The first question to ask is: does a translator have to specialize at all? My answer would be no, but it is certainly preferable. While I don’t doubt that it is possible to make a decent living as a freelance translator translating only general texts (“general” being extremely difficult to define and a text that one translator would classify as general could well be considered specialized by another, so let’s just say that “general” texts are those that do not require specialist knowledge in a certain field), the most successful …

The United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor Leste is currently looking to recruit a Portuguese-English translator/interpreter.
Duties: translate documents from Portuguese to English and from English to Portuguese, consecutive and simultaneous interpreting from Portuguese to English and from English to Portuguese
Requirements: excellent knowledge of English and Portuguese (knowledge of Tetum is an advantage), high school diploma as a minimum (further education or diploma in translation is an asset), at least six years of experience in translation and interpreting
Location: Dili, Timor Leste
Application deadline: 4 June 2010
More information on the United Nations human …

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is currently looking to recruit:
- a Russian translator/reviser
Duties: translate from English and French or Spanish to Russian
Requirements: University degree, 5 years of relevant experience in translation, excellent knowledge of Russian and professional working knowledge of English and French or Spanish
- a Russian interpreter/translator
Duties: interpret simultaneously and consecutively primarily into Russian, translate from English, French or Spanish to Russian
Requirements: University degree, 7 years of relevant experience in simultaneous and consecutive interpreting, excellent knowledge of Russian and professional working knowledge of English …

The International Telecommunication Union is currently looking to recruit a French translator to translate technical, specialized and administrative documents from English and Arabic/Chinese/Russian/Spanish.
Requirements: advanced University degree, at least four years of experience in translation, preferably technical translation, French mother tongue, excellent command of English and at least one of the following: Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Spanish
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Duration: fixed two-year contract
Application deadline: 19 May 2010
More information on ITU’s website
To see more jobs for translators and interpreters, visit the Language and Translation Job Board.

The African Union is currently looking to recruit:
- an English interpreter
- a French interpreter
- an Arabic interpreter
- a Portuguese interpreter
- an Arabic reviser
- a French reviser
- an Arabic translator
- a French translator
- an English translator
- a Portuguese translator
Application deadline: 9 April 2010
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
More information on the African Union’s website.
To see more jobs for translators and interpreters, visit the Language and Translation Job Board.

The World Trade Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, is looking to recruit a Spanish and French to English translator
Requirements: University degree, preferably in languages, law or economics, at least 3 years of professional experience in translation, perfect command of English and excellent command of Spanish and French
Application deadline: 10 February 2010
More information and application on the World Trade Organization’s website.
To see more jobs for translators and interpreters, visit the Language and Translation Job Board.

One of the most important questions asked by freelance translators, and above all by newcomers to the profession, is: where do I find clients?
The fact is that clients won’t start knocking on your door out of the blue on your first day. You can’t just sit in front of your computer and hope that miraculously they will find you and swamp you with lucrative contracts. Getting clients and most importantly, getting regular clients that are pleasant to work with and willing to pay good rates, is not an easy task. …