How Translation Pricing Works

One of the most important matters to discuss when hiring a translator is pricing. While clients often assume that translation is the type of service that would be billed hourly, most translators charge per source word instead. In my experience, this is beneficial to both the translator and the client.

For clients, having a fixed price from the beginning helps to avoid unpleasant surprises at billing time. Translation work requires research and editing, and the amount of time required to provide a quality translation can vary greatly. Hiring a translator at an hourly rate without fully understanding the translation process or the complexity of your text could result in a final bill that is much higher than expected.

As a translator, I also find that working for a fixed price allows me to focus on doing a good job by the deadline without worrying about exactly how many minutes I’m spending on the translation. On the few occasions early in my career when I worked at an hourly rate, I felt pressured to work faster so that the client wouldn’t think I was overcharging them for my services. High-quality writing takes time and thought, and so does a high-quality translation.

When potential clients reach out to me for a price quote, I tell them my standard rate so that they can determine whether my pricing is within their budget range. At the same time, I note that I charge more for complex texts with specialized terminology and ask to review the text that they want to have translated so that I can give them an exact estimate. This transparency allows us to agree on a fair price in advance and start our business relationship with trust.

What to Expect When You Hire a Translator

Hiring a translator for the first time? Here’s a guide to what you can expect before, during and after a project if you hire me:

First, I’ll ask for a copy of the source text to be translated so that I can assess difficulty and estimate how much time will be required, as well as provide a quote (usually based on a per-word rate). If the text cannot be provided in advance, I’ll need a detailed description with information such as the text type (financial, medical, literary, etc.), word count and any special instructions.

Once we’ve agreed on a price and deadline, I’ll get to work! During the translation process, I may contact you with questions about the text. Typically, questions involve ambiguities, inconsistencies or inaccuracies I have encountered while translating. In the past, this attention to detail has helped clients not only receive an accurate translation, but also correct issues in their original text.

Depending on the size of the project, I may also provide progress updates. I strive to always meet deadlines, but in the rare circumstance that an extension is needed, I communicate it as soon as possible.

After I’ve finished the translation and carefully reviewed it for accuracy and consistency, I’ll send it to you along with any notes relevant to the translation. If you have any questions or concerns, I’ll be happy to address them. Finally, I’ll request payment as per the terms agreed to, and follow up if there are any delays.

How Translation Is Like A Puzzle

Just over a year ago, I wrote a post about why I believe translation is a fascinating career. In it, I primarily focused on how my translation career has given me the opportunity to constantly learn about new topics that I never would have learned about otherwise, as well as add diverse terminology to my personal lexicon, related to everything from Mediterranean fish species to industrial machinery.

Last week, I suddenly realized another reason I love translating: sometimes, it's like doing a puzzle! I've always been a puzzle fanatic, from jigsaw puzzles to crossword puzzles. There's something so satisfying about taking different pieces and fitting them together to create a new whole.

In many situations, translations are straightforward, and choosing the right words to convey the source text in the target language is quite simple. However, in some cases, such as a large translation I worked on last week, they can be a bit of a puzzle.

There are many reasons why the translation I was working on last week felt like a puzzle. First of all, the document I was translating was for a translation agency instead of the actual client. While you can often rely on getting additional context from a direct client, it's much more difficult when working through an agency. In this particular case, there was no way for me or the agency to reach out to the document's writer for more information, so I had to do a bit of detective work during the translation process.

As I've mentioned in the past, sometimes the little things can be the most difficult in translation, including grammatical aspects like gender. In this case, I was dealing with a report that referred to people either by their last names or by simply using third-person singular verb conjugations. This posed an issue because Spanish doesn't require the use of the words él and ella ("he" and "she") before conjugated verbs.

While I could have used the neutral singular "they" instead, it would have made the report much harder to read. In some cases, I found a stray él or ella with a name that allowed me to determine whether the person was female or male, so I could use phrases like "she said" and "he noticed" instead of using the singular "they". In other circumstances, the person's full name would be mentioned, but then I'd have to figure out what gender corresponded to their name.

