I’m not a great “tough love” advice-dispenser, but I’m going to give it a try. I work with a lot of beginning translators in my online course (shameless self-promo: the next session starts on April 3 and there are four spots left!). When I follow up with students over the months and years after they finish the course, or when I talk to beginning/aspiring translators in general, some of them have “made it” as freelancers and some of them haven’t. In thinking about advice for translation newcomers and translation students, I’ve unscientifically identified a few pitfalls that can cause serious problems for people who are in the freelance launch phase. I’m sure that readers have great tips and anecdotes too…so feel free to add them!
- Expecting too much return from too little marketing effort. I get a lot of inquiries from beginning freelancers who are “very discouraged because they’ve applied to over 30 translation companies and received no work.” I know I’ve said this a few (hundred) times before, but here it is again: during my first year as a freelancer, I applied to over 400 translation companies. Then, I sent every single company that responded positively a hand-written note with a business card, thanking them for their response and letting them know that I looked forward to working with them in the future.
- Expecting the startup phase to be shorter than it is. I think that six months is the bare minimum that anyone can expect–two months to look for work, two months to do the work and two months to get paid. A year is probably more realistic, and I think that most freelancers reach “cruising speed” after about three years.
- Having weak language skills. As often stated by Chris Durban, author of The Prosperous Translator, it’s hard to develop the linguistic and cultural competence that a translator needs, without spending at least a year in your source language country/ies. And don’t hang out with speakers of your target language the whole time you’re there!
- Not putting yourself out there. I get it: you’re not good with strangers, you don’t want creepy exes finding your address online, and so forth. But the simple truth of freelancing is that people cannot hire you if they cannot find you. They can’t refer work to you if they don’t know who you are. So whether it’s in person or online, or preferably both, you have to come out of hiding.
- Getting stuck on the low rate treadmill. This is a tough one. Most beginning translators don’t set out to be underpaid, but working is better than not working, and you have to start somewhere if you want to break in to the industry. Many beginning freelancers tell themselves that in a few months or years, they’ll trade up to better-paying clients. But if you’re translating 10 hours a day just to pay the bills, it’s hard to find that time, so you’re more likely to stick with the low-paying bird in the hand.
- Remaining in denial about how much work it is to be self-employed. A wise self-employed person once said that being an entrepreneur means working 60 hours a week for yourself so that you don’t have to work 40 hours a week for someone else. I’m a firm believer in avoiding perpetual overtime, but the essence of this statement is true. I recently gave a talk on self-publishing, after which many of the attendees commented that the idea sounded intriguing, but “like a lot of work.” Um…yeah! It is a lot of work, but I’m more interested in putting that work into my own project than into lining a traditional publisher’s pockets. The same is true of being a freelancer. It’s a lot of work! Did we mention that it’s a lot of work? But the ability to make your own decisions and take responsibility for your own future makes it worth it.
Wise readers, over to you! Why do you think some beginning translators don’t make it?
Hi Corinne, I think that everything you have said is true. I also think that your comment on weak language skills can be expanded to include weak translation skills, I.T. skills, marketing skills, negotiation skills, time-organisation skills, financial-management skills… a freelance translator is a business person who needs to identify any weaknesses they may have at the start and ensure they get the right training/qualifications and keep up-to-date on the evolution of the industry on an ongoing basis.
That’s all true, and I think a lot of beginning freelancers who have mainly studied languages and do not yet have a specialty have a harder time marketing themselves to agencies and to clients working in specialized fields. Developing specialized vocabulary is, based on my experience with teaching translation, often daunting to students, especially after they realize how much more time (and money) they will be required to invest in learning about another field after obtaining a translation or a language degree.
As a comment on weak language skills, I would also like to emphasize that specializing may include a specific country in addition to the professional field. This goes beyond familiarizing oneself with the day-to-day language of native speakers in a specific region and includes reading and learning about specific subjects using up-to-date direct sources from the country in question. I believe this is the case with the language from which I translate (Spanish). I’m quite familiar with Mexican legal terminology, for example, but I have a harder time—and time is money—translating legal documents from the rest of Latin America and from Europe.
I’m going to share this timely post with my students, who will be finishing their degrees soon and need this kind of advice.
Thanks!
A hurdle for me was confidence. Luckily, I had two in-house jobs at the beginning of my career, so when I started freelancing I already had a few years of experience translating professionally under my belt (and on my CV). But I had no confidence in my ability to handle marketing, negotiating rates and deadlines, and accounting. The most important tool in overcoming this hurdle for me was the ATA. I joined the mentoring program and was paired with a wonderful ATA member who listened to me and shared the expertise she had gained over her years of experience. I joined the Business Practices listserv and found a great community of freelancers dealing with the same issues I was facing. I went to my first ATA conference and came home with the knowledge that I can do this, and I’m already doing quite well.
