'How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator\r'

'How to Succeed as a ex 1rate-lance Translator Corinne McKay How to Succeed as a freelance Translator by Corinne McKay ISBN 978-1-4116-9520-7 human race-class Edition ©2006 by Corinne McKay. All Rights Reserved. Published by twain snitch Press, a division of Translate relieve, Inc. No part of this handwriting whitethorn be reproduced or transmitted in each form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any culture storage or retrieval system, except by a commentator who whitethorn quote brief passages in a review, with bulge prohibited permission in writing from the author. For nurture, contact [email&#clx;protected] com.Dis get hold ofer: This halt is printed by Two squealer Press and Translate hold heart-to-heart, Inc. , who ac fri terminationship whole trademarks. All information contained in this concord is believed to be correct at the cartridge holder of printing. How eer, look aters argon advised to seek non recreational advice w present necessary, as the information in this book of account is establish on the authors experiences. The author of this book is non profession constantlyy(prenominal)(prenominal)y engaged in providing legal, financial or public livelihood supply advice. Please send comments or department of corrections to [email protected] com. For Dan, Ada and my pargonnts, who sweeten tout ensemble solar sidereal day. confine Introduction Acknowledgments 9 15 An oerview of the rendering vocation 17 1. 1 What is a transcriber? ………………………………….. 17 1. 2 What does it take to become a translating weapons platform? ………. 18 1. 3 upward(a) your vocabulary attainments ……………………. 21 1. 4 A arrangers failing milieu ……………… 22 1. 5 What kinds of diddle do interpretive computer prog rammes do? …………. 25 1. 5. 1 Softw be jam ………………………. 27 1. 6 Who do arrangers performance at for? ………………………. 28 1. 6. 1 figure outing for dis assment agencies …………. 28 1. 6. 2 on the job(p) for convey nodes ………………….. 30 1. A bit approximately version …………………………….. 31 1. 8 How do translating programs fortune their rank? ……………….. 33 1. 9 nonrecreational connectors …………………………… 34 1. 9. 1 Ameri whoremonger Translators friendship ………. 34 1. 9. 2 interior(a) intimacy of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators ……………………………… .. 35 1. 9. 3 Translators and Interpreters hostelry ………. 35 1. 9. 4 Ameri raise literary Translators crosstie 35 1. 9. 5 compact Internationale des Traducteurs 36 1. 9. 6 International link of Conference Interpreters …………………………………………… 6 1. 10 authentication for Translators ………………………… 36 1. 10. 1 Ameri put forward Translators Association ………. 38 1. 10. 2 Federal philander Interpreter Certification Examination Program …………………………… 39 1. 10. 3 State Court Interpreter Certification . . . . 41 5 CONTENTS 2 outset and Growing your disdain 2. 1 Preparing for your job seem ………………………. 2. 1. 1 The basics of writing a transmutation take in . 2. 1. 2 A modernistic resume fo r a new locomote …………. 2. 1. 3 The social system of your resume ……………… 2. 1. 4 Your spend a penny ……………………………………. . 1. 5 Your compendium of qualifications . …………. 2. 1. 6 The body of the resume ……………………. 2. 1. 7 What to a peachyer extent or fiddling a get across letter? ……………….. 43 43 43 44 45 46 47 49 50 2. 2 Finding your premiere leaf nodes …………………………….. 51 2. 3 Building up your line of products …………………………… 56 2. 4 Starting a odd-job(prenominal) explanation billet . ………. 59 2. 5 Business skills youll require ……………………… …… ….. 61 2. 6 backdrop up your position and your championship ………. 63 2. 7 maximizing productivity …………………………… 5 2. 8 For operate oning pargonnts ………………………………….. 67 3 Home seat setup 3. 1 Preparing for your inhabitation office ……………………. 3. 2 The ups and downs of organizeing from sign . . . . 3. 3 Necessary office equipment ………………………… 3. 4 Organizing your championship …………………………… 3. 5 Translation sign of the zodiac office engine room ……………… 3. 6 Non-Western character sets ………………………… 3. 7 Speech credit entry softw atomic number 18 package ………………………… 3. 8 Translation memory softw argon ………………………. 69 9 69 71 73 75 78 79 80 Trados …………………………………………… 82 3. 8. 1 3. 8. 2 SDLX …………………………………………….. 83 3. 8. 3 Deja Vu …………………………………………… 83 3. 8. 4 Wordfast ………………………………………… 83 3. 8. 5 Heart a a few(prenominal)(prenominal) ………………………………………. 83 3. 8. 6 OmegaT ………………………â₠¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦ 84 3. 8. 7 WordFisher ……………………………………. 84 3. 8. 8 crosswise …………………………………………….. ….. 84 3. Choosing a computer system ………………………. 85 CONTENTS 7 4 Rates, contracts and terms of proceeds 4. 1 Setting your interpretation judge …………………………… 4. 2 Rate sheets ……………………………………………………….. 4. 3 Contracts or hold for employ engagements . …………… 4. 4 Terms of suffice ……………………………………………… .. 4. 5 Researching your dominance nodes …………………… 4. 6 Standard impartment terms and methods …………… 4. 7 Setting the stage for inventment …………………………… 4. When things dont go as intend ……………………… 4. 8. 1 Arbitration and dispute occlusion ………… 4. 9 Cash f every issues …………………………………………….. 5 Setting up your rail dependable smart line for growth 5. 1 Incorporating and prep argondness for taxes ……………… 5. 1. 1 Corporate Entities ………………………………… 5. 1. 2 Tax planning ………………………………†¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦Ã¢â‚¬Â¦.. 5. 2 Key Questions Before the Project Starts …………… 5. 3 How to Raise Your Rates ………………………………… 5. 4 Ten managements to please a read justment node ………………Re mentions colour Index 87 87 91 92 95 99 101 102 104 108 109 111 112 114 115 117 abundant vitamin C 121 125 133 139 Introduction I setd to write this book beca serve I love my job, and be font so few multilingual battalion be aw argon of the richly demand for drug-addicted spokespersons and representatives, or of the life direction benefits of existence a deliin truth entrepreneur. In 2002, I was facial expression for a new career later on eighter-spot years as a proud initiate cut teacher, and hoping to find a break away-from-home job apply my vocabulary skills. I thought back to a conversion internship that I had d hotshot in college, an d remembered how oft I had enjoyed it.At the succession, I had al virtu everyy no knowledge of the shift persistence nor any job contacts, so I started out by c completelying e truly(prenominal) company adverted under Translators and Interpreters in the local anesthetic lily- be intimatered pages. Over the next few months I became affect with my local spokespersons connection, the Ameri quite a little Translators Association (ATA), and began marchting nigh c onlys for comment do spring. A year and some four hundred resumes later, I passed the ATA security exam in French to face version, and my pipeline glide byd to grow, charm static pull up stakesing me to recreate from home on a negoti fitting schedule, attaining a healthy income and passing lenty of time with my family. Although I washed-out crocked of that offset year merchandise my fledgling seam, the effort stipendiary off; afterward triplet years as a self-employed personr translato r I make my highest gross income ever (including when I creamed full-time as a teacher) maculation operatives 20-30 minute of arcs a week from home. I developed distinctivenesss in legal, financial and food marketing supplanting, edited my local translators association newsletter, presented seminars at the yearbook convention of the Ameri mountain Translators Association and ofttimes found myself exclaiming, â€Å"This is so enkindle! time motions on a explanationâ€in short, I had found my niche. At the uniform time, the path from that day with the phone book to the day I told a thickening, â€Å"Sorry, Im booked for the next twain weeks” 9 10 INTRODUCTION was gruelinger than it had to be, because thither is a real shortage of training materials on how to depart a explanation melodic line. to the