Hi everyone, I've been lurking on TC for a couple of months now & this is my first post - I realise this is an old thread but it's relevant to a very pressing question I have at the moment.

A bit of background - I'm currently studing the MA Translation from UWE, my language pair is Fr/En, and having spent several months now job-hunting and sending my details to agencies, I have decided to bite the bullet and attempt to generate some freelance work.

So, I've been doing some market research.

I live in Cornwall, in south-west England, where the economy is massively driven by tourism. In addition to this, my past work experience is mostly in the tourism sector, so quite sensibly I want to target some local businesses with my existing skills - these are hotels, tourist attractions and suchlike that would want their website or promotional material translated INTO French - particularly as a lot of the market down here is French (and German) tourists.

Now, I joined ITI as a Student Associate, and I noted the point in their Code of Conduct which says;

4. STANDARDS OF WORK
4.1 Translation
 4.1.1 Subject to 4.4 and 4.5 below, members shall translate only into a language which is either (i) their mother tongue or language of habitual use, or (ii) one in which they have satisfied the Institute that they have equal competence. They shall translate only from those languages in which they can demonstrate they have the requisite skills.

And, as one of the first posts in this thread mentioned, I have come across this attitude:

So my problem is I feel I would be missing out on a huge chunk of market right under my nose if I deny myself the opportunity to translate INTO French. Obviously, I would not be prepared to take on a job unless I felt I could do it competently.

Am I committing a cardinal sin if I try for these jobs? I was very surprised to be honest when I realised that the industry gold standard seemed to be to translate only into one's mother tongue, when all my academic life I have always studied translation both ways - in my final Undergraduate exams I took translation exams from French > English and from English > French, and similarly on my year abroad I took translation modules both from French > Spanish and Spanish > French (Spanish is my 3rd language although for professional purposes I am not marketing this as a working language, due to lack of confidence and high-level qualifications).

I'm still working my way through this exceptionally long thread, so apologies if this covers ground I haven't got to yet.

I didn't say I have to be physically close to clients or that I was exclusively going to seek local clients, it's just that this is a particular area which could potentially have the need where I have the skill and experience, so it seems a no-brainer to market myself to them.

I should probably also have pointed out that I've studied French since the beginning of primary school and attended bilingual schools until the age of 16.

Glad you didn't cos it's really In bocca al lupo! 

 Nicole, the bottom line is really simple.  To be considered a professional translator, you should only translate into the language for which you have sufficient proficiency to render a proper believable translation.  Most people do not have equal proficiency in both directions.  I am German-born to German parents.  While I moved to Canada at age 5 and had English-Canadian schooling, I learned to read and write in German at the same time.  Nonetheless, I do not translate into German because my written language in my estimation is not of professional quality.  I could certainly do a plausible translation into German at an amateur level.

I absolutely disagree with any organization that says a person can only translate into his or her native tongue.  A prejudgment is made, and that is discrimination.  Either you have the proficiency, or you don't.  Surely that can be tested.

Agree: only the result counts (provided it is reviewed and validated by a competent authority in the target language).

I absolutely agree, and one thing that's really frustrating me at the moment is the lack of language tests for entry-level translators - I am perfectly willing to have my skills tested and I am confident and know from (albeit academic) experience that I can translate both ways - in fact I often got higher marks for my En>Fr translations than the reverse.

I looked at DipTrans but I simply couldn't afford it, once I include the travel & accommodation costs to london, and I don't live anywhere near a preparatory centre, and I read some fairly strong criticisms of it.

As far as organisations went, I joined ITI because it spoke to me more and I liked what I saw as far as membership levels was concerned. But it seems like you don't actually get tested for your skills until you apply for Qualified membership - which obviously I'm years away from. I could get the required references to upgrade to Associate level, but does anyone know if you can request to be tested at this stage? Otherwise I'm sure I could prove my skills in both translation directions and then I could rest easy.

Many thanks for the views so far