Choosing the right career is no easy feat. One one hand, you want a career that reflects your interests and skills so you can feel satisfied and engaged in what you are doing. You also want to work in an area that suits your disposition. Do you like working with others? Do you prefer being behind the scenes, analyzing data or information? Perhaps you want to serve your community; maybe you are simply aiming to have something steady that will enable you to pay the bills. You may also want to do something where you can grow as a person and as a professional. In today's complex and constantly changing workforce, you may even believe that it is important to have multiple jobs, so you can lean on one if the other becomes tiresome or is easily replaced by technology.
Those that have multilingual abilities in Chinese, English, or more languages will be pleased to know that they possess a unique skill set that can make a variety of different career options available. While the first role that comes to mind might be a translator, there are other options that you can pursue instead or in addition to a translator. With a multilingual skillset, you are in a great position to work as an educator teaching the world's most sought after languages.
It's important to keep in mind that preparing to work as a translator or educator will take much more than being proficient or fluent in both Chinese and English, though being multilingual is an excellent starting point. As a translator, you will want to earn your certification so you will be licensed to work as an interpreter in professional dialogues or a translator of media and texts. You will need to train to understand how to translate language with fidelity and consideration of the speaker and their message. As an educator, you will want to earn the teaching certification that will bring you the best career options, whether it is working in a private school, a public school, or internationally.
Being multilingual is a great starting point for a career as a translator or teacher, though you will need certification to work in the field. It may help to learn industry specific vocabulary for working in areas such as medicine or business. Find out more about career preparation for the education and translation fields.
Not sure which option to pursue first? This article is all about exploring your options for becoming a Chinese translator or educator, and how you can get started quickly. Let's explore what each job is like.
The Top Careers for a Chinese Multilinguals
What is it Like to Work as a Translator or Interpreter?
Starting a career as a translator or interpreter can be incredibly exciting. There are a variety of areas you can use your linguistic talents. Here are a just a handful!
- Enforcement: Law enforcement agencies at the government and local levels often need multilingual staff to help translate in challenging circumstances, such as investigations or arrests. As a translator or interpreter, you can play a key role in helping to enforce the law and identify important information for professionals like detectives or police.
- Health Care: Canada is a diverse country, with multilingual people that have varying levels of English proficiency. As a translator or interpreter in health care, you may support in communicating critical information between doctors, specialists, administrators and patients. You may find it easier to work with an agency that will place you in different employment scenarios, and do specific training to learn industry specific vocabulary.
- Education: There are many situations in which educators need interpreters to help communicate with families: parent teacher conferences, letters home, or important school forms and documents.
- Legal: In the legal field, there are a variety of different scenarios in which translators are needed, particularly for legal documents. Ideally, you will have strong translation skills and an understanding of the different terms and vocabulary that will arise in areas like family law, immigration, and business.
Becoming a Chinese translator and a teacher may seem like wildly different career paths, but ultimately you will be using your skills as a multilingual communicator to do the unique work inherent to both fields. Which job will earn you more income?
What is it Like to Teach Chinese Classes or Mandarin Lessons?
Teaching is another area that is relatively easy to get into if you are a multilingual speaker of Chinese. There are hundreds of people in Canada looking to learn the basics or advance their knowledge in Chinese, or get support in courses they may be taking in college or university. Getting started in teaching entails not only having oral language knowledge, but an understanding of grammar and literacy and pedagogical strategies. Getting the right training to become a language educator can happen a number of ways. If you want to learn about Chinese language acquisition strategies specifically, you can learn them by enrolling in a Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages program, or any other teacher training course for foreign language teachers.
Those that want to teach Chinese and other subjects in an environment like a public or private school may find it beneficial to attend a teacher training program in your province. You will need an undergraduate degree to enrol in most teacher licensing programs, so keep in mind that this process may take years.
If you want to test teaching out, one quick way you can gain experience and insight is to tutor students. Tutoring is all about helping small groups or individual students with their learning, whether it is for a course or general interest. As a Chinese tutor, you can design your instruction for the specific needs of the student you are working with, either focusing on certain concepts, practicing oral communication, or imparting your knowledge of writing in Chinese. You do not need to have a qualfiication to be a tutor, though you will likely find it helpful to have some experience working with young learners. We will explore this option thoroughly in the rest of this article.
If you are a multilingual Chinese speaker, you may be wondering how to leverage your linguistic proficiency as an educator or a translator. Discover which role is best for you.
Is it Better to Be an Adult or Childrens Tutor for Learning Chinese?
It's typical to wonder what age levels you want to tutor. There are certainly upsides and downsides to each!
Tutoring Young Children
Tutoring children can be a lot of fun: they love games, simple language, and absorb language like a sponge. Kids are full of fun and energy, and you will have a blast working with kids if you are young at heart yourself. However, it can be difficult to work with kids if they are resistant to learning, and you may find it challenging to communicate with parents if they have unrealistic expectations of what they want their children to learn. If you have some experience as an educator working with younger people, this may be an easy tutoring role for you! However, if you have not spent a lot of time with kids, you may want to consider working with older students.
Tutoring Teens and Adults
Teens and adults are great to work with: they will learn quickly, may often have specific learning goals in mind, and will put in the practice and the work if they are motivated to learn Chinese. Resources for adult learners are much easier to find than kids' resources, and you may find adults and teens more engaging and interesting to work with because they will produce more complex work. One downside is that they may need higher complexity of lessons, which can make planning for your lessons much more of a process since they may finish learning tasks much faster than young kids.
Chinese speakers have access to one of the largest economies and linguistic communities in the world. Those that speak Chinese are highly valued in the workforce, especially in translation and education. Learn everything you need to know about starting a career as a translator or tutor!
Will Teaching Chinese Lessons Prepare Me for a Career as a Translator?
When applying for any job or preparing for a career, you will find that nearly any work experience will inform the future work you may do. For example, teaching will help you as a translator because you will become accustomed to using all of your linguistic resources, working with others, and meeting the objectives of a client or employer. Teaching Chinese will also be helpful if you would like to continue tutoring or teaching part time as you pursue more time in the field of translation.
Where Can I Work as a Chinese Tutor or Teach Chinese Classes Near Me?
If your goal is to teach groups, you may be able to work at a Chinese cultural center of international languages school. You can volunteer your services if you are simply looking to get experience: many teachers would love to have an assistant who will help them to mark assessments or work with small groups.
To work as a Chinese tutor, you can promote your work on Superprof Canada, which we will describe in more detail next!
One calling multilingual speakers often have is to work in the field of translation and interpretation. Like teaching, translating is a rewarding and empowering role that enables others to communicate. Find out more about the learning and training it takes to start this career.
Where Can I Promote My Services as a Chinese Teacher or Mandarin Tutor?
Superprof Canada is the best place to promote your services as a Chinese educator. The site was built for connecting tutors with students in a variety of disciplines, including languages. To post your services, create a bio that describes your services, strengths, academic background and relevant work experiences. If you can tutor in other areas, such as mathematics or science, you may want to share that as well! Prospective clients can then search the site and will message you directly if they think you may be a good fit.
Start your educator career on Superprof today!
Did you like this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
