It’s been interesting to read people’s reactions to my post about translator rants, and I always love a good and lively discussion. Here’s a followup: it seems to me that many translators look at “successful freelancers,” (with varying definitions of that), and think, “It’s easy to sit around and tell other, less successful freelancers what they’re doing wrong, without saying what you, the successful freelancer are doing right in order to be so successful.” So, since I’m into contentious topics lately, let’s have a go at this one: is freelance success mostly a matter of luck, connections, and external factors, or is it mostly a matter of working like a fiend until you make it?
Short answer: it’s a combination.
Longer answer: I like illustrative examples, so let me give you one. My husband and I are really frugal. As I wrote about in 2009 and again in 2013, our frugal lifestyle has netted some significant advantages, namely that are completely debt-free including our mortgage, despite the fact that a) we’ve only ever had “regular” jobs; b) we’ve lived in places (Boston, Boulder) with fairly high housing costs and c) we have a kid. When people ask us how we did this, we tell them: we bought a fixer-upper house and renovated it ourselves; the house didn’t have a shower for 3 months and we showered with the hose after the neighbors went to bed; we’ve never bought a brand new car; we use bicycles for the majority of our in-town transportation; we’ve never bought a brand new piece of furniture; we cook the vast majority of our meals from scratch; when we’re going to make a major purchase, we first comb Craigslist and eBay to see if we can get it used, and so on. At times when we’ve been really broke, we’ve gone ever further into blackbelt frugality territory: my husband cut my hair for a couple of years; when our daughter was little, I regularly worked for 3-4 hours every night, even on weekends, so we used very little childcare; most of our vacations involved camping. You get the picture.
Here’s the thing. By the time we get halfway through the “how we did it” spiel, most people decide that this is not something they’re willing to do in order to live a financially secure, debt-free life. Fair enough: but they asked how we did it, and we told them.
You can tell that I’m about to draw a parallel to freelancing. Sure, most successful freelancers, myself included, have some advantages that some other people don’t have. Some worked their connections in industries in which they had experience; some live in places where their language combination is in unusually high demand; I guess that the fact that my parents paid for my undergraduate degree and my employer paid for my graduate degree could fall into that category too. But, it’s also rare that I meet a freelancer who claims to be struggling and is doing everything possible to change the situation.
Illustrative example: here’s a snapshot from my first day as a freelancer. Sitting in my kitchen with my newborn daughter, I theorized that if I wanted to work from home and use my academic and professional background in French, translation might be a good bet. So, literally, I opened up the yellow pages (!) and started cold-calling agencies and asking for work, or what I would have to do to get work from them. Later that year I joined the Colorado Translators Association, then ATA, and when my ATA member directory came in the mail, I started at “A” and sent my resume and cover letter to every single agency in the directory, until I started getting some work. My first year as a freelancer, I made US $9,000 (total), and I was thrilled with that. I set a goal to double my income every year for the next four years, and I met that goal.
Over time, I did make a lot of connections, but looking back on it, I made a lot of my own luck as well. I volunteered as the Colorado Translators Association newsletter editor, which allowed me to meet pretty much everyone in the association. After I attended my first ATA conference, I e-mailed every single presenter whose session I attended and made a contact with them. Every single time a colleague referred me for a job, I sent them a handwritten thank you note. Every single time a potential client responded to my inquiry, even with “We’ll keep your materials on file,” I sent them a handwritten thank you note and then followed up in another month or so. I served in various volunteer roles within ATA; I started this blog; I started helping newbies as soon as I had half a clue more than they did.
Luck? Hard work? Right place at the right time? Probably some combination of all of those factors, but here’s the takeaway: if you’re smart, and you work hard, and you’re good at this job, you can be one of the successful people too (really).
Thank you Corinne for this inspiring post. I could not agree more: where there is a will, there is a way…
Love this, Corinne! I’m not going to say I haven’t had an incredibly blessed life, but I’ve made my own luck, too. After undergrad, I wanted a job in a specific state, so when I found one I submitted my resume and then left a message with the guy every day to follow up. I got the job.
When I moved to NYC with heavy student debt for an entry-level job, I shared a 1BR apartment with another person for a whole year. I slept on a mattress on the living room floor. Every week I put $20 in an envelope and that was my grocery money for the week. When it ran out, that was it. And we’re not talking 1960 NYC, this was in 2006!
