The act of translating has changed significantly over the past decade, with the personal computer having replaced the giant multilingual dictionary as the translator’s single indispensable item. If you are starting out as a freelance translator or interested in a career as a professional translator, there are a few things that are absolute musts in order to a) find work b) keep the work coming in.

1) A computer with a reliable high-speed internet connection. Finding out the next day that the file you emailed off never actually arrived is similar to having your computer crash and losing all of your unsaved work. All of your work has gone to waste, not to mention the fact that your reputation is tarnished and you may have lost a client.

2) Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) tools, while generally not technically necessary to translate, will do wonders for the number of job opportunities you have. Having Trados, Deja Vu, Wordfast or MetaTexis will make you stand out from the hundreds of other translators vying for the project.

There are lots of sites that will teach you how to use these tools (as well as how to handle a computer crisis) so spend a little time familiarizing yourself with the basic computer programs and tools.