Back in 2011, I wrote this post about how much freelance translators earn. After almost seven years, it’s still the most popular post on this site, with over 21,000 views. A reader recently sent me a series of questions about translator income:
“I’m in college and deciding whether to try to make a career as a freelance translator or interpreter. I’m wondering about income potential. How much do you think a freelance translator just starting out can expect to make? If it’s OK for me to ask, how much do you make? And how much of your income comes from translation versus other things? Do you feel downward price pressure from clients? How much do translators and interpreters with in-house jobs make?”
Those are all good questions, young translator, so let’s take a look at what I wrote in 2011 and do a bit of an update.
The most recent American Translators Association compensation survey is from 2015, using respondents’ self-reported income data from 2014. Anyone can read the executive summary here, and ATA members can read the full report here. If you just want the gross income takeaways, ATA-certified translators reported that they earned about $54,000 a year, and non-ATA certified translators reported earning about $45,000 a year. We (I say “we” here in that I’m the current ATA President) are always looking to refine the survey questions for the next time around. One case in point: the ATA survey allows users only to choose between “full time” and “part time” status, with no gradations therein. And, for example, I work about 35 hours a week with 6-8 weeks of vacation a year. I consider that full time, but a lot of people would call that part time. However, this survey gives a good snapshot of T&I income levels for people who are freelancers, private sector employees, government employees, educators, and company owners.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics also has data on translators and interpreters. Their average of $46,000 a year falls below the average reported by ATA-certified translators on the ATA survey, but above that of non-certified translators. There’s a big asterisk here–to my knowledge (which is certainly not always correct!), the BLS data excludes both independent contractors and government employees, which essentially means most translators in the US. ATA is approximately 70% independent contractors, and I’d venture a guess that federal employees are some of the higher-paid translators and interpreters in the US, so this data is certainly skewed if those exclusions apply.
The Authors Guild recently did a survey of literary translators’ income, and the German literary translators association did the same in Germany. You can read an interesting summary of the results of both surveys in Slator. The numbers there appear dismal, with two-thirds of respondents to the Authors Guild survey reporting that they earned less than $20,000 last year from literary translation. However, the catch is that only 7% of respondents reported that literary translation is their only source of income. Still, I think it’s safe to say that rates for literary translation were not stratospheric to start out with, and are not rising.
Just for kicks, you can also cruise sites like Glassdoor, and see what they think translators and interpreters are getting paid. When I did this just now, they seem to be using the BLS average as their reported average salary, but there are definitely some decently-paying jobs listed on there, in the $75,000-$90,000 a year range.
My take
I don’t mind talking about what I earn. For context, here are my key stats from 2017:
-My gross income is in the low six figures and has remained steady for the past several years
-As mentioned above, I work about 35 hours a week and take 6-8 weeks of vacation
-In 2017, about 60% of my income came from translation and about 40% from book royalties, course registrations, and consulting
-I work almost exclusively with direct clients and individuals; at this point I have only two to three agency clients, and only one of those represents more than a few thousand dollars in income
-I do not make a concerted effort to increase my income, because I earn enough to meet my financial goals, and because a high quality of life, including significant amounts of time for my family and non-work interests, is very important to me
What’s the magic number?
In my opinion, many translators radically underestimate how much they need to earn in order to achieve a similar level of financial security to someone with a traditional job. One of the reasons I’ve pushed myself to earn in the low six figures is that that number gives me a level of financial security that I’m happy with. My family has savings. I can afford to take time off. I don’t worry about what would happen if I got sick and couldn’t work for three or six months. That was certainly not true when I started freelancing; but lots of translators get stuck in that rut. They’re perpetually in survival mode, one financial disaster away from taking on credit card debt or having to borrow money from family or friends to get by. After 15 years of freelancing, I don’t want that kind of worry. That’s part of the reason that I focus on direct clients whose budgets allow me to earn a healthy income.
At the same time, I think there’s nothing wrong with decreasing your living expenses so that you don’t need to earn a high income. With my daughter halfway through high school, I can see a point such as that in my own future–where I might make a deliberate decision to do something like rent our house out, hit the road for a year, and live off a lot less money. No problem there.
But for most freelancers, I’m going to say that in order to achieve a similar level of financial security to someone with a traditional job, you need to be earning in the range of $75,000-$90,000 a year, unless you have very modest financial needs or another source of income. I think that 75-90K is a good goal to aim for, and I think it’s realistic for most people who are good at the job, market themselves assertively, and make a concerted effort to move into higher-paying markets.
