| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Which do you think is the secret to success as a translator/interpreter at international level ? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Which do you think is the secret to success as a translator/interpreter at international level ?".
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The reward for good work is often...more work!
| | | | Zea_Mays 
Italy
Local time: 19:11
Member (2009)
English to German
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| missing choice | Dec 23, 2023 |
Quality.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 19:11
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Missing options | Dec 23, 2023 |
- Professionalism (i.e. being a reliable, easy-to-work-with translator)
- Responsiveness (replying quickly, offering/asking information that saves the client time and effort)
Also: missing capitalization... and is it a Gen Z thing to add a space before a question mark in English?
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:11
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Samuel Murray wrote:
- Professionalism (i.e. being a reliable, easy-to-work-with translator)
- Responsiveness (replying quickly, offering/asking information that saves the client time and effort)
Agree with Samuel's points and would also add:
- High level of availability
If you are professional, responsive and (say, 8 times out of 10) you say yes to an inquiry, I suspect it makes you easy to work with. In reality you may end up pushing the limits of your capacity and working frantically to hit deadlines, but from the client's perspective you look good.
Dan
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Sadly I’ve yet to be picked for the Welsh team.
Although I would also qualify for the Dutch, Scottish and English, so maybe it’s not too late for a call-up.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:11
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| These are two very different questions | Dec 23, 2023 |
They should be
What do you think is the secret to success as a translator at international level?
and
What do you think is the secret to success as an interpreter at international level?
Plus: the "at international level" is reduntant. All the work of any translator or interpreter is, by its nature, done at international level.
Plus: there is no secret to being successful at either of these tasks, unless working effectively and p... See more They should be
What do you think is the secret to success as a translator at international level?
and
What do you think is the secret to success as an interpreter at international level?
Plus: the "at international level" is reduntant. All the work of any translator or interpreter is, by its nature, done at international level.
Plus: there is no secret to being successful at either of these tasks, unless working effectively and professionally is a secret.
Plus: for a translator, "success" means translating a document to a very high standard. For an interpreter, "success" means satisfaction on both sides of a bilingual discussion that the other side has understood perfectly what was being said.
One should not pursue success. One should pursue excellence. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 19:11
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| International | Dec 23, 2023 |
What does international have to do with this ? If you are succesful as a translator on a regional level you will also be it at an international level. I translate to Dutch and there's no differece between translating for a local agency or for a US agency or direct client (apart from the fact that I will very likely have less trouble with the local one than with te 'international' one).
I limit myself to Europe by the way. Simple payments without extra costs, no ridiculous 'onboardin... See more What does international have to do with this ? If you are succesful as a translator on a regional level you will also be it at an international level. I translate to Dutch and there's no differece between translating for a local agency or for a US agency or direct client (apart from the fact that I will very likely have less trouble with the local one than with te 'international' one).
I limit myself to Europe by the way. Simple payments without extra costs, no ridiculous 'onboarding' procedures and no 7 different ways to be paid, the one even more expensive than the other. ▲ Collapse
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 19:11
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Samuel Murray wrote:
Also: missing capitalization... and is it a Gen Z thing to add a space before a question mark in English?
Almost every (if not every) source text in English I get contains spaces before a question mark, colon or exclamation mark.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 19:11
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Dan Lucas wrote:
Agree with Samuel's points and would also add:
- High level of availability
If you are professional, responsive and (say, 8 times out of 10) you say yes to an inquiry, I suspect it makes you easy to work with. In reality you may end up pushing the limits of your capacity and working frantically to hit deadlines, but from the client's perspective you look good.
Dan
Absolutely. It is also my experience that the more work you accept, the more work you get offered. And that seems logical too. It must be project managers' heaven to be able to assign work consistently (or let's just say quite often) to translators they consider to be good and reliable.
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:11
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| I know someone... | Dec 23, 2023 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
Absolutely. It is also my experience that the more work you accept, the more work you get offered. And that seems logical too.
