Tips for Launching a Translation Career

Many bilingual or trilingual freelance writers "moonlight" as translators for various companies and individuals. Launching a translation career is very similar to starting a career in any other type of writing except that it requires different skill sets. You'll not only need to know how to write colorfully in English, but also in the second language.

Maya Rodriguez, a friend of mine from El Salvador, started her translation career by accident. She was ghostwriting a novel for one of her clients and when she was finished, he asked if she knew any good translators. She asked which language he needed the text translated into, and he told her Spanish. She took the opportunity to make extra money and she hasn't looked back since.

"You have to market yourself as a writer before you can [launch] a translation career," Rodriguez says. "It isn't as simple as just making sure the book makes sense. It has to retain the same literary value as it had in English."

If you're thinking of launching a translation career, your first step is to study translations done by other writers. This will help you understand the level of creative license required to translate text from one language into another and it can give you an idea of the level of work involved. "It takes me about six months to translate an entire non-fiction book," Rodriguez laments. "Longer if I didn't write it in the first place."

After you get an idea for what translation is like, you can begin looking for clients. This can be as simple as answering job ads on freelance message boards or marketing your services through your website. Of course, if you aren't interested in freelance work, you'll need to apply for full-time translation jobs at government agencies, corporations or non-profit organizations. ForeignWord.com is a great place to start.

Once you've interested a few prospective clients, you will probably be asked to provide a sample. This can either be an excerpt from previous work you've done or you can offer to write a section of text from the client's work. Either way, expect to spend a few days proving your worth as a translator before being offered a job. Of course, this won't continue on forever; once you earn a name in the industry, you'll be turning down clients because you have too much work.

You'll also need to decide how you want to structure your payment policies. Translation services tend to run between $0.10 and $0.15 per word, though they could go higher or lower depending on your experience. If you don't want to charge by the word, some clients will agree to pay by the hour, but don't be surprised if a per-word rate is requested. It is easy enough for a freelance translator to "pad" the number of hours he works, and even if you wouldn't ever do that, your clients have a right to be suspicious of hourly rates.

The most important thing about launching a translation career, however, is to continue marketing your services. Just because you've interested one client doesn't mean the second is around the corner. Let all of your friends and family members know that you have begun translating for hire, and make sure to answer ads on the Internet requesting translators.