Finally, I see–among other translators I know and among students in my classes–a lot of income polarization in our industry. Perhaps this shouldn’t surprise me as much as it does. But I hear from some translators that they earn well into the six figures while working primarily or exclusively for their long-term clients, doing very little marketing, and not needing to work crazy hours. I hear from other translators that they struggle to earn enough to live on, despite doing what they perceive as a fair amount of marketing, and that they feel downward price pressure from nearly all of their clients. This is a complex issue and perhaps deserves its own post.
Over to you, readers. Thoughts on these income-related issues?
Great post, Corinne! Thanks for your generosity in sharing these insights. Best wishes, Michael.
Sure, glad you enjoyed it!
Corinne, you are one of the best voices for translators out there. I always enjoy reading what you have to say. Thanks
Thank you, that’s very sweet of you to say.
Thanks, Corinne. Good answers and you paint a good image for all to strive for.
Thanks, Gio!
Hello, Corinne! Thank you for your email about the update on this topic. I have been asking myself several of these questions lately and thought this was very helpful! If you have any insight on the different levels of work translators can do while preparing for the ATA Certification Exam, that would be helpful too. I would like to work as a freelancer, but don’t want to work on projects that are not in my skill level. So, a general idea would clear things up. Thanks again!
Thanks, Alex! For the ATA exam, mainly I would recommend taking the practice test. Don’t focus so much on whether you pass or fail, look at the error types and how close to the passing bar you are. For example when I took the practice test, I failed by a few points but I could see what I needed to do differently, then I passed the real exam on the first try. Good luck to you!
Hi, Corinne,
I appreciate the range of information sources you present here — I think translators sometimes forget how many options we have in terms of freelancing, employment in an in-house company, government work, etc. (I know I do, having been a freelancer all my life), and also how our definitions of full time and part time might differ.
I certainly see 35 hours a week as full time! May I ask whether your 35 hours a week refers to billable hours or time spent working generally; and if billable hours, what does that amount to in terms of overall hours per week spent on the job?
For me, 35 hours of billable work per week, week after week, would be an exhausting pace. I can do that and more under deadline, but there’s a trade-off in terms of professional development, family time, volunteer activities, personal pursuits, and sleep. The billable vs. non-billable ratio is a big factor for me in setting rates and projecting realistic goals for all of these pursuits.
Thanks and regards!
Paula
Thanks, Paula! For me, it’s 35 hours total, usually about 20-25 billable. Of course that varies. One of the reasons I aim for 20-25 billable is so that if/when two clients have something urgent at the same time, I can usually shuffle things around to make it work. Whereas if you’re at 35 billable, that means 70 hours if two clients really need you. I think that’s one of the tradeoffs of working primarily for direct clients. I really try *never* to turn down their work unless I’m on a non-working vacation, whereas when I worked primarily with agencies, it was a lot easier to just say, “I’m not available.”
Thanks, Corinne — this makes a lot of sense.
I’m sure you know this, but somewhat compensating for not wanting to turn down a request from a direct client is that you can check in with them before committing to a big job (maybe from a new client), and occasionally throughout the year, and find out what they have planned and when they might need you. It’s not only good for figuring out your own schedule, but it reinforces to them that you are committed to their projects (and sometimes you can generate more work that way).
Thank you very much, Corinne.
This is for sure a great post, you have given me food for thought!
Thank you, Lorena. I’m glad you found it helpful!
Thanks for this post, Corinne!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for the post, Corinne! I started freelancing last year, so it was of particular interest to me. I recently bought “How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator” and “Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies” but have been too busy to read them… which is a good problem to have! 😀
Thanks, Sandra! Great, that is excellent that you already have a lot of work! Thanks for buying the books.
Great post Corinne. Thanks for the insight!
Thanks, Jason! Glad you enjoyed the post.
Thank you Corinne for your insightful posts!
I was just wondering if you could share some info on your rates and maybe if you work per hour or word? That would be helpful for us newcomers although actually I’m turning from being a full-time employee who did 4 to 6 translations per year to full-time freelance translator, but I’m sure that info would allow me to kind of lay out the road ahead of me.
