| Vom Thema belegte Seiten: < [1 2 3] | No peanuts for translators Initiator des Themas: Camilla Aldini
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| Takes all sorts | Feb 3, 2023 |
Dan Lucas wrote:
People like you and Chris focus on the importance of translation as a learned skill and make the point that the domain-specific knowledge can be picked up along the way, so no biggie. People like Rachel or myself focus on the centrality of industry expertise acquired at significant cost in time and effort, while positing that if translation is a skill then it can't be that hard to acquire since they're doing well with no translation-specific training.
And so it goes, back and forth. Which side is right? Whichever one leads you to success! It's okay to have a preferred approach, but it is evidently possible for both to be effective.
Don't underestimate how much of a special case you are, though, Dan. IIRC you spent a long time in Japan actively immersed in its language and culture, and you worked in a business which requires very strong analytical and writing skills and a big brain in general. Plus, you're you.
A lot of converts to translation that I have come across lack the basic language skills to understand the ST properly and/or convey its meaning effectively in English (which to be fair also goes for many translators coming off language degrees...).
| | | | Camilla Aldini
Spanien
Local time: 09:40
Spanisch > Italienisch
+ ...
THEMENSTARTER | Thank you Radmila | Feb 3, 2023 |
Radmila Sobacic wrote:
I checked your profile, and it's quite detailed, which is great, but I would definitely skip the first sentence in your bio where you explain that after years in tourism you started the translation career. If I were a client that would turn me off, so I believe it's not something to focus on.  The other thing is, among specializations field you only mentioned Law (general), maybe you would want to add more fields, I see you took legal course at the university which can already be a great start. Besides, clients can search the proz directory filtering by specializations so you risk that they don't even see your profile.
And the third thing, if you live in Spain, maybe it would be a good idea to pitch to Spanish agencies/direct clients at this point, because the surveys have shown that one is economically better off living and working in one’s source language zone, for simple reasons of supply and demand. As far as English to Italian combination, if you want to be competitive and stand out in the crowd specialize!
And there are so many great advices here on proz forum on how to get started, so be sure to check them out, eventually they will pay off. I wish you the best of luck!
I will review my profile and also, as suggested by other colleagues, I'll try to do some networking here, as I live in the country of one of my source language....Hoping that some luck is on my side too
| | | | Camilla Aldini
Spanien
Local time: 09:40
Spanisch > Italienisch
+ ...
THEMENSTARTER
Denis Danchenko wrote:
Camilla Aldini wrote:
Dear fellow translators,
I am relatively new here, but I would like to take advantage of this space to share my frustration with you.
I have only recently entered this world, but it seems that, in order to work, I have to be willing to accept ridiculous conditions (I guess you know what I am referring to). I have applied (through this and other marketplaces) to take part in various projects, but with no response or, perhaps given my lack of experience, with "indecent proposals". I have also applied as a pro bono translator, but it seems that my language pairs have little market.
I feel stuck in a dead-end situation, or maybe I should just be more patient....Am I the only one? Would you like to share with me your first steps into the world of translation?
Thank you for listening to me...
After I jumped into translation in 2005, it took me five years of in-house work as a translator and editor to learn the ropes and gear up for freelance. Years on the staff of a large translation company have proved particularly rewarding.
Of course, I would be more than happy to work for a translation company....And I have tried to get in touch with them. But I think they are so swamped with requests for collaboration that they don't even get to read all the ones they receive. Any tip on this point?
| | | | Rachel Waddington 
Vereinigtes Königreich
Local time: 09:40
Niederländisch > Englisch
+ ...
Radmila Sobacic wrote:
I checked your profile, and it's quite detailed, which is great, but I would definitely skip the first sentence in your bio where you explain that after years in tourism you started the translation career. If I were a client that would turn me off, so I believe it's not something to focus on. The other thing is, among specializations field you only mentioned Law (general), maybe you would want to add more fields, I see you took legal course at the university which can already be a great start. Besides, clients can search the proz directory filtering by specializations so you risk that they don't even see your profile.
And the third thing, if you live in Spain, maybe it would be a good idea to pitch to Spanish agencies/direct clients at this point, because the surveys have shown that one is economically better off living and working in one’s source language zone, for simple reasons of supply and demand. As far as English to Italian combination, if you want to be competitive and stand out in the crowd specialize!
