Freelance translation jobs in 2020 and how to become a translator without a degree. Work from home job online tips and pay website.
Today’s article, we going to talk about freelance translation jobs in 2020. Now working as a professional freelance translator is an attractive job these days.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics expects that jobs for translators and interpreters will increase by 17% between 2016 and 2026.
It has a huge demand and takes me for example, I’m doing business in Myanmar. I produced a lot of videos however my videos are English I want to have Burmese subtitle but there’s not a lot of good services offers to translate my video. There’s an opportunity for each country each language so I want you to catch it.
I will share a roadmap that you start working as a freelance translator. When you’re looking for jobs, it’s important to take a long-term mindset. You don’t want a bunch of one-off jobs just to pay the bills. Your purpose should be to build long-term, sustainable relationships with clients. Here are some of the topic we going to cover:
The qualification of freelance translator
Promote Your Service with Content Marketing
Pricing Your Translation Service
Where to find translation jobs
➡️ Download List Companies Hire Translator ⬅️
1. Qualification of Freelance Translator
Before I go on with the business and marketing side. I want to drill something deep into your mind. Work your craft.
Any social media or marketing strategy or networking efforts you make will be worth nothing if you don’t do this.
As a freelancer, you’re a businessperson. So, you do need business skills but we will get into that later. First, you’re a skilled professional — an artist. The most important thing you need to do is to work on your translation and writing skills.
Professional translators translate only into their native language. This ensures higher quality. Translation is not only about word for word. It involves understanding the culture and traditions of the language you translate into. Slang word and use word not to hurt people.
You can not have a deep understanding of a language unless you are a native speaker.
As a translator, you have to be a good writer in order to transfer text from one language to another.
To be a professional translator, you need to be familiar with multiple writing styles, sentence structures, synonyms and other aspects of the writing process.
The best way to learn multiple writing styles is to read more and translate more! You may need to translate several types of text including political, journalistic, literary, or sports.
If you need experience to build up your portfolio you might want to help NGO and offer your translation service for free. You can check out this website translatorwithoutborders.org
2. Promote Your Service with Content Marketing
You need to promote your service out there if you want to get client. I personally focus on video content like youtube video that you are watching right now, but if you can create a blog, infographic or podcasts, you’ll be in an even better position to attract potential clients. However, focus one thing first then expand later.
Content marketing isn’t a direct way to get client but it means you show up every day and building rapport with your audience. Here’s some example that I found on youtube:
First Channel English-Tagalog Translation
The channel about lessons for all people who struggle learning both Tagalog and English languages. Those of you don’t know tagalog is the official Philippines languages
You don’t need to show you face if you don’t want to and it only text and your voice.
Second channel Sierra Lisse
She teach how to speak malay like a local she simply want to help foreigners feel more welcome in Malaysia.
You can do like her show your face and show text. I believe you show you face and your client will trust you more with your service.
Third channel Kendra’s Language School
This channel have multiple language so if you can speak more than two language you can create like this channel
They have german language, Japanese language, Chinese language, Korean language and so much more. Again, you don’t need to show your face.
3. Pricing Your Translation Service
It’s important to set your price so you can attract client. You can set whatever prices you like, but you need to reference with the industry price standard. Here’s some of the pricing you can reference:
Pay per word rate:
This is common pricing. You calculate the word count of the source document, in most of the cases, and tell the client the total price of the translation. For example, if the per word rate is $0.10 and the document to be translated have 5000 words, the total price is $500.
Pay per Page rate:
You count the pages and calculate the price based on your rate. For example, if the per-page price is $25 and the documents to be translated are 10 pages, the total price is $250.
Pay Per Hour Rate:
The common jobs are quality assurance and proofreading jobs. For example, some translators can proofread up to 1000 words per hour.
Pay Per Character Rate:
This depends on the writing system of the language. It is used mainly for languages such as Japanese and Chinese. If you want to watch this far make sure you smash the like button for the algorithm.
Where to find translation jobs?
Here is a list of the most common translations gig websites
Proz is one of the best websites to find online translation work. It has been around for years and almost every freelance translator knows this website. It is a great place to start your freelance translation career. You can start with a free membership profile and bid in jobs when possible.
Translators Cafe is another great website. It has been around for years too, and is probably the second largest website for freelance translator work.
You will need to create a professional profile, like any other freelancing platform. Clients will post requirements and ask translators who are specialized in the area of the project to submit their bids.
SmartCat is a growing community of translators. It has a very intuitive and modern look. As a freelance translator, you can create a very attractive professional profile in SmartCat and make offers for gigs. Clients can also contact you directly if you have a strong profile.
➡️ Download List Companies Hire Translator ⬅️
If you are a beginner I highly recommend reading some books in order to understand how this industry works. One of the books I recommend is Marketing Cookbook For Translators by Tess Whitty.
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