Thanks and regards,
Andrew
Hi Andrew, glad you enjoyed the post. My recommendation: work backward from what you need or want to earn, then market to clients who will pay what you need or want to earn. For a detailed way of doing that, see Jonathan Hine’s pamphlet “I am worth it.” The only service for which I always charge the same price is official document translations ($75 per page plus $25 for a certificate of accuracy). For agencies I charge by the word for translation, by the hour for editing and proofreading. For direct clients, my preference is to charge per project. This gives them one number to focus on, plus it allows me to tweak the per-word rate a bit, depending on the specifics of that project. If you want details about my current agency and direct client rates (for various reasons I’d rather not post that here) just e-mail me at corinne@translatewrite.com.
Dear Corinne,
This is the first time I’m commenting, although I have been reading your blog posts (and learning so much from them) for years. I’m not sure when or how I started reading your blog, but part of the reason why I kept on doing it, considering that doing translation for a living was not on my mind at the time, was the sheer professionalism that permeates through your posts (and it’s no surprise for me that you are very successful freelance translator.) In fact, your posts are the main reason why amongst a number of options, I am now considering turning to freelance translation.
Thank you so much for your sensible and extremely helpful insights!
Take care,
Ana.
Thank you, Ana! Your message made my day!
Hi Corinne, read this with interest.
I’m going to suggest that “My recommendation: work backward from what you need or want to earn, then market to clients who will pay what you need or want to earn.” is good advice for a beginner. Ha, I can remember the late Florence Herbulot, bless her heart, making this argument 15 years back, and having her academic peers tut-tut about how commercial she was becoming…). But… not such good advice for someone who has developed genuine translation skills and gained experience and is aiming for more lucrative market segments.
The reason is simple: many (most?) translators have scaled back their expectations in the face of arguments by vendors claiming that prices are tumbling “thanks to” advances in technology and the like. A real tsunami going on there.
(I am aware that there are also exceptions like your good self, who explictly laud the benefits of a frugal lifestyle. And I applaud you for it, not least because you practice what you preach.)
However, there are other models out there.
And in other market segments I see translators *placing themselves at a disadvantage* because they are usually completely unaware of where the (real, for good clients) price point is; where the budgets are; what the monetary value of the risk they are called in to mitigate is.
So whereas “calculating what you need to live and counting backwards” is an option, I think translators with genuine skills should consider engaging more with their target clients and industries to gain a better understanding of the big picture. That will tell them where and what the real budgets are — and in my experience will encourage them to up the ante.
Thanks, Chris!
Hi Chris,
I would add that many (if not most) translators tend to badly underestimate how much unbillable hours they really work… especially if, in an effort to mitigate their risk, they work for many different customers (ad so the number emails to answer multiplies, as do the number of projects to track and invoice, etc.)
Agree entirely, Riccardo — which argues in favor of a clear tracking process and client management systems. Neglecting to track actual time spent is one of the negative spinoffs of using per-word rates as a baseline. And discomfort with figures kind of goes with the territory for many translators, who see themselves as lovers of words and ideas, not math. Needless to say, they pay for it.
Thank you, Corinne, for raising what is obviously an important topic in a transparent manner.
I’m mostly just seconding Chris, really. But I do have a couple of additional supporting points and thoughts on the subject.
I recall Steffen Walter made a surprisingly controversial talk at the annual meeting of German-speaking translators in Berlin a few years ago. There, he cited a similar source which included a calculation of what freelancers should be earning per hour, as a minimum. I think at that time, it was €72, which was greeted by gasps among the audience. An important point, seeing as many translators do not seem to have the confidence to charge anything like this to many clients when charging by the hour (oddly, many may make this when translating, though).
The updated form of what Steffen was quoting now gives a much higher figure – an absolute minimum of €50 per hour, a general minimum of €65, and a desirable minimum of €87,19. German-speakers (well, readers) can read all about how that’s calculated here: https://lambertschuster.de/existenzgruender/stundensatz-kalkulation-fuer-selbstaendige-und-freiberufler/
For comparison, the Dutch government specifies no freelancer should be charging less than around €47. At least, it was that a few years ago, and it may well have gone up. Again, this is a bare minimum, bulk market, bottom-of-the-bottom rate that doesn’t allow for sufficient investment in one’s business to ensure long-term sustainability or any climb upmarket that doesn’t result from anything other than sheer luck.
