Translators and Translation Vendors

By Roger Chriss,
Language Realm,
U.S.A.

rbchriss@languagerealm.com
www.languagerealm.com

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Translators do not work in a vacuum. Work has to come from somewhere, ultimately from some individual or organization that has material in one language and needs to be able to read it in another language. As discussed in the first two articles, most of this material is business-related, often it is software guides, hardware manuals, engineering specifications, financial reports, legal transcripts, in other words, material that someone needs for some business purpose. Often the material is too large and complex for one translator to handle in a reasonable amount of time, and typically the organization that wants the translation done wants to give the entire translation project to one organization. So we have translation vendors, typically referred to as translation agencies.

What is an Agency?

Translators have all had to deal with agencies at one point or another. Although some of us work exclusively with agencies, others of us have our own clients, and a still others work in-house for a company or organization. Nonetheless, no translator can afford, literally or figuratively, to ignore agencies, and it behooves every translator to know as much about them as possible.

An agency is a service house that provides clients with translations. There are translation agencies in every major city around the world. There are large chains of translation agencies, like Berlitz and Bowne. Other agencies have a headquarters in a major city and then numerous branches in other cities, not necessarily in the same country. And some translation agencies are smaller operations, with only one office sometimes staffed by only one or two people.

Agencies often specialize, providing translation services for only one or a few related languages. Some agencies work exclusively with Japanese, or Spanish, both high volume languages in the United States at present. Others work only with Asian languages, or only with Middle-eastern languages. Also, many agencies specialize in subject areas, providing services for medical translation, software localization, or legal translation.

Always remember that translation agencies are first and foremost businesses. Like all other forms of business, they live and die by their ability to turn a profit. And their ability to turn a profit rests firmly in their capacity to find good translators and work successfully with them.

In other words, translators are the lifeblood of an agency. A translation agency without translators will go out of business immediately. An agency must have translators and prefers to have good, reliable translators. The opposite, however, is not necessarily true. Many translators work with end-clients directly, providing most of the services that agencies do. Most translators, however, myself included, get at least some of their work from agencies. If you’re wondering why translators all just don’t strike out on their own, read on.

Why Do We Need Them?

So if a translation agency does nothing more than provide translation services, why do translators need them? Why can’t translators simply work for the end-client directly, cut out the middle, and make lots more money? There are three reasons.

First, the size of translation projects. Many translation jobs consist of hundreds or thousands of pages of material, perhaps one or more manuals, technical documentation, or legal materials. The end-client, the one that contracts with the agency to do the translation work, wants the job completed too quickly for a single translator to ever do, such as two weeks for 250,000 words of material, and prepared professionally, perhaps printed in full color with graphics and photos. In other words, no single translator has the capacity to provide this scale of service for projects of this size.

Second, the nature of translation projects. Often a translation job will involve translating material into five languages at once, such as with the preparation of an annual report or the manuals for a new software package. Again, the end-client wants it all returned quickly, so no single translator, even assuming that one translator has the ability to translate into five different languages, a virtual impossibility, can hope to finish the job.

Third, the nature of end-clients. End-clients usually prefer to deal with the same organization on a regular basis. This simplifies their own business operations considerably. What this means is that an individual translator cannot reasonably hope to provide all the different services, including various languages, subject areas, desktop publishing, offset printing, and so forth, that an end-client might need during a given business year. Once again, the demands of many end-clients are far beyond what a single translator can provide.

So there are the translation agencies. They provide two categories of service. One: they put together the number of translators needed to handle the material in question (and many agencies maintain an in-house translation staff for this purpose, particularly for languages with high, steady demand). Two: they manage the project from start to completion, including project estimates and bids, desktop publishing, layout, and typesetting, localization of content (both text and visual material), graphics, and printing. Translators therefore are a small but essential part of this the overall translation process.

