Translation and Interpreting are careers that take a great deal of training and experience to get into. It is not sufficient just to undertake a language course or to speak a language well. Translators and Interpreters need specialist training, excellent subject knowledge and an understanding of complex software such as Computer Aided Translation tools.
As with all professions it is important to keep in touch with developments in industry, society, computing and language. Undertaking regular and focussed professional development training is vital if a professional is to be considered to be at the cutting edge of their field.
The professional institutes to which I belong, ITI & CIOL all encourage members to undertake regular training and provide a great many training opportunities. Participating in training is one of the things that I take particularly seriously. The annual suggested training for ITI is about 30 hours per year. I average about 80 hours a year and that is just the formal paid-for training, this does not include all of the informal training that I undertake such as reading trade magazines and following language developments in Japan via online news programmes and blogs.