And of course the inverse, also applies. I have (had?) a European agency client whose end client was a large European multinational that operates in Japan. This agency used to contact me occasionally for urgent work at short notice, often with large projects that would require many days of work. I was often fully committed with work from existing clients who use me every week rather than once a quarter. The European client hasn't contacted me for a while, presumably because they have concluded that I'm either not interested in working with them (not true) or do not have the capacity (true, at least in response to sudden requests).
It must be project managers' heaven to be able to assign work consistently (or let's just say quite often) to translators they consider to be good and reliable.
Yep. Shoot them an email, get an answer back in four minutes saying "Can do", send them a Phrase link - bang, you're done!
I was talking to somebody who used to work for a Japanese agency, and he said they basically had an "A list" and a "B list" for each of the JA-EN areas that the agency covered, such as law, or finance.
When a PM was looking for a job they would start with the A list and work their way through the freelancers on that list until they found somebody with availability. Only if nobody on the A list had spare capacity did they move onto the B list, and only when they regularly had problems finding people to take on projects would they recruit.
I don't know if that's a common approach, but it seems logical enough.
I'm guessing that if somebody on the A list doesn't say "yes" frequently enough, or is slow to respond, or gets chopsy with PMs, they get moved to the B list. That's why I say "yes" a lot, respond in minutes rather than hours - especially if I can't do it - and try to be as civil and understanding as possible!
Regards,
Dan
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Dan wrote:
High level of availability
I’m not sure how you achieve that.
The most available translators are the ones with the least work.
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:11
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Depends on efficiency and how hard you push yourself | Dec 23, 2023 |
Christopher Schröder wrote:
The most available translators are the ones with the least work.
In terms of the general population I think that's a very reasonable assumption (and not just in translation), but project managers at good clients are each dealing with a tiny subset of the freelancer population that has been preselected for a certain level of competence. A certain average level of "busyness" will therefore be assumed, and they will be aware of variances between individuals within that set in terms of competing claims on their time, their speed, their reliability when it comes to deadlines, their domain-specific knowledge and so on.
Some translators are simply going to be more efficient than others. Perhaps they translate very quickly, are less prone to procrastination and better able to shut out distractions, with the result that they get through higher volumes. PMs may give them work, even if they know they are already dealing with other projects, based on something like the "if you want to get something done, ask a busy person" principle.
Efficiency aside, some freelancers may be more prepared to push the limits of their working day than others. For example, take two freelancers. Translator A has adult children who have left the nest, spends a lot of time on their hobby, and is philosophically opposed to putting themselves under pressure.
Translator B has two school-age kids to feed, fits in personal interests around work, and comes from a very high-pressure career in a different industry and so doesn't the "stress" of translating a big deal in relative terms. Ceteris paribus I'd expect Translator A to be materially less aggressive with their scheduling than Translator B. Over the course of a year, Translator B probably appears to be far more available than Translator A, despite actually going through more work.
That's how I think about it. Maybe I'm just wrong. I guess ultimately it depends on how much you think you can and should pack into a 40- or 60-hour week.
Regards,
Dan
| | | | | At the limit | Dec 23, 2023 |
Dan Lucas wrote:
I guess ultimately it depends on how much you think you can and should pack into a 40- or 60-hour week.
To an extent. But the super-efficient 60-hour workaholic has the exact same limitations as the 20-hour hobbyist once they approach full capacity. The right level of busyness is a tightrope you just can’t hope to stay on whatever your approach.
Personally I think it does customers good to know you aren’t always available. They then start to book things in advance.
Then again, these days I am mostly my customers’ only translator, which puts me in a stronger position.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 19:11
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| International | Dec 23, 2023 |
Lieven Malaise wrote:
What does international have to do with this ? If you are successful as a translator on a regional level you will also be it at an international level.
I disagree. Local (i.e. in-country) and international are two completely different markets, with different threats and opportunities. Approaches to business that work well locally might not work well internationally. And there is a vast difference between working for agencies and working for direct clients.
[Edited at 2023-12-23 20:22 GMT]
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