Wow! Thank you Corinne. I think you’ve outlined (here and in your books) precisely what freelancers can do to be successful. I dig frugality and I dig yours too. You are very right in that it’s all about what you make your priority, and that many just aren’t willing to do what it takes. If you’re not successful in the way you want to be (let me bring up some of your previous advice) you need to take a hard look at your marketing strategy, translation quality level, types of clients, and probably about 50 other different facets of your business. The challenge involved in running a translation & interpreting business is what thrills and spurs me on.
Yes, the reaction to that post has been interesting, hasn’t it?
There’s been a lot of overlap between the responses to your “Don’t waste your time complaining” post, Corinne, which takes aim at grousers, and Chris Durban’s and my writing on the issue of “premium vs. bulk” markets on the ATA BP list recently, as well as on my own blog (ow.ly/B1i3E) and several others (bit.ly/1usz5MG), which likewise encourage the grousers to quit complaining and focus instead on learning the advanced skills required to mine the immense proven reserves of gold still out there in the mountains.
Collectively these posts have caused some very odd reactions in social media, as you know.
So far those have including disapproving frowns and charges of “elitism,” backhanded dismissals of “tiny market niches,” (totally untrue: the premium market is immense), some unsavory name-calling from the cheap seats on tiny angry blogs (one blog in particular that chastised you, Corinne, by name, and then promptly censored any defensive responses), and a shocking example of one “professional” translator operating a relatively new translation agency in France badmouthing a premium-market translator on his FB page, complete with name-calling, assigning a cartoon character nickname to her and allowing commenters to speculate on what might appear on her graveyard headstone (!!).
He then hid under the “cover” of not actually naming her publicly, but he would email you her name if you wanted, so it eventually came out, and now everybody could share in the glee of shaming a person who was hugely financially successful and, not coincidentally, acknowledged to be a terrific translator, even by these very detractors.
Let’s also point out that she too gives free presentations – to her competitors! – on how to improve translation skills and move upmarket.
Well, we can’t have any of that now, can we?
I know she was badly personally shaken by this behavior, especially the graveyard headstone reference, which is just immensely sad.
In the midst of all this unsavory and shockingly unprofessional behavior, there is one persistent refrain: Lots and lots of talk about how “lucky” successful translators are.
You’d think we were all magically born into a heavenly casino in the sky.
As a white male in the US, I’m the first to acknowledge I was born on 3nd base in the worldwide birthplace lottery. But in my case, I was not so much frugal by choice as you are, Corinne, it was more thrust upon me unwillingly. 🙂
It involved my growing up dirt poor in a trailer in central Arizona, frantically scratching enough money together from summer jobs to buy a plane ticket to get out of there, and then paying my own way through Georgetown University through scholarships and loans, the latter of which required repayment, with interest, without the luxury of my even considering moving back into my parents’ basement because, well, trailers have no basements, and because all the jobs in that tiny town were in that envious ticket to mad success, the fast-food industry.
Talk about luck! I was SO LUCKY! 🙂
But what puzzles me above all else is that every discussion, post, exchange and article we write about the premium market explicitly identifies exactly, precisely, and in excruciating detail what one needs to do to advance to that market.
There are also now workshops (the “Translate in the…” series in Canada is great example) that serve the premium market. I’ve watched many dozens of my colleagues make this transition very successfully. They just have to invest the immense time and effort and take the necessary risks to make the leap upmarket.
And let’s also recognize that Chris Durban has made a career of flying around the world at her own expense for the sole purpose of teaching her colleagues how to become her future competitor.
If any translation company managers did any of this, they would not only be instantly fired, they’d be sued for divulging confidential information and trade secrets to say nothing of tortious interference.
What concerns me is that this ugliness and blowback from some people is a manifestation of how difficult it really is to kill off the Poverty Cult, a particularly perverse translator disease diagnosed by Neil Inglis almost 20 years ago: “Envying the success of others, gloating over the failure of others; a pervasive sense that it is better for everybody to fail than for a few to succeed; a sickly squeamishness where the subject of money is concerned; shabby gentility, more shabby than genteel; a widespread conviction that it is better to have a little and be secure than to take a gamble and risk losing everything; and last, and very much least, schadenfreude mixed with sour grapes.”
It does seem at times that for every step we take forward in professionalism, promoting advanced skills, improving rates, and rising to the premium market, it’s as though we struggle to pull our other leg forward with it, as it’s perpetually entangled by this persistent and toxic weed of uncertainty, fear, confusion, impatience and badly ingrained risk-aversion.
