To one and to all: Welcome to Freelance Translators from Scratch!
My partner and I are currently in the process of developing ourselves into a freelance translating business/team. Between the two of us, we have fluency in English, French, German, and Japanese.
Possible language pairs would be English<>French, German>English, German>French, Japanese>French, Japanese>English. Having said that, and in all humility, I think we have something to work with here, don’t you?
Currently, we live in Japan, but Caroline and I hail from Japan/France and Canada, respectively. We don’t want to be tied to one specific location at all times, for many reasons. To give you but one: We have family in different countries and don’t want to be apart from one or the other for too long.
Why a blog, you ask? In three simple words: We need help.
It seems that this blog can be useful to us and to others in the future. It will document every step along the way from the very beginning (thus the “from Scratch” part of the blog title). Others who have similar aspirations for their own professional lives will have this blog to help guide them. But, the main thing is, we cannot do it alone
We need the help of kind and generous souls who have been down this road and struggled to become established as freelance translators. It is our wish to get connected with (and help further link together) the freelance translation web/blogosphere, to find help with getting on our feet, as well as contribute to the ongoing development of a community of bloggers in the freelance translation field who want to make knowledge of the profession more accessible.
Having said this, we are requesting any help you can possibly provide in guiding us from where we are now to where we hope to be. We are not afraid of hard work and in no real rush. We are in our 30s now and have enough life and travel experience to know the things we want for us and we have developed the patience to do things well.
What do we need?
We need advice from people who were once in our shoes, so to speak. Please contribute, if you feel inspired.
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13 responses so far ↓
Michael // March 13, 2008 at 12:56 am |
Mark, I started a translation business in Tokyo in 1980 and a design and photo typesetting business in 1982, both quite successful. I did so after a number of years of freelance translating for agencies and direct clients. Then (and it has not changed for me over the years) all business came from word of mouth. We invested heavily in networking, spending a lot of spare time volunteering and doing pro-bono projects. Japan has changed since then, but the basics of networking haven’t. I don’t know what kind of organizations exist today, but if you are not active in at least two or three of them, you are missing out on opportunities.
My 2 cents.
Tamer Elzein // March 21, 2008 at 9:57 am |
Hi Mark, it’s me again
Listen, I’m thinking about writing an article about “translators helping translators,” and I was wondering whether it’d be alright for me to use your blog as one of the examples.
Let me know what you think
Wilfredo Santamaria // June 3, 2008 at 7:06 am |
Hey! I’m starting the trip down the same road. Except, I’m trying to translate between English and Spanish.
Max // June 18, 2008 at 8:47 pm |
Datawords is a translation agency that could be a great example for you. They started in 1999-2000 and hire now more than 80 people!
Take a looh at their website: http://www.datawords-translation.co.uk/historicalbackground
Thanks for this blog and good luck !
transubstantiation // June 25, 2008 at 4:36 pm |
Happy to have found your blog.
http://transubstantiation.wordpress.com/
Maristela Fountain // August 1, 2008 at 1:27 am |
Hello, Living in Colorado I am looking to break into the english spanish translation. I am fluent and looking to get started. I would love any advise.
Human Based Translation // October 6, 2008 at 7:03 pm |
Try this advise… Do not take on work you can’t handle. Especially in a small community of translators and translation consumers, the surest way to sabotage your emerging freelance business is to take on something that’s too technical, too long, or too complex. Clients will appreciate your honesty and use you for projects that you can handle. Sometimes this involves protecting clients from hiring you for work that *they* think that you can do, such as translating into your second (third, etc) language. Politely explain that this work is best handled by a native speaker of that language and offer a referral. http://www.tomedes.com/
Legal Translator // January 27, 2009 at 1:31 am |
Great blog… and good luck with everything – it can be difficult in the first few years but well worth the efforts – and with most things in life you get out what you put in.
Tarie Kertodikromo // February 26, 2009 at 6:13 pm |
Hii all! I’m Tarie, a freelance translator in Indonesia. Really would like to know more other translators from other countries. I actually just resigned from my permanent job and decided to be a freelance translator. So far I have got translation job from my friends. I still need to learn how to market my translating service.
Good to share with you, Guys!
Jess // April 21, 2009 at 2:45 am |
Hi Tarie,
Me too I resigned from my job and I am starting to consider freelancing. I live in the UK.
Please feel free to use my email address if you need advice or share ideas.
Speak to you soon, Jess
Noha // May 8, 2009 at 2:18 am |
wish u the best of luck, am starting my own business too. this is a great blog, about which I’ll talk of on my website God’s will.
and again good luck
Litterate // May 21, 2009 at 6:40 am |
Hi all
I am going through the same process: I am a Spanish translator, my languages English, Spanish, Galician and French.
I think it’s a great idea to share about our experiences so feel free to contact me at any time.
Bolaji // June 12, 2009 at 7:32 pm |
Hi All,
I am Bolaji from Lagos Nigeria, its good coming across this nice blog. i am a freelance translator of english to my native languages.my native language is yoruba and also i can translate and interprete to igbo and hausa which my second and third language.i have gotten many translation jobs from companies in the usa and uk and would like to partner or work with any one that can get me more of my native language jobs.
Good to meet you all and happy translating! ! !