Farming has always been one of the many hobbies that make life interesting for Sunil. What started as a gardening hobby has now become a plan to grow 1,600 papaya and moringa trees on his 4 acres of land. Let’s get to know more about our French translator/gardener, Sunil, in this quick chat.
Why did you choose to learn the French language?
I had to learn French at the age of 9 as my father was transferred to the Indian Embassy in France in 1975. I learnt French in about 6 months as I had to integrate the French school system.
How did you get started with your translation career? Is this a part-time or full-time job?
My last job before I went started freelancing full-time in 2011 was with the IT industry. I had worked in the IT industry for more than 10 years. My job was to remotely resolve French enterprise customers’ issues/problems with a backup software. One of the tasks that I took upon myself was to translate English technical documents into French.
How did you land your first translation job? How was the experience?
I had created a profile on Proz.com and got an enquiry for a job from an agency out of the blue. The experience was great as I was able to earn almost half my salary working part-time within 10 days.
Since you first started in the translation industry, what are the changes you noticed?
I noticed that there are more and more jobs since I started in the translation industry and often I have to refuse jobs as I do not have the capacity.
Best and worst part of your job?
There is no worst part in my job. Earlier when I used to work for someone, I would feel tired after 5 days of work and would look forward to the weekend. Now I do not even notice what day of the week it is. And as I stay on a farm I am also busy with farming activities.
When not translating, what do you do?
I help out my farm when not translating.
Any advice for people starting their career in translation?
Get loads of experience before going freelance as building a reputation is really hard work and whereas losing your reputation can happen in a flash. Maintain excellent quality. As someone once said “Love what you do, do what you love and you will never have to work again in your whole life.”
