Job description

Job Title: Volunteer Translator

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The translators of Northern Star Translation(NST), make our mission—enriching archives of social science and philosophical ideas in China—possible. A translator is responsible for translating works (chapters of published or unpublished books, essays, articles, etc.) assigned to them from English to Mandarin Chinese. We respect and encourage a translator having preference for works they translate. 

An experienced translator or translator with special interest in humanities subjects can be promoted to an editor or editor-in-chief.

Location: online

Key Responsibilities:

Translate work of humanities subjects from English to Mandarin Chinese

Understand key ideas in the work

Replace terminology in English to its corresponding Chinese term

Know the basic context for which the work is written

Periodically report to editor their progress

Completely translate the assigned work

Be respectful to their deadlines 

Timely communicate with their editor

The Length of Appointment:

The translator’s work is collected every month. Editor will check in about a translator’s progress every two weeks.

Time Commitment:

Can be arranged based on volunteer’s schedule, but no less than 600 words per month.

Qualifications: 

A volunteer translator needs to be fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese (simplified or traditional). An exam will be given to test the translator’s language ability, which should not be challenging to a qualified applicant for this position. Beside language ability a volunteer translator should:

Have linguistic integrity

Translators who does not demonstrate linguistic integrity will be dismissed

Be willing to learn about different ideas in the humanities field

Voluntarily research into ideas that are present in their assigned work

Manage their time well so they can spend sufficient time on translation assignments

Communicate with their editor effectively

Support: 

Self-guided training for this position will be provided. 

Editors will be available for assignment specific questions

Volunteer coordinator will be available for any scheduling adjustment

A translator-only forum will also be available for further support

Age Requirement:

9th grade or 16 years old and above.

​Why does this organization exist?

Because we see the monotony of ideas in China both online and offline, we decided to change that. We promote the learning of a diversity of ideas, regardless of how they relate to the contemporary political situation. Whatever you help NST to translate, you are changing the mind of the people who otherwise would not have access to those ideas. For this particular reason, we ask you to understand the ideas that you are translating, not just the words, because your audience could only have the work you translated as their reference.

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Volunteer translators are NST’s most valuable assets, we care about your personal growth and well-being. Therefore, we highly encourage translators to choose the work they are personally passionate about. These can be works that can assist their academic learning, or a work that they feel connected to. We try our best to help our volunteers to find the book, or books, that make an impact to how they see the world. This is how the organization started. From one book that truly inspired. We believe that whatever work connects with you will connect with others, in this case, our Chinese audiences.

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