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. This helps 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 timeframe 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 immediately. 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 proof-read 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
- 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!
