This morning I presented a webinar for the ATA professional development series, entitled “Translating for the international development sector.” We didn’t have time to take questions, so if you have any, you can send them to me here. Also, if you have any feedback that you didn’t include on the evaluation, you can post it in the Comments or e-mail me directly at corinne@translatewrite.com. The webinar was sold out, so if you wanted to attend but couldn’t, you’ll be able to purchase the recording from the link above, in a few days. Thanks!
Hi Corinne,
I wanted to thank you for the fantastic webinar. I really enjoyed it and it confirmed for me that international development is a field I’m really interested in and should pursue more actively.
I had a number of questions, but I’ll keep them brief. First, almost all of the projects you mentioned seemed to be one-off kinds of things, like translating one survey or one report and the task is done. Do you find that more of your work comes from repeat clients, or from a client you do one or two jobs for and then they move on? Do you find you spend a lot of your time seeking out new clients because you don’t get much work from each client, or is each client typically more sustainable than that?
Secondly, what are your rates for your international development clients compared to your business/legal/etc clients? Do you find that the income from your more standard clients carries your international development clients, or that they’re equal? Or even the other way around?
Best,
Sam
Thanks Sam and glad you enjoyed the webinar. Answers: 1) My clients fall into a few categories, mostly either agencies that essentially function as external translation departments for development entities (as I talked about on the webinar), and USAID contractors. The agencies have ongoing work, because the bigger entities have lots of work, either all the time or at least several times a year when they get funding requests, report submissions, etc. The USAID contractors’ work kind of goes in cycles depending on the project. They may need you a lot for a certain project, but then the project ends, and they may either not need you at all, or pass you on to another project that needs the same language pair for translation. But the work from each client is more ongoing than it might seem; also because, as Jane mentioned in her comment, it’s not that easy for clients to switch translators mid-stream, because the learning curve (especially all of those darned acronyms…) is pretty huge.
2) My ID clients generally pay a little less than my highest-paying direct clients (generally law firms), but they do pay “real” money. As I talked about on the webinar, I think that people’s perception that “NGOs have no money” comes from the world of small NGOs, which might be a better target for pro bono work. My ID clients don’t have a “money is no object” approach, and they want to get a good value; but generally for them, translation is a very small percentage of the overall project budget, so they’re not looking for a cut rate just because their work might be considered morally positive. The only exception is that sometimes, my clients are involved with really small NGOs on their own time, and if they need translations for those, I do occasionally do them for free, just to make a contribution to the organization. But in general, my ID clients pay within the same rate range as what I would charge any other client.
Thanks, Corinne! That’s what I was hoping to hear (obviously). Using consistent translators because of specialized terminology makes a ton of sense, in particular. It almost sounds too good to be true, that you can get paid real money doing the kind of work that interests me the most.
Thanks again for a great webinar!
Hi Corinne,
Great webinar today! You really covered the subject from so many angles and provided a ton of useful tips, references and information. As you know, international development is also the field I mainly work in. I think it would be helpful to point out that the learning curve can be very steep, as many of these organizations have extensive in-house terminology references, translation guidelines, and acronyms. For example, the IMF’s term base is over 1,000 pages and the translation guidelines are over 80 pages. It definitely takes time to learn all of that! Also, many of these organizations only take cream-of-the crop translators, so it might be difficult for a relatively new translator to break in. That being said, I think it’s totally worthwhile. Like you I love this field and the human interest aspect! Thanks for a terrific webinar!
Thanks Jane! Yes! That (acronyms, abbreviations, 80 page style guides) are really good to be aware of, so thanks for pointing that out! Glad you enjoyed the webinar.
Another question from a participant: Would you recommend taking MOOCs to learn more about current issues and then mentioning this to clients/agencies you are marketing?
Answer: YES. Especially if you don’t have a strong science or statistics background, MOOCs are a great way to get up to speed. Last year I took Coursera’s “Epidemics: the dynamics of infections disease,” taught by a team from Penn State, and it was hands-down the best science class I’ve ever taken. Better yet, I applied the course materials right away to some documents I was translating for a vaccination program. Definitely highly recommended.
Another question from a participant: Are there place to find source texts and target texts already translated, as examples?
Answer: Yes, with a few caveats. Especially if you translate between French and English, lots of organizations like the WHO, Doctors Without Borders, etc. have really good bilingual websites. The caveat is just that (as is true of the English translations on the French government websites as well), you need to assess the quality of the translations yourself. One big issue in ID translations is that sometimes they come from disparate sources: some from volunteers, some from freelancers, some from in-house translators, etc. and consistency is a big issue. For example I often ask my clients about “official” English terms for some of their departments, programs, etc. and point out (diplomatically) that *their own published materials* have three or four or six different translations of those terms. But I’d say that for reference material, the WHO’s site (Arabic, Chinese, English, Russian and Spanish) is probably the industry standard.
Can’t wait to purchase the recording! But was the webinar US focused, or do you also work with European ID clients?
Thanks Diana! It’s pretty applicable to all countries.
Thanks for the excellent webinar, Corinne! I’m so glad this topic was covered.
