How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator

How to Succeed as a freelance(a) Translator Corinne McKay How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator by Corinne McKay ISBN 978-1-4116-9520-7 First Edition 2006 by Corinne McKay. All Rights Reserved. Published by deuce Rat Press, a partition of Trans easywrite, Inc. No part of this repel hold whitethorn be reproduced or genic in any form or by any authority, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any selective nurture storage or retrieval system, except by a reviewer who may citation brief passages in a review, without permission in writing from the author. For information, gather emailprotected com.Disclaimer This platter is published by Two Rat Press and Translatewrite, Inc. , who admit wholly trademarks. All information contained in this contain of account is believed to be lay at the snip of printing. However, he bers be advised to seek sea captain advice where necessary, as the information in this book is assd on the authors const rues. The author of this book is not profession either(prenominal)y engaged in providing legitimate, financial or race planning advice. Please s mop up comments or corrections to emailprotected com. For Dan, Ada and my p bents, who dulcify ein truth day. Contents Introduction Ack immediatelyledgments 9 15 An overview of the interlingual r oddityition commerce 17 1. 1 What is a arranger? .. 17 1. 2 What does it trade to become a spokesperson? . 18 1. 3 Improving your nomenclature dexteritys . 21 1. 4 A spokespersons represents environment 22 1. 5 What kinds of relieve mavinself do representatives do? . 25 1. 5. 1 Softw atomic diethylstilboestrolcend 18 pickle . 27 1. 6 Who do interpretive programs pick up form for? . 28 1. 6. 1 persisting(a) for dis injectment reaction agencies . 28 1. 6. 2 Working for grade invitees .. 30 1. A bit well up-nigh rendition .. 31 1. 8 How do adapters strike off their rank? .. 33 1. 9 Professional familiaritys 34 1. 9. 1 Ameri displace Translators standoff . 34 1. 9. 2 interior(a) connecter of Judiciary voices and Translators .. 35 1. 9. 3 Translators and Interpreters golf club . 35 1. 9. 4 Ameri sens literary Translators Association 35 1. 9. 5 Federation internationaliste des Traducteurs 36 1. 9. 6 International Association of Conference Interpreters 6 1. 10 testimony for Translators 36 1. 10. 1 Ameri fecal matter Translators Association . 38 1. 10. 2 Federal tag onress Interpreter Certification Examination Program 39 1. 10. 3 State Court Interpreter Certification . . . . 41 5 CONTENTS 2 procure movinging time and Growing your Business 2. 1 Preparing for your put-on search . 2. 1. 1 The bedrock of writing a adaptation preserve . 2. 1. 2 A new imbibe for a new occupational assembly . 2. 1. 3 The building of your resume 2. 1. 4 Your advert . . 1. 5 Your summary of qualifications . . 2. 1. 6 The body of the resume . 2. 1. 7 What just about a cover letter? .. 43 43 43 44 45 46 47 49 50 2. 2 Finding your first thickenings .. 51 2. 3 Building up your air 56 2. 4 Starting a part-time version commerce . . 59 2. 5 Business skills youll wish .. 61 2. 6 desktop up your postal service and your bank crinkle . 63 2. 7 maximizing productivity 5 2. 8 For live oning pargonnts .. 67 3 pedestal office setup 3. 1 Preparing for your pla straighten outary house office . 3. 2 The ups and downs of departing from syndicate . . . . 3. 3 Necessary office equipment 3. 4 Organizing your business 3. 5 Translation home office technology 3. 6 Non-Western character sets 3. 7 Speech recognition information fulfilling system softw atomic number 18 3. 8 Translation memory softwargon . 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 roughly(a) . 83 3. 8. 6 OmegaT 84 3. 8. 7 WordFisher . 84 3. 8. 8 across .. .. 84 3. Choosing a computer system . 85 CONTENTS 7 4 Rates, shrivel ups an d terms of inspection and mess 4. 1 move your comment rates 4. 2 Rate sheets .. 4. 3 Contracts or get for hire apprehensions . 4. 4 Terms of service .. 4. 5 Researching your emf clients 4. 6 Standard retribution terms and methods 4. 7 Setting the stage for correctment 4. When things dont go as planned 4. 8. 1 arbitration and dispute resolution 4. 9 Cash f suffering issues .. 5 Setting up your business for growth 5. 1 Incorporating and planning for taxes 5. 1. 1 incorporated Entities 5. 1. 2 Tax planning .. 5. 2 Key Questions in the first place the disgorge Starts 5. 3 How to Raise Your Rates 5. 4 Ten ways to please a explanation client Re blood lines Glossary Index 87 87 91 92 95 99 101 102 104 108 109 111 112 114 115 117 striking hundred 121 125 133 139 Introduction I settle downd to write this book because I love my job, and because so most bilingual people atomic number 18 cognizant of the high demand for qualified translators and examples, or o f the life mien benefits of being a deli real entrepreneur. In 2002, I was looking for a new passage by and by eight eld as a high instruct cut teacher, and hoping to make up bingles mind a relieve angiotensin-converting enzymeself-from-home job employ my terminology skills. I thought back to a explanation internship that I had d mavin in college, and remembered how a lot I had savored it.At the time, I had al al about no knowledge of the rendering labor nor any job contacts, so I started out by c every last(predicate)ing any company listed under Translators and Interpreters in the topical anesthetic yellowness pages. Over the near a few(prenominal) months I became involved with my local translators association, the Ameri give the bounce Translators Association (ATA), and began getting well-nigh c exclusivelys for deracination dress. A class and some 400 resumes later, I passed the ATA certificate exam in cut to side deracination, and my business contin ued to grow, while so far allowing me to motion from home on a flexible schedule, earning a healthy income and spending lenty of time with my family. Although I spent nearly of that first year trade my fledgling business, the confinement paying(a) off after three years as a freelance translator I earned my highest gross income ever (including when I blend ined full-time as a teacher) while on the job(p) 20-30 hours a formulateweek from home. I developed specialtys in sound, financial and grocery storeing adaptation, edited my local translators association newsletter, presented seminars at the annual conclave of the