internships, traineeships, stages, work placements

It's the time of year when completing students begin to think about translation placements. There's a work placements tag on this blog with some suggestions, and I thought it might be helpful to post a few more links, some of them to regularly recurring positions, some seen in passing on the web.

The usual caveats apply. Remember that internships should benefit you at least as much as the company. Check the conditions carefully. Find out about the company; check that you are going to get useful experience and supervision, not just tea-brewing and photocopying. Be a bit cautious about internships with no remuneration (though be warned that not all internships are paid). Be wary of internship advertisements which have linguistic errors/are written badly; these are unlikely to be serious companies. Steer clear of companies who ask for payment of any sort for internship schemes.

There are translation traineeships at the Directorate-General for Translation at the European Commission.

These pay a living allowance of about 1000 euro a month. There are also paid and unpaid translation traineeships in the European Parliament. These have quite specific requirements.

SDL advertise regularly for interns for their Sheffield office. The scheme is open to students whose first language is French, German, Italian, Dutch, European Spanish, Latin American Spanish, and European Portuguese. The FAQs are here. Applications for the next batch of placements in October will be accepted from early June to mid-July.

You could keep an eye on the Euractiv website, which sometimes has useful-looking internships: currently advertising an English to French translation internship (seems unpaid but with some expenses reimbursed).

Argos Translations in Poland advertise an internship scheme for students and graduates of Krakow universities.

Some more links that you might find worth following up, depending on your location/interests/language combinations:

http://www.wolfestone.co.uk/translation_internships.php

http://www.alternatives.ca/en/opportunity/translation-internship

http://www.equinux.com/us/company/jobdetails.html?-recid=140 (DE-EN, based in Munich)

http://www.cris.unu.edu/fileadmin/user_upload/Translation_internship.pdf

This videogame localisation company in Berlin is looking for interns working from English into Czech, Polish, German, Italian and Spanish:

http://www.anakan.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=33&Itemid=91

http://www.ctsll.com/about_internship.php (US company)

http://www.crellin.de/deutsch/jobs/internships.htm (German to English; includes translation test as part of the application)

http://www.englishpen.org/aboutenglishpen/vacancies/volunteeringandinternships/ (for students with an interest in literary translation)

http://www.internshipinlondon.com/translation/internship-in-translation/176 (currently open to speakers of French, Spanish, Italian, German and Dutch).

Please note that the information above is presented in good faith, and neither the University of Portsmouth nor the writer of this blog makes any claims or accepts any liability in regard to any of these links.

(A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend.)

Anyone considering volunteer translation as a way of gaining experience might also like to keep an eye on the volunteering tag.

DE-EN in-house position, Credit Suisse, New York

I have just seen a link on the TranslationTimes blog to a job advertisement with Credit Suisse who are looking for a 'Senior Specialist Language Services' for the English department of its Language Services unit in New York. More information here. The job ID is 1041495.

applications closing for EST summer school scholarship (1 May)

Dear all, 

Just in case any readers were intending to put in at the last minute for the EST Summer School Scholarship, the deadline is 1 May. 

Students preparing a doctoral dissertation in the field of translation studies who are paid-up EST members are invited to apply for this scholarship of 1,000 euros.

The applications will be scrutinized by the committee, who will base their judgement on the application as a whole, taking into account all information asked for: the technical quality of the project, the applicant's competences and needs, and the relationship between the project and the summer school programme intended to follow.

To apply, please fill in the application form (including the attachments) and send it to Iwona Mazur –  imazur at ifa.amu.edu.pl. Along with the form, applicants are asked to send a letter of recommendation from their dissertation advisor as a PDF or scanned attachment.

Receipt of complete applications will be acknowledged by e-mail.

The name of the scholarship recipient will be announced on the Society's website in the second week of June each year and notice will also be sent (by e-mail) to each of the candidates.