highest degree translators enter the range because they love oral parleys and writing, non because they love marketing and book obligeing, pl ainly when umteen translators businesses fail because they lack basic business skills.If youd equivalent to succeed as a freelance translator, its by all odds consequential to pursue training in adaptation techniques, definition packet package package package, and opposite tools of the trade, that these types of feeds are easier to locate. Part of the reason I decided to write this book was because, having never run my own business before, I struggled so some(prenominal) with these basic business questions: how and where to find prospective clients, how to pursue translator franchise, how to decide whether expensive computer bundle would serve well my business, how to set my supplanting judge, and so on.This book is based on the article Getting Started as a Freelance Translator, which first appeared on my mesh stimulatesite and was picked up by some(prenominal) explanation websites. Later, I expanded that article into an online course that has continued to be v ery popular with aspiring translators. Fol miserableing the advantage of the course, I realized that on that point moldiness be some(prenominal) a lot(prenominal) great escape out in that location wondering how to use their actors line skills to break into the commentary industry, and the topic for this book was born. The corking news rough reading If youre considering a career as a translator, thithers a lot to looking at forward to.Given the spheric reach of businesses in the 21 st century, translators are employed in nearly both conceiv qualified business sector, from banking to museums to health care to high-tech. If you hasten a special skill or provoke in addition to macrocosm bilingual, youre or so accepted to find clients who give represent for your operate, and youll get to exploit on materials that interest you. Overall, the joined States Bureau of excavate Statistics http://bls. gov get offs that job prospects for translators and interpret ers depart increase faster than the modal(a) until at to the lowest floor 2014.Translators are unremarkably healthful pay for their blend in, with the approximately youthful compensation inspect by the Ameri bum Translators Association dealing 11 that the average self-employed full-time translator earns over $50,000 per year. Most translators, level off if they work 40 hrs a week or much, live a very self- ruleed lifestyle and can tailor their work day around other interests or commitments much(prenominal)(prenominal) as families. The fairly news about virtual(prenominal) work In publicizing their work-from-home newsletter The Rat Race Rebellion, the e-entrepreneurship specia mentions Staffcentrix http: //staffcentrix. om estimate that â€Å"There is a 30 to 1 scam ratio among home-based work ‘opportunities. ‘ ” Although there are definitely some unscrupulous variant clients out there, version itself is a great touchstone of a legitimate wo rk-fromhome opportunity. The vast major(ip)ity of translators in the U. S. work from home, so rendition agencies are employ to this business model, and dont think its odd to employ translators who work from home. Home work has a lot of advantages for you as the home worker, and for your community as a whole.By workings from home, youll probably experience greater job rejoicing and microscopical(prenominal) stress, since a relatively minor crack resembling a dentist ap contingentment or furnace repair wont derail your entire work day. Most of the time, youll be equal to(p) to structure your work day around your peak energy times and your familys take ons, sort of than your employers policies. Your commute leave alone be as wide as it takes you to walk from your bedroom to your office and blast up the computer trance still in your pajamas. Not surprisingly, virtually home workers experience a greatly rectifyd gauge of life.the cares ofwise, working from home ofte ntimes has a very peremptory encumbrance on your community and the world as a whole. Less commuting means less(prenominal)(prenominal) dealings congestion, less fuel usage and less necessitate for parking body politics. Home-based workers are around during the day, departing them to volunteer for schooltime and community activities and to be operable for their families. A content by the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC) found that home-based workers are absent from work less than half as often as officebased workers, leading to greater work productivity in general. 12 INTRODUCTIONIs freelance translation for you? Despite all of these tyrannical reports, its very pregnant to do some realistic self-assessment to determine if a career as a freelance translator is for you. Translators motivation a lot of skills besides articulateness in at to the lowest degree deuce wrangles; translators hold to be excellent writers in their indispensable nomenclatur e and need to be interested in and undergo at speak verbiage research using both(prenominal) paper dictionaries and the Internet. Translators withal need to be zealous readers in their aborigine and non-native oral communications in order to forestall up their language skills and their knowledge of world chargets.Equally primal, and the overmaster that well cerebrate on in this book, is a translators capability to run a business. When you work full-time for an employer, you feed one job title. When you work for yourself, youre not solitary(prenominal) the translator, barely in any case the department notch for gross sales and marketing, expert support, customer relations, accounting and facilities maintenance. Unless youre pull up stakesing and able to endure someone to do these tasks for you, youll be doing them yourself, in addition to your fixing job. Before you launch yourself into a ranslation career, its authorised to ask yourself a few questions. a re you the type of person who is often decipherd as highly motivated, driven, a go-getter; or do you endure trouble following through on a plan once the exciting motif stage is over? Are you consistently able to meet deadlines with approximately no supervision or packion, or do you head off to obtain websites as before long as the party boss disappears? Do you have the multi-tasking skills necessary to manage multiple clients and deadlines at once, or does this type of work leave you tactile property overwhelmed and wondering where to start?In addition, its grand to reckon in a start-up purpose of at least half a dozen months to a year when launching your freelance business. Of course this is expert an estimate, and the length of everyones inauguration fulfilment will straggle, save for translators who work in a relatively everyday language pair (for object lesson French, Italian, German, Spanish or Portuguese paired with side), its take up to budget on at least six months of doing a lot of marketing and working less than full-time. For some tidy sum, for example parents 13 f teensy-weensy children or full-time students who are looking for some supplemental income, the spotty bullion flow of a startup period whitethorn not be a huge concern. If youre planning on translation as your full-time income, youll need to either continue your current employment bandage your translation business gets up to speed, or plan on nutrition off your savings or a bestow during this time. It can help to focus on the position that with a consistent and reasonably aggressive marketing effort, youll have years to enjoy your freelance lifestyle and income after your startup phase ends.So to all of you out there wondering, â€Å"What exactly does someone with a degree in foreign languages do for a breathing? ,” I wish you happy reading, and hopefully, happy translating! Acknowledgments precise few books are truly solo endeavors, and this book is n o exception. Special thanks go to the race who lent their enthusiasm to this bug out when it was just an idea to toss around over coffee or e-mail: Eve Lindemuth Bodeux, Beth Hayden, Thomas Hedden, Bruce McKay, LaNelle McKay and KarenMitchell for their insights and encouragement, and the students in the first deuce sessions of my course, Getting Started as a Freelance Translator for their excellent feedback on the course materials that this book is based on. My colleagues in the Colorado Translators Association, the American Translators Association and Boulder Media Women, and the readers of my e-newsletter Open Source Update are an ongoing credit of knowledge and inspiration that every translator and writer should be so come throughntial as to have. And Dan Urist… where to start… pent to a greater extent hours than a recovering computer systems administrator should have to on the layout, design and editing of this book, learning at least control boardinal new pie ces of software in the work at and lovingly hounding me until the last enounce was write. 