Agencies, at least good ones, also simplify a translator’s life. The agency calls, tells you there is work to be done, you briefly discuss the job with someone you know and trust, then you do the work, submit it along with an invoice, and you get paid. You don’t have to deal with submitting invoices to a huge corporation, a task which can be something of a nuisance, explaining to people with no knowledge of language and translation why your translation doesn’t look exactly like the original, telling people with no experience living in other cultures why a particular friendly hand gesture in the United States is lewd in Brazil or meaningless in Taiwan. Most important, you don’t have to deal with as much marketing, something the agencies do as a matter of course.

Agencies benefit from having good translators available because they can then provide their clients with quality products in a timely fashion. Agencies definitely want to have good translators, are willing to pay good translators more, and will often be very flexible with you when they want you in particular to do a job. Note the reciprocal relationship here. Not only do translators need agencies to get work, but agencies need translators to get their work done. Agencies need translators as much as translators need agencies because each group provides skills and services the other requires to survive.

Translators do from time to time band together to provide the services that an agency provides in an attempt to circumvent what some translators see as a source of lost income. However, they typically find that this requires a considerable investment in computer hardware, software, and training, not to mention finding reliable printing service bureaus and such. All of this is specialized work, outside the skill set most translators have developed. Color separations, image manipulation, layout, typesetting, and so forth require knowledge and experience. Some groups of translators do cultivate these skills or hire people who have them, but by the time they do all of this and create a successful, functional group, they have in essence become a translation agency.

Now what about those projects that don’t require fancy printing, DTP, or color separations? In practice, agencies tend to handle those because they come from the same people who have the big projects. End-clients like simplicity, so they work consistently with the same agency.

However, many translators do develop their own clients and translate such "simpler material" for them. About half my work comes from agencies and half comes from direct clients. It is a good situation because the agencies I work with are responsible and competent and pay me fairly, and my direct clients are the same. Reaching this position requires time and effort, however, as well as no small amount of luck.

Nevertheless, most translators work for agencies at some point in their careers. Some agencies are easier to work for than others. The point of this article is to increase understanding about the relationship which exists between translators and agencies and to provide insight into what translators can do to make that relationship better. If I seem to be putting the onus on translators, I do so only because change comes more readily for individuals than organizations, and translators stand to benefit considerably as individuals from knowing how to work with agencies. I also hope that agencies will reciprocate and treat translators with the respect that their professionalism deserves.

If the above ideas have convinced you that working with translation agencies is worthwhile, then you still have a lot to do. Even if you want to work exclusively with direct clients, the marketing procedure remains very similar. In other words, there is a lot of business to take care of before you will be inundated with translation work.

The Résumé or Brochure

The first thing you have to do is tell the agencies that you exist. You should do this in as many different ways as possible, including sending out mailings of your résumé or a brief business brochure, registering via agencies’ web sites as an independent contractor translator, attending various conferences for translators where you might hand out business cards or other material, and so forth. The result is that the agencies will send you work, eventually.

Your résumé or brochure is important. Very important. You will rarely meet the people you work for face to face and you’re unlikely to tour the major cities of the U.S. or elsewhere to visit in person every translation agency you can find. Instead, your résumé will do all this for you. Therefore, your résumé (or brochure; hereafter I'll just say résumé and ask you to understand that I mean both) had better be perfect.

Not only must your résumé be perfect, it must be distinctive. One project manager I know told me that her translation agency, a smaller organization by current standards, receives about 50 résumés per week, and given all her other responsibilities, she can look at each résumé for about five seconds. So your résumé has to stand out, to cry out that you are the translator for this agency, that you are the one worth contacting and working with. How exactly you do this is more than a little difficult to say, but I suggest you consult many different books on résumé writing to look at samples, then find a format and style which appeals to you, next spend a lot of time working your information into that format, and finally put in the effort to check the results, preferably by having a friend (or ideally, a friend who is a project manager) critique your efforts. All that said, there are certain things you have to do with your résumé, and those we will discuss here.

