This is post #5 in my ongoing series of questions from the webinar on “Getting Started as a Freelance Translator” that I presented for the American Translators Association in December 2010.
A participant asks: Do you have any advice for small (exotic) language translators? My native language is Hungarian.
Short answer: Hmm. Tough to answer this in one sentence. Let’s move on to the longer answer.
Longer answer: First, how small is too small when it comes to small-diffusion languages? My sense is that there is enough of a market for Hungarian and similarly-sized languages to support a freelancer. For example, Hungarian is one of the 23 official languages of the European Union. That alone would seem to generate a fair bit of work, since any industry that is regulated in the EU (i.e. pharmaceuticals and medical devices) is required to produce product information in the official languages. However I do think that some languages are just so small/exotic that there may not be enough work to support a freelancer unless you really know where to look. For example, I once talked to a project manager at a fairly large agency who happened to be a native speaker of Albanian. She told me that in her multi-year tenure with that agency, she had never seen an Albanian project come through their pipeline. But let’s say that you translate a language that is small (i.e. Hungarian) but large enough that you can make a go of it as a translator. Here are some ideas:
- Team up with other translators and form a small, single-language agency. Many large agencies probably struggle to deal with high-volume projects in, say, Hungarian. While a medium to large agency can probably assemble a German (French, Spanish, etc.) team to translate 100,000 words in a week, they may panic when they have to deal with a similar situation in Hungarian, Slovene or Maltese. So by forming a small team of translators, you could be a one-stop shop for other, larger agencies. Instead of spending a whole day on the phone trying to find 8 Greek translators who are available for 2 weeks, the larger agencies could just call you.
- Find clients who really need you. Various sources have said that the European Commission can only meet 70% of its demand for Romanian, Latvian and Maltese interpreting because it cannot find enough qualified candidates. Especially if you translate one of the EU official languages, European governmental entities are probably a good target.
- Be open to a variety of subject areas. Beginning French, German and Spanish translators are often advised to specialize as narrowly as possible in order to differentiate themselves in a crowded market. My instinct about smaller-diffusion languages would be the opposite: especially if you’re going to accept outsourced work from larger agencies, you probably need to accept a wide range of subject areas.
And now over to the readers! I’m probably not the best source of advice on this topic since I translate a large-diffusion language, so let’s see if we can get some tips from small-diffusion translators out there!
I personally would not categorize Hugarian as a limited diffusion language in terms of translation work. Well, I will conceded that it may not be as commonly needed as FIGS or some Asian languages, but there is still a large market for it. At every translation firm I worked, there was significant need for Hungarian and other Eastern European languages such as Slovene, Bulgarian, Polish, Czech, etc. I think the key would be to work with the agencies that focus on these languages – bigger agencies or agencies that specialize in Eastern European languages.
I bet someone even does Albanian. It would be key to look at what industries or government agencies have business in Albania and focus on them, or on translation agencies that focus on them.
Also, from my experiences, I would agree that translators of languages of “lesser diffusion” could get away with being more generalist than other languages, they should still only take projects (subject matters) they can really do well.
Interesting topic!
Corinne-
Thanks for taking on this question!
I think one consideration for the person considering whether they can make a go of things with a less common language is that they will be able to charge much more for their services. I think back 20 years to how hard it was to find people before the advent of the Internet and online directories–once I found a Burmese translator, she could name her price!
They may find they can make a handsome living once they carve out their segment. It’s a question of supply and demand.
Caitilin
I totally agree with Caitlin: it is a clear question of supply and demand. It may take some work to find out who needs your services, but they are out there! Once you find them (or they find you – make yourself “findable”!), your rates should reflect supply and demand (you are unique or one of a few with your skills).
Hi Corinne,
Thank you for the interesting post. As a small-diffusion language translator myself (English, French, German to Greek), here are a few tips:
1. Your first idea is very good (Team up with other translators), not so much for getting more work, but mostly for accommodating the client’s or agency’s needs. Teaming up with other translators makes it possible to offer TEP services, instead of translation or proofreading only. I’ve been offering that to my clients the last few years and they are more than happy to cooperate with a translator that is recommended from a colleague rather than a random translator they found at a translation portal/forum.
2. Judging from the translation ads for Greek translation, there is plenty of work out there even for “exotic” languages. Of course, it also depends on your combination, e.g. 90% of my work is English into Greek, there is little work in my other 2 combinations.
3. In case of a “rare” language combination combined with a small-infusion target language, specialization is the key. For example, I’ve found that most jobs from Greek into English are legal texts, most jobs from German into Greek are about heavy machinery and cars etc.
4. For EU languages, there is work in most fields and language combinations (English to any of the official languages is at the top of course), but I’ve seen that very low rates are offered for EU-related projects (and most of them are very specialized and relatively hard), so you might want to check that out before pursuing EU work.
