The Delights of Being A Sworn Translator
In January 2024 the Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Unión Europea y Cooperación (MAEUEC), the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, awarded me the title of Traductora jurada de inglés y español, a sworn translator for English and Spanish. This allows me to provide official and sworn translations from Spanish into English and English into Spanish. Most clients use my services for visa applications to the Spanish authorities and for job applications in Spain.
I find that the nature of the work is quite different to what I have been used to. Gone are automated offers of work. Gone are huge files that need to be translated online on a client’s dedicated translation software platform. Real human beings telephone me and they do use so as often as they email me. I am able to guide them on what they need to do to get their documents translated and what order they should do things in. It’s a piece of client education that I am thoroughly enjoying. The telephone calls, in particular, are giving me a lot of satisfaction because I feel that I am part of the solution to a specific person’s problem. Several clients have told me how helpful my advice has been to them. Real feedback from real human beings in real time! Marvellous!
A big and unexpected aspect of sworn translations is that it is standard practice for all translation work to be paid in advance before even a single letter has been struck on the keyboard. I like this so much. I thank all my colleagues in translation who have fought and worked to get this accepted as a good practice. It is excellent. It’s so refreshing not to have to wait for two or three months to be paid. I am paid in under twenty-hours. Advance payment concentrates my mind too and encourages me to be as thorough and careful as possible.
Although I love interpreting because I love working with faces and voices, being a sworn translator brings me further contact with voices. I feel that I am back in my element. Translation work can be quite isolating but this is completely different. I am so glad that I persevered with all the bureaucratic paperwork and the postal delays. It’s all been worthwhile and I am chuffed to have this new string to my bow!