Ameri cigaret Translators Association and to a greater extent found myself exclaiming, This is so chaseing while holding on a expositionin pathetic, I had found my niche. At the comparable time, the avenue from that day with the cry book to the day I told a client, Sorry, Im book for the next twain weeks 9 10 INTRODUCTION was votelesser than it h ad to be, because at that place is a real shortage of training materials on how to run a translation business. Most translators enter the field because they love linguistic communications and writing, not because they love merchandise and book curbing, solely umpteen translators businesses fail because they lack prefatory business skills.If youd homogeneous to succeed as a freelance translator, its by all homophile(a)s fundamental to keep up training in translation techniques, translation softw ar, and other tools of the trade, however these shells of courses atomic number 18 easier to locate. Part of the reason I decided to write this book was because, having neer run my own business before, I struggled so such(prenominal) with these basic business questions how and where to go on prospective clients, how to engross translator attestation, how to decide whether big-ticket(prenominal) computer softw ar would help my business, how to set my translation rates, and so on.This book is based on the article Getting Started as a Freelance Translator, which first appe ared on my website and was picked up by some(prenominal) translation websites. Later, I expanded that article into an online course that has continued to be very fashion sufficient with aspiring translators. Following the success of the course, I realized that thither mustiness be many more(prenominal) people out in that location question how to use their nomenclature skills to break into the translation pains, and the idea for this book was born. The healthy news about translation If youre considering a occupational group as a translator, theres a lot to look forward to.Given the global reach of businesses in the 21 st century, translators are employed in to the highest degree all(prenominal) credible business sector, from banking to museums to health care to high-tech. If you redeem a special skill or interest in concomitant to being bilingual, youre al intimately really to find clients who lead pay for your services, and youll get to survive on materials that interest you. Overall, the get unneurotic States Bureau of Labor Statistics http//bls. gov advises that job prospects for translators and interpreters forget increase fast than the add up until at least(prenominal) 2014.Translators are usually easily stipendiary for their live, with the most recent compensation survey by the American Translators Association reporting 11 that the average free-lance(a) full-time translator earns over $50,000 per year. Most translators, pull down if they bailiwick 40 hours a week or more, live a very self- masterminded lifestyle and can turn off their work day around other interests or commitments much(prenominal) as families. The good news about virtual work In advertisement their work-from-home newsletter The Rat Race Rebellion, the e-entrepreneurship specialists Staffcentrix http //staffcentrix. om estimate that There is a 30 to 1 sc am ratio among home-based work opportunities. Although there are definitely some unscrupulous translation clients out there, translation itself is a great mannequin of a legitimate work-fromhome opportunity. The vast absolute studyity of translators in the U. S. work from home, so translation agencies are used to this business model, and dont conceptualize 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 operative from home, youll plausibly experience greater job satis situationion and slight stress, since a relatively nestling disruption like a dentist ap destinement or furnace re equalise wont derail your entire work day. Most of the time, youll be able to structure your work day around your peak energy times and your familys needs, sort of than your employers policies. Your commute will be as long as it takes you to move from your bedroom to your office and fire up the computer while still in your pajamas. Not surprisingly, most home workers experience a greatly improved lumber of life.Likewise, working from home frequently has a very positive effect on your community and the world as a whole. Less commuting means teentsy traffic congestion, less raise usage and less need for parking areas. Home-based workers are around during the day, allowing them to pop the question for school and community activities and to be on tap(predicate) for their families. A study by the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC) found that home-based workers are absent from work less than half as a great deal as officebased workers, leading to greater work productivity in general. 12 INTRODUCTIONIs freelance translation for you? Despite all of these positive reports, its very valuable to do some realistic self-assessment to peg down if a race as a freelance translator is for you. Translators need a lot of skills besides fluency in at least two lyrics translators need to be thin writers in their innate language and need to be interested in and skilled at linguistic communication research using both paper dictionaries and the Internet. Translators in like manner need to be avid readers in their native and non-native languages in order to keep up their language skills and their knowledge of world yetts.Equally flagitious, and the subject that well focus on in this book, is a translators ability to run a business. When you work full-time for an employer, you fox one job title. When you work for yourself, youre not proper(a)ful(prenominal) now the translator, only also the department subject for sales and foodstuffing, technical support, customer relations, accounting and facilities maintenance. Unless youre ordain and able to pay someone to do these tasks for you, youll be doing them yourself, in addition to your regular job. Before you launch yourself into a ranslation career, its grand to ask yourself a fe w questions. Are you the type of person who is often described as super motivated, driven, a go-getter or do you have apprehension following through on a plan once the kindle idea stage is over? Are you consistently able to reach deadlines with almost no supervision or contraction, or do you head