The most usual way to begin a career as a translator is to study one or more foreign languages to university level. In some cases, students have either studied Finnish privately or are bilingual because of their Finnish roots. The common factor, however, is an interest in literature. Translation is often motivated by the desire to raise awareness of Finnish literature abroad.

Most translators’ first translations are of short fiction, poems or short sample translations of novels, which are then published in literary magazines or anthologies or which have been commissioned for the use of a foreign publisher.

Study trips, visits to Finland and a variety of different seminars have been a great help to many translators at the beginning of their careers.

Translation as a Profession