Luckily, Spanish naming customs are helpful in that respect. Not only do Spanish speakers tend to choose from a much narrower list of names than English speakers, but they are also fairly gender-specific. From a translator's standpoint, that's incredibly helpful, as you can feel fairly confident it's accurate to refer to someone named María as "she", and José as "he". However, there were still a few stray names that I had to research online in order to determine the correct gender pronoun to use.

Another thing that made this translation like a puzzle was the fact that since I couldn't contact the original writer, I had to try to put myself in their place and see things from their perspective. In a sense, I was acting like a detective, trying to decipher their meaning. Certain sections of the report were clearly written for an audience with far more context than me, so I had to simply do my best by filling in a tentative translation while guessing their meaning. Luckily, as I worked my way through the document, additional details filled in the contextual gaps, so I was able to go back and make those tentative translations more accurate.

In the end, after a week's worth of detective work searching for the right words and the right meanings, I was able to fit all the pieces together. While the topic wasn't exactly fascinating, I still found it fun because it was a challenge, just like a good jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes when you do a translation, you might have to accept that a few pieces will be missing from the final product, but hopefully you'll manage to get enough of them together to convey the full picture.

What's the Difference Between a Translator and an Interpreter?

One of the most misunderstood things about the translation industry is the fact that translators and interpreters do two very different things. Obviously the two are connected since they both involve converting information from one language to another, but the mechanics behind both are quite different.

When meeting new people, conversations often revolve around what people do for a living. One thing I've noticed about being a translator is the fact that I have to spend much more time explaining my job than other people do, because most people simply don't know what a translator does. However, they think they do, which always leads to interesting conversations.

Quite often when I mention that I'm a translator, the person I'm talking to will launch into an explanation of how their company hires "translators" for meetings with foreign clients, or how their school has a "translator" for communicating with students who don't speak English. Naturally, this puts me in the slightly awkward position of having to explain that those "translators" are actually interpreters, who do something quite different from what I do.

So what is the difference between a translator and an interpreter?

Translators are people who translate written content from one language to another. For example, clients send me things like blog posts, articles, and documents in Spanish. I then sit at my computer and work on converting the information they contain from Spanish into English. There's generally no rush, so I have plenty of time to consult dictionaries and other linguistic resources, as well as contemplate whether or not what I've written sounds natural. I can go back and change a word or phrase as many times as I like, or even rewrite entire sections upon uncovering new information that helps explain something I've already translated.

Interpreters, on the other hand, are people who interpret speech from one language to another. In most cases (unless they're providing their services over the phone), interpreters work wherever the multilingual conversation they're interpreting is being held. For example, you'll find medical interpreters working alongside doctors in hospitals, military interpreters working alongside military units in war zones, and court interpreters working alongside lawyers and judges in courtrooms.

While translators have plenty of time to sit and ponder their word choice, interpreters are expected to communicate ideas between languages almost immediately. If they're lucky, they'll receive some information regarding the topics of discussion in advance so that they can look up key terms that might come in handy. However, much of interpreting comes down to paraphrasing what is being said, since the key is to convey the message in a timely manner. On the other hand, since translation is written, much more emphasis is placed on how individual words and phrases are translated.

As you can see, translators focus on written language, while interpreters focus on spoken language. Although both professions require good knowledge of at least two languages and share some techniques and resources, they also involve very different skills. There are undoubtedly some people out there who are both translators and interpreters, but they're quite rare.

For my part, I love translating, but found simultaneous interpreting to be completely overwhelming when I tried it out in a class session as part of my translation degree. Having to listen to speech in one language, convert it into English in my head, and then say it out loud, all at the same time, made me feel like my head was going to explode. I'm much happier sticking to the written word, just as I'm sure there are interpreters out there who are quite happy they never have to deal with written translations.

Why Isn't The Word "Internaut" More Popular?

