Starting up in translation — Page 2

Beware the fine line between spamming and "reaching out"

Translators who buy email lists of industry contacts to send their CV to, beware: you could be making enemies of the very people you wish would hire you.

As editor-in-chief of Wired, an online magazine reporting on technology trends across all spheres of society, Chris Anderson is a key industry leader. So if you were promoting a new book about technology, you might think he’d be a good contact to send your press release to, right?

Wrong. Chris gets over 300 of unsolicited emails a day with just this kind of untargeted, randomly emailed information, and has resorted to drastic measures. On his blog, he has published the email addresses of anyone who has sent him “inappropriate” material over the past month. Plain as day, for all the world to see.

As always with these kinds of posts, it’s the discussion that takes place in the comments afterwards that is most interesting. Some people think he should get over it, and that unsolicited emails are a tool freelancers simply have to use if they are to compete with the big boys. Others cheer his actions, and love the idea that spam bots are likely to harvest these addresses as they crawl the web, resulting in a deluge of spam for their owners. In fact, even some of the named and shamed emailers themselves have responded, with (it must be said) some legitimate and valid explanations as to why they sent him these emails in the first place.

It’s worth pointing out too that Chris doesn’t take issue with unsolicited emails per se. He says:

…I only want two kinds of email: those from people I know, and those from people who have taken the time to find out what I’m interested in and composed a note meant to appeal to that (I love those emails; indeed, that’s why my email address is public). Everything else gets banned on first abuse.

I think many of us can see ourselves at both sides of the face-off here. Emailing agencies to look for work is a key (and often very necessary) marketing strategy for many start-up translators. But in an era of MySpace friends and Facebook pokes, it’s too easy to forget that commercial email is a whole different ballgame. Taking a legal eagle view doesn’t help as there seems to be little real, practicable guidance, especially when working across borders.

I have a few ideas of my own on this, but until I pull it into post, I’d be interested to hear: what do you think? What’s the best way to approach a potential work provider without being branded a pest?

The value of professional organisations: Another view

by Sarah Dillon

When it comes to freelancing it’s always worth considering a range of opinions, because each freelance experience is as different as the person who has it. So, as it’s basically the polar opposite to mine, I was really interested to read The Masked Translator’s advice to start-up translators regarding professional associations recently. We’ve clearly had very different experiences here and I don’t agree with all the views expressed in this post. In particular, the following point stood out for me:

If you’re just starting out and you want to be a translator, be sure you don’t take peoples’ advice too seriously without analyzing their motives in giving you the advice. [my emphasis]

Now, I’m all for assessing the value of advice and weighing things up to suit your own particular circumstances. And there’s no doubt that it would be pretty foolish to accept all claims made by vendors, for example, without digging a little deeper (caveat emptor applies to B2B too). However, I’m not (yet?) quite as cynical as the MT, so would probably modify this statement slightly: instead of getting hung up why someone is giving you advice, accept their advice and try to analyse the translation profession from their perspective instead – what is the reasoning behind their beliefs? Why might they feel the way they do? Taking this tack might mean you gain a better understanding of the industry overall and maybe even feel less bitter about it too.

For example, when I first started mixing with translators with a view to going freelance, at first it felt like a lot of translators I spoke to were trying to put me off. Many said there was little or no work due to globalisation and a flood of “bad” translators, that it was no longer possible to earn a decent living because of new translation technologies, or that you had to have many years of inhouse experience under your belt before going freelance. It would have been easy to draw a range of conclusions based on all of this – translation is a bad area to go into, translators are unsupportive, translators don’t want more translators in the profession, I won’t be able to earn an living, and so on.

But I didn’t really believe that any of these conclusions were true – partly because of my own sense of cynicism, but also partly because it just didn’t make sense to me. Surely globalisation would mean there were more opportunities for translators, not fewer? If there were so many “bad” translators out there, couldn’t I differentiate myself by being “good”? Couldn’t translation technologies benefit me as a translator too, as well as agencies and clients? and so on.