In addition to the usual advice for beginning freelancers (know your languages well, send out your resumes, develop your online presence, etc.), the most important advice I would give would be: join the ATA, join the ATA BP listserv, go to the annual conferences, and join your local ATA chapter. You don’t have to do it alone! There are experienced translators out there willing and happy to share their knowledge.
Some great advice there, Corinne – especially the “being an entrepreneur means working 60 hours a week for yourself so that you don’t have to work 40 hours a week for someone else”. Starting up *any* new business is hard. And that is what becoming a freelance translator actually is – starting up a new business. Too many translators forget that important part. And I agree with Amy’s comments – professional bodies such as ATA and ITI can offer a huge amount of support, through courses, networking opportunities at conferences, and accreditation exams.
Thank you Corinne, I’ve been working as an in-house translator for several years now and am very eager to make the leap to freelancing, so this kind of information (including your book, which I’m finding massively useful) is invaluable. Thanks!
Hi Corinne! I’m a junior translator and I totally agree with you. I would also like to add some things to what you have already mentioned.
Lack of good advice is also a drawback for new translators. I would advice them to try to expand their professional network as much as they can as there is always a helpy hand ready to encourage you if you feel low or lost some time. Even though it might sound silly, I guess everybody has his/her dark days, don’t you think?
On the other hand, it is also true that the situation for newly-graduates (and for experienced translators, too) differs from country to country and I guess that anyone there who wishes success has the resposibility to find the tools available in his/her own place of living.
I think one of the main reasons for failure (or rather, for giving up.. failure sounds so harsh) is that people don’t have any backup plans and resources. As you’ve already said, they expect the startup phase to be very short — but that rarely happens. I would suggest to anybody who isn’t 100% sure that they’re gonna make it that they start on a part-time basis, establish a client base, and test their skills while still being able to rely on monthly payments from another job. Or, do at least save up a few thousand bucks before you try full-time freelancing so that you don’t have to switch to panic mode after two weeks.
Unclear goals and lack of flexibility. I understand that we sometimes can set unrealistic expectations but when the goals are vague people can get lost. The second issue is lack of flexibility. I hold a couple of degrees in science that sound very good but which are not related to translation. At the beginning I was taking basically anything, lingerie and crafts included. As time went by I started to concentrate on my fields which is what I do now. I think that if I would not have been flexible enough at the beginning and used that experience as a springboard I would not have gotten my practice where it is today.
The second point, even in translations as dry as scientific reports, is lack of cultural understanding. I live in the States and grew up and have plenty of experience with Latin-American countries. I work on those two markets.
This is one that has come up a lot recently in one of the entrepreneurship groups I belong to. The capacity to set a medium- to long-term goal, actually visualize what the specific outcomes will look like, and determine the tasks that need to be done every day to get there (and stick to the plan!) is very, very rare. Few people can do this in any area of their life, personal or professional.
I also second the lack of professionalism as a major handicap someone mentioned below. We are talking basic courtesy, communication, and behavior.
Another one I’ve seen personally (feedback from customers about other vendors, ouch!) is not being easy to work with. Being good is not enough (and, unfortunately, sometimes it is irrelevant…beyond a certain point, many of my customers are unable to directly assess the quality of the work delivered), what customers want is to feel that you have understood their needs and are meeting them, and those needs rarely have anything to do with translation, and very often have to do with the customer feeling like you are making their life easier in some way.
I think if you are really passionate about your job and believe in yourself and are dedicated to translation you can make it as a freelancer. After graduating from college i applied to several agencies and did n’t get response for at least half a year , then i received numerous contracts from translation agencies as subcontractor and jobs came in. Though, it is very difficult to make out a living of freelancing if you do not work 24 hours a day.Hereby I want to encourage young translators being persistent with applications.
Knowing you, Corinne, I assume the point of this post is not to establish a checklist that simply identifies – Tick! Tick! Tick! — the “nope, you’re out” candidates and paints a red X on their foreheads.
More constructively, the aim is to identify behaviors or situations that should be addressed if people seriously want to become translators. Right?
In which case, I’m happy to add a few thoughts:
- Respondents have already underscored the importance of linking up with their national professional association (Amy mentions ATA (US) and Nick ITI (UK)) and all I can say is : Yes.
Listen up, wannabe translators: there is a fundamental difference between real professional associations and online commercial platforms which, however friendly, have no barrier to entry (except paying your money and getting your access).
OK, OK: combine platforms + professional associations if you like. But keep in mind that if you want to make a living as a translator (and, if possible, a comfortable living – which is very possible) you really should have your antennae reaching out to the former.
- I’m based in France, so am a member of SFT (www.sft.fr). Four or five times a year, Nathalie Renevier and I teach a one-day course for this national association on how to set up successfully as a freelance translator, usually in partnership with a university. Content includes navigating the red tape, understanding the “formalities” of business, and finding clients. Participants are generally enthusiastic, which is gratifying, and two points have always struck me in interacting with them:
(1) when asked, the “typical (student-aged) students” seem to be targeting a 9 to 5 job.