Did you know that there's actually an English word that you can use instead of saying "internet users" or "people online"? That word is internaut, a portmanteau of "Internet" and "astronaut" which the Oxford Dictionaries define as "a user of the Internet, especially a habitual or skilled one".

However, despite the fact that this 1990s creation would be very handy in everyday use, it seems not to have gained popularity in the English language. In fact, I've never heard anyone use the word internaut in English, be it in writing or in spoken language. I only learned of its existence today because I was thinking about the Spanish word internauta, which I recently encountered in a translation.

I first learned the word internauta when I studied abroad in Spain in college. Despite never having seen the word before, it was immediately obvious what it meant, and I remember wondering at the time why we didn't have an English equivalent. It wasn't an obscure word either, as it was frequently used on television to encourage people to visit a program's website, vote for a performer in a competition, and do any number of other online activities. It also wasn't uncommon to hear a TV host say that they were going to answer questions from internautas throughout the show.

When I recently encountered the word again in a translation, I ended up just using "internet users", but I wished there was a better equivalent in English. While internaut may have made it into the dictionary, I definitely don't think it's used often enough to make it an acceptable choice in most translations.

One alternative would be the slang word surfer, although it doesn't seem to be nearly as popular as it once was. There's also the added problem that the word's standard definition refers to someone who surfs waves, not the internet.

In any case, if you ever need to say "internet users" in Spanish or Portuguese, keep in mind that you can always use the word internautas! A few other Romance languages use equivalents of this word as well, including internautes in French and Catalan, and internauti in Italian.

A Key to Freelance Success: Apply, Apply, Apply

It might seem obvious, but one key to developing a successful freelance career is applying for jobs. Constantly. Filling out applications, writing cover letters, and submitting bids for projects can be time-intensive and incredibly boring, but it really is the only way to get your career started.

When I first started freelancing, I spent hours each day looking through job postings and applying for anything and everything that seemed like it might fit my skills. While my goal was to work full-time as a translator, I also occasionally applied for copywriting and editing jobs as a way to supplement my income. I ended up getting a couple of long-term flexible copywriting jobs that weren't particularly interesting, but they were incredibly important because I always knew that if I didn't have any translation work, I could rely on them for income.

Over the past year and a half, I've done translation jobs of every type and size, from 200-word marketing translations to an ebook on web programming. Some clients have only hired me once, others have contacted me a second or third time, and a handful have become regular clients who send me work frequently. As a freelancer, the goal is obviously to have a group of regular clients who keep you busy full-time, but I think that's something that takes several years to attain.

While there are some weeks that work from regular and repeat clients manages to keep me busy, it's still incredibly important that I keep applying for jobs. However, now that I have more experience and know that I have some clients I can rely on to send work, I can be a bit more discerning. A year ago I was a bit more flexible in terms of rates, but now I have a better understanding of the value of my work, so I'm more confident in sticking to my standard rates, even if it sometimes means not getting a job because the budget is too low.

In any case, my advice to new freelancers out there is to apply for every job that a) fits your skills b) meets your payment expectations and c) you feel confident you can complete to a high standard. It may be monotonous constantly filling out job applications, writing professional cover letters, and emailing résumés to prospective clients, but it's the only way to grow your client base. It's easy to become complacent once you've found a few regular clients, but it's important to remember that you can't count on them to always send you work, since it's only natural in freelancing that clients will come and go over time.

3 More Tips for Translating Your CV or Résumé into English

On Wednesday, I covered three important tips for translating your CV or résumé into English so that it's appropriate for use in an English-speaking culture. Today I've got three more tips to help you make sure your new English CV is perfect.

#4: Make it easy to read: avoid flowery fonts and eye-popping designs.

It's really tempting to use fancy fonts and elaborate designs in order to make your CV stand out, but you should generally avoid this trap. Unless you're applying for jobs in a design-related field, it is the information included in your CV that should be making you stand out as an applicant, not design quirks that draw your eye to the page. Keep it simple, professional, and most importantly, easy to read! If you absolutely must highlight a particular detail, consider using bold font.