So I started to think about what must be happening to make them say and apparently genuinely believe these things, and this helped me get something from even the most negative of advice. Like this:

Yes, new technologies have meant a massive change in the way translators work on a daily basis – but as a newcomer to the profession, I don’t know how it was before, so I can more easily accept these changes. Yes, it used to be that the only route to freelancing was via many years of inhouse experience – but the world of work is changing and there are no traditional routes or roadmaps into anything anymore. And yes, globalisation is having an impact on how translators work and interact with clients – but I’m comfortable with this kind of change and believe I can make it work for me… etc. You get the idea.

Because whether we like to admit it or not, the chances are that any person who helps you has something to gain from it. And why shouldn’t they? Maybe it’s money, or an inflated sense of self-importance, or just a warm fuzzy feeling or a sense of having paid it forward. You might never know the reason, so why beat yourself up about it? Why not accept the advice that’s being offered and, instead of wondering why someone has tried to help you, put your mind to trying to understand *why* that person believes what they do instead.

Putting aside our differences of opinion around professional associations, I think The Masked Translator raises some other very good points in this post. So I’m going to finish with these words of advice, which are worth bearing in mind the next time you get advice:

Being a translator isn’t a one-size-fits-all sort of profession. Some freelance translators work only half time, some work way more than full time. Some work from home, some work from rented office space, some work from the beach or the café. Some only translate big projects like novels or 300 page technical manuals. Some only do small projects like diplomas and certificates. Some work in-house for companies or translation agencies. Some work on a contractual basis, doing documents for the government or a research institution. Some just dabble in translating poetry from languages they don’t even really speak. There are as many ways to be a translator as you can think of.

Here’s to being the same, but different!

Aim to be an expert performer, not just an expert

by Sarah Dillon

A lot of people are impressed by experts: people who somehow seem to know everything about something in particular.

But I remember my mom nurturing a cynical streak in me from an early age when, in response to my over-awed reaction to a confident young classmate, she told me to remember that “anyone who says they know everything really knows nothing. Because EVERYONE knows that no-one knows everything”. Now this may not be the catchiest nugget of wisdom ever, but it introduced me to two key ideas at an early age:

Perhaps the real clever clogs aren’t necessarily those who proclaim their expertise.
If you want to know a lot about something, there’s probably a lot you have to not know about something else. (Bear with me – it gets more concrete.)

There was a great article by John Cloud in Time Magazine last week which reminded me in a roundabout way of the wisdom of my Irish mammy. The writer argued convincingly that experience is not a predictor of performance. Gen Y proponents may well see this as fuel for the fire burning in their bellies, but I think there’s a lot more that can be pulled from of the ideas in this article. [Read more…]

To test translate or not to test translate?

by Sarah Dillon

There’s a very interesting post on test translations over here. I have my doubts about them myself, so was very interested to read this.

For the record, while I’ve not done as many test translations as Mr. Gerasimov, I have done my fair share and my experience has been pretty much in line with his, i.e. agencies inform me I am on their “freelance list” but I never hear from them again, or I get contacted with jobs well below my usual rates. Generally, I’m left wondering why I ever bothered. And then there was the agency who insisted on contacting me at 4.30pm every Friday for a period of about 6 months with a series of 5,000 – 6,000 word jobs due in for 9am the following Monday, even when I had told them that I didn’t work weekends… given I was usually working to my own COB deadlines on Fridays, I eventually decided I didn’t need the hassle and politely asked them to remove me from their database.

Nowadays, I demonstrate my abilities to potential clients in other ways, e.g. with references, extracts from prior translations (suitably sanitised), etc. and so far, all my clients have been happy with this. But overall, the advice I suggested in this post last year still stands, especially when it comes to doing test translations.

Finally, I don’t like plain old them-against-us posts, and it’s only fair to say that I can understand why agencies feel they need to ask for test translations. But there are loads of other ways to demonstrate your competence, and experience has taught me that nine-and-a-half times out of ten, test translations are a complete waste of time.