off to shopping websites as curtly as the 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 feeling overwhelmed and wondering where to start?In addition, its all important(p) to factor in a start-up compass point of at least sextette months to a year when launching your freelance business. Of course this is expert an estimate, and the length of everyones startup period will parti-color, but for translators who work in a relatively customary language pair (for example French, Italian, German, Spanish or Portuguese paired with face), its best to budget on at least six months of doing a lot of marketing and working less than full-time. For some people, for example parents 13 f small children or full-time students who are looking for some supplemental income, the spotty currency flow of a startup period may not be a Brobdingnagian concern. If youre planning on translation as your full-time income, youll need to any continue your current employment while your translation business gets up to speed, or plan on living off your savings or a loan during this time. It can help to focus on the fact 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, What precisely does someone with a academic degree in foreign languages do for a living? , I wish you glad reading, and hopefully, happy translating Acknowledgments Very few books are truly solo endeavors, and this book is no exception. Special thanks go to the people who l ent their eagerness to this abide when it was that an idea to toss around over coffee tree 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 two sessions of my course, Getting Started as a Freelance Translator for their subtile 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 witnesser of knowledge and inspiration that every translator and writer should be so fortunate as to have. And Dan Urist where to start pent more hours than a convalescent computer systems administrator should have to on the layout, design and editing of this book, nurture at least two new piece of musics of software in the process and lovingly hounding me until the last boy was written. 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 speech 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, overlord translators are humans, not computers.Second, a translator deeds with written words, unlike an interpreter, who works with spoken words. If youre new to the industry, youve larn something important right here that the phrase 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 also, by definition, fluent in more than one language. In the industry, these are referred to as the source, or from language(s), and the target, or into language, which is almost ceaselessly the translators native language.So for example, a transl ator who is a native position vocalizer and wise to(p) Portuguese and Spanish skill rede from Spanish and Portuguese into face. If you work in the most common language pairs, such(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 entropy or ternary language. If you work in a less common language pair, you might find yourself as the exception to this rule.A client might need a muniment translated from Thai into English, a job that would usually be handled by a native English speaker who has Thai as a second or third language. However in practice, its often easier to find a native Thai (or 17 18 AN OVERVIEW OF THE version BUSINESS Lingala, Malayalam, Fulani, and so forth speaker who has English as a second language since there are many more native Thai speakers who also speak English than the other way around. In this case, the job might be handled by a nativ e Thai speaker, and and so proofread by a native English speaker.In the fall in States, most translators work from one or two source languages its extremely common for translators to have only 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 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 only skill a translator needs, but its certainly the most important. Translators learn their languages in many various ways many grew up in bilingual households or countries, some learned their second or third language in school and thus pursued experience abroad, some took intensive language courses or worked in a foreign agricultural for some(prenominal) years, and it is also quite common for translators to become freelancers after working as military or presidency linguists.Almost all translators working in the U. S. have at least a Bachelors Degree, although not needfully in translation. As a rule, most schoolmaster translators have at least some experience working and/or living in a uncouth where their source language or languages are spoken many translators lived and worked in their source language country for many years, or pursued higher education in their source language(s).In-country experience is a big asset for a translator, since translation work involves knowing not right the structure of the language to be translated, 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 representative? 19 at the outset that to be a successful schoolmaster t ranslator, you need near-native proficiency in your source language(s) if youre starting from scratch, a few semesters of part-time language class wont be plentiful.As a point of name, the U. S. Governments defense reaction Language Institute Foreign Language Center beseechs a schedule to teach Middle Eastern languages to government employees, and the basic program involves 63 weeks of full-time study. Many people wonder how to discern if their language skills are good enough to work as a translator. While there are various language testing services that can tell you where you stand, probably the easiest way to get a feel for your translation ardor is to translate something.Go on the web and find a legal put down, paper article or press release in your source language, then try to translate it. As well discuss later, passkey translators make regular use of reference materials such as print and online dictionaries, terminology databases, etc. , so when you look at your pra ctice document, dont assume that you should be able to whip out a perfect translation on the spot. The tombstone points are can you understand this document on both a word-for-word and a conceptual level, and can you convey its essence in your target language?Translators today work in almost every conceivable language pair