#5: Consider having more than one CV.

If you're going to be applying for a wide range of jobs in diverse fields, consider having a few different CVs that each showcase the skills, experience and education relevant to one particular area. For example, if you're a translator and a copywriter, you could have two CVs: one that highlights your past copywriting jobs, and another that focuses more on translation experience and foreign language skills.

#6: Hire a professional translator, or at the very least, ask a native English speaker to look it over.

This is the first impression a potential employer will have of you, so you need to make it count. Make sure your English CV shows that you're serious - it should be mistake-free, easy to read, and succinctly describe your skills, experience and education in a professional way.

There are tons of translators out there (including me!) that will be happy to translate your CV into English for a reasonable fee. However, if you need to save every single cent, at the very least try to find a native English speaker who can check the document for any glaring problems. If you aren't willing to take the time to make sure your CV is culturally appropriate and error-free, you might as well throw it into the recycle bin yourself.

3 Tips for Translating Your CV or Résumé into English

In today's global society, it's becoming increasingly popular to apply for jobs in other countries. Given the widespread use of English in the business world, it makes sense that many companies request that applicants provide a CV (or résumé, as it's known in the US) in English. However, many people don't stop to consider the cultural aspects involved in translating a CV.

As a translator, I frequently get requests to translate CVs from Spanish into English, generally so that the client can apply for jobs in English-speaking countries. While this may seem like a straightforward job, it can actually be quite complicated due to cultural differences in CV standards. If you're not from an English-speaking culture and are unsure of what to include in your English CV, the following tips, based on my experience translating CVs from Spanish to English, should help you get started.

#1: Don't attach a photo.

In Spain, as well as several other countries, it is customary to include a photo with your CV. If you're applying for a job in an English-speaking country, DO NOT do this. For some reason, this custom tends to lead to heated debates between people from cultures that address this detail differently. In any case, you should respect the customs of the target culture, in this case English-speaking countries. The main reason photos aren't included is that CVs are viewed as a way to assess applicants purely based on their skills, experience, and education. By removing photos from the equation, we can avoid being influenced by a person's appearance.

#2: Don't include your date of birth and gender.

Following the same line of thinking, don't include your date of birth or gender. This helps to prevent age and gender discrimination in the hiring process. Sure, if you make it to the interview stage, your potential new employer will have a pretty good guess at both, but we still don't include this information on a CV.

#3: Keep it short and sweet: 1-2 pages maximum!

One of the most frequent issues I've encountered while translating CVs is that clients tend to send me CVs that are way too long. If at all possible, try to keep your CV to one page in length, or two at an absolute maximum. There's no reason to include every job you've ever had, the name of your high school, or skills like "Microsoft Word" or "social media", which are now expected of most applicants anyway.

¡Hola, Amig@s! - A Unique Solution to Gendered Nouns in Spanish

Back in September, I wrote a post about how sometimes the "easiest" terms seem to be the hardest ones to translate, at least when it comes to Spanish to English translations. One of my main examples focused on the ambiguity of certain nouns used in relation to family members, such as hijos, padres, and hermanos. Without additional information, a translator has no way of knowing whether these three words are being used to refer only to males (sons, fathers, brothers) or if they are referring to people of various genders (children, parents, siblings).

While it would be lovely if languages like Spanish simply stopped using grammatical gender designations for their nouns, it seems pretty unlikely that such a huge linguistic change will ever take place. That leaves us with two options: either come up with a solution for these ambiguous examples, or just live with it.

One solution that has become increasingly popular in informal Spanish communication, especially online, is to use the at sign (@) when referring to a group of people that includes both females and males. For example, if you want to use a gender-neutral term to refer to a group of friends, you can call them your amig@s. Not only does this avoid the ambiguity of using the masculine plural ending -os for mixed groups from the equation, but the symbol also somewhat resembles an o and an a, which are the masculine and feminine noun endings in Spanish.