It’s always easier to complain and do nothing than to put forth effort and change the situation. Plus, it’s more cathartic. Human nature seems to be thus inclined…
I don’t mean to defend the bulk market, but I think the general anathema translators have for it may be overblown. Even if you cannot make it into the premium market, the lower-rate market can provide a decent living as well. After all, the money a translator makes per hour is merely a function of the number of words translated per hour times the translator’s rate. If you can produce prodigious amounts of words per hour doing general translations, then why complain? For example, an acquaintance of mine translates marketing research from Russian to English at the flat rate of 5 cents per word. But given that repetitions are paid for and that the majority of the material is straightforward, he can easily produce a thousand words an hour. I strongly doubt any of us would dare complain about making $50 an hour.
I dream of entering the premium market myself, but with only a year of part time translation under my belt, I have a long, arduous road ahead of me. For the time being the “bulk” market offers opportunities to orient myself while I pour over dictionaries and spend my free time reading Russian mortgage contracts.
Although we’ve never met, Kevin, I have a profound respect for what you have accomplished in the translation market. I would like to ask: where would you recommend a young translator like myself get his work reviewed, or with whom could I collaborate? I fear that few would take someone with so little experience seriously when there are so many others who can do a far superior job, to say nothing of the fact that my contacts are limited. I also translate from Russian to English – perhaps you know of someone, or some group, that would be willing to work with me?
P.S.: I loved your post about using dictating software to increase output! Certainly something I plan on trying to leverage.
Hello from Ukraine and thank you for you book and blogging)
Kevin, I have nothing to add to this. The proze you just wrote there is not a response, it’s literature. I’m going to print this out, frame it and hang it above my desk.
Thank you for writing and sharing your story, Corinne.
Luck, hard work and being a fighter notwithstanding the obstacles.
Thanks Corinne for another great post; I couldn’t agree more with you. If you ask 20 “successful” translators how they achieved success, you are bound to have 20 different replies and that’s great. It may be hard to see how to transpose that into your own dynamics, experience, fields of specialization, etc.
Success is indeed a combination of luck, hard work, and also being able/willing to seize opportunities that are offered to you if you feel and can demonstrate that you can measure up to them, i.e. trusting and knowing yourself enough to say no when the job/proposal is out of your capabilities or conversely, to take a leap of faith, trust your instinct and do everything you can to do the job extremely well.
Dear Corinne, I’ve been following you since the very start of my career, when I received your books as a birthday gift. I’ve always found your tips and insights very inspirational, and this post is no exception, Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for touching on this important topic, Corinne.
The accusations about “elitism” and other complaints of this sort are actually a symptom of a much bigger problem. The subtext of this discussion can be summed up as people trying to avoid confronting themselves. In their complaints they are actually saying something along the lines of “I want to succeed, but only within what I’m comfortable with. Oh, and it must also not be too energy or time-consuming. I expect more experienced and “successful” colleagues to just hand me over their secret manual to success with its tested and proven procedures.
The thing is, of course, that there is no 1-2-3 type of manual. There are just too many circumstances and parameters involved.
A little luck never hurts (but what is sometimes perceived as luck is actually the result of some lifestyle and/or professional decisions), but the path to success is built on working hard – and even more so – working right, i.e. efficient and effective time and priorities management. There is a degree of trial and error, and the work never really stops.
There are general business best practices to follow, there are “industry”-specific best practices to follow, and there is an invaluable lessons to learn from the insights successful colleagues share – but there are no treasure map or manual.
Those who throw the elitism argument around (because the advice conflicts with their quote unrealistic expectations) and act as if everyone – but themselves – had it easy, while expecting someone to handhold and micromanage their daily activities throughout their career, are their own worst enemies.
Well put, Mr. Hendzel. I, too, was rather sickened by the gravestone comments and many other things which you describe. I just returned from several exhausting but fruitful days of speaking and listening at a professional conference, where I was pleasantly surprised time and again to learn that my assumptions about some colleagues and organizations, based largely on flotsam in thew social media stream, were quite mistaken. There are many paths to “success”, which I would define not so much in financial terms but rather in the attainment of healthy objectives (which may indeed and ought to have some financial component). The attitude of helplessness promoted by certain types of whining is about as professionally toxic as it gets and is far removed from the often necessary confrontation with the cabal of abusers and exploiters who feed from our profession.
My grandfather, a professional psychologist at the end of his life, once told me in a private chat that accepting responsibility is an indispensable prerequisite for any mentally ill person to heal. The scope of responsibility which an individual can handle will vary of course, but that basic commitment to start acting responsibly, no matter how small the steps, and follow-through on that commitment are needed. The same applies to language service professions, I believe. Accept that you are an adult, ultimately responsible for all your choices and their consequences. And if you face an overwhelming force blocking your “success”, take responsibility for finding ways to manage that and turn “weakness” to an advantage. (I’m not talking about weakness in professional skills of course, which must be relentlessly developed. I am talking about asymmetrical power relationships!)