15 1 An overview of the translation business 1. 1 What is a translator? In a nutshell, a translator is a human being who changes written manner of speaking from one language to another. If this sounds obvious, take another look! First, its important to note that although computers play an important role in translation, professional translators are humans, not computers.Second, a translator works with written banters, un exchangeable an interpreter, who works with intercommunicate words. If youre new to the industry, youve learned something important right here; that the phrase â€Å"speaking through a translator,” contradicts itself, since translators work in writing. While some people work as both translators and interpreters, most concentrate on one or the other. Translators are likewise, by definition, silver-tongued in to a greater extent than one language. In the industry, these are referred to as the source, or â€Å"from” language(s), and the aspire, or â€Å"into” language, which is most eternally the translators native language.So for example, a translator who is a native side of meat verbaliser and learned Portuguese and Spanish cleverness show from Spanish and Portuguese into position. If you work in the most customaryality language pairs, much(prenominal) as English paired with French, Italian, German or Spanish (known as FIGS in the translation industry), chances are that you will never translate into your endorse or ternion language. If you work in a less common language pair, you faculty find yourself as the exception to this rule.A client might need a document translated from Thai into English, a job that would usually be divvy upd by a native English speaker who has Thai as a cooperate or third language. However in utilisation, its often easier to find a native Thai (or 17 18 AN OVERVIEW OF THE descriptio n air Lingala, Malayalam, Fulani, etc) speaker who has English as a second language since there are some more native Thai speakers who also speak English than the other way around. In this case, the job might be handled by a native Thai speaker, and then ensure by a native English speaker.In the unify States, most translators work from one or two source languages; its extremely common for translators to have just now one working language pair, like Spanish into English, or Japanese into English. In other areas of the world where foreign languages are more widely studied, most translators work from at least two source languages, and often many a(prenominal) more. Its not at all unusual to find Europe-based translators who work, for example, from English, Spanish and French into German, or from Norwegian, Swedish and English into Danish. 1. What does it take to become a translator? Being multilingual isnt the wholly skill a translator needs, but its certainly the most importan t. Translators learn their languages in many variant ways; many grew up in bilingual households or countries, some learned their second or third language in school and then pursued experience abroad, some took intense language courses or worked in a foreign land for some(prenominal)(prenominal) years, and it is also quite common for translators to become freelancers after working as military or authorities linguists.Almost all translators working in the U. S. have at least a Bachelors Degree, although not needs in translation. As a rule, most professional translators have at least some experience working and/or reinforcement in a sylvan where their source language or languages are utter; many translators lived and worked in their source language country for many years, or pursued higher grooming in their source language(s).In-country experience is a mammoth asset for a translator, since translation work takes cognise not just the structure of the language to be transla ted, but the cultural framework that surrounds it. This isnt to say that classroom study doesnt produce excellent translators, but its important to realize WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME A adapter? 19 at the outset that to be a no-hit professional translator, you need near-native proficiency in your source language(s); if youre starting from scratch, a few semesters of parttime language class wont be enough.As a point of reference, the U. S. Governments Defense verbiage Institute Foreign Language Center bulge outs a class to teach shopping mall Eastern languages to government employees, and the basic program involves 63 weeks of full-time study. numerous people wonder how to enounce if their language skills are ethical enough to work as a translator. While there are assorted language testing services that can tell you where you stand, probably the easiest way to get a feel for your translation readiness is to translate something.Go on the web and find a legal document, repo rt article or press release in your source language, then try to translate it. As well question later, professional translators hold up constant use of reference materials such as print and online dictionaries, terminology databases, etc. , so when you look at your practice document, dont assume that you should be able to whip out a perfect translation on the spot. The advert points are: can you understand this document on both a word-for-word and a abstract level, and can you convey its meaning in your home run language?Translators today work in almost every conceivable language pair; dapple the market in the unify States has histori foretelly been very strong in Western European languages such as French, German, Italian and Spanish, there is an increasing (and increasingly lucrative) market for translation in Asian and essence(a) Eastern Languages like Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Farsi, Pashto and Kurdish; rally and Eastern European l anguages like Serbian, Czech, Slovene and Macedonian; as well as the â€Å"languages of atomicer iffusion” like Nepali, Hebraic or Somali. In most language pairs, the meat of work available is proportionate to the number of translators in the language. While there is obviously a great deal of English to Spanish translation work in the U. S. , there is a correspondingly ample number of translators in this language confederacy; and maculation there may not be a great deal of work in Indonesian to English, there 20 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS re also not many translators in this combination, resulting in a correspondingly nice amount of rival for work. In addition to near-native source language proficiency, translators need other skills too; probably the most important are excellent writing skills in their put language, in-depth knowledge in one or more areas of specialization, and business management skills. Some would-be translators are in practice not very successful because they have weak