Recently, I came across a translation of a NGO policy destined to defend children from sex offenders. Some while ago, I had the opportunity to rewrite a Gender Analysis by another NGO, so describing small steps taken by women involved in loan communities. Just before Christmas, I had a huge project regarding school-dropouts and how that is being reverted in Timor-Leste.

Why am I listing my work? Because doing these jobs makes me realize that translation can matter. The ability to translate any given content, normally from English to the official languages of Timor-Leste, Tétum and Portuguese, will make people aware of what is going on in their countries. Of what is being done by international donors. Of what they can do to contribute and shape their nation.

The translation for the development sector may face you with some hurdles. First of all, sometimes you are going to read stuff that will make you sad. For example, understanding that some child abusers try to infiltrate NGO’s in developing countries in order to have access to children. Knowing that is revolting. But everyone needs to know. So let’s translate.

You will need to become familiar with some acronyms and concepts. The MDGs (Millennium Development Goals), the RBF (Results-based Financing), GAD (Gender and Development), the different UN Agencies, what to call to the recipient countries. Check for glossaries online to support your work. You can find some examples through OECD, International Development Matters and African Development Bank, among others.

Take a course. I recently joined a course organized by eCPD webinars, with Corinne McKay, in order to brush up my vocabulary and to find out how to contact more effectively agencies and donors to procure more work. It is very important, if you want to start in this field of translation, to be aware of the number of NGO’s and international partners working on the field.

And eventually read. There is a lot of good literature on related topics. It will bring you acquainted with development issues and help you to perform a good job.

This was not my main area of focus when I started translating. But, taking into account where I live (Timor-Leste) and the possibility it gives to me to do translations that matter (even) more, I did not hesitate one second to develop a new set of skills.