Translator's Work

[Amlir]

The other day I was thinking about how to make money from my knowledge. I decided to start with freelance translation of articles. I read a lot on the subject, watched a few videos, but I still have questions. After all, many articles often reek of advertising for certain courses. Exploitation of inexperienced newbies is also plentiful.

As far as I understand, there are basically two variants of freelancing:

1.Self-employed search for a clientele -
In fact, there are sites that allow workers and employers to find each other, but in the case of such amateurism all the risks are on you. The employer can easily accept your job and not pay or disappear altogether. Such sites try to make demands on employers to check their reliability, but because of the lack of orders from their side, translators often turn to the wrong people.

2.The use of the so-called "Translator's Bureau" -
Intermediaries provide the translator with a clientele, while taking the risk of being scammed. If they make a mistake with the employer, they pay you out of their own pocket. True, they take these risks for half your rate.... Many people consider this option to be pure rip-offs.



There are questions for people who understand this industry. If there are any here.

Objective: To establish yourself in good standing with a company that needs this kind of work all the time. You need to prove your reliability and ability to work, but you need at least the opportunity to do so. That's the problem - no one needs you without experience, and you have to start somewhere.

Question: Where to begin?

P.S. If anyone has had resounding success in this field: villas, yachts, umbrella cocktails and the like, please go back to the time when it was about bread and butter and tell me how you began to achieve this ruthless and crushing success .

[Corinnebelle]

Do you have some good quality samples of your work? Maybe you can show that to prospective employers to demonstrate your ability that your translations sound much better than a computer!

[Siobhan688078]

The other day I was thinking about how to make money from my knowledge. I decided to start with freelance translation of articles. I read a lot on the subject, watched a few videos, but I still have questions. After all, many articles often reek of advertising for certain courses. Exploitation of inexperienced newbies is also plentiful.

As far as I understand, there are basically two variants of freelancing:

1.Self-employed search for a clientele -
In fact, there are sites that allow workers and employers to find each other, but in the case of such amateurism all the risks are on you. The employer can easily accept your job and not pay or disappear altogether. Such sites try to make demands on employers to check their reliability, but because of the lack of orders from their side, translators often turn to the wrong people.

2.The use of the so-called "Translator's Bureau" -
Intermediaries provide the translator with a clientele, while taking the risk of being scammed. If they make a mistake with the employer, they pay you out of their own pocket. True, they take these risks for half your rate.... Many people consider this option to be pure rip-offs.



There are questions for people who understand this industry. If there are any here.

Objective: To establish yourself in good standing with a company that needs this kind of work all the time. You need to prove your reliability and ability to work, but you need at least the opportunity to do so. That's the problem - no one needs you without experience, and you have to start somewhere.

Question: Where to begin?

P.S. If anyone has had resounding success in this field: villas, yachts, umbrella cocktails and the like, please go back to the time when it was about bread and butter and tell me how you began to achieve this ruthless and crushing success .

First of all, I don't know which country you are operating in, but with regard to the UK, you need to make sure that you have the right qualifications to be a "translator". The ideal scenario would be to have a degree in linguistics, or a degree in the foreign language you want to operate in, other specifications like law or a scientific subject are also useful. You should then obtain a diploma in translation through the Chartered Institute of Linguists as a postgrad level qualification. There is also an Institute of Translation and Interpreting where you can get further information. The field of freelance translating is really crowded and competitive these days, as so much learning had to move online during the pandemic, and a lot of private language teachers found their work drying up for obvious reasons and tried to offer translation services instead to tide them over...Going self-employed without an already established customer base is even more of a minefield for the uninitiated, so I would approach it with caution. Any of the "Online Translators working from home" adverts I would just ignore and take with a pinch of salt - they are usually agencies trying to cash in on the dire situation for professionals at present and just a waste of time, with you earning less than the minimum wage in many cases, if they pay you at all.
I don't want to discourage you, just a reality check. If you are determined enough to make a career of your skills and are passionate enough, I am sure you'll find a way to get there. Good luck with your endeavours