Hello Corinne,
I love your post about frugality! I am all for a frugal and self-sustaining lifestyle because it ultimately leads to personal freedom and like you said, to a life of financial security. This is what we are here for, and these are the reasons why we choose this profession. It does require a certain mindset though; it includes the acceptance of living below a certain living standard until one has found his or her spot on the market and established the right business relationships.
Everyone who wants to become a freelance translator must accept that income varies and prepare herself accordingly for times of low income. That does not mean to accept low-paying jobs. Sometimes, I think people forget that they have the option to say “no” to job offers or things they do not like in general. You have internally done that with McDonald’s and Walmart, which is perfectly understandable. I always say “no” to plastic bags when I only buy one or two items; what a waste that is in my eyes.
It has been a year since I took your class. I can say that there is so much work out there that at least in my language combination, I can comfortably say “no” to some job offers. Something else is always coming around. I have worked with one agency that took fuzzy matches and full matches from their translation memory into account. At the end of the day, I did not earn much, but I was also done in no time. I understand the frustration, however, ranting and complaining about these agencies in forums does not solve the issue. It is just a passive-aggressive form of conflict management that leads to nowhere. The time I takes to rant could be spend in better ways.
Again, great post!
Are we talking about achieving a modest but decent income through frugality or are we talking about economic success? Because that’s a bit hard to figure out in this discussion.
I’m also concerned by the ugliness of recent discussions. But I think it’s more complicated than just the premium market versus the poverty cult. There’s been a lot of talk about the premium/bulk market dichotomy and, to a lesser extent, the first-class/frugal mindset. This seems to have elicited a fair bit of defensiveness from people who are quite happy to work for a mixture of agencies and mid-market direct clients, but feel they’re being judged as less successful. This reaction has also been mixed with personal attacks that are totally out of place in professional forums.
From what I’ve seen, the aggressive attacks have become more problematic than what we call “rants”. Perhaps a bit more understanding on all sides, for the many different stages we’re all at, the different markets we serve and the different approaches we have, would help diffuse some of the defensiveness and get us back on track.
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to discuss this, Corinne, it’s always interesting to hear your viewpoint.
Hi! This may be a really foolish question to ask, but I’ve been considering to become a translator or interpreter. I’ve done research online, but everything I stumble upon is about freelancing in this field of work. Having stumbled upon this wonderful site, I figured this may be the best place to ask my question.
So I guess my question is:
Can you only do freelance work as a translator and/or interpreter? Or are there people in this field who have just one job they work for (i.e. someone who is a translator for Toyota, for example)? Is freelancing a more common route to go in translating and/or interpreting or is the only route for an income? Or is it just harder to get that pernament job at Toyota, so many people have to resort to freelancing?
I apologize again if this is a rather dumb question.
Thanks for your question: in the US, for whatever reason, most businesses don’t have in-house translators. Of course there are exceptions: for example I’d assume, although I don’t know for sure, that a company like Toyota *would* have an in-house translation department. There are also full-time jobs with US government entities (I started out as a contract linguist for the FBI), and for international financial institutions (although in my experience, those are rarely open to beginners). And if you work in Spanish, there are also full-time jobs interpreting for courts, hospitals, etc. But I believe that statistically, ATA is about 70% freelancers, so definitely the majority!
Thank you for your quick reply! That’s interesting the US doesn’t have many in-house jobs for translators/interpreters. That is a dismay. Many people advised I should become a translator, but not getting a consistent income is a turn-off (for me, personally). I think it’s amazing how so many people are able to freelance, but of course, it makes sense: You gotta do what you gotta do.
Mitsu, if self-employment doesn’t appeal to you, becoming a translator in the U.S. might not be your best bet. But remember there are thousands of successful freelance translators in the U.S. and millions of self-employed workers, so it’s definitely possible to make it as a freelancer. There are also countless resources out there to help you succeed, including Corinne and her books, webinars and classes.
My husband chose his relatively low-paying career in part for its job security, but after watching me succeed at my freelancing business, he has decided to test the waters of self-employment through some side projects.
That said, self-employment of any kind takes a certain kind of person, and I have had at least two friends quit the business because it wasn’t for them. You could try easing into freelancing by building up a clientele while working a day job and then quitting it when you think the time is right (that’s what I did). Or you can try freelancing for a few years and, if you don’t like it, go back into a traditional job. There’s nothing wrong with that.