Hey students, that is simply unrealistic, at least if you are in Western (and probably Eastern) Europe. Why? Because there are not many salaried jobs around these days. So you have to take on board — from the git-go — that you will be working for yourself: you will be managing your own business. (I see this as a cool thing, actually, but it can be scary if you don’t embrace it.)
Business skills can be learned (even if you are shy and geeky), but if you start out as a freelance with your head cluttered up with “employee” behavior you are off on the wrong foot.
(2) In each of the groups Nathalie and I get, there are always a handful of people (usually the older ones ☺) who have endless questions of the “yes, but…” variety.
Don’t get me wrong: questions are great. But if you are setting up a negative screen to start (from the front of the room I always read it as a “man, this isn’t going to work!!” cartoon-style bubble over the speaker’s head, with sweat beads flying off in every direction), you may become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I write all this even as I think that the most important point of all is keeping in mind that you *have to have something to sell*. Loving books and having a vague (or even intense) interest in “languages” (and memories of your great junior year abroad in Toulouse or your summer vacation on the beaches in Spain/Mexico) = not enough to make it as a translator. You have to know how to write (to a far higher level than the man in the street). You have to master your foreign language(s) — written, obviously, but also spoken in almost all the cases I can think of. And you have to have a specialization or two. A genuine specialization, not just “I’ve translated three texts in this area.”
Right!! Yes, I should have mentioned that: I didn’t write this in the spirit of “if this applies to you, give up right away,” but in the spirit of “if you’re struggling, here are some paths to pursue.” Thanks for pointing that out; sometimes when I try the tough love approach, it swings too far the other way!
While I do agree wit almost all you wrote, I have some doubts with the low-rate issue. And I think you missed the point about having good contacts.
From my own experience (EN>PL) I can tell that having a low rate allowed me to establish a foothold in the industry. Because – and that’s something I’ve missed in your text – networking is the key to the success. I’ve been doing translations for something like ten years. First jobs I got because I was incredibly cheap (in the current rates: less than 0,03 USD/word). But I used them wisely to get references, to fill my CV with some serious experience, to get to know some other influential people in the Polish translation industry.
Today, since a few (~5) years new jobs (with higher and higher rates) get to me, because 1) I knew “appropriate” people, who have good direct contact with some clients and have too much work and share it with me, 2) Because I could succesfully apply to some foreign agencies thanks to my valuable experience and being able to give good references. And, after ten years, I enjoy rates which are up to 5 times higher than my initial ones.
These are all mostly very good points. I would just add my two cents’ worth of wisdom:
You have to have a talent, or two talents, in fact – you have to have a talent for languages, and you also have to be a good writer. You start with a talent in every creative profession, and translation is one of them.
Not everybody has the talent that a real translator has, just like not everybody can paint, or skate, or climb mountains, or lie as skillfully as a politician.
Talent is important and the sad thing is, although just about everybody has some kind of talent, many if not most people will never discover what their real talent is and they will spend most of their life working in a job that they detest because it pays the bills.
Unless, of course, you decide to become a professional MT post-editor because the future looks very good for professional MT post-editors, doesn’t it?
You would not really need any talent for something like that, I think.
These is all excellent advice. But could we raise the bar a bit? Could we raise the bar a LOT? This is “tough love,” after all.
If newbies have failed to make a successful leap over the high-bar, perhaps we’ve not accurately explained exactly how high the bar in our industry really is.
Writing skills:
Have you ever written anything that was so compelling that it radically changed somebody’s mind? Inspired anybody to make a life change? Prompted an overwhelming emotional or intellectual reaction? Caused anybody to burst into tears? Inspired somebody to sit through a movie or play you’ve written? Ever given a speech that prompted a standing ovation? Ever caused a crowded room to suddenly hush? Ever publish poetry or creative writing in a professional journal? Ever have a story or report or anything you’ve ever written at all selected for publication?
Life skills:
What do you know about the world? Do you have any unique insight on a complex and challenging subject? How are you at detailed and thorough research? Could you ever be selected to give a TED talk? What subjects in the commercial world have you mastered to the extent that a professional in that field would pay you thousands of dollars to write a text for them that explained complicated subjects that almost nobody else you know could do? (This is exactly what translators do.) What makes you a better choice for translator than the hundreds of thousands of experienced translators already out there all over the world working successfully? You will need to know this in order to market yourself with any degree of success.
Commitment:
Who made the strongest impression on you intellectually when you were growing up? Who inspired you? What were their work habits like? How many years did they have to work before they became successful? How did they handle failure? Are you willing to work harder than your friends or former bosses or professors or family members or anybody else you know? How close are you to the 20,000-hour practice commitment required to become an expert in any intellectual field? When you fail (like we all do) are you more likely to double down and try even harder, and keep trying harder, or do you find failure and potential future failure too disheartening or threatening or risky? In the latter case, freelancing in general may not be the best choice for you. In the former case, get started now and never give up.