Your résumé must include the following information:

Your full name (the one you want to appear on paychecks)
Your business address (which is probably your home address as well)
Your telephone and fax number(s)
Your email address

All of this information must appear at the very top of the résumé, where it can be seen immediately.

Next, and so important that if you omit it some agencies will stop reading your résumé, comes your native and working languages. Don’t claim to have more than one native language. I know some agencies which throw away résumés of translators who claim to have two or three native languages. Also, be very careful about claiming to translate into your non-native languages. Some agencies will instantly recycle your résumé if they read something to that effect.

Of course there are individuals who by birth or training have achieved native fluency in more than one language, as there are people who can translate into their second languages. Such people are quite rare, however, and so claiming to be one of them is risky if only because agencies have been fooled enough times to be wary. You are better off claiming less at first and then doing more later for a client than the other way around.

Now, the nitty-gritty; the meat of the résumé.

First, detail your experience as a translator, including work you’ve done in any country, for any organization, under any circumstances. If your background is so extensive that it would fill volumes, then pick the choicest bits and leave out the rest. Also, make sure to list currently active clients, as well as those you’ve worked for in the past. Specify the work you did for them. Don’t just say: I translated for Berlitz. Say: Translated user’s manual for Blah- blah software for Berlitz in 1999.

Describe your educational background, highlighting all aspects related to translation, language, or the area you translate in. If you have a Bachelor’s in languages or literature, put it in. If you plan to translate engineering material and hold a B.S. in engineering, put it in. If you have unrelated degrees, put them in, but don’t emphasize them. If you have absolutely no educational background in language or translation, you might want to get some before you start out as a translator.

If you are just starting out as a translator and have no translation experience, put your education first on your résumé, consider emphasizing those aspects of your academic training which demonstrate your language and translation ability. One way or another you need to convince the agency, or direct client, for that matter, that you can actually translate. Nothing speaks more clearly than experience, but strong education will be viewed as a form of experience.

At this point your résumé may already be looking full, so feel free to extend it to two pages. My résumé covers two pages. The first contains my contact information, my experience, and my educational background. The second describes my office equipment, related experience, and finally awards and accreditations, each of which is discussed below.

Office equipment must be described precisely. Don’t merely mention that you have a computer. Every translator has one, some have two or three. Tell them exactly what you have, including the CPU type, the amount of RAM and hard drive space, peripherals and any other gizmos (you can probably omit the description of your Thrustmaster gear or your screen savers). The two required peripherals these days are a printer and fax/modem. Some agencies won’t work with translators who don’t have laser printers, but most seem to accept printing from high-quality inkjet printers. Do not use a dot-matrix printer or any other arcane devices such as plotters. Be equally precise with your software. Give full names and version numbers for your word processing software. If you have (and know how to use) DTP software, give that. You can even mention databases, spreadsheets, and graphics packages you own. Don’t bother mentioning games or educational software. Agencies don’t care about your flight simulator collection or your compendium of educational CD- ROM titles.

Next describe any other related experience which will help demonstrate that you can translate and that you know your languages. Specify how long you’ve spent abroad, how much language training you’ve had for your non-native languages, and how much education and experience you’ve had in the fields you translate in. Do not mention menial jobs in college, part-time summer work, or other unrelated professional experience. You do not want to bore people. Most importantly, nothing from before college should be on your résumé. High-school jobs, classes, and such are just not particularly impressive when you are looking for employment in translation.

Finally, make sure to mention any awards, certifications, accreditation, professional memberships and other qualifications or accomplishments related to your languages you have. If you received a scholarship for one of your languages, mention it. If you passed the ATA exam, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, the U.S. State Dept. Exams, etc., put it on your résumé.

