What Do You Do For A Living?
I quit my 9-5 as a translation line manager last summer. I decided to start up my own translation business, and I have worked as a freelance translator ever since. I translate from English to Norwegian, my subject fields of choice are IT, software, hardware, website content, and support articles.
I mainly work for translation agencies, this means that I never have any contact with the end clients, all my communication is with project managers at the agency. This has its own pros and cons, but having worked at an agency myself, I'm used to the lingo and the expectations, so it suits me just fine.
I know I could make a lot more money if I went straight to the end clients, but it's difficult as a technical translator to score those kind of deals. It's probably easier for literary translators as it's a little easier to figure out who to contact if you want to translate a book, than figuring out who to contact if you want to translate the user interface of a cool app you discovered. You know what I mean?
Funnily enough, I rarely get projects within my subject field. These days I mostly work on texts related to the travel industry and the entertainment industry. I'm not complaining, it's fun to challenge myself creatively and learn new terminology. But of course I'd be able to work faster and take on more projects if I got to work with more familiar subjects.
I think the most amusing thing about freelancing so far is experiencing the translation industry "from the other side". At my old job, I spent a lot of time proofreading work done by freelancers. Writing up quality reports, providing feedback, attending meetings trying to figure out why people's translations sucked. Because we mostly thought our freelance translators delivered crap. Hopefully I've not become one of those freelancers.
I work from home, and I'm very happy about that. A friend of mine is a freelance graphic designer, and working from home makes him go all stir crazy. He is desperate to find a proper office space, preferably shared with others. I'm not there yet. And honestly, I don't think I'll ever crave a separate office space. It's been cold out, so most days I sit huddled up with my legs under the kotatsu to keep warm while I work, when it's warm, I usually work standing up using my dresser as a desk. One room flat life.
Most of my workday is spent translating in my CAT tools. Each agency has its preference, so the tool depends on the client. I bought a license for the tool we used at my office (I've spent hours upon hours getting certified to use those tools, it would be stupid to just walk away from all of that), I have also bought a license for a specific tool required by an agency that sends me a ton of work. The software can be really expensive, but if you're a good translator, you'll make that money back very quickly. The agencies won't send you work if you don't have the tools, simple as that.
When I'm not translating or answering work related e-mails (which makes me all giddy, btw), I browse ProZ, which is a networking site for professional translators. I've gotten a lot of good projects through this site. I'm hoping some day I'll be able to score something that isn't from an agency on there.
I was very apprehensive about starting my own business. It seemed impossible, the paperwork required, the financial aspect, how would I even score projects? But it's gone a whole lot better than expected. I had a slow start, but quickly got to the point where I had to say no to interesting projects, because I was already fully booked. I think that if I were to keep it up at the rate I'm going now, I would make more money than I did at my old job (which was a middle management position at a huge international company). That's more than a little too weird for me to wrap my head around.
I've always been interested in languages, but I never thought about translation as a job until I saw the job ad that landed me the gig as translator trainee at my old office. Now I couldn't picture a more perfect career for myself. Funny how things just work out sometimes!
I mainly work for translation agencies, this means that I never have any contact with the end clients, all my communication is with project managers at the agency. This has its own pros and cons, but having worked at an agency myself, I'm used to the lingo and the expectations, so it suits me just fine.
I know I could make a lot more money if I went straight to the end clients, but it's difficult as a technical translator to score those kind of deals. It's probably easier for literary translators as it's a little easier to figure out who to contact if you want to translate a book, than figuring out who to contact if you want to translate the user interface of a cool app you discovered. You know what I mean?
Funnily enough, I rarely get projects within my subject field. These days I mostly work on texts related to the travel industry and the entertainment industry. I'm not complaining, it's fun to challenge myself creatively and learn new terminology. But of course I'd be able to work faster and take on more projects if I got to work with more familiar subjects.
I think the most amusing thing about freelancing so far is experiencing the translation industry "from the other side". At my old job, I spent a lot of time proofreading work done by freelancers. Writing up quality reports, providing feedback, attending meetings trying to figure out why people's translations sucked. Because we mostly thought our freelance translators delivered crap. Hopefully I've not become one of those freelancers.
I work from home, and I'm very happy about that. A friend of mine is a freelance graphic designer, and working from home makes him go all stir crazy. He is desperate to find a proper office space, preferably shared with others. I'm not there yet. And honestly, I don't think I'll ever crave a separate office space. It's been cold out, so most days I sit huddled up with my legs under the kotatsu to keep warm while I work, when it's warm, I usually work standing up using my dresser as a desk. One room flat life.
Most of my workday is spent translating in my CAT tools. Each agency has its preference, so the tool depends on the client. I bought a license for the tool we used at my office (I've spent hours upon hours getting certified to use those tools, it would be stupid to just walk away from all of that), I have also bought a license for a specific tool required by an agency that sends me a ton of work. The software can be really expensive, but if you're a good translator, you'll make that money back very quickly. The agencies won't send you work if you don't have the tools, simple as that.
When I'm not translating or answering work related e-mails (which makes me all giddy, btw), I browse ProZ, which is a networking site for professional translators. I've gotten a lot of good projects through this site. I'm hoping some day I'll be able to score something that isn't from an agency on there.
I was very apprehensive about starting my own business. It seemed impossible, the paperwork required, the financial aspect, how would I even score projects? But it's gone a whole lot better than expected. I had a slow start, but quickly got to the point where I had to say no to interesting projects, because I was already fully booked. I think that if I were to keep it up at the rate I'm going now, I would make more money than I did at my old job (which was a middle management position at a huge international company). That's more than a little too weird for me to wrap my head around.
I've always been interested in languages, but I never thought about translation as a job until I saw the job ad that landed me the gig as translator trainee at my old office. Now I couldn't picture a more perfect career for myself. Funny how things just work out sometimes!