Look! Nothing about foreign languages anywhere!
Thanks for upping the ante, Kevin.
Chris, I absolutely agree that you’re right about the “writing” aspect: in my experience, many translations I’ve seen are simply an accurate representation of the source text, but that makes them wooden and unnatural in the target language. Consequently they are less effective than a translation that aims to achieve the same purpose as the original (sales document, instructions, reference or whatever), and uses the factual content in the original to do so, but is governed by the idioms and usage of the target language. Of course, some clients can’t cope with that: if they think their knowledge of the target language is beyond reproach they will happily change the translation back to something closer to the source language, which is what they think is correct. Training the customer is another duty of the freelance (or indeed inhouse) translator! We had a client who would not accept “Security software thwarts data thieves” (careful use of alliteration intentional on our part!) because “it’s nothing to do with rowing boats, and we don;t understand why you put that strange word”. I emailed back “verb not noun!”, and suggested “Security software foils data thieves” (so “almost alliteration”, or true alliteration in some southern English pronunciations).
Duncan
Thank you for this great discussion and especially Christine Durban’s comments. Am in my third year of freelancing and find working for myself really identifies my strengths and weaknesses. This discussion helps me see what I can do with them.
In the 7 years I’ve been translating while living in France, I have to say that the number one reason I see translators failing around me is simply a lack of professionalism–sorry to say but true! Not returning phone calls promptly; very bad or zero marketing materials (no web site, no business cards!!, no email sig file, no linkedIn; no CV!, answering the phone unprofessionally (on vacation, music in the background, kids screaming) and even (gasp) treating the customer like they are lucky that your god-like self has deigned to serve them. I am always amazed and saddened when I see this kind of thing….thanks for this post Corrine!
Three things I wish we’d known when, as a family, we decided to become full time freelance translators (my wife has always been a freelancer, with different source language pairs from me, and I joined her)::
), iii. they help you claim legitimate operating expenses you may not even know about. iv. they should give you guidance on how to set up yout invoicing to customers to make it as efficient as possible (layout of your invoices, what’s on them, remembering to log and number each job, etc.)
1. Get advice from your local government- or chamber of commerce-organised business startup scheme: they will usually have a business advisor who helps you put together a business plan, income forecasts, etc. Then they will give you info on how to actually run a company (which even a sole trader freelancer is), so you don’t have to reinvent it yourself (and waste time and risk getting it wrong), They may also provide you with business mentoring.
2. Get a good accountant who understands your business type. Many benefits: i. they save you money because you can translate instead of fighting with your accounts, ii. they ensure your accounts are legally compliant, so you avoid costly, time-wasting tax investigations,.(we never had one of those
3. Network, starting with any contacts your business advisor or accountant can give you!
That’s assuming of course that everything everyone above has mentioned is already in place – an essential prerequisite!
Everyone has raised great points so far. I also think that there are many translators that are afraid to spend money on their business, not thinking that these are investments: CPD, CAT tool, marketing campaigns etc. I’m not saying you should splurge on all of these at once, but I would consult more experienced translators and see what could be helpful and how you can save on these (maybe get a cheaper CAT tool, or see if you can find a free one).
Also, be creative – some of us are working in smaller markets than the US, so we haven’t got the same CPD opportunities and maybe some of the marketing advice don’t apply for us. So try other things – sign up for classes on your specialty field, find a workshop on your target language, find out how your local small business center can help you. Also, tell everyone you know what you do, and always have a presentable business card on you.
Great point about spending money on proper tools. I interned at a translation agency back when I was in grad school, and the agency owner was VERY reluctant to work with any translator who hadn’t bought a CAT tool. If they complained that it was too expensive, his response was, “If you’re not willing to invest $2,000 in your career, you aren’t serious about your career and I don’t want to work with you.”
For my money, I like memoQ. I bought it about a year and a half ago, and I love it. I love that the company (Kilgray) offers free training videos and webinars to help you learn all the features of the product, from the basics of getting started (which you can learn in under an hour) to fine-tuning concordance searches and term bases. (Plus it’s cheaper than Trados.)
Interesting point, Amy. And surely $2000 is not a whole lot to invest in one’s profession.
But keep in mind that not all professional translators use CAT tools, and that direct clients (in particular) could generally care less. Which leaves this as a decision that the translator him/herself takes, based on a number of factors.
(For the record, I am at one with a number of critics who view the “the future of translation is post-editing TM/MT output” line as very ill-informed).
FWIW (and perhaps this could qualify as a “tech tip”): the same applies to translator websites. That is, if you feature an exhaustive list of software and CAT tools on your website, you are clearly pitching for agency business. Translators looking for direct clients talk about other issues (like specialization, etc.). Different strokes for different folks.