6 top tips for translators to achieve Chartered Linguist (Translator) status

by Sarah Dillon

Update May 2010: Note this does not constitute official information. Please check the relevant body for information on current requirements.

Here are a couple of things to bear in mind if you are thinking of working towards Chartered Linguist (translator) status, picked up at a training event I attended in London in early 2008. Remember, it’s still a relatively new process so it’s important to keep an eye on latest information as it’s released from the relevant professional bodies.

1. Not all translators should be chartered linguists.

A chartered linguist has to demonstrate:

1. a high level of competence e.g. by being a qualified member of the ITI or CIOL
2. a willingness to maintain their skills e.g. through ongoing, verified CPD and
3. a willingness to be reviewed by their peers e.g. at an interview stage of the chartered status process.

It’s a three-pronged approach, and if you’re not up to strictly following any of these three elements, no matter how good your reasons (and I can think of a few valid ones), then chartered linguist status is probably not for you. But that does not have to be a bad thing – remember, for all the hype, chartered status does NOT test your abilities as a translator, as you are not required to prove the quality of your work in any way. It is your qualified membership of a professional body that verifies this, and as such, being a chartered linguist is no better than being an MITI or MCIL. It’s just a compliment to these other professional qualifications.

2. Before applying, check if you could qualify for chartered status through any other body. In recognition of the realities of working life for a vast majority of translators in the UK, you don’t need to be a full-time translator to apply for chartered status. However, translation does need to be your main professional activity. So, say you’re a multilingual engineer who translates “on the side” for anything up to one or even two days a week, for example, then you may be better off looking into how you could become a chartered engineer instead. In fact, this would be an even better way to market your specialisms as a translator to agencies and could see you command the highest rates. If you’re desperate to prove your dedication to languages, then join the CIOL, wait for them to introduce the remaining two categories of chartered linguists and see if these will suit you better.

3. Don’t apply just because you meet the requirements now. You need to provide evidence of the volume of work carried out for the five years prior to your application (the “qualifying period”) in order to qualify initially, but then you’ll need to show evidence that you are maintaining these levels in future years to retain your registration. If your volume of work drops in any one year, you’ll need to have a good reason for this (e.g. parental leave) and be prepared to present it to the review panel for consideration. Otherwise you could find yourself spending a lot of money on a lengthy process, only to have to re-apply again in the future.

4. Starting out? Join the CIOL first. To prospective translators considering which professional body to join, I would say this: join the Chartered Institute of Linguists first, and concentrate on working towards meeting the requirements for qualified member status with them. To achieve chartered status, you must be a qualified member of one of three recognised professional associations in the UK. For translators, this means you need to be an MITI of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, OR an MCIL of the Institute of Linguists. Now, this gives the impression that these two levels of membership are equal when clearly they’re not. With a postgrad degree in translation, you can gain MCIL after one year’s professional experience in any job requiring the use of languages. MITI, on the other hand, requires a minimum of three years’ professional translation work following your postgrad, PLUS a pass in a professional assessment exam which is far from a walk in the park. Given you are required to apply for chartered status via the organisation you first joined, it makes sense to join the body through which it is easiest to achieve this. It’s an interesting little wrinkle in an otherwise well-thought out process, but not one that realistically could have been avoided for various political reasons.

5. If you’ve been shoddy on keeping CPD records, submit your application before 1 September 2009. There’s currently a sort of grace period in helping translators meet the requirements for CPD. Instead of having to present records for the 5 years prior to application, as is formally required, the admissions panel is currently considering applications with less than 3 years of records. So if you have 5 years’ full-time translation experience (or its equivalent in part-time experience), meet all the other requirements but haven’t kept your CPD details, then it’s worth pulling your socks up and getting an application in early. Incidentally, you are not expected to submit your actual CPD booklet – a page or so of A4 with a list of all your training is considered sufficient.

6. If you don’t live and/or work in the UK, chartered status may not be worth it. Chartered status is not legally recognised outside the UK, and it is not a form of government accreditation. Unlike in some countries such as Germany, there is no government accreditation for translators in this country. This is because the common law legal system does not allow for this (as opposed to civil law legal systems).