… And while it’s good for translators to think in terms of the *minimum* they require right at the start of their careers, it’s better for them to instead look at what they can get on the open market when they are further along. At some point, when you start getting overloaded with work, it becomes absolutely essential that you start manipulating those supply and demand curves – in this context, that is to say increasing rates to ensure a certain number of clients keep saying no (and that you can afford certain investments and luxuries to ensure you keep functioning at your best).
My own experience is that I had to simply stop looking at what I wanted to earn, because as a fellow frugal person (relatively – I’m more like an Initiate where you, Corinne, might be the Grand Master) whose outgoings are relatively reasonable (okay, vegan/organic food and inter-European travel on the personal side of things, but a lot of tech and CPD-related things on the business side of things), I earn a *lot* more than I need to and have done for a long time.
Instead, I started upping my rates to get demand under some semblance of control. I’ve simply tested and tested the market (I keep testing it), upping it by increasing amounts as I go. As I said elsewhere recently: Money doesn’t motivate me very much at all. That’s why I need a lot of it to feel motivated to work (rather than play a game, chat to my husband, or go for a walk).
Many good translators find themselves turning down work or getting overworked to the point of burnout before realising the answer is in their hands – it is all within their control. Fear holds people back from increasing rates, but if they fail to challenge that fear, they end up overworked due to a fear of the well miraculously running dry (hint: if you’re good, it never will – it’ll just keep filling up with fresh rainwater, in fact).
My tip for good, established translators who are turning away work is to test the boundaries. It’s okay if one or two say no – the next may say yes, and if you’re always busy, you’re safe to take that gamble.
BTW, a pro tip or two on increasing rates that I learned myself the hard (and silly) way:
When you increase your rates for new and existing clients, do so based on percentages rather rather than round amounts every time. It’s fine if you still choose a round figure, but that round figure itself should naturally increase over time. For example, say your target hourly rate is €150, and your current rate is €75. How long will it take you if you slavishly increase by €5 an hour every time you pluck up the courage once every year? 15 years. Now what about if you increase it instead by approx. 6.666% (which nets the same €5 increase in the first year)? Less than ten years. And of course, if you jack that percentage just a little higher, say to 10%, it’ll take you around 7.5 years. Jack the rates up even higher if you still feel overworked and feel like testing the market. Perhaps you’ll be surprised at what happens when you start pricing based on what people are willing to *pay* as opposed to what you calculated you *need* or *want*, or what others are *telling* you you should be paid.
And don’t worry too much about overcharging, either – the market will soon tell you if you are. It won’t be a pleasant experience, but you’ll know, and those clients just won’t hire you again. (Though naturally, everyone loses a client now and again for reasons beyond our control – so don’t take it to heart unless a pattern is forming.) The aim is not to scam a few odd clients into hiring us for big bucks, but to establish lasting relationships with clients who know they are paying more but also know our work is worth it.
Thanks, Rose!
And thank you from me too, Rosalyn! As a newbie freelancing translator, I really appreciated your thoughts.
Thanks, Sandra!
Oh yeah, that’s me! Haha, it autocompleted with my full name. I usually go by Rose. 🙂 Hope it helps.
Well researched and incredibly useful post, Corinne. Thanks a lot.
Great post, Corinne, and a very good response from Rose Newell as well, which gives me a lot of food for thought about where to go with my rates. I’d like to add a couple of comments for newcomers entering the field of freelance work.
Having started in this field as a salaried employee who did translations in-house as an adjunct to my “regular” work, I should point out that comparing salaries in the business world to freelancing requires some recalculations. One major factor for me was that my expenses dropped precipitously when I started freelancing, mainly because my commuting costs and expenses for clothing went to virtually nothing. As I was living in a major metropolitan area at the time, these expenses amounted to as much as $10,000-$15,000 a year. And that, of course, was after-tax income – and I’m talking about 15 years ago. I’m sure these things would cost more now.
There are, of course, expenses related to hardware and software, but compared to other small businesses the initial outlay is minimal, and most of us replace our computers every few years anyway.
On the other hand, if you live in a jurisdiction where health insurance is not state mandated, this represents a significant out-of-pocket expense that you normally wouldn’t take into consideration as a salaried employee.
I know from your previous comments that you have an office away from home, Corinne, and I can appreciate how that can be of value for maintaining work habits, if not your sanity; however, as it represents an additional overhead expense, if I were starting out I think it would be a choice that I would prefer to postpone until I was on my feet.