I may be biased because I come from a family of small-business owners, but I have been a freelancer for several years now and have NEVER EVER looked back!
@ Jayne, thanks for your comments. I think you’ve hit on some critical points, which I’ll get to in a moment.
Where I had to draw a firm line in the sand was on a personal character-assassination – belittling an individual by actually making up a cartoon character name, complete with cartoon graphics – directed at a colleague purely for fun and sport. To laugh at her. To humiliate her. To point fingers and laugh and shriek in public in concert with other colleagues.
After the instigator of this outrage posted a “partial” apology on FB last night, including accusations that I had “purely fabricated” on this blog his disclosing the name of the victim to another participant in the FB thread, thus revealing her identity, I challenged him on Twitter on the veracity of that claim. After an extended Twitter exchange – where he backed off his fabrication accusation after I quoted him on where he had disclosed it (on Twitter he said he “forgot” he disclosed her name) – he’s since removed the accusations and snark directed at me.
What we have now on FB is something approaching a real apology from him. So that much we can be thankful for. He has also apologized directly to the victim.
The reason I came across so hard on this subject is that I think our first responsibility as professionals in such cases is an ethical one. I believe we are bound as professionals to defend colleagues when the dogs are let loose on them in hysterical comedic ridicule.
Let me be clear about one important point. This activity is in a distinctly different class from spirited public debate, even vitriolic personal ones. People can disagree and sling arrows at each other all day long. I do this all the time myself when challenging huge translation companies or their employees who are misrepresenting professional translators, their crucial role in creating value or their technology skills. I’m perfectly fine with people getting personal with each other individually, if they’re so inclined (my Twitter exchange with the individual who initiated the personal attack was not exactly a tea party). Fair enough.
But a public comedic lynching by crowds of an innocent colleague in absentia is something else altogether.
I believe our first reaction to such bad behavior should not be an appeal to kumbaya, it should be to call it out for what it is, and to do our very best to assure that it never happen again.
Back to the bulk vs. premium topic.
I agree wholeheartedly with you that confusion and edginess can result when people feel that they may be marginalized or left out or excluded from what we call the premium markets.
We’ve long been aware of the danger of what I call the “more premium than thou” risks, and to mitigate against them, I’ve repeatedly emphasized not only the complexities of the market – it’s a continuum with a billion shades of gray, not one consisting of two classes – but I’ve also worked very hard to emphasize the different objectives, personal goals, inclinations and talents of all our colleagues spread out all over the world.
My original blog post on “bulk vs. premium” markets was carefully crafted specifically to address the topic in that order – complex market, shades of gray, “bulk vs. premium” is a shorthand, bulk is often mistaken as the entire market, rates in the bulk market are collapsing, and translators would benefit from moving into the much less visible sectors of the market where rates are rising and demand appears to have no limit.
Sometimes people choose the markets they want; other times the markets choose them.
My objective is to make sure translators are well aware of all the markets, especially those segments that are hidden, obscure, more financially lucrative and (often) more personally rewarding especially since they often offer the potential for working far fewer hours for dramatically better compensation.
One can take this in any number of directions, of course, depending on each individual’s personal philosophy, work/life balance views, family or geographical work requirements or any other of several criteria.
The idea is to increase visibility and options in the upmarket so translators at least have the opportunity to make more informed choices.
I don’t know… sometimes I think I live on a different planet… kids, dogs, cats, jobs, mortgages, cars, whatever it takes to raise a big family. It’s an ongoing struggle… this is the reality for some of us and some of us don’t have the time to even breathe, let alone worrying about dichotomies… but I guess it’s matter of choices…
As the person behind the graveyard comment, I see now that it was out of place and unprofessional. I did not even realize that it had been interpreted as a direct assault at the person in question — yes, I can be that naive. A good lesson learned, and I sent out my apology. I dislike internet bullying and should have known better to not get engaged in that discussion.
As for Corinne’s post, I agree that frugality does not have to relate to how financially successful you are, it can be a voluntary choice to live as ecologically as you can and consume as little as possible.
And the overall message of making your own luck can be very empowering to some people but daunting to others; perhaps it’s a matter of personality to some extent, how open you are to new ideas in general, and to taking risks.
And as the subject of a great deal of the comments, I have also apologised. I stand by that apology. I agree with Kevin’s high standards for ethical content and would like nothing more than to see them applied to everyone, not just me.
Apart from this one unfortunate incident, in which the post itself named no names, I have spent 6 months writing every day, several times a day, seven days a week, in the service of colleagues. Nothing but ideas, thoughts and tips, and all very much on how to succeed.
