I am currently a student in Germany, on my way to a bachelor’s degree in Translation. To put my skills to the test and learn new skills, I wanted to do a three month translation internship in Birmingham. I prefer working in translation over studying abroad, because I know that this will help me to hone my skills and to experience the day to day life of a translator. Working abroad also allows me to deeply immerse myself into the culture instead of remaining in my “student sphere”.

When researching internships in the UK, I stumbled across some reports of previous interns that worked at Absolute Interpreting and Translation Ltd in Birmingham. They immediately intrigued my curiosity and I ventured to find out more about this company. My findings coupled with the positive reports of previous interns encouraged me to apply. Applying was very easy. I emailed them my relevant documents and some details about my preferred time frame for the internship.  I received an answer very quickly and was delighted to find out that I had been accepted for one of Absolutes coveted internship spots in their Translation Department at the Birmingham Head Office. Throughout the whole application process, the Absolute team was very helpful.

A typical day in my Absolute translation internship

I check my emails first thing in the morning to see if there is anything urgent that needs to be dealt with. After that, I sit down with the Manager, to discuss what tasks I should focus on for the day. I appreciate that he takes the time to do this with me, as it helps me to learn how to better organise and prioritise my tasks. When we are done, I deal with various tasks throughout the day.

Priority number one are the numerous translation projects that I deal with on a daily basis. My job here is to enter these projects into our system and assign them to a suitable translator. Once the translator sends me the finished translation, my colleagues and I check the translation, to make sure that everything is perfect. After that, the translation is proofread and  sent to the client.

What I appreciate a lot is that I am given the opportunity to do translation projects in my own language pairs. My translation is then proof-read by a professional translator and I am provided feedback. This helps me develop my translation skills and get a feeling of what is required to deliver a successful translation. And of course, to make sure that the ideas of the original text don’t get lost in translation!

Other tasks include research on translation and interpreting related topics, writing related articles and blog posts, becoming more knowledgeable in SEO, managing our social media accounts and providing administrative support to my colleagues. No day is the same and there is always something new. This variety of tasks is one of the things I like a lot about this internship.

Thoughts on my translation internship at Absolute Interpreting and Translations Ltd

The experience in my internship at Absolute Interpreting and Translations is very good so far. I feel highly valued as a team member. I get to do a lot of tasks that require responsibility and flexible skills. Due to the regular meetings with my managers and valuable feedback from them as well as from translators and clients I am able to work on my skills efficiently and improve constantly.

The atmosphere in the office is very friendly, but nevertheless highly professional. I would definitely recommend anyone to apply for an internship here to see it for themselves!