follow the money”:

• Animal rights: I’m guessing there are international animal rights/animal rescue NGOs that publish in French and English, and could use a translator for their web copy, reports, surveys, blog posts, and/or interpreters for their live events. 
• Classical music: I could target music festivals and orchestras in French-speaking countries; instrument-makers, music schools, maybe even French-speaking instructors who want to produce instructional materials in English.
• Mountain sports: Lots of opportunities here, because there are a lot of “destination races” and tours in French-speaking countries, and if they’re going to publish in one other language, it’s going to be English. 
• Vegetarianism: This overlaps somewhat with animal rights issues, but I could look at organizations that promote vegetarianism, vegetarian cookbooks, maybe vegetarian cooking instructors who speak French and want to reach a wider audience. 

Of course, some of these areas still require a lot more specialization than I have; I’m not a veterinarian or an instrument-maker. But I love reading and researching about these areas, and I know a lot more of the specialized vocabulary than a generalist translator does. Also, there’s no better pitch to a client than, “I use your product and I love it!” or “I’m also a…” (Buddhist, tango enthusiast, avid crocheter or whatever else). 

I hope this gives you some inspiration for your own marketing efforts!
Have a great week!

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