First, I was wondering if you think it’s a good idea for translators to join an international development professional organization.
Also, do you have any tips for determining whether a potential client has a decent budget for translation? Any indicators other than size?
Jane – thanks for the comment about specific translation difficulties.
Best,
Sally
Thanks Sally! Joining the SID is not expensive (max $75 a year, depending on the category you choose); they have tons of in-person events if you live in DC, but even from Colorado you can do their webinars and they have live streaming of some events too. Plus it’s interesting just to see who the movers and shakers are in the specific area of international development that you’re interested in. As far as client budgets, generally the entities that are getting significant outside funding (i.e. USAID contracts) are good possibilities, but not surprisingly there’s a lot of variation in budgets. Before I do a detailed quote for anyone, I always give them a ballpark figure of what I would charge, just to not waste their time and mine if we are in completely different rate ranges. Glad you enjoyed the webinar!
Thanks, Corinne! I’m based in Ecuador now and don’t know how often I’ll make it to DC, so it’s great to hear that there are online events too. Sounds like something I’d definitely be interested in joining!
Thanks for the budget tip, too.
Sally
Hi Corinne,
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and your generous tips yesterday! I found your session very concise and rich at the same time.
I used to work in this area when I started out as a freelance translator about 8 years ago. I know it sounds weird, because I didn’t even look for these jobs! I used to work for an agency owner who received lots of materials from some of the agencies you discussed yesterday, and I was thrilled! I was a newbie and I was dealing with 300-page documents. :S At first it was very daunting, but I took it very seriously. I researched everything very carefully and I proofread my work a million times, hehe. I also had the chance to create quite a few glossaries. Later on I moved on to better-paying agencies and I never worked in International Development again. I miss it so much and I want to take advantage of the experience I had back then. This seminar was very inspiring and gave me hope!! Thank you, Corinne!! 😀
Thanks Mercedes, glad you enjoyed it!
Hello Corinne,
Thank you for your great webinar. I couldn’t attend on Oct 14 so I purchased the recording later, and it was completely worthwhile.
I have been working in International Development for almost 20 years, and until a couple of years ago, I didn’t even know that was the name of my specialization! Now I know many things more and I will pursue this field more actively, marketing for better work.
Looking forward to see you in Chicago,
María Laura Mazza
ATA-Certified Translator for Eng>Spa
Montevideo, Uruguay
Hi Corinne,
Thank you for an informative and motivational webinar – and for sharing the rich fruit of your experience with loads of ideas and material to get started on.
I was wondering about the handout? is there one or did I misunderstand? If not no matter, I have written plenty of notes and can write down more.
I wish I could come to Chicago. But it is my dream one day to come to an ATA conference!
All the best,
Catherine Demaison-Doherty
NAATI Accredited French and German to English
Canberra, Australia
Thanks Catherine, glad you enjoyed the webinar! You should have received a link to the webinar recording, and a link to the Resources handout. The handout isn’t anything earthshaking, but it has all of the websites I mentioned in the presentation, as well as links to various countries’ international development agencies. If you didn’t get it, contact Mary David at ATA headquarters and she can send it to you.
Thanks for the tip Corinne, and best wishes.
Hi Corinne,
I would like to thank you for the webinar, but would also like to say that, given the name, I was expecting something more in-depth (I think it is not necessary to explain what the MDGs are, for example). It should have been made clear that this webinar is not for those with experience in the field.
PS: There is no link to the handout in the email and attendees should not be expected to email the organisers afterwards 🙂
Just my 2c…
Thanks Diana! I e-mailed ATA HQ to try to iron out the handout issue. In terms of the level, of course everyone’s experience and expectations are different. On the live webinar evaluations, I think that only 2 people out of 100 rated it as ‘too basic,’ but thanks for your feedback!
Yes, I would have been the third one 🙂 Thank you for emailing ATA, hopefully they will sort this out.
Hi Diana: ATA HQ tells me that you should have received an e-mail with the handout as an attachment, but there’s also a link to it where you registered: http://www.atanet.org/webinars/ataWebinar143_international.php (It’s the bullet item right above “On Demand”). Thanks again for purchasing the recording and just let me know if you need anything else.
I see it now. But there’s still no attachment in the email. Thank you for your help, Corinne! 🙂
Hi Corinne I got it through the link, thank you. Have a good week!
Great. HQ is following up about the issue with the attachment.
Sorry Corinne, this is a belated comment and no rush please, as you’re probably finishing up, but do you recommend writing to your source-language International Development agencies in their language, even if they have an English-language website?
Thanks Catherine! Well, it depends (how’s that for a straight answer…). In general I think it’s always best to address clients in their own language, but sometimes it’s not totally clear what “in their own language means.” For example in the real hotbeds of international development (say, Geneva), the lingua franca of the workplace is potentially English, even though they’re in a French-speaking city. In fact some of my own clients in Geneva would *rather* communicate in English than French. So, I think you have to use your own judgment.
Thank you Corinne, I suspected as much, so thank you for confirming this from your own extensive experience.