while the market in the linked States has historically 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 Middle Eastern Languages like Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Farsi, Pashto and Kurdish interchange and Eastern European languages like Serbian, Czech, Slovene and Macedonian as well as the languages of smaller iffusion like Nepali, Hebrew or Somali. In most language pairs, the add of work available is proportionate to the number of translators in the language. While there is obviously a great d isperse of English to Spanish translation work in the U. S. , there is a correspondingly enceinte number of translators in this language combination and while there may not be a great shell out 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 small amount of competition 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 target language, in-depth knowledge in one or more areas of differentiation, and business management skills. Some would-be translators are in practice not very successful because they have adynamic writing skills in their target language, making their translations delicate or sharp-worded to read.Highly narrow translators are among the highest-earning members of the profession for example a bilingual happy property attorney, stock br oker or biomedical engineer may earn many times the per-word rate of a jack of all trades translator with a B. A. in German. Some translators turn a preceding(prenominal) career into an area of specialization, while others take additional courses in areas of specialization or learn specialized terminology from more experient 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 United States is moving more and more toward an independent contractor model, where the vast majority of translators are self-employed and work for a variety of clients in 2005, or so 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 clien ts, work on tight deadlines with little supervision or management, handle increases and decreases in work flow and funds flow and perform tasks such as book retention, tax planning and computer upkeep and maintenance. In fact, most self-employed translators spend 25-50% of their time on non-translation work, largely 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 style SKILLS 21 1. 3 Improving your language skills If youd like to work as a translator but your language skills are not even up to par, you have a few options. The best, but most difficult, is preoccupancy living and working or going to school in a country where your source language is spoken. If you unavoidableness to improve your French, without a precariousness the fastest way to do it is to move to a French-speaking country for a year, work or go to school with native Fre nch 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 large colleges and universities will extend progressiond courses in the more widely spoken foreign languages. The American Translators Association http //atanet . org sells several publications listing translating and interpreting programs, and also has a mentoring program for its members, although the program is geared toward superior, not linguistic, development.If youre difficult to improve your language skills, be realistic although its certainly far from out of the question to learn a new language at age 30, 50 or 70, its also not going to happen with a few semesters of night classes. If youre starting from a beginner level or weedy to it, two to three years of intensive language study in a college-level program is probabl y a bare nominal. 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 ready to start translating right away.As mentioned before, plain knowing more than one language isnt enough to guarantee your success as a translator. While requirements for different translation jobs part, nearly all translators have at least a Bachelors degree, and often more education than this. If you would eventually like to earn certification from the American Translators Association, youll need either a Masters degree or higher, or several years of work experience as a translator. The rapid magnification of the translation industry, flexible work possibilities and high earning potential have do freelance 2 AN OVERVIEW OF THE explanation BUSINESS translation an attractive career for bilingual lawyers, accountants, doctors and scientific professionals, and many translators feel that specialization is extremely important to their success. This is especially true as the Internet has cave ined 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 make 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 between, and when they do exist would rarely be given to a beginner. In contrast to other professions where newcomers are expected to pay their payables as in-house employees and then enjoy the reward of freelancing, the translation industry usually works in the opposite way.Most translators sta rt out as freelancers and may even remain self-employed for their whole careers, while most wellpaid in-house translators are engage 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 aegis of a steady paycheck, benefits, paid time off, and a pension or employer-sponsored 401K. Most freelance translators in the U.S. work from a home office, and there is no stigma attached to working from home translators who rent office space outside the home are definitely the exception 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 t ranslators.The almost constant use of a computer A TRANSLATORS WORKING milieu 23 makes repetitive strain injury one of the few work-related injuries that translators are at risk for. There are many positive sides to a translators work environment. Compared to other work-from-home jobs, translation can be very arouse 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 technical fields, or work with in-demand language 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 same time, it is important to be realistic about the time and effort involved in hit this level of income.Unless you work in a language pair and/or specialization that is e xtremely 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 steady income.Starting a translation business is a fairly inexpensive proposition. If you already have a home computer and high speed Internet access, you might 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 necessitate to work. While it probably makes good business sense to accept as much work as possible from your regular clients, on a day-to-day tooshie many translators work on t heir own schedule rather than from 9 to 5.A translators eight hour day might run from 730-1130 AM and 430-830 PM. This flexibility 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 anywhere. The up and down temper 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 downsides to all of this , as with other consulting or freelance work, some aspects of translation can be trying and difficult to manage. Many translators describe their work as feast or famine, with months of little work and months of working every waking moment and more than a few moments that should be spent sleeping. Worldwide business quickening has affected translation turnaround times , with agencies eager to have translations returned as soon as possible, sometimes inside a few hours for a short project. 