Exactly, Chris. Last summer, I launched a hefty discussion on the private forum of BDÜ when they started to collect data for a directory of technical translators.
The form to fill in had 21 (!) options to state which CAT system(s) you use but not a single line about your webpage.
That is what I posted in my blog at that time:
“And there arises the biggest problem of all – who is this directory targeted at? My experience is it is only translation agencies which would be interested in the subject of TM systems.
As somebody who works for corporate customers directly, I am skilled and trusted to know my way around technical means and choose whatever works best to produce the result, i.e. the end product in the target language.
If you were, say, a photographer, would you have better chances to get a job if you stated you work with Aperture, Lightroom 4.0 or 4.1 and Photoshop CS8 to let your customer dabble with your style and processing workflow? Or, if you were a journalist, would somebody care to know if you’d write this article on a PC or Mac? Does the term interoperability ring no bells for you, provider of technical translations or technical translator, or even a Union (BDÜ) of such? I’m not sure if a typical (direct) customer is well aware of the difference between TM (translation memory) and MT (machine translation) and would choose me to translate her documents based on the long list of reference software programs presented as my valuable assets.
In fact, I am rather sure my customers choose me because I am a human translator and, as such, provide quality and service which the existing software still fails to achieve.” (http://anmerkungen-des-uebersetzers.com/2012/07/06/room-for-improvement/)
That is what I get never tired to repeat: Have a look “across industries”? How do architects, photographers, journalists, business consultants, etc. cope? Do tax advisers fear the Machine? “Steam boats are coming!” Who else is afraid of the steam boats?
Hi Valerij!
Indeed! Rather obviously, we pay our accountants to produce our accounts, do our tax returns, and submit them, so we are legally compliant, and spend time at what we’re good at (translating) and not what we’re less good at (accounting). Do I care what accounting package(s) they use? No! Why on earth should I! Do agencies care what tools we use? Yes they do, because they don’t simply commission work, and leave us to supply it, but think we are a gear in their translation production and supply system, ove which they think they need and should have such control – that’s the difference in attitude!
Duncan
Apologies for my typos earlier – that’s what comes of typing without my glasses on, when the font’s tiny! Tut tut!
@ Cynthia
You are exactly right! Many if not most translators are incredibly lazy and sloppy when it comes to proper marketing and maintaining a professional image, which is often the main reason why they will never make much money even though they may be very good translators.
@ Kevin
“Look! Nothing about foreign languages anywhere!
”
That all sounds very nice, but I think that an individual who possesses all or most of these wonderful personal characteristics should run for public office, preferably president or at least governor, and try to change the world instead of wasting his life on translation of obscure documents.
In the real world, how well you know foreign languages and whether the languages you know are currently in demand is probably more important than whether you have ever given a speech that prompted a standing ovation or caused a crowded room to suddenly hush.
(I’ve never done any of that and I am doing pretty well as a freelance translator).
Just sayin’.
I would like to add another option for start-up translators: find yourself a professional translator who has successfully mastered the hurdles, and ask them for mentoring. I am helping two young translators by proofreading their work for free, giving them advice on tools and marketing, and finally recommending them to clients I am working with when they are looking for additional team members. This has been an extremely rewarding and positive experience. It doesn’t bring me extra money and it takes some time, but it sure makes my clients happy (which is our ultimate goal, right
).
I think the very first obstacle for a beginning translator is how to overcome the no-experience-no-work-no-work-no-experience cycle. Most agencies require at least 2 years of experience, some companies won’t accept any application from freelancers unless they have a minimum 10 year experience, and this can be very demotivating and frustrating for some eager translation student just out of college. But in this industry, like in many others, if you don’t push through you’ll never make it. There are good opportunities out there, it just takes time and effort to find them and I see a lot of people failing without even trying.
Hello Corinne
I’d like to add a couple of points to the discussion by drawing from my own experience. I now have 13 years’ experience in the translation business but for most of this time I worked as an in-house translator. So when I decided to dive into the freelance market (5 months ago) I had a good head start not only because I have specialized in some fields, but also because I could rely on a good network of fellow translators. I gained three good direct customers by word of mouth. And I have a strong feeling that I prejudiced my chances of ever working with one of them again by messing up the details of the invoice (VAT no. and bank coordinates). Calling twice to rectify it surely didn’t impress the customer and didn’t speak up for the quality of my work. So, while specialization and networking are a cornerstone of any successful business, always be sure to be as accurate with your accounting as you are with your translations. Plus, never underestimate how often little kids can get sick and force you to reshuffle your schedule. So, for the working mums out there, get a good nanny or establish a good network of support to turn to when confronted with a deadline. Kids’ screaming in the background doesn’t mean you are unprofessional but, as Cynthia said, it – alas – sounds like that.
