Translator CV examples to help you build yours

Translators need to have an excellent command of at least the languages that they will be using most frequently. However, they also need to understand the culture surrounding a foreign language in a specific country and provide translation services for spoken language, written language, or both, depending on the job being applied for. Many languages need English translation, including the most common ones:

• Spanish
• French
• Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese)
• Japanese
• Russian
• Arabic
• Italian

Other languages need translation, so it’s most important that you know which language you want to translate for and study it extensively.

The order of your CV sections will depend on the CV format you select. The most common format is chronological, which emphasises your work history. If you have less work experience, you can use the functional format or the combination format. Regardless of their order, these are the sections you’ll see in a translator CV sample:

 

The first section is going to be your CV header with your contact information. This is more of a CV design quirk than it is part of the CV proper. It includes your full name, phone number, and professional portfolio links, such as your LinkedIn profile.

 

The first section of your CV will be your personal statement or objective. This is a short 2-3 sentence paragraph that highlights the most important skills and achievements that you listed on your professional CV. If you have experience, go with a summary. If you have little to no work experience, use a CV objective to state your career goals. The intent is for this paragraph to be enough information that a hiring manager can read it and understand your top qualifications for the position.

 

Next is your skills section. The translation skills for a perfect CV will of course vary depending on the job you’re applying to. Here are a few bullet points you might want to consider:

• Ability to translate legal documents
• Cultural awareness of the target culture
• Communication skills
• Knowledge of translation memory tools (SDL Trados, WorldServer)
• Interpersonal skills
• Localisation competencies
• Writing skills
• Time management skills
• Microsoft Translator

This includes both soft skills and hard skills. Technical skills are important for translation, but it’s also important that you’re able to work with your coworkers effectively.

 

Any translation experience that you have should go in your work experience section. This can even include translation experience that doesn’t perfectly match the job you’re trying to achieve at this moment. It helps showcase that you’ve been doing different forms of translation for many years.

 

Your education section is where you put all of your education experience. Translators almost always need a bachelor’s degree in their target language, usually in the form of a Bachelor of Arts in Translation. You’ll also want to become a certified translator and put your certification in this section. Accreditation from professional associations, such as the American Translators Association (ATA) are also helpful.

Here are some additional tips to keep in mind as you write your translator CV:

 

Do:

• Disclose when you’re a native speaker of a specific language, such as the English language or the Spanish language. The native designation indicates that you’ve been speaking that language since you were a child.
• Include how fluent your language skills are rather than how many years of experience you have spoken a language. Fluency is a much more effective measurement tool.
• Check the job description to see what translation certifications the recruiter is looking for.

Don’t:

• Include skills that are irrelevant to the type of translation you’ll be doing. If you are translating books exclusively, you don’t need to include listening and speaking skills.
• List any target languages that you aren’t at least conversational in. In a translation job, you need to be conversational in a language for it to help you.
• Turn in your CV without proofreading it. If your CV has typos or grammatical errors in your native language, a hiring manager probably won’t trust you in a different one.