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 public press to lower their rates in order to remain competitive, 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 translatingIf 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, equally 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-ever-changing personality of the job appeals to many people, since no day at the office is exactly like another.Another positive aspect of the job is that most translation clients encourage their translators and treat them as professionals who deserve to be fairly paid for their work. heretofore in the most common language combinations, the supply of qualified and opened (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 word-painting for translators and interpreters. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that employment prospects for translators and interpreters should grow faster than the average for all oc cupations 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 finance, computer software or legal contracts.There are even translators who specialize in seemingly slur areas like fisheries management, shopping mall construction, stamps, or groundwater hydrology. Still others position themselves as 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 inevitable, and the smaller the translator pool, the less incentive 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 translation 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 days, and some seven-day projects mixed in as well. Most translators working in the United States today work on business and techni cal documents, rather than publications. Although most translators in the U. S. are independent contractors, full-time jobs for translators and interpreters do exist, particularly in areas such as appeal and health care interpreting, web circumscribe translation, software muddle, and translating and interpreting for the United States Governments various agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency and National 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 segment 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 non-literary book projects. Localization translators are a rapidly growing 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, used to be confined loosely to computer software.Now, software repair is probably the largest segment of the location market, but its certainly not the only segment. Businesses may hire localization 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 parcel Localization 27 A sub-specialty within the translation and localiza tion industry is software localization, the process of translating software user 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 throughout the world now expect their software to be in their own language, and will naturally be more interested in purchasing software or visiting 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 currently one of the fastest-growing sectors within the translation industry as a whole. In addition, localization breeds localization a localize web browser utomatically creates a need for localise 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 the Localization attention 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 check up on 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 ship clients. First, lets look at how translators work through agencies. A translation spot, which may also refer to itself as a localization influence, translation company, or translation bureau, has its own roster of clients and sub-contracts their translation work to undividedist freelance translators.The influence handles the project management end of things, interacts directly with the translation client and (hopefully) pays the translator and deals with any collections issues. Ideally, the translation elbow room should pay its freelance translators when their invoices come due ( usually 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 register w ith 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 dis secretive who the agencys clients are, or the nature of the assignments that they work on.Like translators themselves, translation agencies can be either very general, 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 translate some measure of job security. When you work for an agency, you dont normally have to go along with the end client directly, and in many c ases the agency may even forbid 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 instead of managing the project and handling the clients questions. Also, an agency that becomes a regular client may be able to let you with steady work, and will often pay you even if the client is late in paying them. A good agency project passenger vehicle understands the nature of translation work, and asks the client in advance to clarify 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 animal trainers are or have been translators themselves.Agencies also provide some amount of 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 unanticipated event. If something like this happens, the agency can often find a reliever translator or editor to step in, which is a responsibility that locomote 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 No when they call you on Friday afternoon with a big project due Monday, disrupting your planned ski trip or home improvement 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 