5. The first step for finding clients in a specific language combination would be to use translation portals and forums, such as Proz, sort the LSPs according to the languages they offer and contact them directly (visit their website and apply online or send a resume). Another way to go is to find local companies who need translation services, for example in Greece all companies trading at the Athens Stock Exchange are required to have all their press releases and annual reports translated. There are similar opportunities in all countries I think.
6. My last tip is about establishing a good reputation. PMs and direct clients are more likely to remember (and recommend to others) an “exotic” language translator than a “large-diffusion” language translator (there are many of the latter, but few of the first). So, quality of work and professionalism are the key here. I think that my exotic and small-diffusion language is a huge advantage rather than a drawback 🙂
Sorry for the extra-long comment Corinne, have a lovely day!
Catherine
I know a dude who translates Hungarian and I noticed that he joined a whole bunch of local ATA associations, from California to Virginia and New York.
Since one membership costs about 40 dollars a year and he has been doing it for many years, it must be worth the money to him.
I personally also translate Czech sometime, but there does not seem to be much work in this language combination for me. Plus I think that the rates in Europe for these languages are still lower than here in US. Without Japanese and German I don’t think that I would be able to pay the bills.
I think that I would need to have a real job if I could translate only Czech.
I think that teaming up with other translators and becoming a mini agency handling other languages as well is probably the way to go!
Short answer: You are so lucky to translate into an exotic/small language, especially if you are located in the US. You are yourself exotic as a translator there.
Long answer: I translate into a fairly “exotic” or “small” language myself and feel that the demand for my language here in the US is much larger than the supply. This is at least true if you work with agencies. American agencies seem to prefer translators located in the US (due to different time zones etc.). Direct clients, on the other hand, is quite a different story.
“I translate into a fairly “exotic” or “small” language myself and feel that the demand for my language here in the US is much larger than the supply.”
Then you are the one who is lucky.
I either have too much or not enough work.
Every translator I talked to told me the same thing.
It has been very busy so far this year, but last year was slow.
Maybe you were born under a lucky star….
Or maybe you know something that none of us knows ….
I agree with Eve Bodeux
“it is a clear question of supply and demand. It may take some work to find out who needs your services, but they are out there! Once you find them (or they find you – make yourself “findable”!), your rates should reflect supply and demand (you are unique or one of a few with your skills).”
Demand is there for this language pair as i also represent an translation agency based in India, We do get project related with your language pair. If you know the skills of market yourself then i don’t think is there any problem getting work.
As a translator for a major language pair, my qualifications to comment on this are rather limited and reflect only a few observations over the past decade as well as comments from colleagues who do work in small diffusion pairs.
Although in my experience the rates one can charge in western Europe are much better than in the US for the major European languages, a lot of customers for the eastern languages seem to have a rather bad attitude, encouraged by the dumping rates offered by agencies in the former Eastern Bloc. These are perhaps sustainable if you live in a shack in the Romanian countryside and don’t have an interest in paying to have indoor plumbing installed, but given my experience with the cost of living in a place like Budapest or Prague, I would say you could largely forget doing business with 98% of buyers based in the east. To be fair, they do carry the joke over to major pairs like DE>EN when they try to handle those as well. Western European agencies are close by and in the same time zone or close to it, so it’s relatively easy for them to establish a master/servant relationship with eastern-based LSPs or freelancers during normal business hours.
A lot of the Germans I encounter treat the east like… I would rather not say. My experience is that much of the really worthwhile technical innovation and the most reasonable, flexible business practices in Europe are to be found in the places so many in my host country belittle.
I think the best prospects lie in forming teams for minor language pair service and marketing this service to agencies or better yet direct clients. Many locals have a poor understanding of the international markets I am told (this applies to India as well), and if you do have a good notion of how to play profitably on the international field, then by all means organize those with less of a clue and go for it. In the long run, you can probably offer them better prospects and keep them from global price suicide.
But then colleagues for Greek, Hungarian, Latvian and other minor languages tell me fascinating tales of intrigue and betrayal in the fight for international customers, so maybe you’re better off herding coked-out cats.
“Western European agencies are close by and in the same time zone or close to it, so it’s relatively easy for them to establish a master/servant relationship with eastern-based LSPs or freelancers during normal business hours.”
That is why I think it is very important for freelancers to maintain their independence. It is very dangerous when your income depends on only one or a few sources. Especially if these sources are agencies, but even if these sources are for instance large corporations, at some point they will usually try to take advantage of you, for instance by changing payment terms from 30 to 60 days.
You have to be able to say no to them or to fight back by raising your rates. I believe that it is actually easier for a good translator to find another customer than for a customer to find another good translator, and smart customers realize that.