By: Maric Vobler Thursday May 17 2012
Map: Home | Translator - Date Submitted: 2010-10-21 16:18:05 - Views: 922
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 dues as in house employees and then enjoy the reward 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 paid in house translators are hired with years or even decades of experience.
It s important to be realistic about whether the life of a freelancer is for you. While you ll have a great degree of control over where, when and how much you work, you ll also give up the security of a steady paycheck, benefits, paid time off, and a pension or employer sponsored 40IK.
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 rather than the rule. The vast majority of a translator s 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 makes repetitive strain injury one of the few work related injuries that translators are at risk for.
There are many positive sides to a translator s work environment. Compared to other work from home jobs, translation can be very interesting and well paying. Although you probably won t 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 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, it s 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 want 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 basis many translators work on their own schedule rather than from 9 to 5. A translator s eight hour day might run from 7:30 11:30 AM and 4:30 8:30 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 happens remotely, and translators can live almost anywhere. The up and down nature of most freelancers work loads also lends itself to using free time to take classes, pursue hobbies, travel or spend time with family.
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After completing their translation training programmes at higher professional education or university level, many students can’t wait to set up as a freelance translator. Viewed: 464 Times. Read More ...
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. Viewed: 922 Times. Read More ...
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 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 difficult or unpleasant to read. Viewed: 1028 Times. Read More ...
Being multilingual isn't the only skill a translator needs, but it is certainly the most important. Translators learn their languages in many different 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 intensive language courses or worked in a foreign country for several years, and it is also quite common for translators to become freelancers after working as military or government linguists. Viewed: 1186 Times. Read More ...
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. Viewed: 922 Times. Read More ...
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