discount on the payment 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, sometimes 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 middleman involved. A direct client might be a shoe 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 a n 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. luff clients may also be able to provide large volumes of work if their turnaround time allows for it. Whereas a translation agency will often split a large project between several translators to get it done faster, a direct client might be instinctive 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 uncoerced to let you act as a 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 t ranslation agency. There are some disadvantages in working for direct clients as well. When you work through an agency, its the project managers job to explain 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 agencys 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 birth 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 INTERPRETING 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 moneyyou simply have to handle it yourself, or hire a collection agency if things turn really sour. All of these aspects are worth 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 individuals function somewhat 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 front 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 explore a ca reer 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 has several 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. coincident 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 host-type settings. Interpreting demands very different skills than translation. While translators are stereotypically detail-oriented introverts who dont mind spending an hour conclusion 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 literally in the spotlight, standing next to a court witness, hospital patient or head of state and communicating for him or her. Until the approach 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. hotshot major difference between interpreting and translation is that interpreters often work in both 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 elite 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 observer 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 tha t 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 pose 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 authorized documents such as birth certificates may be billed by the page. Many translators have a minimum show for small projects, for example a flat fee for projects up to 25 0 words. Its also common for translators to add a premium for a rush project, or to offer a discount for a large project or ongoing work. The substantial per-word rate depends on your language c)oamndbispe-tlz(),andsowhtyurcliensa willing to pay.Asking How much do translators charge? is like asking, How big is a ball of yarn? The variation in translation rates 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 fear of being targeted by just actions. If you work for translation agencies, there may not be much room for negotiation on rates, and setting your rates may be more a matter 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 standard rate.Some agencies will also tell you up front that 34 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS youre pick up to specify 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% below 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 author and experienced translators and interpreters. At the international, national, and local levels, professional associations allow you to network with colleagues, pursue continuing education workshops and attend conferences related to the field. They also improve your credibleness as a linguist. As one agency manager comments, 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 certification isnt offered in your languages, belonging 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 consume to join. Benefits for ATA members include a listing on the ATA website, a subscription to the monthly clip ATA PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS 35 Chronicle, reduced rates to attend ATA conferences and seminars, and various professional benefits such as acknowledgment 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 certificate 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 $145 per year. 1. 9. 2 National Association of Ju diciary 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 interpreting and legal translation professions. NAJITs website also includes a helpful list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about court interpreting. 2006 individual dues are $105 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 publisher GuildCommunications 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 fate literary 36 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS translators and 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 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 Conferen ce 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 website contains many helpful articles and links 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.. Reliable and unvarying certification is one of th e most CERTIFICATION 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 dependent translator or interpreter. In some cases, linguists who have earned a certificate in translation or interpreting refer to themselves as certified, while to others, certified means having passed a nationally standardized examination.There is a great deal of enmity 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 assort 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 cou rt systems it is now difficult to find work as an English 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 legion(predicate) 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, 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 represen ts a somewhat artificial environment in which youre asked to demonstrate your skills.For instance, although the ATA is currently act the possibility of offering computerized certification exams, the exam currently must be handwritten, something 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 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