Previous scholarship holders:
2006: Cristina Valentini (Forlì)
2008: Elisabet Tiselius (Stockholm), Alberto Fernández Costales (Oviedo)
2009: Hanna Pięta (Lisbon), Maria Tymczyńska (Poznań), Alice Leal (Vienna)
2010: Sabina Tcaciuc (Aston)

PhD fee waiver scholarships for UK/EU students, Leicester

Have just come across this advertisement for fee waivers for PhD research in translation studies and modern languages at the University of Leicester, which may be of interest to some readers.

job with Spanish or French and another language, Kiva, San Francisco.

Dear all,  

I have just seen this ad for a translation project manager with a difference with the microlender Kiva. You need two Kiva languages including Spanish or French, and the job is based in San Francisco. Deadline is 4 May. More details below.  (Kiva also has a network of volunteer translators which may be of interest.) 

 

Review and Translation Coordinator

Position: Review and Translation Coordinator

Reports to: Review and Translation Manager, Program Operations

Location: San Francisco, CA – Downtown/Mission District

Job Type: Contractor, full-time

The Company

Kiva (http://www.kiva.org) lets everyday people on the web lend small amounts of money to the working poor worldwide. Since launching in 2005, Kiva has connected over 1 million people through lending to alleviate poverty in 57 countries, including the United States. We aim to democratize capital through the power of small actions, technology and believing in each other. Kiva, a San Francisco based non-profit with offices worldwide, has 75 people and 500+ volunteers.

The Job

The Review and Translation Coordinator helps manage the preparation of loan content for the Kiva website, supporting program staff and working with a large team of skilled volunteers to deliver translated and verified loan profiles for funding by Kiva lenders. The Review and Translation Coordinator is responsible for directly managing the volunteer Team Leaders of several teams of translators; coordinating the screening, testing, and onboarding of new volunteers; supporting established procedures for volunteer recognition and community development; and handling various other tasks to support overall program effectiveness.

Your Responsibilities

• Loan Review Team Leader management
• Monitor unreviewed loan volume and motivate teams to translate/review required volume
• Manage up to 10 Loan Review Team Leaders (corresponds to team of  250+ volunteers)
• Provide regular recognition for participation and feedback as required
• Support Team Leader responses to volunteer queries on loan policy, Kiva processes, translation techniques, terminology, and volunteer involvement
• Lead initial trainings, along with other Review & Translation Program staff
• Manage format for monthly conference calls and schedule calls
• Provide technical support for Viva and other Kiva systems to Team Leaders

• Translator & Editor recruitment, testing, and onboarding
• Develop recruitment network that can be leveraged to increase flow of volunteers for specific language needs
• Manage recruitment & screening messages in all Kiva systems
• Oversee screening process for translator applications
• Manage test evaluation process with internal & external test evaluators
• Manage onboarding process for translation volunteers, including accepted, rejected, and wait listed applicants

• Volunteer support and community engagement
• Provide technical support for Kiva’s review and translation systems to volunteers
• Develop volunteer and team leader wiki, creating and modifying content, monitoring usage, and developing leadership on wiki among volunteer teams
• Develop and monitor volunteer and team leader discussion forums
• Plan and coordinate volunteer recognition events, work parties, and trainings

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Native or near-native English speaker with fluency in Spanish and/or French
• 2+ years professional translation experience and/or a certificate or degree in translation
• 2+ years of professional experience, including project management
• Excellent people skills, with friendly and motivational communication style
• Adept with new technologies
• Creative problem-solver who is interested in innovation and enjoys a high-growth environment

Preferred

• Experience managing volunteers or remote teams
• Knowledge of more than one Kiva language (Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic)

To Apply

• Email cover letter and resume to jobs at viva.kiva.org by May 4, 2011.
• Please do not contact the office directly with any questions or follow-up inquiries

L'autore invisibile: literary translation events at the Turin Book Fair (in Italian)

Dear all,
Those of you in Italy might be interested in a fascinating range of events being organised at the Turin Book Fair this May as part of the long running translation strand entitled 'L'autore invisibile'. The press release is below, and there is also a Facebook page with more information:

Anche il Salone 2011 avrà tra i suoi punti di forza gli appuntamenti sulla traduzione curati da Ilide Carmignani.