The Cover Letter

If you choose to create a brochure, you may not need a separate cover letter. For a résumé, however, and even for some brochures, a cover letter is essential. I prefer to use the combination of a letter and résumé, because that gives me more opportunities to tell potential clients about myself. In other words, the cover letter takes care of the information the résumé can’t handle. First and foremost, the cover letter should state what kind of work you do and want. Don’t just say: I am a translator; say: I am a freelance translator of Japanese and English working in the biomedical and computer fields. Then you should go on to say that you are looking for work as an independent contractor (unless you aren’t). Finally, use the cover letter to emphasize whatever experience and qualifications you have that would qualify you as a translator.

The cover letter should be succinct, simple, and elegant. It should not extend to a second page, it must not contain a single typographical, grammatical, or other error of language form or function. You may generate cover letters from a PIM or other business software, but the letter should still retain personal touches, such as signing it by hand. You should also include a contact name, when possible. If not, a simple greeting like "Hello" is sufficient, if not particularly elegant.

In the cover letter you want to mention how long you have been a freelance translator, when you are available (if not available at all times), and what kind of work you handle. Do not mention rates, except in general. You want to be flexible and marketable. Cover letters have a way of being ignored for weeks or even months, and sometimes are stored for years in translation agencies. If two years ago you sent a letter quoting a rate, you might not want to be asked to work at that rate now. And since every job is different, at least at some level, you want room to maneuver in your negotiations.

The Fundamental Problem

Anyone who has worked as a freelance translator realizes that there is no way to tell who is a translator and who isn’t. Any idiot can claim to be a translator. Some, it would seem, do. The only obvious limitation is that you have to know at least two languages to be a translator; anything less is rather difficult to accept.

So agencies somehow have to sift through all the résumés they receive and figure out who is a bona fide translator capable of accurately rendering information from one language into another. They have to determine who is up to the job. Because there is no universally accepted system for accrediting translators, at least not at present in the United States, agencies and direct clients are left with two basic methods: look at the person’s background or give a test.

Many agencies are unlikely to accept at face value accreditation or claims of former translation experience. Remember, there is virtually no way for them to corroborate your claims of having been a translator with the Abu Dabi Daily. Unless you have a degree from a well-known school which trains translators, and there are about ten of these around the world, your claims will be questioned. So the other alternative is to take the translation test. And, by the way, having degrees and accreditations does not necessarily exempt you from such testing, as I well know from experience.

Some agencies or direct clients will accept a sample translation from you in lieu of a test. Others, however, will show no interest in sample material you send them. In fact, submitting them before they are asked for is usually a waste of postage. Agencies seem more inclined to trust their own tests than a sample you send. Should you be asked to submit a sample, make sure you have the right to submit the material. Remember that as an independent contractor who works on a work-for-hire basis, you do not own the rights to what you produce.

So here you are, ready, willing, and able to translate, and patiently waiting for the agencies or direct clients you have contacted to give you work. Translation vendors however do not want to be the first organization to give you work; they prefer to have translations handled by experienced people. This leads to an inevitable paradox: how do you get your first translation job if no one wants to work with a translator who has never worked before. Translators are not born having already done years worth of translation work. You have to start somewhere, yet clients will generally not want to take that risk and let you start with them.

Indeed, the snake is eating its tail. Agencies want experienced translators, so how do you get your first experience? Simple: be patient. Even with degrees and accreditation, you are still an unknown to a translation agency or direct client. Even if the agency gives you a sample translation test and you pass, you are still a bit of an unknown. So you have to wait for the opportunity to prove yourself to arise. This comes when for whatever reason the agency needs a translator and you make it to the top of the list.

As for sample translation tests, just do them promptly. Be glad that agencies and other translation vendors are willing to provide tests, because the possible alternatives are worse. They might hire people in-house only; they might insist that you work as an intern at a reduced rate first; or they might demand expensive, time-consuming credentials. Remember, they have the work and the money, so they can make certain demands of translators. It behooves translators to cooperate cheerfully with this process, not because it is so pleasant, but because the translation industry is a meritocracy: if you can do the work, you will have work. So do the tests and then be patient.