Lots of people read, comment and learn from them, and come up with new questions. Many of them write messages based on what they’ve read, and I answer each one.
So I would just like to introduce some sense of proportion here. 1 unwise, wrong (call it what you will) post, as against some 600+ posts on how to make a go of things, and how to be a successful freelancer.
I hope this subject is now closed. My interest is not in slanging matches but in getting ideas out there which help people move forward. It will certainly be my last word on the matter.
Thanks Andrew! And yes, let’s please close the issue that’s not related to the topic of the post. Please just e-mail each other directly about it, and I won’t approve any additional comments that aren’t directly related to the post topic.
A couple of thoughts on reading Corinne’s post and various comments:
To some extent I agree that you make your own “luck”. That is, you don’t sit around complaining about how unfair things are, you buckle down and invest time and energy to become genuinely specialized and to do your job well.
Which means mastering the nuts and bolts of translating — already pretty daunting — and following up with the soft skills you need to interact effectively with clients, be they direct or intermediaries. And being extremely self-critical, by the way.
In some of the discussions I observed following the initial “rant” post, it was clear that translators simply weren’t doing that. They’d got into a comfort zone that was nonetheless sufficiently uncomfortable to have them complaining about low rates, but their heads were not (yet?) in a position where they were prepared to take responsibility, as Kevin L writes. In extreme cases, conversations drifted over into (for me) oddball black & white statements about it being far better to be struggling & happy than well-off & unhappy (apparently the doublets are not interchangeable). 🙂
How about this: however you decide to run your business, the more you charge the more people listen to you. Seriously. At the bottom end of the market you can squawk all you want but it is just white noise to whoever is paying you a pittance. Whereas if your services cost more, your clients will listen to you. So you can explain important things like reasonable deadlines, planning ahead, providing background materials, answering questions and all that jazz.
Which means the issue is ultimately empowerment. But translators have to genuinely want that empowerment, which comes hand in hand with responsibility. Not everybody does; fair enough. And there are certainly times in everybody’s life where you simply can’t take it on. I figure there’s room for everybody out there, and the whole point of the discussion is to raise awareness of choices.
I agree with almost everything you have written here, Chris. 99% of what I write is about accepting responsibility, seeking out the niche work that makes you most fulfilled, developing the attitudes that are likely to win clients (assuming you have the skills to do the job) and then putting them into daily action.
And my own individual journey is towards higher rates, and better paying clients. Far from being a poverty cultist (a term that occasionally seems to have strayed from its original valid meaning to imply anyone who isn’t singing from the exact same hymn sheet), I love money. Not gold doubloons, but the energy it represents: the chance to live in a fine old farmhouse in Provence, eat organic olives, buy a top-of-the-range piano, oh and jet half way round the world for a three day course in Quebec. Just because I can. Although I did fly economy class, so does that make me….? (Oh no!)
I’m just aware from the feedback I get on a daily basis that this outlook is not shared by everyone, that’s all. I can’t think of anyone who is ‘struggling’ and happy (that would be a slight contradiction in terms) but I know of hundreds of people who are getting by quite nicely and perfectly happy. And I know of a few who are apparently wealthy and desperately unhappy. It’s a complex picture. And happiness is not such a bad goal in life. By which I mean contentment and non-suffering rather than grinning like a loon. Family life, health and friends are all priorities for many.
It does come down to empowerment. But true empowerment really does involve the ability to make our own choices and decide our own level in life. I’m all for comfort zones…. each to his own. The people who rant tend to be in discomfort zones, after all. I am as keen as anyone to help people off the bottom, where it can really hurt, but I couldn’t agree more that there’s room for everyone out there.
We seem to be talking a lot about soft skills and light feedback and whimsical notions suddenly, and I wonder how useful that actually is.
I disagree, for example, with Andrew’s re-characterization of the Poverty Cult (and yes, Andrew, first class is where the premium market clients hang out, so it’s a smart business investment, as Chris and I have noted before, and actually benefited from – it’s where we’ve had real, tangible business results – dismissive comments notwithstanding).
But what do I know about the Poverty Cult? I was just standing there when it was formulated and presented in Washington D.C. at the first-ever ATA regional conference we had organized in 1996, and have discussed it extensively with Neil Inglis, the author, who served with Chris and me when we co-chaired the ATA PR Committee, to say nothing of having been fighting against that mindset for 18 years.
I think it’s crucial at this juncture to move away from whimsical speculation and acknowledge that solid, long-term experience really matters if one wants to break through to the premium market.
So let’s look at a few examples.
