Comments on: What can a translator outsource?

By: When to throw in the towel on a task « Thoughts On Translation

When to throw in the towel on a task « Thoughts On Translation — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:50:10 +0000

[...] 3, 2010 by Corinne McKay At the end of 2008, I wrote a post about post about outsourcing that generated quite a bit of interest, so I thought it was worth raising this topic again. After [...]

By: Keeping statistics about your freelance business « Thoughts On Translation

Keeping statistics about your freelance business « Thoughts On Translation — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:02:30 +0000

[...] spent on non-translation tasks. This could help you figure out whether outsourcing some tasks such as OCRing, accounting, putting stamps on postcards, etc. could help improve your bottom [...]

By: Andres Heuberger

Andres Heuberger — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 13:22:39 +0000

Hi Corinne,

Thank you for a good post! The problem with outsourcing is that you can’t just throw materials over the wall. For most tasks, it takes a while to find, train, and get into a rhythm with an outsourcing partner.

Having said that, the following three items can be outsourced (relatively) easily:
1. Typing – Like Durf, I know a linguist who dictates a translation and then gets a transcriptionist to type it. It’s a huge productivity booster for him. Whether or not this is feasible depends on the type of text to be translated.
2. Marketing – A lot of marketing work can be subcontracted: generating marketing lists, writing, web site updates, mailing campaigns.
3. Virtual assistant – Scheduling, email correspondence, routine questions, and even standard proposals (as suggested earlier) can be outsourced to a virtual assistant. There are several services that provide this kind of service.

Thanks to the Internet, all of these outsourcing services are readily available and very reasonably priced. It takes a bit of time to organize but once setup, they will allow you to find more time for work and/or fun in 2009

Best,
Andres
blog.fxtrans.com

By: Durf

Durf — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:25:48 +0000

I know of at least one translator who dictates his work and pays someone to type it up. He says this boosts his speed dramatically. I imagine he could do something similar with voice-recognition software, but that would require him to be sitting in front of his computer, not his text, and making all the corrections and adjustments to the output himself, rather than relying on a talented transcriptionist to clean things up during that part of the process.

By: Corinne McKay

Corinne McKay — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:15:24 +0000

@MT, great point: we shouldn’t just limit the outsourcing possibilities to our direct work; anything that frees up time is a good option. And I love the idea of a scheduler who sets up your work schedule (and negotiates the rates!!).

@Cris, I’m not laughing at all, I think that’s a great idea! Actually another (anonymous!) Colorado person said that his teenage daughter is his best proofreader and her rates are very reasonable

By: Cris Silva - ALLinPortuguese

Cris Silva - ALLinPortuguese — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 16:04:52 +0000

I’ll only say this if you all promise NOT to laugh, but the IRS actually does have a provision for employing your children. Granted, this is many moons away for many of us, but I have to confess that in 2008, I paid my very responsible almost 11-year old for cleaning my home office (vaccuming, dusting, cleaning window inside and out and blinds) and filing (he was amazingly accurate, thanks to some alphabetical order exercises they make kids do in 4th grade). I imagine that in 5 years, there’s some true potential for him to be my intern. Corinne, maybe you’re right, my children really are junior linguists !

By: MT

MT — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:36:49 +0000

We outsource the housecleaning, a small amount of childcare, bookkeeping, past due invoices collections work, tax preparation, and a lot of handyman sorts of tasks. It’s an easy decision sometimes. If someone else can do a task I don’t like for less than my hourly rate, it makes financial sense to outsource it. The only reason not to outsource is if I enjoy the task (some cooking, dog walking, gardening, a lot of the childcare, etc.).

One thing I could be outsourcing that I don’t is booking my schedule and receptionist tasks. Someone else could certainly do all the phone and e-mail work to line up my schedule so that I’m booked with, say, 2,000 or so words per day of the highest paying, best subject matter for me, most copacetic client, least nitpicky, cushiest deadline work that can be gotten. Then I would just come into the office each morning and not have to turn down all the offers for jobs that suck or are in the wrong direction or are icky. I’d just work…

By: Corinne McKay

Corinne McKay — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 05:11:50 +0000

I knew that you guys would have some great ideas! Susanne, I especially like the suggestion about PDF to Word conversion; this is a task I really despise and one that doesn’t require the person to be bilingual, excellent tip! Judy, I agree that I don’t want to outsource all of my mindless work (like entering receipts into my accounting program) because it’s a nice break from translating. But I think that preparing quotes or prospective client packages is another excellent suggestion, thanks!

By: Judy Jenner

Judy Jenner — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:16:09 +0000

Ditto on the taxes; I outsource these, too. My accountant is a bit cheaper, though. I think you could also outsource bookkeeping tasks if you don’t like them. For some reason, I do enjoy some brainless work once in a while, so it works for me.

In terms of hiring a up-and-coming translator, consider having her/him do quotes for new projects after giving the person the tools needed: quote template, standard language, standard responses to basic questions (about your rates, etc.) I do realize I spend quite a bit of time a day doing quotes for prospective clients; that would be a good one to outsource. I like Susanne’s suggestion about PDF to Word conversion.

Amazing that U.S. passports are done in Thailand…

By: Susanne Aldridge III

Susanne Aldridge III — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:28:22 +0000

A couple of “low level” jobs come to mind:
Converting PDFs to editable documents, which can be a very time consuming task even though it doesn’t require too many skills
Transcribing audio tapes or files, which can also be very time consuming especially if the audio is in your non-native language
Aligning files, even though this is a little more involved but can possibly done by someone who just has basic knowledge of the languages involved