Typically an agency or direct client has a stable of freelance translators they call upon when translation work needs to be done. Project managers even have favorite translators, and if you are not already among this stable, you have to wait your turn to get inside. Your turn comes when the agency can't find anyone else to do a translation. I've seen this happen because the regular translator was away on vacation, had retired, took a break to give birth to a child, was injured in an automobile collision, to name a few possibilities. In other words, harsh though this may seem, your turn will come, if only because change and disaster are an inevitable part of life. Your turn may also come when an agency or direct client grows, takes on new projects, or expands into new areas of business. But even when your big break does come, it will in all likelihood not be particularly large. Instead, vendors tend to start new translators off with small assignments, as a way to test their ability and cultivate a friendly, trusting relationship. In time, and often the time is brief, you will have as much work from a client as the client is in a position to give.

Responses

After you send out your cries for work, you might have to wait a few weeks or even months before the replies come, assuming they come at all. Many agencies, not to mention potential direct clients, will not respond at all unless and until they have a particular need for you. Some sort through all résumés received one a month, or even once a quarter, then send responses to those queries that both impress them and are relevant to what they do. In other words, be patient. No news is not necessarily good news nor bad news.

The replies that do come will not necessary be offers of work, either. Many agencies automatically respond to a résumé from a translator by sending a thank-you letter and one or more forms for you to fill out. Fill these out and send them back fast. I know of one agency that uses those forms as a kind of test; if you can’t get it back to them within 15 days, they aren’t interested anymore. Some agencies even tell you to get it back to them fast. So spend a couple of hours per day dealing with paper work; doing so is a part of business, and if you are self-employed, the responsibility is yours.

The forms that many agencies send will seem redundant. You’ll have to fill in your name, address, educational and professional background, and equipment. You’ll also have to detail your rates (more on that in a bit), your daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly (or at least one of these) output, and other information. If you’re not sure about something on these forms, call the agency. This is a great way to get to talk to someone there, develop a closer relationship, and even tell them some of the more intangible things about yourself.

Agencies may also send an independent contractor form. It is a standard legal document that says that you are working independently for them on a work-for-hire basis. Your translations belong to them, not to you. You, however, are liable for any errors, omissions, delays, or other problems which occur in the process of translating something. Read this form carefully and make sure you’re not signing away your first born. Some agencies make peculiar demands in these forms. For instance: translators must carry $500,000 in liability insurance; translators must redo all work until it satisfies the client; or, translators are expected to comply with all demands of the agency and client.

These demands can be trying, particularly the one about insurance. The recent spate of difficulties for translators includes the ATA’s fouled attempt to suggest rates, the U.S. government’s desire to control and underpay translators (remember, the U.S. government is the world’s largest employer of translators), and the IRS’s desire to crack down on tax evasion schemes among self-employed people. All these difficulties are influencing the content of the independent contractor’s agreement, and translators can expect situation to evolve as time goes by.

On the issue of insurance, however, I have consulted several attorneys and employment specialists. The consensus seems to be that translators are poor candidates for law suits and the insurance itself is very expensive for the coverage offered. Remember that companies sue not so much on principle as to recover damages, real or perceived. Translators are poor by corporate standards, and so are unlikely to become a target for a lawsuit. To put this another way, if you spill boiling coffee in your lap while at the corner store, you probably won't sue, even if the incident was a result of a mistake by an employee at that store. If, however, you spill said coffee at a McDonalds's, at least the defendant in your suit will have pockets deep enough to make the potential recovery significant. As I'm sure you are aware, such things have been known to happen.