So good luck if you go for it! And I’d love to hear from anyone who has gone through the process – what they thought of it, the interview, toughest requirements to meet, etc. Get in touch at sarah at dillonslattery dot com.

11.02.08: edited for clarity

30.01.2011: edited for clarity

Are professional bodies worth the effort?

by Sarah Dillon

Most would-be translators find online translation communities such as Proz or Translators Café pretty early on in their career. They fill out the necessary forms, create the relevant profiles and spend hours lurking on the discussion boards.

But I’m always surprised at how few students and career starters join a proper association for professional translators, such as the American Translators Association, or the UK’s Institute of Translation and Interpreting. (See here for a lengthy list of options worldwide.)

I appreciate that the application process is decidedly offline compared to the online communities, and I know it’s not easy to contact colleagues for references. But really, nothing worth having is easy.

These associations are in a league of their own when it comes to honing your craft and engaging with the profession. They usually do a pretty good job of outlining the key benefits of membership for themselves (see examples here, here and here), but there are other benefits which are not quite as obvious. For example:

Being accepted for membership gives you a sense of validation. This is because professional bodies often (and quite rightly) have demanding membership requirements. When you meet them, it can give your confidence a well-deserved and very welcome boost. Also, while the extra letters after your name won’t necessarily impress your clients (see proviso below), they may give you a little extra kudos among family and friends who don’t really believe that working from home is real work at all.

Membership is valued by exactly the kind of clients you want – that is, those who are aware of what it means to be a translator, and are therefore more likely to be prepared to pay a fair rate for your services.

It’s a great way to build relationships with other translators. There’s a lot more value in this than you might think. After word of mouth, my second most important source of work has been other translators. It’s a welcome surprise to see how willing others are to pass work your way and give you a chance to prove yourself. Even more satisfying is the feeling you get when you are in a position to pay it back and do the same for other translators.

You have instant access to a vast body of experts. No matter what translation, business or freelance-related problem you are facing, chances are you have access to someone who has already been through it and is more than happy to offer advice. Even better, it is often country and/ or language specific – invaluable when it comes to sorting out your tax or banking issues, for example. And as membership is restricted, information shared is likely to be a lot more reliable and transparent than you might find in a public forum.

Professional bodies can be good for your social life. Freelance translation is a pretty solitary pursuit. If meeting people is a top priority for you, then joining a translation association probably isn’t the only thing you should do to help with this. You may have to travel long distances to attend events, some associations are more active than others, and each group is will be as different as the people in it. Saying that, I often see recently established translators quickly absorbed into the social scene of their local networks. Over time, these connections can be invaluable.

If you’re serious about being a translator, joining a proper professional association is a must.

These are a few of my favourite things

by Sarah Dillon

Lucy Kellaway speaks about the joys of fresh stationary, gossip and lattees in her FT.com management podcast dated 7.10.07. I thought it was funny because in listing the small but important pleasures of office life, she mentions many of the things I consciously try to recreate here in my home office – to varying degrees of success. Sure, the coffee’s better here at home, but the thrill of playing a bit part in a mini soap-opera is just not the same when the only other actors are Pat the Postman, Ed the Electricity Meter Reader and Chu the local Shop Keeper.

Lucy’s full list includes:

* enjoying lattees with lids and eating danish pastries at your desk
* doing email in the morning before anyone gets into the office
* a really comfortable chair at just the right angle and height
* a new packet of paper for the printer
* a fully stocked stationary cupboard, with just the kind of pens and battery sizes you need
* playing a bit part in your very own office soap-opera
* air conditioning in summer
* IT helpdesks
* doing the supermarket shop during work (much more satisfying than on the computer at home)
* ego boosters from colleagues, including generally being noticed by other people

I think it’s a great idea to make a list of the little things that bring pleasure to your working day. Mainly because it’s good to know what you like in life, generally. But also because these small pleasures are often transferrable, so can be re-created or maintained should you ever face of period of transition. After all, why throw the baby out with the bathwater, or indeed waste your energy re-inventing the wheel?

