Translators need a set of skills and linguistic skills are of the utmost importance. Being a translator is a challenging job, and takes a lot of talent, study and hard work to master. Therefore, translator need to keep developing their skills permanently and to stay connected to at least two different cultures.

Specialization is crucial to gain more in-depth knowledge about one or more fields and it is a necessary step to accessing exclusive and valuable market niches. Nonetheless, if specialization means that you refuse every bit of work outside your specialty, you are limiting your possibilities. Instead, you can become an expert in one or two fields and keep them as your main work areas. Here are some suggestions to build your skills:

1. Pick an area you enjoy. You will have to do lots of research in your specialization, make sure it is interesting to you.
2. Recognize the areas in which you do not want to specialize in and that you have no interest in learning more about. For example, if you do not have any legal experience and are not exactly interested in legal texts, you probably should not consider legal as your field.
3. Once you have chosen a specialization, you can improve your skills in that field by taking online courses or attending workshops in the subject matter. It is also a good idea that you keep researching and reading as much as possible.
4. Another good choice to keep yourself updated in your field is reading specialized blogs and publications in your source and target language. Those will provide you with the necessary knowledge to stay aware of everything happening in your sector and to keep up.
5. Try to find an experienced translator in the field, someone who has been working for a while and has enough knowledge to mentor you and proofread your work in the beginning.
6. Learn new software and gadgets to improve your translation management. These tools are not only helpful but also necessary to double check for avoiding mistakes and working in a faster way.
7. Attend conferences and events of your specialized field. Besides from learning from experts, you will have a place to meet people with new ideas, develop a network and learn more about the latest features in the market.
8. Specialized knowledge is important but grammatical correctness is also essential to grow as a translator and excel in projects, no matter what your field is. Excellent grammar is a must for all types of translations, so make sure to be following the latest grammar trends and keep practicing.