Translation work as part-time job catching on in Covid times

Minna Zutshi

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, August 1

With job market shrivelling due to the pandemic that has also led to the shutting down of many businesses and retrenchment of employees, part-time jobs like translation-work are gaining popularity.

While newcomers look at these jobs as an opportunity to earn something, those already into these jobs are sticking to these with admirable tenacity. In the digital age, with a plethora of software offering the ‘expert advice’, the translation-work at the first flush may seem a child’s play. But not really so. “A lot of hard work and effort go into the translation-work. It may seem mechanical, but it is not,” says septuagenarian Gurdip Singh, who has been translating medical consent forms for treatment for more than a decade now.

Patience, thoroughness, diligence, meticulousness have their role in this ‘art’ of translating, he says. For Gurdip Singh, translation is both a passion and a hobby. He also writes for booklets and brochures. “For me, it is a ‘seva’ that gives me satisfaction, a bit of money and also keeps me busy, while enhancing my knowledge,” he adds.

Harminder Kaur, another translator, finds her work challenging and interesting. With a postgraduate degree in Hindi, she is conversant with medical terminology. “I am able to pace the translation-work according to my convenience. So, there is no work pressure, as such,” she says. But the work demands rigour, precision and accuracy and there is no place for any ambiguity or carelessness, she adds.

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