But if you find your morning routine includes getting fully suited and booted before kissing your partner and/or cat goodbye, only to take a walk around the block and return to work at your home office or kitchen table, I’d suggest you re-consider whether homeworking is really the thing for you.

Join the translation neighbourhood watch

by Sarah Dillon

Originally published in December 2007

When I first started freelancing, it took me a long time before I felt like a Proper Translator. This was not because I lacked the confidence or even the workload to use the title (I was lucky enough to have a full book of well paid, satisfying work after about 3 months). It was because I just wasn’t doing the kind of work I thought I *should* be doing.

Looking back, my expectations were as realistic as they could have been at that point. I had spent two years carefully preparing for my freelance career. I had spoken to lots of supportive professionals, completed work placements in two different translation companies and dabbled in a reasonable number of small, paid translation jobs. I certainly didn’t have a pie-in-the-sky ideal of sitting around sucking on the end of a quill, or dashing through the corridors of the UN à la a translator-version of the film The Interpreter. But where were the translation jobs I was expecting? Where were the texts, the documents, the written words awaiting my careful rendering?

I eventually realised that that’s just a tiny part of how the translation world works these days. A whole raft of ancillary work has sprung up around the field of translation. Experienced translator Hugh Morgan summed it up perfectly in his paper at the 2007 Portsmouth Conference when he referred to these “other” kinds of work as near-neighbours of translation – neighbours that get looked down upon often and very unfairly. Proofreading, editing and revising are the usual suspects, but there’s so much more out there, including summary writing, semantic audits, analyses and a whole raft of other things that I probably haven’t heard of yet.

So here’s my list of top 5 things I think all new translators should know about Near Neighbours Of Translation (or NNOTrans):

1. By looking down on NNOTrans, you are cutting off your nose to spite your face.

NNOTrans don’t get the air-time they deserve because too many translators think that anything less than “pure” translation is a waste of their skills. As an eager newcomer to the profession, I found this difficult to get my head around at first. I was embarrassed and didn’t know if I could call myself a translator, when I wasn’t doing what many translators seem to mean when they refer to translation. I’m glad I got over myself and got on with it, and I’d advise other newcomers to do the same. If you like what you do and you’re drawing on your translation skills, no matter how remotely, where’s the problem? Instead, feel excited about being at the forefront of industry changes.

2. NNOTrans are the way to go to ensure career longevity.

I don’t know about you but I certainly don’t want to spend my whole career looking over my shoulder, afraid of being replaced by a machine or another professional working in a country where the cost of living is lower than the UK (i.e. most countries, then). Two ways to avoid this are be fussy about the kind of work you take on, and specialise. Translators are skilled at pulling together different threads of communication from a range of specialist fields, and that’s even before they bring a second language into the mix. There aren’t many professionals who can lay claim to these kind of skills, so let’s forget about restrictive job titles and use this to our advantage.

3. NNOTrans often pay better than per-word translation.

Hugh put it beautifully when he said this kind of work has “a more generous margin”. I say, unless you translate in a highly specialised field and/or are lucky enough to have a portfolio of top-dollar direct clients, you’ll probably find you earn more per hour for a NNOTrans project than a traditional “source-word in, target-word out” translation. There’s more to consider than “just” the money, of course, as few of us go freelance for the fame and fortune. But think about how these other sources of work can give you the breathing space you need in those heady first days of freelancing, to enable you to hold out for the kind of translation work you really want to spend your time on.

4. NNOTrans can be more more enjoyable than “pure” translation.

When I first started out, I saw NNOTrans as a good way to pay my bills, while also getting my foot in the door with work providers. I thought once the “real” translation work started rolling in, I’d drop them and move on to greener pastures. The real translation work did start coming in, but in the meantime I’d found my NNOTrans projects had evolved. My professional expertise was being requested on a range of projects and I was booked well in advance, so my time was respected and I was well compensated. No stressful deadlines, unreasonable demands or lowly rates. What’s not to love about that? I love translating, but I enjoy jobs which involve near-neighbours of translation too.

