# Introduction

This free course, Translation as a career, explores what being a professional translator is like. During the course you will meet professional translators discussing their work and reflect on what they say. You will assess your own language level and find out how translators maintain their language skills. You will also engage in a short translation activity.

The course is divided into four sections:

1. Translation as a profession: this section provides an overview of the skills and knowledge needed to be a translator and what is meant by translation competence
2. A day in the life of a translator: in this section you will meet some translators who tell you about their work, and about giving back. You will also find out about volunteering opportunities as a translator
3. Your language skills: explore what it takes to be a translator in terms of language skills, and find out what translators do to keep up their languages
4. Translation theory and practice: explore the notion of equivalence by undertaking a short translation activity (don’t worry about your language skills, you can also translate from English into English!).

This OpenLearn course is an adapted extract from the Open University course L801 Introduction to translation theory and practice, which is the first part of the OU’s MA in Translation. You might also be interested in the second part: L802 Translation in practice.

OpenLearn - Translation as a career
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