New-York tribune., 1912-05-26
Your Daughters Vocation
the Gift of Tongues

| of dictionary Of French, German ana "a,
ian would be more useful than r,
! knowledge Of only one of the language.
Commercial translating" offers a I.,.
| field than literary translating." 7,
keep a daily watch Of the large city nan
you will notice from time to time aar.r
tisements in the help wanted" colur'"
calling for young women who unders,.-.
French. German or Spanish, and IN ,11
various professional employment agepc,ss
there is almost always demand for ~.
thoroughly intelligent young woman wss
is capable of handling French, German ~
Spanish correspondence TypewrIting s,s
stenography, although not always reou,r.s
in such positions, is a decided asset
"A good stenographer who can ha,,,.
French, Spanish or German corresnora
ence," said the man in charge Of expor,,
of a large food manufacturing compa,v
is hard to find and worth holding an :,
when once found. We pay ours at the ra,.
Of from $40 TO $50 week and thew A..
worth it, The mistakes Of a car.l...
translator might do us no end OF harm %,
there is no one to o. X. the transla,o,
after she has made II. So 1t pays 10 ga,
the kind who don't make mistakes, bu, (,
isn't always as easy as It sounds TO "a,
that kind
Women who are able to make technical
translations are especially valuable A
young woman who Is up on legal, paten,
or engineering terms in French, German a,
Spanish and also understands their Eng.
lish equivalents is in great demand, ard
through the aid of the commercial employ.
ment agencies usually has no difficulty in
finding employment at from so to $50 q
week.
Some of these so-called commercial posi.
tions do not call for any knowledge o,
typewriting or stenosraphy. For instance
in one Of the large manufactures Of patent
medicines a young woman who has a good
understanding Of coloquial German and an
intimate knowledge OF drug and medical
terms is constantly employed to translate
the labels and directions used on the
various preparations into German.
An opening for the young women with
taste for adventure as we'll as the gift OF
tongues IS the work done by American
stenographers in various foreign cities.
Take the case OF a clever young Ameri.
can woman at Rome. After a few trying
years at office work in this country she
went to Italy for her health. The climate
agreed with her, and as she had no dis-
ficulty in finding stenographical work TO
do for chance Americans who heard tha,
she was willing 10 work. she continued her
u-h GHn le4 "a thA
yyays OF the Italians The result ot Il all
IS that she has taken up her residence in
Italy. returning home only for vacations
She acts as a sort Of guide courier and
stenographer for wealthy Americans Who
bappen To come 70 Rome without any
knowledge Of Italian. She follows the 4x-
ample Of her Italian neisnbors in charging
literally for her services and nets a cool
81 900 YEAR. which she manages 10 make
90 twice as far IN Italy as It would in lhh
country.
There are scveI4l American women
stenographers in Paris and IN the Other
large European cities who are Kept busy
translating and taking dictauon from
American business men, and. from ~nat
American business men travelling ABROAD
say there is room for several more 4
these enterprising young women 10 smooth
the way for their fellow countrymen who
do not possess the gift Of tongues.
Teaching is and always has been good
opening for linguists. and there is a ten
dencv I'm the schools at present 10 employ
Americans rather than foreigners TO teaeh
languages TO beginners. For the young
woman who does not want TO do regular
school teaching, there is quite an oppor'
tlIrity 10 do private teaching in French
Spanish and German one young woman
who began with a single class Of this sort
with ten members. each Of whom con-
tributed 50 cents an afternoon, now has al
she can do conducting language study
classes. and in a very agreeable way earns
$50 20 $50 d week.
Another opening for linguists is as inter-
prefers. In the large charity organizations
in hospitals. dispensarics, etc, woman
who understands coi,oquial German lta-
ian. HUNGARIAN and other languages used
BY the various Immigrant groups j. III
demand to act as interpreter. such
woman would. Of course. have % have con-
siderable tact and knowledge Of human
nature besides a bent for languages 10 ho!a
her position.
Copyright, 1912, By Mary MaTsaaii)
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