This link deserves its own post: over at Musings from an Overworked Translator, Jill Sommer has an incredibly useful post on job-hunting advice for beginning translators. Jill offers some great tips, and there are yet more ideas in the comments. Definitely give it a look!
Hey, thanks for mentioning this article! It is true what it says about price dumping.
Hi! I’m Daniela.
I’ve just read the post you recommended finding it very inspiring!
I decided to become a translator on June of the last year, and I perfectly know that sensation of feeling lost.
After my graduation in Foreign Languages and Translation at University of Pisa I was excited and full of energy, but then when my plans didn’t go the way I expected them to go, I crashed against reality and I thought maybe I should quit translations and do something else.
Despite discouragement I realized I love translation, and I decided to create a blog on English/French to Italian translation together with my friend and university colleague, Angela.
Sometimes we translate for free as volunteers, and sometimes not. We have a second job because it’s hard to earn a living being just a translator, but we don’t give up!
Thanks Daniela, I’m really glad that you liked that post, and congratulations on your own freelance work too. The first year as a freelancer is definitely a ton of work, but it’s well worth it in the end. Stop back and let us know how you are doing!