Ospite d’onore è lo scrittore cileno Luis Sepúlveda, che ci parlerà di Letteratura e traduzione (venerdì 13 maggio, ore 18.00).

Gian Arturo Ferrari, presidente del Centro per il libro, illustrerà i versanti istituzionali di un’attività che non solo tocca oltre un quarto dei libri stampati in Italia ma esporta la nostra cultura nel mondo (giovedì 12 maggio, ore 18.00). Nell’ambito dell’incontro verrà inoltre presentata la Banca Dati Internazionale dei Traduttori Editoriali con Umberto D’Angelo (Centro per il Libro) e Simona Cives (Biblioteche di Roma).

Renata Colorni, direttrice dei Meridiani Mondadori, racconterà la difficile arte di reinterpretare un classico nella sua lectio magistralis Tradurre La montagna magica (sabato 14 maggio, ore 17.30). La lectio sarà preceduta dall’annuncio del vincitore del Premio Fedrigoni-Giornate della Traduzione 2011 con Ernesto Ferrero e Chiara Medioli.

C’è chi sostiene che con l’ebook tipografi, distributori, rappresentanti, librai sono destinati all’estinzione. E i traduttori? Come si configurerà il loro mestiere in un mondo editoriale sempre più elettronico? Ne discuteranno Stefano Mauri (Presidente GeMS), Marco Vigevani, agente letterario e Alessandra Repossi (SNS Sezione Traduttori) nella tavola rotonda Come il digitale cambierà il mondo del libro (giovedì 12 maggio, ore 16.30).

Chi e cosa guida le scelte dei romanzi che leggiamo in traduzione? Perché oggi spopolano i nordici che fino a ieri quasi ignoravamo? E in che modo i traduttori affrontano la sfida di portare mondi nuovi e lontani al lettore italiano? Luigi Brioschi (Guanda), Helena Lozano (Università di Trieste), Lorenzo Ribaldi (La Nuova Frontiera) e Maria Antonietta Saracino (Università di Roma) analizzeranno queste complesse dinamiche in Tradurre testi, tradurre culture (sabato 14 maggio, ore 12.30).

Gianfranco Petrillo, Enrico Ganni (Einaudi) e Susanna Basso presentano una nuovissima rivista elettronica:  "Tradurre. Pratiche Teorie Strumenti" (sabato 14 maggio, ore 16.00).

Tornano, infine, i consueti incontri sul laboratorio del traduttore.

Da qualche tempo il soprannaturale attraversa i generi più impensati coniugandosi in modo assai vario. Alessandra Bazardi (Harlequin Mondadori), Cristina Brambilla (Piemme), Luca Fusari, Chiara Marmugi e Cristina Prasso (Nord) ci spiegheranno le diverse strategie di mediazione adottate nella tavola rotonda Tradurre vampiri e mutaforme: dal fantasy ai romanzi rosa (domenica 15 maggio, ore 12.00).

Maurizia Balmelli e Grazia Giua (Einaudi), Laura Frausin Guarino ed Ena Marchi (Adelphi) ci racconteranno il loro lavoro comune nell’incontro Traduttore e revisore a confronto: McCarthy, Némirovsky e Simenon (venerdì 13 maggio, ore 15.00), mentre Franca Cavagnoli, Margherita Crepax e Davide Rondoni ci illustreranno le loro fatiche “classiche” in A volte ritornano: Fitzgerald, Bulgakov, Baudelaire (domenica 15 maggio, ore 14.00).

Infine, un’incursione in territori limitrofi: come lavorano i traduttori che si dedicano al cinema e alla televisione? Ce lo spiegheranno Eleonora Di Fortunato e  Mario Paolinelli dell’AIDAC nel loro seminario Gli altri mestieri della traduzione: adattamento e sottotitoli (giovedì 12 maggio, ore 12.00).

Tutti gli incontri si terranno nella Sala Professionali.

Ufficio stampa: 328.7638937