I couldn’t agree more. I would also like to add that being self-employed is not for everyone. It’s an activity that requires initiative, patience and perseverance. Most of the translators I’ve met and worked with either complain about having too much work or not enough. The ones who have too much are absolutely stressed out of their mind either because they haven’t learned how to delegate to others or because their rates are way too low, therefore having to work twice as much to get the same returns as others. On the other hand, the ones without are relying on friends and colleagues to find them work. I don’t believe in secret recipes to success, but I do believe professionals should set limits for themselves. It’s the only way they’ll survive. The one with too much, must learn to work less for better rates and the other must learn how to start walking on his own two feet. There is no such thing as fear or shame in this game, it’s all about survival of the strongest and most determined professionals. Do you want a Louis Vuitton or are you satisfied with a Guess? Do you want to be recognized as a professional linguist or as a word factory operator? A word of advice: do not work for free, do not wait for things to happen, envision your objective and develop a concrete plan. Spend a little money on advertisement and aim big. Remember: you cannot expect returns if you don’t invest on finding your potential customers. Working for agencies is nice in the beginning, but private customers are much, much, much more rewarding in terms of satisfaction, workload and rates.
agree with every single point! the freelance life is harder than most people imagine. i would add networking locally to the list, from putting up one’s business cards on local bulletin boards to your local community organizations, the Internet is not the only way to reach out.
I would perhaps mention insufficient Internet presence or less than professional Internet presence. Directories might be what’s the most important and I think one either needs to have or could benefit from having a semi-decent website, but at any rate whatever is actually communicated needs to be communicated correctly. There are plenty of errors in translator profiles and some agencies, perhaps even some clients, do mind. That’s a large part of how my best payer came to me (never has a direct client paid me the kind of rates I get from that agency). I’m not sure to what extent clients or agencies actually notice or care about tiny errors and misformatting in CVs but I wouldn’t dare find out about that by trial and error.
Hi Luke!
I agree about the issue of errors, which is why I apologised for my own typos, earlier in the discussion! If we get a translator’s CV with obvious spelling or similar mistakes, we just ignore it. A large German company I once worked for (in-house) lost a major contract to supply an American corporation with world-wide presence because the original letter offering its services contained errors (they hadn’t given it to a native speaker to proofread).
Kevin makes excellent points: Any aspiring translator will need superb writing skills in their own language. Ironically, this is one area that many people overlook. We’re so busy learning a foreign language that we forget the other two vital pieces of the jigsaw: subject expertise (the ability to truly understand what we are translating about – a point made above by both Kevin and Chris D.), and the ability to write clear, incisive prose.
Beyond that, professional bodies can certainly help with all the other bits. Full disclosure: I chair the Board of the UK professional body, the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (or ITI). For over ten years now, ITI has run a course that teaches practical business skills to translators who are new to freelancing. It runs over 12 weeks, and covers a wide range of areas. And it shows one good reason for joining a reputable professional body, since it is only available to ITI members. I mention it here not as a “hard sell”, but to show the sort of support and encouragement available from professional bodies (and from supportive experienced members within those organisations). You can read full info about it at: http://www.iti.org.uk/professional-development-events/iti-online-courses/professional-support-group Take a read of the “Course modules” page for a comprehensive overview.
Nick, you’re absolutely right to point out the ITI program. I sat in on parts of it last year and was blown away by the quality of the input, plus, as you say, the remarkably supportive experienced members who participated as mentors.
@patenttranslator – If there’s one piece of advice wanna-be translators have certainly heard at least once — and probably endlessly — it would be that becoming a translator requires spectacular foreign-language skills.
Aside from the dubious value of repeating advice they’ve certainly already heard over and over, there is the matter of their not hearing advice that is far more valuable and should have been explained to them very early, and as regularly as humanly possible.
The long list of attributes I wrote out above are actual traits I’ve observed among the best translators I’ve personally known (politicians would do well if they possessed a mere fraction of these). They are the translators who were not only unusually gifted and creative in their translation work, they were also pushing the limits and exploring new boundaries by founding new companies; hiring, training and mentoring employees; discovering and promoting new ways of work; developing new translation tools or improving existing ones; training and mentoring new generations of translators; establishing new terminology in their fields; compiling new references and dictionaries; promoting translation as a profession to future potential clients as well as those outside the field and working closely with national leaders — even politicians — to change and improve translators’ working lives and to create new opportunities for the next generation of translators.
I’m not exactly sure who you were referring to when suggesting that a person who possessed such attributes would be “wasting his life on translation of obscure documents.” I can assure you that none of these people I know would feel that their lives had been wasted in their translation work or in these related various endeavors, and certainly all those people they’ve helped or supported or encouraged or mentored throughout their long careers would firmly and graciously agree with me.
I think Duncan’s point about Chambers of Commerce / other start up schemes is probably often overlooked. I’ve very recently started out as a freelancer and have become involved with a scheme at the university were I did my Masters degree. Through this, I’ve been able to attend a number of workshops about marketing, negotiation and other business skills – and all for free! There was the option to apply for a start up grant and I’m now renting a desk in a shared office on the campus at a very cheap rate.