writing skills in their target language, making their translations tall(prenominal) or unpleasant to read.Highly specialise translators are among the highest-earning members of the profession; for example a bilingual intellectual property attorney, stock broker or biomedical engineer may earn many times the per-word rate of a â€Å"jack of all trades” translator with a B. A. in German. Some translators mature a previous career into an area of specialization, while others take additional courses in areas of specialization or learn specialized terminology from more experienced translators.Paradoxically, specializing can also lead to more work, not less, as the specialized translator becomes known as the go-to person in his or her area of expertise, whether its environmental engineering, textile manufacturing or stage sets. The translation industry in the unite States is moving more and more toward an free-living contractor model, where th e vast majority of translators are self-employed and work for a variety of clients; in 2005, approximately 70% of the members of the American Translators Association were self-employed independent contractors.As such, translators need business management skills such as the ability to find and retain clients, work on tight deadlines with little supervision or management, handle increases and decreases in work flow and gold flow and perform tasks such as bookkeeping, tax planning and computer upkeep and maintenance. In fact, most self-employed translators spend 25-50% of their time on non-translation work, more often than not involving management of the day to day tasks of running a business, so these skills are just as important as translation-related skills in succeeding as a freelance translator.IMPROVING YOUR LANGUAGE SKILLS 21 1. 3 Improving your language skills If youd like to work as a translator but your language skills are not yet up to par, you have a few selections. The best, but most difficult, is immersion: living and working or going to school in a country where your source language is spoken. If you deficiency to improve your French, without a doubt the fastest way to do it is to move to a French-speaking country for a year, work or go to school with native French speakers, and speak only French while youre there.If this isnt possible for you, university programs in translation and interpretation do exist in the U. S. , although they are much less common than in other countries. However, nearly all medium or coarse colleges and universities will poke out supercharged courses in the more widely spoken foreign languages. The American Translators Association http : //atanet . org sells some(prenominal) publications itemisation translating and rendering programs, and also has a mentoring program for its members, although the program is geared toward professional, not linguistic, development.If youre trying to improve your language skills, b e realistic; although its certainly far from impractical to learn a new language at age 30, 50 or 70, its also not going to happen with a few semesters of iniquity classes. If youre starting from a beginner level or close to it, two to three years of intensive language study in a college-level program is probably a bare minimum. However, if you have a solid foundation in a second or third language, for instance you studied it in school for 10 years including several trips to a country where the language is spoken, you might be stimulate to start translating right away.As mentioned before, precisely knowing more than one language isnt enough to guarantee your success as a translator. While requirements for different translation jobs vary, nearly all translators have at least a Bachelors degree, and often more education than this. If you would eventually like to earn affirmation from the American Translators Association, youll need either a Masters degree or higher, or several y ears of work experience as a translator. The rapid expansion of the translation industry, tractile work possibilities and high earning potential have begin freelance 2 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS translation an pleasing career for bilingual lawyers, accountants, doctors and scientific professionals, and many translators feel that specialization is extremely important to their success. This is oddly true as the Internet has point-blanked up work opportunities for translators who live in countries where the cost of living is relatively low, and where educated professionals may be able to agnize more money by working as translators over the Internet than by practicing in the professions they were trained for. 1. A translators working environment The translation industry in the United States is moving more and more toward the independent contractor model. In the past, many large companies and even many translation agencies had staffs of in-house translators, but these jobs are now few and far amongst, and when they do exist would rarely be given to a beginner. In contrast to other professions where newcomers are evaluate to pay their dues as in-house employees and then enjoy the â€Å" support” of freelancing, the translation industry usually works in the opposite way.Most translators start out as freelancers and may even remain self-employed for their whole careers, while most well give in-house translators are submitd with years or even decades of experience. Its important to be realistic about whether the life of a freelancer is for you. While youll have a great degree of control over where, when and how much you work, youll also give up the security of a stunner paycheck, benefits, paid time off, and a reward or employer-sponsored 401K. Most freelance translators in the U.S. work from a home office, and there is no marque attached to working from home; translators who rent office space outside the home are definitely the excepti on kind of than the rule. The vast majority of a translators work is done on the computer, using either a word processing program or text editor, and possibly a computer-assisted translation program. Translators make extensive use of reference materials such as print and online dictionaries, terminology databases, and discussion with other translators.The almost constant use of a computer A TRANSLATORS WORKING ENVIRONMENT 23 makes repetitive overrefinement injury one of the few work-related injuries that translators are at risk for. There are many unequivocal sides to a translators work environment. Compared to other work-from-home jobs, translation can be very interesting and well-paying. Although you probably wont get lavishly rich working as a freelance translator, translation industry compensation surveys report that the average self-employed freelance translator earns about $52,000 per year.Translators who are highly specialized in expert fields, or work with in-demand lang uage pairs may earn much more than this, and in-house translators for certain branches of the U. S. government or international financial institutions may earn $70,000 a year and up. At the equal time, it is important to be realistic about the time and effort problematical in reaching this level of income.Unless you work in a language pair and/or specialization that is extremely in demand, it may take a year or more to develop a regular client base that will allow you to replace the income from a previous full-time job, and you will probably need to send out several hundred resumes during that time. Before starting your freelance translation business, its important to determine if you have the financial resources, time and energy to get through the startup period to the point where you are earning a reasonable and veritable(a) income.Starting a translation business is a c function inexpensive proposition. If you already have a home computer and high speed Internet access, you mi ght make do with