A translator with 25 years’ experience being reviewed and revised daily by expert colleagues, who is a subject-matter expert — a specialist — on the translation in the sense that he or she actually functions, or has the capacity to function, in the client’s role and on the client’s professional level in that subject-matter, makes a HUGE difference.
Fold into that exquisite writing skills – the kind that make people stop dead in their tracks – and you’re beginning to get some traction.
A translator with 25 years’ experience working alone and in isolation is just making the same mistakes over and over. I saw this happen for 15 years running my own translation company.
Even those translators who defend their non-reviewed and non-collaborative work by claiming to “never have had a complaint from a client,” a specious and honestly foolish thing to say when you are selling a product to a client who can’t even read the source language and is in no position to judge the quality of the translation, are really in an indefensible position.
That’s because it’s no indicator of quality at all, as both veterinarians and coroners could make the same “no complaint” claim from their “customers” with it having about equal validity.
This is but one example of how crucial collaboration actually is to premier-market translation.
It’s important to ask oneself this: Could this particular translation be done better by any other translator, anywhere? If the answer to this question is “definitely yes,” then you’ve got some serious collaborative work to do.
It’s essential to work closely with all your talented and experienced colleagues to make sure the answer comes down to “maybe.”(I’m not sure the answer is ever a definitive “no,” nor should it be.)
The one article I had nominated for a ProZ Community Award this year was not coincidentally titled, “Three Lessons: Humility, Collaboration, Perseverance.” (for those who haven’t seen it yet, you can find it here: http://bit.ly/1p1DzEw).
It describes how I spent years being trained and revised and in many senses brutalized in the highly collaborative and ruthlessly revised world of scientific journal publications for a decade (I have 35 published books in translation in physics) only to later find in the commercial translation market a cacophonous free-for-all with all sorts of people with only a few years’ experience working all by themselves – all by themselves – and claiming absurd levels of expertise in dozens of subjects – an impossible situation given the cognitive limits of the human brain.
And I knew they were being disingenuous because I was the guy evaluating their translations and rejecting virtually all of them. And let’s be honest: it took over 10 years of my colleagues’ revising about 2.5 million words of my own translation work before I even felt vaguely qualified to make that assessment.
So experience matters, but it has to be the right kind of experience.
I make no claim to have the only recipe for success, but I can state with some confidence that no prescription that excludes daily revision, consistently and regularly from colleagues, has any chance of success at the top of the market. None.
Out of curiosity, what kind of “soft skills” are you referring to here, Kevin?
“Soft skills” refers specifically to the post immediately above mine, Andie.
In my view, people who have only been in the field for a few years — this applies to any field of study or any commercial endeavor, and equally applies to me in any new field I might jump into — might want to acknowledge that limited perspective and recognize that they have restricted insight that limits their ability to give useful advice to their far more experienced colleagues, to say nothing of trying to correct or revise them, and should perhaps do a lot more listening than talking.
I don’t mean for that to come off as dismissive or rude, just practical common sense. One would not expect a freshman in college to advise the faculty on how they might improve their curriculum, despite the admirable abundance of self-confidence that requires. 🙂
If you’re referring to Chris’s definition of soft skills (the ones needed to interact effectively with people), then I’d argue they’re an essential part of any businessperson’s arsenal. Even if you’re the best translator in the world, there will be some companies who will decline to hire you if you’re impossible to work with. Perhaps in your area of expertise, where a bad translation can cause severe harm or even death, clients would be willing to put up with diva antics or a curmudgeonly sourpuss (I’m not saying *you’re* a diva or curmudgeonly!) in exchange for a stellar translation, but in my (not-quite-faculty-yet-not-quite-freshman) experience, even premium clients want someone who is easy enough to work with.
[See, for instance, this illustrative article (http://readwrite.com/2014/02/25/why-every-tech-company-needs-an-english-major) on why soft skills can be just as important as hard skills.]
I’m not here to argue with your points, Kevin, as I agree with them. Only I hate to see soft skills (read: people skills) dismissed so casually, as I think a *lot* of translators, myself very much included, could benefit significantly business-wise from better ones.
Ah, I see the confusion; my apologies.
No, as I indicated, I was referring to the post “immediately” above mine, so that means Andrew’s post.
I was using “soft skills” in a slightly different context from Chris’s usage, e.g., to refer to skills not yet battle-hardened by many years of collaboration, intense focus and specialization.
In terms of Chris’s usage, you’d hardly find a more dedicated proponent to such talents than I. That skill set pretty much defined what I needed to deploy as a long-term translation company business owner as well as ATA National Media Spokesman — outreach, empathy, connection, dialog, persuasion, conviction and a pretty decent sense of humor. 🙂
OK, that’s what I thought. I rarely see you and Chris clash swords so I thought it a bit odd that you would disagree on something so fundamental. You do have great soft skills by Chris’s definition!
