Choosing specialization based on interests vs. choosing one based on market demand.

Rachel Waddington wrote:

... try to find something you are interested in that there is a demand for (at a reasonable price). Literature is notoriously badly paid and I believe few translators make a full time living from it. I have no idea about botany.

Given the state of translation at the moment, you might also want to think about a specialism that is useful in the wider world, should you want to leave translation behind in the future.

If there is an area that your clients keep asking for, you could build on that.

I think it's a process of trial and error for most people, except those who come to translation with obvious specialisms from a past career.

Peter Shortall wrote:

I agree with what Rachel says about ideally combining the two. This doesn't necessarily have to be a choice between one thing or the other, maybe you can have both.

Interests can be acquired over time, they're not necessarily fixed. I'm not hugely fussy when it comes to taking an interest in translation subjects and would certainly be open to gaining new specialisms in future if I could make a living from them. I've had a lot of demand from my clients for journalism and pharmaceutical translations over the years even though I didn't have a background in those fields to start with. Of course you have to avoid taking on texts that are too difficult, I've always been careful about that, but I've gradually waded deeper into these fields and have found I really like them. Lately, I've got into a whole new type of translation - subtitling - and love it, although I haven't had a lot of work yet. It's a really interesting challenge, there's much more to it than meets the eye. Sometimes you don't know what you'll like until you try it.

If you love a particular field and can find clients in that field who will pay you an amount you're happy with, great. Maybe you have contacts in that field who can put work your way or could attend events where you can network with potential clients. This might take some time and patience, but if you're very motivated to do a particular kind of work, why not give it a try? I'm sort of on that path myself at the moment. Having subtitled some video documentaries, I'd love to subtitle fiction films and am planning to get in touch with film-makers and production companies later this year when I'm less busy. I also went to a film festival last year and volunteered as a "subtitle synchroniser". I've no idea whether this idea of mine will come to anything, I'm not expecting miracles, but if I don't at least try, I'll never know whether I could have succeeded.

If you're thinking about developing a new specialism, a good option might be to try a free online course (e.g. MOOC/Coursera) to get a feel for the subject and see whether you like it before committing yourself more fully.