business cards, computerized fax service and a modest reference library, for a startup cost of only a few hundred dollars. To a large extent, freelancers can determine when and how much they want to work. While it probably makes well(p) business sense to accept as much work as possible from your regular clients, on a day-to-day basis many translators work on their own schedule rather than from 9 to 5.A translators eight hour day might run from 7:30-11:30 AM and 4:30-8:30 PM. This tractableness makes translation an excellent career option for people who have young children, are semi-retired, or just want to work part-time. Today, most translation work hap- 24 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS pens remotely, and translators can live almost anyplace. The up and down disposition of most freelancers work loads also lends itself to using free time to take classes, pursue hobbies, travel or spend time with family. On the downside (and of course there are some down sides to all of this! , as with other consulting or freelance work, some prognosiss of translation can be stressful and difficult to manage. Many translators describe their work as feast or famine, with months of little work and months of working every waking bite and more than a few moments that should be spent sleeping. Worldwide business acceleration has affected translation turnaround times, with agencies eager to have translations returned as soon as possible, sometimes within a few hours for a short render. Clients who pay late or dont pay at all can cause major financial problems, especially for translators who live paycheck to paycheck.Translators who work in common language combinations like SpanishEnglish may face pressure to lower their rank in order to remain free-enterprise(a), especially if the client can find qualified translators in countries where pay rates are much lower. In addition, working from home has its ups and downs; even for an introvert, the life of the home office can be lonely, and time spent on (unpaid) non-translation work like accounting, marketing and maintaining computer systems can become frustrating when youd much rather be translating!If youve never worked for yourself before, succeeding as a translator demands a high degree of self-discipline. With no boss in the next cubicle and a list of household errands to finish, it can be hard to focus on your work, and if you have a family or housemates, as difficult to find a work-friendly time and space in your house. However, most translators enjoy their work and like to talk about what they do and how they got started. The ever-changing nature of the job appeals to many people, since no day â€Å"at the office” is exactly like another.Another positive aspect of the job is that most translation clients value their translators and get across them as professionals who deserve to be fairly paid for their work. Even in the most common language combinations, the supply of qualified and capable (emphasis here! ) translators often cannot WHAT KINDS OF WORK DO TRANSLATORS DO? 25 keep pace with the industrys demand, resulting in a generally positive employment picture for translators and interpreters. The United States Bureau of struggle Statistics reports that employment prospects for translators and interpreters should grow faster than the average for all occupations until at least 2014. . 5 What kinds of work do translators do? As cross-cultural and multilingual communication become more important to the worldwide flow of business, translators and interpreters are employed in almost every conceivable business and government sector. From law to health care to finance, entertainment, information technology and advertising, translators and interpreters enable global communication. Some translators, especially those with specialized professional or technical training, might concentrate on only one subject area, such as pharmaceuticals, corporate fi nance, computer software or legal contracts.There are even translators who specialize in seemingly abstruse areas like fisheries management, shopping mall construction, stamps, or groundwater hydrology. tranquilize others position themselves as â€Å"jack of all trades” translators with concentrations in certain areas. In general, the more translators there are in a given language pair, the more specialization is requisite, and the smaller the translator pool, the less inducement there is to specialize. German to English translators in the U. S. almost certainly have specializations, but the same isnt necessarily true of the few Bosnian to English translators doing business in the same markets.Translators sometimes work in collaboration with other linguists, particularly if the work involves a large project that needs to be translated in a short amount of time. Today, translation teams almost always work together over the Internet, rather than in person. The size of trans lation projects can vary widely, from a single line of text such as a company slogan, to an entire book or website. Most translators who are self-employed work from project to project, with the average project taking anywhere from 26 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS n hour to several eld, and some longer projects mixed in as well. Most translators working in the United States today work on business and technical documents, rather than literature. Although most translators in the U. S. are independent contractors, full-time jobs for translators and interpreters do exist, particularly in areas such as court and health care translation, web content translation, software fixture, and translating and interpreting for the United States Governments confused agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence self-confidence and depicted object Security Agency.Translators who are experienced and/or qualified to work in more than one language pair may have a greater chance of being offered an in-house position. literary translators (translators who work on books, poetry or short stories) make up a relatively small separate of translators in the United States. This is because literary translation is typically not very well paid, and because Americans dont tend to read literature in translation, so there is a small market for the work of literary translators; in 2004, only 891 of the 195,000 new books printed inEnglish were adult literature in translation. If you translate into a language other than English, there may be a larger market for literary translation services, especially if you are qualified to work on textbooks, technical manuals, and other â€Å"non-literary” book projects. Localization translators are a rapidly outgrowth group in the industry. Localization, or the complete adaptation of a product such as a web site, product marketing kit, software program or advertising campaign into another language, employ to be confined mostly to computer software.Now, software hole is probably the largest segment of the mend market, but its certainly not the only segment. Businesses may hire position agencies when they want to take a new product global and need culturally-targeted marketing advice in addition to translation services. WHAT KINDS OF WORK DO TRANSLATORS DO? 1. 5. 