The point is really that I’m confident in my language skills, I have a ready-made specialisation from my previous work experience, I have an excellent translation qualification and I’m building a good network of fellow translators – what was missing was the business skills and this scheme is helping me to develop in this area.
If there are people out there offering free advice to start up businesses, I’d say get out there and take as much of it as you can!
I’ve loved the tips, Corinne. Thank you! I was starting to think that, after 10 months as a freelancer I was in the wrong path, because suddenly I was starting to received less job, but now I see it’s not only a question of self-promotion but also a matter of time and finding time to keep up in the market is crucial.
Thanks Corinne and everyone else who has contributed in comments. I’ll be sending this link to all the newcomers who ask me for tips on establishing themselves.
Just a thought: perhaps there’s also an argument for suggesting to novice translators that they work somewhere, anywhere, in an office environment, a hotel kitchen, etc. (volunteering if they absolutely have to, and can afford to), so they find out what business life is like, and get other skills, which will be useful to them, before they commit themselves to translating? For a while after graduation I worked in qualitative market research (I was a specialist in the market for low-horse power electric motors
, worked in marketing in a paper mill (and was involved in export sales), and even did some house renovation and mass catering. I think all that was useful experience for my future translation work – for example, I’m not scared to call people on the phone or email them for technical information, I understand the pressures of people in 9 to 5 office environments, and so on. After all, there is the argument that what you need to learn in life is “transferable skills”, not rigid specialisation. Duncan
@Duncan
That’s an argument I’ve heard Kevin make elsewhere (but broadening the range of work options somewhat…), and I agree. An ITI member named Lanna Castellano once presented a paper along these lines, arguing that the best translators spent a good chunk of their life doing other things (than translation) and reached prime age for launching as a translator at about 40. All of that work experience, dealing with people, assimilating this and that to build up the big picture; learning what works and doesn’t. Oh, and how to manage budgets and, why not, a business (as you pointed out earlier).
Re your comment on writing and the wooden quality of many translated texts: I’ve seen this, too. It’s as if the translator is somehow “describing” a text written in another language, and not realizing that the whole point is to create a document that can stand on its own two feet.
Although here I must say that I’m encouraged by what I see as a steep rise in interest in working on writing skills among practicing translators. Then again, I’m a naturally optimistic person.
I thought this might be useful to provide some context, wisdom and perspective in this discussion.
A friend of mine who is a quite successful doctor complains constantly about her job. When people applying to medical school ask her for advice, she wants to shake them and yell “Don’t do it!” (But she never does.) How did she get into this fix? In high school she already wanted to be a doctor. And she is so ambitious and determined that she overcame every obstacle along the way—including, unfortunately, not liking it.
Now she has a life chosen for her by a high-school kid.
When you’re young, you’re given the impression that you’ll get enough information to make each choice about work and a career before you need to make it. But this is certainly not so with work. When you’re deciding what to do, you have to operate on ridiculously incomplete information. Even in college you get little idea what various types of work are like. At best you may have a couple internships, but not all jobs offer internships, and those that do don’t teach you much more about the work than being a batboy teaches you about playing baseball.
In the design of lives, as in the design of most other things, you get better results if you use flexible media. So unless you’re fairly sure what you want to do, your best bet may be to choose a type of work that could turn into either an organic or two-job career.
It’s also wise, early on, to seek jobs that let you do many different things, so you can learn faster what various kinds of work are like. Conversely, the extreme version of the two-job route is dangerous because it teaches you so little about what you like. If you work hard at being a bond trader for ten years, thinking that you’ll quit and write novels when you have enough money, what happens when you quit and then discover that you don’t actually like writing novels?
Most people would say, I’d take that problem. Give me a million dollars and I’ll figure out what to do. But it’s harder than it looks. Constraints give your life shape. Remove them and most people have no idea what to do: look at what happens to those who win lotteries or inherit money. Much as everyone thinks they want financial security, the happiest people are not those who have it, but those who like what they do. So a plan that promises freedom at the expense of knowing what to do with it may not be as good as it seems.
Whichever route you take, expect a struggle. Finding work you love is very difficult. Most people fail. Even if you succeed, it’s rare to be free to work on what you want till your thirties or forties. But if you have the destination in sight you’ll be more likely to arrive at it. If you know you can love work, you’re in the home stretch, and if you know what work you love, you’re practically there.
Complete text: http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html
Love this discussion! May I add something from an agency’s point of view? Please take the time to visit the website of the agency where you would like to send your resume and make sure you are following protocol. If you simply use, for example, the ATA membership list, you will send your resume to the wrong person. Since I am listed as a contact on ATA, I receive hundreds of resumes a day which I simply delete. They didn’t take the time to follow instructions on my website. I just don’t have the time to deal with those in addition to the emails I receive from clients. I have someone specifically assigned to be the vendor manager. It seems that some translators are using a service to email resumes and most of those come with many spelling and punctuation errors. It’s really too bad. It wastes their time (and money). Marketing yourself doesn’t mean sending an email blast.