Second, the coverage itself, whether its "errors and omissions" insurance or some other form of professional liability coverage, may not do what you want it to do. More fundamentally, however, is the fact that translators are one step in a lengthy process (step four out of ten, in the view of one project manager I know), and so blaming the translator exclusively is legally irresponsible. Moreover, the number of ephemeral and obtuse issues involved in language is so high that odds are the case would never go to trial. In sum, the attorney I asked advised me against such insurance, and I am inclined to agree. I do my work on a "good-faith, best-effort" policy, informing my clients of all problems and issues in the documents I prepare, and discussing with them the future of the document. This seems to have kept threats of lawsuits at bay for seven years now, so I consider this policy and practice to be sufficient. Of course, you should consult with an attorney or other professional to confirm the situation in your locale, and to make certain there is nothing about your situation that justifies insurance.

You may be tempted to contact potential clients by telephone, whether or not you have already sent a résumé or brochure. Doing so can be a great way to make a brief personal introduction, but always be succinct and gentle. Ask if the person you want to talk to has time. If the person says yes, then give a brief, focused description of yourself. Do not attempt to talk up a project manager; they are generally far too busy to engage in chit-chat with a translator they don't know or work with. Also, calling on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays seems preferable, insofar as the work week is neither just starting nor ending. Finally, save the calls for potential clients that you really want to work for. Not only will you keep your phone bill down, but you'll also reduce your stress and frustration levels.

Work

Sooner or later, some agency somewhere will call you and say, "Can you translate this for us?" After you recover from palpitations of excitement, you have to begin the process of negotiating. Don’t accept an assignment without first working out the terms of the job.

There are three main points to your negotiations:

When the job is due?
How the job is to be done?
What will you be paid?

Don’t start quibbling about word rates before you confirm that you have the time and ability to do the job. If the client wants it by Monday and you’re already booked for the weekend, don’t launch into a long monologue about your rates. Just apologize for not being available and express your desire to work for them in the future. Remember: money is one of two topics that everyone loves and no one knows how to discuss (sex is the other).

Before you launch into negotiations, make sure you know what the job is. There may be nothing to negotiate. An agency called me and asked me to do a translation of a very detailed legal/financial report about a corporation. I declined, saying that the subject was outside my experience. Don’t take jobs which you can’t do. And when you can’t take a job, do everyone a favor. If you know a translator friend who can do the job, recommend that person to the agency. They will appreciate your effort on their behalf, and I guarantee you’ll make your friend happy.

The agency will often have a specific deadline and will simply ask if you can do the work by then. With larger projects, however, they may be a little flexible and might ask when you can get it done. Then you need to know how long the assignment is. Don’t be surprised if they don’t know. I’ve done translations from Japanese to English for agencies which have no Japanese speakers on their staff. Get as much information as possible and then do your best to estimate how many words the job will be. As long as you know roughly how many words you can do per day, you’ll be able to tell them if you can do the job.

Next, the how. Some translations are only for in-house purposes and thus don’t have to be as polished or readable as say, a book or manual. Other projects will be edited and proof-read by the agency after you finish, and so you don’t have to sweat every little detail as much. This is often the case when translators are working in a team on a large project. The agency’s editors and DTP people will spend a lot of time (one hopes) working on the style, format and terminology of the document before handing it to the end-client. This eases the burden on the translator, but it can also lower the word rate.

Note that "how" also includes how you should submit the translation. The translator is responsible for providing the translation in the format which the agency requests (or at least a format they can readily work with). Moreover, there may be specific instructions concerning how the agency wants the translation done. Such instructions are particularly important when there are a lot of charts and graphs in the original and when the agency will be taking your translation, merging it with the work of others and then desktop-publishing it. Follow the instructions you receive to the letter and don’t hesitate to contact the agency if you have questions.

Always ask about the purpose of the translation and the intended audience. Also try to find out if the end-client has a terminology list or glossary it wants you to use. Moreover, get any and all details concerning style and formatting before you start translating. If the source text has charts, tables, or graphs in it, find out what to do with them before you begin to scribble all over their pristine original. And find out if you are supposed to be formatting the translation or simply preparing a text file. Naturally, you can charge a little more for the former.