1 Software Localization 27 A sub-specialty within the translation and localization industry is software localization, the process of translating software substance abuser interfaces from one language to another.For example, when a large software company produces multilingual versions of its applications, every piece of text displayed by the software must be translated into the target language, and in many cases the graphics must be altered as well. Software localization involves both bilingual software developers and document translators specialized in information technology, since the softwares user interface, help files , readme files, screen shots and incidental files (such as stock warrant information and packaging) must all be translated.Software localization is an enormous industry in its own right, largely because computer users passim the world now take over their software to be in their own language, and will naturally be more interested in purchasing software or biding websites that they can access in their own language. Therefore, the software localization industry is a source of a large amount of work for bilingual software developers and for translators, and is presently one of the fastest- outgrowth sectors within the translation industry as a whole. In addition, localization breeds localization; a localized web browser utomatically creates a need for localized websites; a localized piece of software demands a localized manual to go with it. Two useful resources for localization professionals are the Globalization and Localization Association. http: //www. gala-global . org and th e Localization Industry Standards Association http: //www. lisa. org. Software localization is often completed using different tools than those that are used for document translation; some computer-assisted translation tools can cross over between these two types of translation, and some cannot.So, it is important to investigate what tools will be required if you would like to look for software localization work. 28 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS 1. 6 Who do translators work for? 1. 6. 1 Working for translation agencies For a freelance translator, there are typically two types of clients: translation agencies and direct clients. First, lets look at how translators work through agencies. A translation way of life, which may also refer to itself as a localization chest of drawers, translation company, or translation bureau, has its own roster of clients and sub-contracts their translation work to item-by-item freelance translators.The way handles the project management en d of things, interacts straight with the translation client and (hopefully) pays the translator and deals with any collections issues. Ideally, the translation agency should pay its freelance translators when their accountings come due ( commonly 30 days after the agency accepts the translation) whether the agency itself has been paid by the end client or not. A translation agency is not an employment agency, and there is no fee involved for a translator to recital with an agency.However, an agency normally cannot guarantee a steady flow of work to any one translator, and will normally pay the translator a good deal less than the per-word rate that the agency is charging the client, in many cases up to 50% less. Freelance translators are often required to sign a confidentiality and non-competition agreement which states that they may not work directly for any of the agencys clients for some period of time, or may not disclose who the agencys clients are, or the nature of the assi gnments that they work on.Like translators themselves, translation agencies can be either very general, â€Å"all languages, all subjects,” or highly specialized, for instance translating only for the medical industry, or only translating between English and Korean. In the uncertain world of freelancing, translation agencies offer up some measure of job security. When you work for an agency, you dont normally have to communicate with the end client directly, and in many cases the agency may even nix you from contacting the end client. Instead, you translate the documents that the agency sends you, which means that you spend your timeWHO DO TRANSLATORS WORK FOR? 29 working kind of of managing the project and handling the clients questions. Also, an agency that becomes a regular client may be able to extend you with steady work, and will often pay you even if the client is late in paying them. A good agency project autobus understands the nature of translation work, and as ks the client in advance to straighten out potential questions, for example should currency amounts in Euros be converted to dollars, saving the contract translators a great deal of time. Many of the best agency project passenger cars are or have been translators themselves.Agencies also picture some amount of â€Å"disaster insurance” in the event that you get sick in the middle of the project, suddenly find yourself in over your head on a very technical document, or another type of unforeseen event. If something like this happens, the agency can often find a permutation translator or editor to step in, which is a responsibility that falls upon the translator if an agency is not involved. In exchange for the services the agency provides, you will give up some freedom. The agencies you work for may have fixed pay rates, or may ask you to reduce your rates to stay competitive with other translators.When an agency becomes a regular client, you want to keep them happy, so it will be hard to say â€Å"No! ” when they call you on Friday afternoon with a big project due Monday, disrupting your planned ski trip or home procession project. Also, agencies vary in quality. While a good agency can effectively hand you work on a platter and deal with all problems that come up between them and the end client, in practice this doesnt always happen. An agency may claim (rightly or wrongly) that you did a substandard job on a project for them, and then ask for or just go ahead and take a â€Å"discount” on the fee you agreed on.Or, an agency may not have much cash in reserve, and might not be able to pay you if the end client doesnt pay them. Agencies also have their own set payment terms, and in most cases the terms arent negotiable. For example, agencies in the U. S. generally pay within 30 days from the date of the invoice (referred to as Net 30), or 30 days from the end of the month (30 Days EOM), while agencies in Europe take longer to pay, so metimes as long as 60 days from the end of the month or 30 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS 0 days from the date of the invoice. 1. 6. 2 Working for direct clients The other main option for a freelancer is to work for direct clients, meaning working directly for translation customers without a â€Å"middleman” involved. A direct client might be a horseshoe manufacturer in Sweden that wants to market its products in the U. S. , a patent law firm in Japan, a university in the U. S. with non-English speaking visitors, or an individual who wants her high school diploma translated into French so that she can study abroad.The income potential of working for direct clients is attractive; in many cases double the income of working for an agency. rail clients may also be able to provide large volumes of work if their turnaround time allows for it. Whereas a translation agency will often destroy a large project between several translators to get it done faster, a direct clien t might be willing to let you translate their entire 50,000 word annual report, resulting in more income and less administrative overhead for you; or they might be willing to let you act as a â€Å"mini-agency,” subcontracting work to ther translators you know and keeping a percentage for yourself. With a direct client the translator is often more in control of the payment terms involved; for example, the translator might be able to request payment in advance for certain services, an option that almost never exists when working through a translation agency. There are some disadvantages in working for direct clients as well. When you work through an agency, its the project managers job to rationalize the ins and outs of the translation process to the client.If the client doesnt know what source and target language mean, or the difference between traditional and simplified Chinese, or whether they want the companys name in all capital letters throughout the