Some people assume that being a translator does not pay well. “Not all assumptions are correct,” said Arfan Achyar, a lecturer and renowned book translator in Jakarta, during a public lecture titled “Tips on Becoming a Translator” on Saturday (May 1) in the seminar room on the 6th floor of Widyatama University in Bandung.
At a minimum, translators will be paid 15,000 rupiah per page to translate a book and 350,000 rupiah per hour for interpreters. This amount is the minimum rate for a beginner translator. Some reliable translators will be paid 5 cents or the equivalent of 500 rupiah for every word they translate. There are even translators who can afford to buy a house with their income in six months, said the stocky engineer.
Arfan actually only started working in the world of translation in the late 90s, and even then it was by accident. After returning from studying rocket engineering in England, his uncle offered him a job translating workplace safety regulations. He was paid a fantastic rate at the time, so he decided to make a career change and become a translator. As a translator, Arfan’s expertise is not limited to his experience living abroad while studying in England. He also has to master and understand two source and target languages, such as the EYD (Enhanced Spelling System) in Indonesian.
He also had to start his career as a translator by boldly “selling himself” to publishers to try out his ability to translate books. He also actively joined a translator mailing list so that he could get job information, and his name began to be known by translation service users through the mailing list. At the end of the session, he revealed that the opportunities to become a translator are wide open. Putting aside feelings of shame and pride is the initial capital if you want to pursue this profession. Being a translator not only improves your foreign language skills and knowledge in other fields of study, but you can also enjoy a fairly high income from this type of work, without having to dress up or leave the house every day, he concluded.
