…But why do I have to specialise?

One of the pieces of advice that I was more often given by other senior, and less so, colleagues was to “find my niche”, “specialise”, “aim at one market and focus there”. I heard this over and over again from fellow translators and interpreters even recently, at The Language Show event in London, but this time my reaction was different. If I had blindly believed in this dogma of specialisation before, I now started to challenge it – although I am well aware that that might make me a maverick.

Why would I have to specialise and focus on one particular market if my interests, and skills, are diversified? Would I not lose out on opportunities to grow my business if I only limited myself to my “specialisation”? How would I even choose which is the one sector I want to work in out of everything that’s out there?

With these doubts in mind, I started to think more deeply about this.

What do you mean by specialised?

Let’s start from step one – what does it even mean being specialised? Does it mean having studied a separate degree in a particular field in order to have a technical knowledge of the subject matter, or maybe having translated a million words regarding, say, knitting? I recently read on Twitter a quote by (allegedly) Niels Bohr, who said “An expert is someone that has made all the mistakes one can make in a very restricted field”, and I think this speaks volumes about the utopian concepts of expertise and specialism we might try to attach to our profession. But then again, maybe by specialised we simply mean “has worked a lot in this particular field” – there is simply too much vagueness in the terminology we use. Bottom line, mine is a very pessimist and conservative view of the knowledge and experience needed to call oneself a specialised translator, and I would love to start a debate with those out there that have earned this title – how did you do it?

Is it all about the money?

Colleagues have said that specialising means being able to price your services accordingly, which is fair enough, but in a market where quality is often the least of the concerns and where “tight budget” is one of the most used expression, I struggle to see how the equation whereby specialisation = more money translates in real life. I am sure this would be down to me not having the right tools nor skills to find the market bracket that requires specialised translation, and I would love for someone to confirm that these clients exist and they’re out there for the taking. Moreover, clients may not willing to accept higher fees because of the obscurity behind the concept of “specialisation” itself: if we can’t explain and demonstrate our skills and knowledge effectively, telling them why they need us specifically to work on their text and how we will make a difference, then why should they expand their budget?

“Jack of all trade, master of none” or “One-trick pony”?

On the other hand, popular wisdom has already told us that if you’re good at everything you’re the best in nothing. Is it the worst think in the world though? I certainly don’t think so. One of the things that really bugs me about the advice “find your own niche” is that it makes translators’ and interpreters’ business so restrictive, and frankly, boring. I have entered this profession for the variety of scenarios it provides, the challenges it presents you with and because it quenches my thirst for knowledge. I love sports, but I also love biology, marketing and wine. If I only loved one of those I would have probably chosen a different career and I’d be a maître sommelier or a researcher. Instead, I have opted for the versatility this profession offers and I honestly feel that the notion of specialisation we hear at conferences and at networking events is taking this amazing feature away from us.

Can we find a compromise?

Please, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that we should start accepting all projects and assignments that land in our inbox and going in the booth blindly, but I am also saying that we should not put all our eggs in one basket. I am speaking here coming from the assumption that all translations and interpreting are being carried out with the good standard practice of the industry. Having a solid knowledge of what is being translated/interpreted is key to a quality performance, but I don’t think we need to be able to write a dissertation on the subject matter as we really don’t need to, it’s not our job. And after all, does a translation need to be done by a specialised translator to be good? Even from a marketing perspective, betting everything on one field might slower our business growth and in turn prove less profitable. I can hardly imagine myself ever being an expert in anything, as I believe knowledge to be infinite, and at this point of my professional career I don’t feel that would be a smart move for me. I am still very much at the beginning, and although I will continue consolidating my knowledge in the fields (please note the plural) I am interested, I will definitely continue expanding my business in all directions, as I don’t really want to miss out on anything.

What is your experience? Have you specialised into any field and has that had an impact on your business? Do you enjoy the variety of what the market offers, or do you prefer sticking to what you know?