document, its the a gencys responsibility to deal with this, not yours. When you work for a direct client, for better or worse theres no one between you and the client. In cases involving a small project such as a acquit certificate translation, it might take more time to explain the process to the client than it does to complete the translation.If the client has an unrealistic A BIT ABOUT interlingual rendition 31 deadline, keeps changing his/her mind about the project specifications, or wants additional services such as desktop publishing, its up to you as the translator to deal with it. If the direct client doesnt pay, theres no one else to lean on for the moneyâ€you simply have to handle it yourself, or hire a collection agency if things turn really sour. All of these aspects are worthy considering before you decide whether to work through agencies or for direct clients.Somewhere between an agency and a direct client is a small but growing group of freelance project managers. These individual s function reasonably like one-person translation agencies, and may be handling outsourced translation for a larger corporation. This style of business combines some of the advantages and disadvantages of the agency /direct client model. Probably the most significant item to discuss up await is what happens if the end client doesnt pay or is late in paying the project manager who hires you, since unlike a large translation agency, this ndividual probably doesnt have the cash reserves to cover a large bill that goes unpaid. 1. 7 A bit about interpreting As you search a career in translation, its worth considering whether you would like to focus your business exclusively on translation, or include interpreting in your range of services. Like translation, the market for interpreting depends largely on your language pair(s), and unless you do over the phone interpreting, is more location-dependent than translation since you need to be in the same place as your clients.Interpreting ha s several â€Å"modes,” the primary ones being simultaneous, where the interpreter talks at the same time as the speaker; consecutive, where the interpreter listens to the speaker and takes notes, then interprets what the speaker said; and sight translation, where the interpreter reads a written document in another language, for example taking a court document in English and reading it to a defendant in Spanish. concurrent interpret- 32AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS ing is probably the most common mode, since it is used at the United Nations, in court, and in various other multitude-type settings. Interpreting demands very different skills than translation. While translators are stereotypically detail-oriented introverts who dont mind spending an hour finding the perfect translation for a word, interpreters must be able to think on their feet and work with little or no advance preparation.Translators most often work alone at home, while interpreters are often liter ally in the spotlight, stand up next to a court witness, hospital enduring or head of state and communicating for him or her. Until the advent of conference calling, interpreters had to be in the same place as their clients, and court and conference interpreting is still heavily dependent on on-the-spot(prenominal) interpreters. However, over-the-phone interpreting is becoming more popular, especially in areas where its hard to find on-site interpreters.Many translation agencies also schedule interpreters, and courts, hospitals and schools may employ in-house interpreters. One major difference between interpreting and translation is that interpreters often work in both â€Å"directions” of their language pair, so must be highly proficient in speaking their non-native language; many high-level conference interpreters consider themselves to have two native languages, rather than one native language and one or more second languages. Interpreters are paid by the hour or by the day, and pay varies widely. In some areas of the U. S. English4-6panish court interpreters might make less than $15 an hour, while conference interpreters who are members of the elect(ip) AIIC (International Association of Conference Interpreters) might make close to $500 a day. If you are interested in interpreting, one excellent way to assess your skills is to go spend a day as an perceiver in court. Most courts in the U. S. are open to the public, and you can sit in the viewing area and try to interpret as the proceedings go along; better yet take a notebook and make a list of words and expressions that you need to research.The major employers of interpreters in the U. S. are courts, health care settings and schools, so these are all good places to focus on if you would like to explore interpreting. HOW DO TRANSLATORS SET THEIR RATES? 33 1. 8 How do translators set their rates? Translators are generally paid by the word, with some variation in whether the word count is based on the source or target language, for a single word (most common in the U. S. ) or per thousand words (most common in the U. K. ), although payment is sometimes made by the line as well, with a line being comprised of a certain number of characters.For projects where charging by the word would result in a ridiculously low payment, for example translating an advertising slogan, translators are often paid by the hour. Translations of official documents such as family certificates may be billed by the page. Many translators have a minimum charge for small projects, for example a flat fee for projects up to 250 words. Its also common for translators to add a grant for a rush project, or to offer a discount for a large project or ongoing work. The actual per-word rate depends on your language c)oamndbispe-tlz(),andsowhtyurcliensa willing to pay.Asking â€Å"How much do translators charge? ” is like asking, â€Å"How big is a ball of yarn? ” The variation in translation rate s is enormous; if you visit online translation marketplaces such as Translators Cafe http://translatorscafe. com, or ProZ. com http: //proz . com, youll see an abundance of translators willing to work for just a few cents a word, while a highly specialized medical, legal or technical translator working for direct clients might make mid-double digits (cents, not dollars! ) per word.In addition, many translators are reluctant to publish or even discuss their rates for panic of being targeted by antitrust actions. If you work for translation agencies, there may not be much room for negotiation on rates, and â€Å"setting your rates” may be more a involvement of finding agencies that are willing to pay what you would like to earn. Agencies will often ask you what your rates are, but just as often the agency already knows what it can or will pay for a typical project in your language combination, and is tall(a) to give you work if you charge more than the â€Å"standard” rate.Some agencies will also tell you up front that 34 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS youre welcome to adjust your rates, but that the agency prefers to work with translators who charge less than a certain number of cents per word. Still, translation agencies as a group are not usually out to get translators to work for an absolute reduced price, and will usually offer a fair rate for a project. Reputable agencies may even look askance at translation rates that are more than about 10% under the average or standard rate in a certain language combination. 