Great article, couldn’t agree more! I think one of the main problems is that many (if not most!) freelance translators don’t see them as entrepreneurs, but some sort of artists or experts. Of course, this is their added value. However, this is not their business model. And if you don’t understand your business model, your chances for success are very limited.
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That saying really hit me! Being an entrepreneur (freelancer) means working 60 hours a week for yourself so that you don’t have to work 40 hours a week for someone else. Ouch. I never really thought of it that way, but that is way too true – or it certainly can be a lot of the time.
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Great stuff, everyone. Thanks for an important post, Corinne, and great to hear that our awesome tough-love expert, Chris, also chimed in. I will most certainly share this one with my aspiring translators/students at UC San Diego. I think another important factor is simply…. language skills. Many start this journey and realize that they are simply not strong enough in their source/target language to do this as a profession. This might go without saying, but as there is no barrier to entry in our profession, many newcomers still believe that being bilingual (or not even close to it) will suffice. It won’t. Also, I think writing skills in your B language are very, very important: it’s a credibility issue with clients if they want to communicate in that language. Last but not least, and this is always my main message: many don’t know how to run a business and expect this to be easy. It won’t. Running a small business is challenging and time-consuming.
And nice to hear from T&I royalty on this blog post! Hi, Kevin, Nick, Karen, Chris…!
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So true, especially the part relating to the mindset, knowing the amount of effort required and keeping at it: I met a couple of freelancers myself that were completely amiss when it came to realistically pursuing their freelance careers. Instead they spent time fantasizing about “what the future holds for them” and the “freedom” they gained, when the fact of the matter was they were much more better off (both in terms of productivity and finance) when both of them were employed full time.
In the middle of 2006 I sent 4000 emails to translation agencies. One third of that number was bounced back by the servers. Some part of my emails got to freelance translators. About 2000 offers were received by my target group and soon after I got so many requests I have to turn down jobs. Funny thing, whenever I was asked to complete some complicated forms and to do some tests I never got any job. Of course, I passed all the tests, got confirmation to be in their database, but they didn’t bother to send my any job. If a client wants you, they just send back a job asking for translation. They don’t waste your/their time on tests. Good luck.
Dear Corinne, I recently moved from El Salvador, where I lead a quite successful freelance business to Hungary, for family reasons. I don’t speak Hungarian (yet), but I expected my business to simply continue flourishing like it used to (Internet…) Well, it didn’t. I assume responsibilities. Mea Culpa, I simply didn’t put in the effort needed, was terribly distracted setting up my new home, getting the kids in school, etc, etc. I am now ready to start doing the work, however long it takes.
I have one question though. My language combinations are: French-English-into Spanish. (I am native for Spanish and French). I am interested in becoming a member in an association, but don’t know where to start. Should I focus only on Spanish speaking associations? Also French speaking ones? English? All of them? Should I get membership in Hungary, in spite of not working in Hungarian?
And one more thing, although I went to university, I don’t hold a diploma in translating or interpreting, although I have twelve solid years of experience to account for. Does this mean I am out of the game? Is it really a deficiency?
Thank you for all your posts, you are very generous to share your wisdom so kindly with us. I enjoy them a lot!!
Mariana, I graduated (in modern languages) in 1987 and have worked full time as a translator (with occasional technial writing) since 1990. I’ve never been asked if I had a diploma or other qualification in translating. Clients are more interested in previous experience and areas of expertise, I think especially with your long career history. Duncan
Hi Duncan, and thanks for commenting. My question regarding the diplomas is more related to membership in industry associations. Like you, my clients have never worried about my education, but have rather focused on my experience, fortunately
However, I am checking out professional associations, since I am now out of my comfort zone (my beloved warm little niche), and would like to create networks, have access to trainings, and add some credibility to my CV. I realize not all care about diplomas though… What’s your take on this association idea?
Hi Mariana!
(I work with my wife, who is also a translator). We’ve never joined a professional association that is translation-specific. This is due to a number of reasons: i. we got jobs as in-house translators soon after graduation, working abroad, and in a company with a strong (positive) corporate culture – people in sections worked well and socialised together (so us with the programmers etc.), so we didn’t need outside networking opportunities, ii. we’re both slow to join organisations anyway, and iii we didn’t get information about professional organisations at a time when we might have wanted to join, when we both went full-time as freelancers. At that time we got a lot of business opportunities, which kept us busy and involved in the company my wife had started, and allowed me to join (!), so we had no time to go looking for professional organisations, or any perceived need for them. Maybe times have changed: that was in the mid 90s! Duncan
Mind you, my typing at speed is still rubblish – I meant “technical”
Duncan