5. Use NNOTrans to make you a better translator

NNOTrans projects can be a great source of cross-fertilisation, a way to gain new perspectives, skills and ideas. You could even use them as a way to hone some of the sub-skills of translation – writing, analysis, proofreading, listening skills, applied linguistics, etc. Look at the bigger picture of how this kind of work can get you to where you want to be.

So check out those translation neighbours – you may surprise yourself and make friends for life.

It’s a jungle out there: negotiating the transition from translation student to freelance professional

by Sarah Dillon

Reflection is a key element of progression at any stage of a translator’s career. Evidence for this, if needed, can be seen in the continuing professional development (CPD) requirements for professional bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Linguists, which require evidence of not only attendance at events, but also of actual reflection on the process of learning. So I was very interested in a paper at the recent Portsmouth Translation Conference on how students can use self-reflection to negotiate their transition from translation students to professionals.

Janet Fraser, from the University of Westminster*, began by pointing out that, as a result of the diverse and changing role of the translator today, new translators need to think carefully about where they “fit in” to the profession and negotiate their entry accordingly.

How does one become a member of a profession, and what is a “professional”?
Based on prior studies carried out in this area, Fraser suggested that as a general rule, members of a profession tend to demonstrate a high degree of competence and expertise, but have substantial autonomy in how this is exercised. They are also characterised by freedom from supervision and a relatively high regard in society. Integrity is also a requirement within a profession, combined with a certain amount of peer regulation, often through professional bodies. Sound familiar? I’m sure I’m not the only freelance translator who thinks so.

In terms of education, professionalism also generally (although not always) implies someone with a BA or postgraduate degree. However, formal study really is just the tip of the iceberg within a profession, as true professional skills are acquired through long-term practice. Ultimately, professionalism requires a higher level of thinking skills than those developed through formal education. It requires individuals to continuously think about what they observe, to assess the shared body of knowledge, and to then apply this to themselves and their practice. So for those of you who thought graduation was the end, think again…

Another interesting point made by Fraser was that freelance translators are generally considered by labour researchers to be very successful examples of portfolio workers, not least because their careers tend to follow a process of personal development, as opposed to being a simple hierarchical series of jobs.

How can the student translator acquire these higher order thinking skills?
Fraser proposes self reflection as a means of developing the thinking skills that characterise a professional. She asserted that self-reflection doesn’t have to be new age or touchy-feely. It’s a well established process of making a public body of knowledge your own and ensuring that you don’t just have an experience, you also make sense of it and learn from it. Fraser also discussed some of the barriers to self-reflection, along with suggestions on how to overcome them. She also mentioned further useful references in this area, for example by Jennifer Moon.

All in all, in felt this was a very informative talk, relevant to both newcomers and more experienced translators alike.

For more information on keeping a learning journal, start here, here and here.

* Full disclosure!

28.11.07: edited for clarity

Spit happens sometimes

by Sarah Dillon

GREAT post by Kristen Fischer over at Freelance Switch addressing something no freelance translator really likes to own up to… making mistakes and more importantly, dealing with clients who drop you as a result. (Incidently, I have a feeling that this may not be such an issue for our inhouse brethren, given that extra layer of comfort between client and translator i.e. employer, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong on this…)

I especially like the acknowledgement that, regardless of ability and talent, real life is not always ideal and clients *do* have a role to play in ensuring their freelancers produce the best possible job.

…I’ve also noticed that on my big projects when I’m working with a client who gives me ample time to complete a project, and comes in with a positive vibe, there are no typos. Not so for this other client. Because of all the work they slam on me and the tight deadlines—coupled with a bad attitude—mistakes happen…

Aaaah yes. I’m afraid I too have learnt the hard way that I am only human and that clients can’t have it all. Have a look at the post and the comments that follow – I reckon they contain valuable advice for freelance translators at all stages of their career.