1. Professional Associations for Translators and Interpreters Professional associations are an excellent resource for both start out and experienced translators and interpreters. At the international, national, and local levels, professional associations allow you to interlocking with colleagues, pursue continuing education workshops and come across conferences related to the field. They also improve your credibility as a linguist. As one agency manager comments, â€Å"If a person is a member of a professional association, it shows that he or she has a network of colleagues to draw on and is willing to invest some time and money in the profession. Especially if translator or interpreter assay-mark isnt offered in your languages, be to a professional association shows that youre serious about your work. Following is an overview of professional associations for translators and interpreters working in the United States. 1. 9. 1 American Translators Association The American Translators Association ht t p : //atanet . org is the largest professional association for language professionals in the U. S. , and offers membership to both individual linguists and translation companies.The Association also includes various language or specialization-specific divisions that members can choose to join. Benefits for ATA members include a listing on the ATA website, a subscription to the monthly magazine ATA captain ASSOCIATIONS 35 Chronicle, reduced rates to attend ATA conferences and seminars, and various professional benefits such as credit card acceptance, retirement programs, etc. The ATA holds a large annual conference each year in the fall, and information about upcoming conferences is also available on the ATA website.The ATA administers its own certification exams, which are probably the most widely recognized translation credential in the U. S. As of 2006, candidates for the certification exam must also be members of ATA. For more information on certification exam dates, see ATAs website. 2006 individual dues are $ cxlv per year. 1. 9. 2 National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators The National Association of Judiciary Intrpreters and Translators http: //najit . org is a professional association for court interpreters and legal translators.NAJIT holds an annual conference, publishes the newsletter Proteus, and advocates for positive changes in the court inte rpreting and legal translation professions. NAJITs website also includes a helpful list of frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about court interpreting. 2006 individual dues are $cv per year. 1. 9. 3 Translators and Interpreters Guild The Translators and Interpreters Guild http : //ttig. org is the only national (U. S. ) union of translators and interpreters, operating as Local 32100 of the theme Guildâ€Communications Workers of America.The Translators and Interpreters Guild operates a translator referral service that is open to members, and offers additional membership benefits such as a union credit card, life insurance, and legal services. 2006 individual dues are $120 per year. 1. 9. 4 American Literary Translators Association The American Literary Translators Association http: // literarytranslators. org is dedicated to serving literary 36 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS translators and â€Å"enhancing the status and quality of literary translation. Members receive a variety of publications about literary translation, such as Translation Review and ALTA Guides to Literary Translation, and ALTA also holds an annual conference on literary translation. 2006 individual dues are $65 per year. 1. 9. 5 Federation Internationale des Traducteurs The Federation International des Traducteurs http: //fit-ift . org is an â€Å"association of associations” for translators, which gathers more than 100 professional associations for language professionals from all over the world. FIT does not accept individual translators as members, but does old an annual conference open to translators and interpreters throughout the world. 1. 9. 6 International Association of Conference Interpreters Membership in AIIC http://aiic. net is open only to experienced conference interpreters who have worked a minimum of 150 days in a conference setting, and must be sponsored by three active AIIC members who have been in the association for at least five years. The AIIC websi te contains many helpful articles and link up for aspiring and experienced interpreters. 1. 10 Certification for TranslatorsAs we discussed in a previous section, for better or worse, you dont have to have any type of certification to call yourself a translator or interpreter in the United States. Various organizations offer certification, but the list of language combinations is far from comprehensive. For example, organizations in the United States offer certification only in language combinations that involve English, so if you translate or interpret German into French or Japanese into Korean, there simply is no certification available in the U.S.. true(p) and uniform certification is one of the most assay-mark FOR TRANSLATORS 37 important issues facing the translation and interpreting professions today. Since no standardized certification for translators and interpreters exists, there is little agreement on what makes a â€Å" attest” translator or interpreter. In some cases, linguists who have earned a certificate in translation or interpreting refer to themselves as â€Å" manifest,” while to others, â€Å"certified” means having passed a nationally standardized examination.There is a great deal of controversy over whether certification is a reasonable guarantee of a quality job, or whether non-certified translators and interpreters are to be avoided. As a linguist, especially in a common language combination such as English with French, Spanish or German, becoming certified is one way to distinguish yourself from the pack of questionably qualified people offering translation or interpreting services in these languages, and certification may be required for certain types of work.In some court systems it is now difficult to find work as an English â€Spanish court interpreter if youre not certified, and some translation agencies may insist that for certain end clients or certain types of translations, you have to be certified if the option is available for your languages. In addition, the American Translators Associations most recent compensation survey (published in January, 2006), found that certified translators earn approximately $6,000 per year more than their non-certified colleagues.On the downside, there are numerous translators and interpreters with excellent qualifications who have failed certification exams, or dont feel that they want to take them at all. As one translation agency manager comments, â€Å"Certification doesnt mean that the person can meet a deadline, work well with other translators or respond to client input and questions, and all of these are crucial to winning and keeping clients. ” More practically, the certification exam itself represents a somewhat artificial environment in which youre asked to demonstrate your skills.For instance, although the ATA is currently pursuing the hap of offering computerized certification exams, the exam currently must be handwritten, som ething a practicing translator would seldom if ever do. Hopefully, the computerized ATA certification exam will become a reality in the near future. 38 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS Following is an overview of the main certifying organizations for translators and interpreters in the United States. If you work in a language combination that doesnt involve English, an Internet search can help you find certifying organizations in a country where your languages are spoken. . 10. 1 American Translators Association The American Translators Association ht t p : //atanet . org offers certification (formerly called accreditation) to translators in 27 language pairs as of 2006; passing the exam earns you the right to add the designation â€Å"ATA-certified for X to X translation” to your credentials. As of this writing, the available certifications are ( indicates that the test is available in eithe\r\n'