Hello everyone! I'm a Russian student, getting my major in American Studies. I'm interested in improving my language and translations skills as well as putting them into something useful. I've got a passion for games for a long time and I'd like to translate computer games and games related stuff, and hopefully to get into a game developing company in future. So, the question is: what are the possible ways of starting a career as a translator, in your opinion?

Game development studios usually do not employ translators directly as full-time staff. Rather, they contract out the translation work to external translation vendors that do the work (and typically for more than just games).

If you want to work in that industry, look for a company that does it (companies like LionBridge or MotionPoint for example) and see what it takes to get a job there. Just be aware that these are not game development studios and your ability to direct that career path towards working on an actual game (even just doing the grunt work of the translation) may be very slim to non-existent.

If you want to work at a studio that actually makes games, bi-lingual (or better) ability will be useful (primarily if you end up in a production role, overseeing the coordination of the outsourcing to translation vendors) but will not alone be enough to get you any serious job.