And there are so many great advices here on proz forum on how to get started, so be sure to check them out, eventually they will pay off. I wish you the best of luck!
Personally, I would say that 7 years in tourism is a great strength if this is the area you are specialising in and definitely something to highlight - especially if you can explain to your client why this matters to them.
But this just goes to show that when you ask for advice you will get a bunch of wildly different opinions and you will just have to pick the one you think sounds most plausible.
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Denis Danchenko
Ukraine
Local time: 11:40
Mitglied (2012)
Englisch > Russisch
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| My experience | Feb 3, 2023 |
Camilla Aldini wrote:
Of course, I would be more than happy to work for a translation company....And I have tried to get in touch with them. But I think they are so swamped with requests for collaboration that they don't even get to read all the ones they receive. Any tip on this point?
I took a plunge as a staff translator with an engineering company first.
An unexpectedly challenging and eye-opening experience that upturned my vision of the craft.
Three years later, I won the tender and joined a local translation company as a language lead on a two-year gig.
Basically, a 24/7 sweatshop operation signing off up to 50 kilowords a week, but a good school and a perfect springboard to 'flying solo'.
Later on, it took me another couple of years to carve a niche and start appreciating what freelance is all about.
[Edited at 2023-02-03 20:10 GMT]
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Rachel Waddington wrote:
Personally, I would say that 7 years in tourism is a great strength if this is the area you are specialising in and definitely something to highlight - especially if you can explain to your client why this matters to them.
But this just goes to show that when you ask for advice you will get a bunch of wildly different opinions and you will just have to pick the one you think sounds most plausible.
Depends on what the OP did. Waiting, say, won't be much of an asset. So best say exactly what you did, if it's at all relevant. I don't think there's much you can do in those sectors that would make you better at translating tourist brochures though to be honest... They're always extremely difficult.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgien
Local time: 10:40
Mitglied (2020)
Französisch > Niederländisch
+ ...
| Inhouse translators | Feb 3, 2023 |
Camilla Aldini wrote:
But I think they are so swamped with requests for collaboration that they don't even get to read all the ones they receive. Any tip on this point?
I believe there are nowadays way less open inhouse translator positions than there used to be. Some 20 years ago the agency I worked for had at some point at least 6 inhouse translators + 3 project managers + 2 graphic designers + an IT-guy + some interns. If I'm not mistaken today there are only 1 or 2 persons left in that company. This example is of course anecdotic, but I believe those golden agency days are long over.
| | | | jyuan_us
Vereinigte Staaten
Local time: 04:40
Mitglied (2005)
Englisch > Chinesisch
+ ...
Lieven Malaise wrote:
This example is of course anecdotic, but I believe those golden agency days are long over.
The opposite could also be true: It is now the golden time for that agency, because its owner has found ways to pocket more profits by hiring fewer staffers to work on the same amount of work, or even a higher volume.
[Edited at 2023-02-04 00:13 GMT]
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| An impossible solution | Jun 8, 2023 |
I don't participate in this forum often, but what I can tell you is that agencies want cheap rates (more often than not, they do NOT adjust for inflation), impeccable quality and impossibly tight deadlines. The story of our colleague not being able to raise rates since 2002 is very telling of this market.
And something has gotta give.
If you want someone to deliver ultrafast work for pennies, then that person either needs to make up for it working faster and harder. The... See more I don't participate in this forum often, but what I can tell you is that agencies want cheap rates (more often than not, they do NOT adjust for inflation), impeccable quality and impossibly tight deadlines. The story of our colleague not being able to raise rates since 2002 is very telling of this market.
And something has gotta give.
If you want someone to deliver ultrafast work for pennies, then that person either needs to make up for it working faster and harder. They will also have to have more clients or to raise rates.
If you want something fast and high quality, the price will fatally have to go up.
If you want something high quality and slow, you sacrifice the tight deadline.
I don't know how things are right now in this forum. But until a while ago, many people were reluctant to admit to this reality. And it is because people are trying to appease those clients that want this impossible triad that they end up not being able to live off from translation as a full-time job – this is definitely true in my Brazil.
[Edited at 2023-06-08 16:47 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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