That said, while the arroba, as the symbol is called in Spanish, is frequently seen online, it certainly hasn't become standard practice. First of all, there's just the fact that using @ as a letter seems very informal, and indeed even "wrong" to some people, likely because it is so unusual and new. It also doesn't necessarily solve this issue when it comes to spoken language, since there is no widely accepted pronunciation for the at symbol. However, there have been some proposals for phonemes that @ could represent.

In any case, if you want to stick with recommendations of the Real Academia Española, the regulatory body in charge of the Spanish language, then you won't want to start writing words like amig@s, herman@s, or even bienvenid@s. Its Diccionario panhispánico de dudas, which addresses questions related to the use of the Spanish language, points out in its entry on gender that the arroba is not a linguistic sign, and that its use in such situations could lead to further grammatical inconsistencies, as in the example "Día del nin@", in which the "el" in the contraction "del" would only apply to the masculine half of "nin@".

Clearly this linguistic issue hasn't been solved, but at least people are thinking about it! Languages are living things that are meant to evolve over time, so hopefully one day someone will come up with a lasting solution that everyone, including the Real Academia Española, can agree on.

Why You Should Never Ask a Translator to Work for Free

I sincerely hope that you read the title of this post and said to yourself, "Why would anyone ever ask a translator to work for free? Surely they deserve to be paid a fair wage for their work just like any other professional!". However, the sad fact is that many people don't treat translators, as well as many other types of creative professionals, as if their skills are valuable.

My inspiration for today's post was the following video by an advertising agency called Zulu Alpha Kilo, which perfectly demonstrates how ridiculous and unfair it is to ask a creative professional for free work.

If you don't work in translation, design, copywriting, or any of the many other creative fields, then you might not be aware of how frequently this happens. As someone who is relatively new to the translation industry, I encounter this issue frequently. In the past, prospective clients have asked me for everything from free sample translations to providing them with discounted rates in exchange for the promise of them sending me "lots of work".

It's usually pretty easy to tell from the prospective client's language whether they're trying to take advantage of you. If you're contacted by a client whose job posting simply says "Translate 1500 words Spanish to English" without any other details, then it's definitely a good idea to be wary. If they don't even care enough to tell you what type of text you're translating, then they probably aren't willing to pay much.

However, when you're first starting out as a translator and don't have much in terms of a portfolio to demonstrate your skills, it can sometimes be beneficial to do a short free sample. In my first few months as a freelance translator, a few of my biggest jobs came from clients who originally asked me to translate a small excerpt of their documents for free. That said, you should set up your own strict set of rules for what types of samples you are willing to do. I generally don't mind translating a short paragraph for prospective clients with technical texts, but if they ask for anything that will take more than a few minutes of my time, I carefully consider it before saying yes.

For example, one of my first clients needed to have a technical document translated, and wanted to be sure that I could provide them with an accurate translation. Since I hadn't done any related work in the past that I could submit to demonstrate my skills, I translated the 200-word excerpt for them for free, and ended up being hired for the project (as well as later projects). Obviously there was no guarantee that they would hire me, but I felt it was worth my time to do the sample since the full document contained 4,800 words. Since they did hire me, I was also eventually paid for the sample since it was included in the word count of the project.

That said, there is a big difference between translating a short excerpt for a project that requires special skills or technical knowledge and doing an entire translation for free. Luckily, this has been asked of me less often as of late, but occasionally I do still get requests to do a first translation for free with the promise of more work in the future. I obviously always say no.

Translators are also often asked to provide discounted rates for the promise of long-term work relationships, which is almost as bad as asking someone to work for free. You wouldn't ask your doctor for a discount because you've been going to them for years, so why would you ask a translator for a discount when they'll be putting in the same amount of effort and providing you with the same services as always?

Sometimes it's hard to say no to prospective clients, especially for freelancers that are just starting out in creative industries, but we have to remember that our skills do have value. I usually take the time to explain to clients in search of free work that I need to make a living just like everyone else, and that my professional skills do have a value. It may not always get me the job, but I do hope that it at least makes them stop and think about what they're really asking of me.