Good points, Andie. Busy times over here these days, but the more I reflect, the more I’m convinced that translators who spend time *exclusively* in the translatorsphere miss the boat altogether when the opportunity arises to deal with direct clients. They are speaking another language; they don’t pick up on the behind-the-scenes, between-the-lines references. Their body language is wrong. Through nerves or inexperience, they latch on to the last point made by a client (which may be the least important) and bludgeon that to death. Stuff like that. The only real solution is spending enough time with clients, on their territory, to get up to speed in their language.
Exactly, Chris. The first time I heard you talk about this stuff, I wanted to throw my hands in the air and shout “AMEN! Preach it!” My stint as a PM gave me an insight into the kind of translator I never want to become!
Thanks for your post. I’m just starting out like you after having my first child. Will be reading more posts with interest.
Thanks and best of luck to you!
What a great post Corinne! I completely agree! Your book was a huge source of inspiration and advice when I started freelancing, and I went through a similar process of mass CV mailing, with hours spent typing emails into spreadsheets! I have had some lucky breaks, too – but as you say, these are more due to me putting myself in the right position for them.
From time to time I do come across a bit of jealousy from others starting out in the industry due to my being ‘lucky’ – however when I think of the fact that I actually did a lot of voluntary work and took an admin job at a translation agency for very low pay in the early days to get some industry experience, I realise that I make my own luck! 😉
Keep up with the great content, you are a massive inspiration!
Thanks for the great post Corinne! Indeed achieving success in freelancing takes a lot of hard work, self-discipline and courage. Those are the qualities that defines successful freelance translator for me. And of course having adventurous and entrepreneurial spirit.
Hi Corinne,
I’m a long-time lurker and a freelancer just starting out in the business of translation. I’ve read your book and posts about getting started before, but this post is just the kick in the butt I needed. Thanks for the reminders!
Jen Updike
Hello, Corinne. Your posting was informative for two reasons: a) how you got started as an independent translator, and b) how your immediate family achieved the financial platform required to build on your professional achievements.
I came across your posting (a bit late, I might add) as I was searching for “translation premium markets.” I take the phrase with a pinch of healthy skepticism. I’m glad you didn’t go on a speech about premium markets but you focused on telling your experience, which many visitors here found quite useful.
While it is true that a combination of factors (luck, education, being on the right place, etc.) plays a significant part in whether we achieve a certain level of economic prosperity as translators, other factors are invisible to the casual observer. It’s like talking about marriage. Some couples, excellent people both, seem to stumble on divorce or some ugly breakup more than once in life, while other couples look like they’ve been built strong from the start and going on for decades.
The analogy is apt because, while us onlookers might detect some of those factors, like punctuality, honesty in dealings with clients, commitment to deadlines, or sensible marketing strategies —all visible things— there are many other aspects that remain invisible, like heartwrenching decisions, times of illness, personality types and how they interact. From your own description, Corinne, I would say comfortably that you are pretty much an extrovert.
Around half of the population is not made up of energetic extroverts but different flavors of introverts: people who don’t seem to raise their hands much, or who look bored at parties or meet-and-greet events, or people who feel uncomfortable talking to strangers.
Other invisible aspect is priorities. I remember one young schoolteacher I met in 1997 whose parents were very proud of, with an IQ north of 150. She was socially engaging and smart, but I have to confess that being a mere schoolteacher (with a schoolteacher’s salary) didn’t seem much to show for with such a genius IQ. In my eyes, she wasn’t achieving that much. What I didn’t or couldn’t see were her priorities. No sensible person goes around announcing their personal priorities, unless they’re trying to sell you something.
Back to “premium markets”: in response to statements that those are tiny market niches, qualifying them as “backhanded dismissals,” Mr. Hendzel declares them “totally untrue: the premium market is immense.”
Okay, let’s make with the proof and the specifics. How immense is the premium market? Numbers? Geographies? Market players?
And that’s my contention against premium market peddlers: lack of specificity. That’s why their rhetoric doesn’t have much traction. Can we even determine the size of the legal translation market in Boston, MA or Paris, France? How about the translation market of clinical trials in Houston, TX? The best numbers I’ve seen have come up from Common Sense Advisory reports, which consist of self-reported figures by translation service providers by size, geography and other parameters.
If we are going to talk seriously about so-called premium markets, let’s bring some data analytics to the fore.