1. You do have to love books
Well, it’s true that successful translators spend a lot of time flicking through pages of endless dictionaries. Either you like it, or you should consider another language career.
I got unexpected personal satisfaction out of riffling through dictionaries in search of just the right word, discovered that (some) grammar books could be fascinating reading, and found that analyzing ambiguous sentences to figure out what the heck the author meant was a lot of fun.
2. Reality is tougher than you think
We all tend to think that our talent and brilliant results will land us jobs “two days after graduation”. Perhaps in other professions, but not in translation. Even the most brilliant translators are rejected or simply ignored.
For the record, I did graduate with wonderful grades, but that’s where the dream ended and reality kicked in. With no more loans and bursaries to live on, I had to make money, and right away. So I started the rounds of all the agencies and translation departments, calling, sending CVs, hitting the publishers too, why not.
The results were less than encouraging. I did get heartfelt sympathy from many an in-house translator, and some even took the time to share valuable advice. However, mostly what I got was “don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
3. It’s all a matter of choice
Freelancing or in-house? Own business? There are so many ways into the translation business. It turns out that now we actually start from freelancing and then we have a slight chance of getting a full-time job. But what pays better?
No sooner had I committed to doing the book that I got a call from an agency offering me a full-time job. When it rains it pours. Unfortunately, they wanted me to start right away. I was high on the prospect of going freelance right away, and even higher on the idea of becoming a literary translator. So I respectfully and regretfully turned the agency down, assuring them that I would be glad to work for them on a freelance basis. I’ve often had the opportunity, since then, to wonder if that was a mistake.
4. Personal skills needed!
I get that very often as well, this sort of jokes: “at least you don’t have to spend lots on smart clothes, you work from home”, as if I was not there to negotiate, persuade, get what I want to mutual satisfaction. Freelance translators are business people, come what may.
I do lots of that too, but translation, for me, is far from a solitary occupation. I’m on the phone with revisers, “civilian” experts and former teachers, anybody who can help me make the translation as good as possible or better. My people skills come in handy for that, as well as for negotiating rates and deadlines and handling revisers, not to mention for telling the client in a nice way that nobody could possibly manage to “type those 100 pages in English” by tomorrow morning.
5. Translation, right, plus all that administrative part
It’s not that you just translate and money miraculously gets into your bank account. I spend ridiculous amount of time on book-keeping, organising files, checking for NET30. At least 1 hour every day…
As the customer base increased, I had to revise my administrative strategies. (This project is still under construction.) This means learning how to do all those lovely non-translation-related, non-billable, unavoidable tasks that come along with being self-employed: billing, book-keeping, tracking expenses, tracking down non-payers, tax returns, and making ends meet.
Read the full profile of Diane Di Biasco on No Regrets
Marta Stelmaszak
Marta Stelmaszak is a translator between Polish and English, combining language skills with a thorough understanding of economics and business to help SMEs make as big an international impact as possible, providing translation and interpreting services for the legal, business and marketing sectors. Read Marta's book on business.
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