Next, confirm that you can use and retain a copy of the source document. This seems like common sense, but occasionally you'll find that after you finish a translation job, the agency will ask for the original material back. You may do your translations without ever making a single mark on the source document, but most people do not. So either confirm that you can keep the material, which you should for legal purposes anyway, as well as possible reference or use for later work, or make copies of the material so that you can return the agency's original copy in pristine condition.

Finally comes money. In many cases, the agency will say: We will pay you this much money; take it or leave it (or something to that effect). In others, they will ask you want you would charge. Make sure you know what your rates are ahead of time. Hemming and hawing about money sounds unprofessional; and translators already suffer from enough unprofessionalism that adding to it would be disastrous. Tell the agency how much you want and then let them decide if your rate is acceptable. They might make a counter offer and then you can accept or decline.

There are, in my opinion, three factors when deciding the actual rate for a job. Factor one: your general rates. Factor two: the nature and difficulty of the job. Factor three: the size of the job. General rates vary from language to language and from country to country. There are no universal rates for all languages simply because some languages are harder to translate than others. As well, some languages are in greater demand than others. If you are uncertain of what to charge, you can check the rates surveys available at web sites like Aquarius. Many translators are reluctant to discuss their rates in detail, but the anonymity of the Internet makes such discussions possible. If you are taking on a job with considerable DTP or similar work, check the current rates from the National Writers' Union, which publishes lists in its books and other sources.

Second, the nature of the job. If someone wants me to translate chip specifications that were scrawled out by a drunken engineer on cocktail napkins, I’ll charge a lot simply because of the sheer difficulty in working with such material. On the other hand, an everyday business letter nicely printed with little in terms of content or style won’t cost my clients much. If a client requests a translation of a medical journal article on a new drug protocol for deep vein thrombosis, I’ll charge a lot because of the time and effort (as well as expense) the research to do the job properly will require.

Included in the nature of the job is the nature of your relationship with the client. One translator I know has what she calls the "asshole" factor (apologies for the bluntness of the phrase, but it is quite apt, as you probably already know or will find out soon enough). Although most clients are quite friendly, agreeable, and pleasant to work with, there are always a few that just make everything in a project difficult. A premium on top of your regular rates is a good way to make working for such clients more comfortable; if they refuse to pay that much, then you don't lose much by not working with such clients. Conversely, for clients I really like I routinely do small jobs for free. Occasionally my long-term clients have a business card, short phrase or paragraph from a web site, or other tiny document that needs to be translated quickly. I generate a lot of good-will by doing such jobs for free; and I save myself a lot of effort too, insofar as the paperwork associated with such a job can take a lot longer than the job itself. All that said, you don't want to do this too often or for jobs that are too large, lest you become the "free" translators that is only used when the client wants to avoid spending money.

Last, the size of the job is important. The larger the job, the more I am inclined to accept a slightly lower rate. Security, in other words work for a period of weeks or months, is worth a lot to a freelancer in any industry. If someone gives me 300 pages of software documentation to translate (and yes, this happens), I’ll gladly accept a slightly lower rate in return for the roughly two months of secure work the job represents.

There is a counter-argument to the above idea: If you accept a lower rate for a large job, the client may ask you to work at that lower rate for the next normal-sized job. This would result in a downward spiral for your rates. I disagree with this argument simply because I don't let my clients drop rates. If I accept a lower rate, for whatever reason, I make that reason very clear to the client, reminding them that the lower rate is temporary, not reflective of a new rate, and not to be construed as a reason to think I am now cheaper to work with. Despite offering lower rates for very large jobs over the past five year, I am currently charging more in general now than I was five years ago. So I suggest you keep this counter-argument in mind as a motivation to stick to your rates, regardless of what the client tries to do.

In sum, you combine these three factors (or any others you care to include) and come up with a price. Then, the agency accepts or rejects it, or makes a counter offer. Assuming that you reach an agreement, you will get the job. In the next article we will take a close, in-depth look at a translation job.