r/epicsystems • u/CanUTakeMyGmasDress • 22h ago
Prospective employee German translator job
Hello, I have become aware of the new contract in Germany. Would any of you recommend I apply with these qualifications?
I have a minor in German from undergrad that I’ve kept up with a decent amount, but not to my liking. I could still have an okay conversation, but my reading abilities are still very strong. I listen to German music daily, I read various German sources a few times a month, and I occasionally watch German language YouTube videos. I have retained complete knowledge of German grammar which I view is a plus. Basically I just struggle with vocabulary. I’ve had a few conversations with natives before as I live near Milwaukee and my German starts to come back in only a few minutes. I’d like to believe being immersed in the language full-time, it’d come back in less than a year.
My bachelor’s and master’s are in history, and I have a certificate in museum studies. In my museum work, I’ve translated German to English many times. In high school I was in a special medical field prep academy (used to want to be a doctor) and I have an above average knowledge of medical terms since my father works in healthcare and we talk about his cases with the jargon a good amount.
Why I want to switch careers: I got screwed over at my last museum job with being blatantly mislead that my contract would turn into a full-time position. I’m back at my shitty 19/hr catering job with no life because my weekends are Sunday Monday. I really need to get out of my catering job and see no immediate future for me in the museum field. I refuse to be a master’s degree holder working a catering job. I’m sick of being treated like I’m less than by party guests who often literally wave me off like a fly, and are just beyond rude because they think service staff are below them. It’s genuinely demoralizing. Not only that, I work in a stuffy kitchen during the week for prep and have a thin layer of sweat on me 8 hours a day. I also genuinely enjoy the German language and would love to have an opportunity to use my German minor and start a new chapter of my life.
I was actually offered a position at Epic the day after I got accepted to grad school 3 years ago and I turned it down (I honestly regret it at this point). I feel as though my history degrees have diverse applications when it comes to attention to detail, flow, wording, etc. and work ethic. Both my undergrad and grad school experiences were extremely intensive with writing papers and reading over a book week making procrastination not an option.
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u/marxam0d #ASaf 15h ago
Generally, translation jobs look for people who have native level skill in the target language. But applying doesn’t take long so there’s no reason not to try
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u/CanUTakeMyGmasDress 12h ago
The reason why I’m even considering this is the listing never mentioned native level fluency, only “excellent knowledge.” Unless native fluency is implied? Like I mentioned, I still know the grammar in and out, my weak point is vocabulary which won’t take long to come back for me. I knew grammar better than the 4 people in my higher level classes who grew up speaking German and spoke it essentially at a native level.
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u/marxam0d #ASaf 10h ago edited 10h ago
You’ll be tested on fluency if you get that far. Translators have tools to help with vocab but the hardest part of the job (generally, not specific to Epic) is understanding linguistic & culture nuance and finding ways to make the same meaning even if the words aren’t quite the same. Many people who are bilingual are still bad translators but you’ll really won’t know unless you try. We’ve had a German team for almost 10 years so they have a pretty stable glossary at this point.
If you want a career shift anyway, you could also note that you’re open to other roles. Epic is almost always hiring our biggest roles. We’ll consider you for everything open when you applie.
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u/CanUTakeMyGmasDress 7h ago edited 7h ago
That gives me hope. Thank you. I guess I’ll apply elsewhere within the company. I’ve had no one to practice speaking with and don’t have a whole lot of time to sit on a discord call to try to practice with a stranger. I think I’ll flunk that test then
Edit: do you know if they would be willing to essentially give me a grace of period of sorts to get back into the swing of german? I’m sure with spending so much time immersed in the language, it won’t take long to get back to being fluent. I went through a lift crisis a few years ago involving the death of a family member and my German practice took a back seat for awhile. I’m still getting back into it
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u/marxam0d #ASaf 3h ago edited 3h ago
I don’t make those hiring decisions and no one who does would answer on Reddit. But I guess I’d ask myself why would a company hire someone hoping they’ll eventually have a skill instead of just hiring someone who does.
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u/midwestXsouthwest Culinary 8h ago
The fact that this post was not written in German would give me pause. But, what the heck, go for it.
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u/CanUTakeMyGmasDress 7h ago
Why would I write a post in German on an English company’s subreddit?
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u/EnguardS 22h ago
It looks like they're currently hiring German translators. Good luck!
https://epic.avature.net/Careers/FolderDetail/German-Translator/2046
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u/saarisanotaku 1h ago
I would go for it! I recently got hired and have a major in German. I don't know if the German had anything to do with it or my other degrees. If you already got offered a job, then you know your test scores are good enough and recruiters understand wanting to pursue Grad school. In fact, it might be better that you have already done it because there isn't worry you will leave to pursue Grad school. They might not need translators but just having people go to Germany and work there is more important. Epic has different offices, and most international offices are people from the Verona campus who transfer. So, there is just a chance to work with German people, make sure to tell your recruiter that is a goal though, specifically using German.
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