Thanks for the comment and I’m glad you enjoyed the post! Yes, I agree that my outlay on business expenses has increased dramatically over the years–to my benefit I think, but definitely at a cost. As you mention, my co-working office expense is significant; $350 a month, plus $1,000 a year for my accountant, etc. etc. Those are things that keep me sane and let me be more productive, but not necessarily something I would recommend that beginners run out and spend money on.
Thank you Corinne! For me, it is extremely interesting and urgent topic for the moment. I have subscribed to your list this day, and I am looking forward to learn from such a specialist. I am a freelance English to Russian translator for many years, Russian native from Moscow. And I should say that such specialists as me have a lot of difficulties with finding good-paying clients, whether agencies or direct clients. Price dumping initiated by low-experienced freelancers impacts us badly.
Thanks, Olga! I do agree that in languages like Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, and probably others, there is a lot of price-based competition from translators who live in countries where the cost of living is a lot lower than the US or Europe. It’s a tricky issue; in one sense, we in the US are the “low-priced competition” for translators in, say, Switzerland. And, in some countries, rates that are definitely not “livable” in the US are quite livable. Unless we can put the Internet back in the tube, I don’t think those factors are going away anytime soon, but I do think that marketing to clients who want what you have to offer (whether that’s specialist knowledge, experience, service, reliability, etc.) is the way to go.
Thank you Corinne for a very interesting and well researched post. I have read through all the comments and discussion as well, really useful for me being relatively new to the world of freelancing. My experience so far, about 1.5 yrs, is that the amount I earn definitely increases with time but more importantly for me – as my confidence has increased with each job. And I think that is the point many are making as well – it may take some time, but it is important to work towards a pay that you both need in order to cover your costs but also one that makes you feel that you are getting paid “fairly” in relation to the quality of work you are actually producing. I always enjoy these posts and they truly are beneficial to me.
Thanks Ann-Charlotte! Yes, great point there; I often say that “the right rate” for your services is one where you and the client both feel that you’re getting a fair deal. And confidence is a key ingredient in that–confidence that your work is worth what higher-end clients will pay.
Thank you very much for sharing this. Over the years I found that most translators avoid talking about their rates and earnings, making it incredibly difficult to set up rates for newcomers to the profession. I believe that this is one of the reasons why their rates tend to be too low, as they are afraid of pricing themselves out of the market.
Hi Corinne, thank you so much for the post and email reply to my questions. It is great help. -Amanda
Thank you for your post, Corinne!
I’m also a part-timer, i.e. a moonlighter. I’ve translated as a sideline to my main profession for nearly 30 years.
I’m wondering what your thoughts are on the rise of so-called CAT tools that, in my personal experience & estimation, have been allowed to devalue translators’ hard work & reputation.
When I started out in the mid-1980s, my translation colleagues were composing their translations longhand and then typing them for (hard copy) submission. Then came “word processors”, then computers & the Internet … but the work has always been the same: research and acquired knowledge of the given topic, plus writing talent and reliability.
Nowadays, many agencies that I come into contact with want me to purchase, learn and always use their favorite CAT tool. E.g. I recall that the user’s manual for the popular CAT tool TRADOS was over 350 pp. back in the day, but I was nevertheless supposed to begin using the tool properly right away and thereafter meet ever shorter deadlines for lower fees.
I gave it a shot for a while, as I generally support progressive change. But the company’s claims that translator would be working “faster” actually meant that we were working longer hours for less money because no one was paying me for the additional time I was thus forced to devote to learning their expensive program and simply making it function properly…
I can certainly understand that in-house translators who consistently translate a single company’s repetitive texts would find such a system useful. But for freelancers like me, who constantly translate all manner of texts – from legal agreements to motorcycle tech specs and from an online art dealer’s website to a private bank’s marketing campaign – the ability of such “tools” to recognize particular words and phrases and spit them back out simply isn’t needed.
Many agencies seem to want to decide (or rather, let their beloved tools decide) what I’m allowed to charge for my work. And that is considerably less than my normal rate, even though every CAT tool demands additional time for operation and “babysitting”.
IMO such agencies have launched a downward quality spiral, degrading experienced bilingual writers into mere proofreaders of Google-Translate’s gibberish for less and less payment.
But after the frequent updates and expenses to maintain the (at least in the early years) “buggy” TRADOS software led to constant computer crashes, I wrote off my investment of >$1000 in this CAT tool experiment and have never looked back.
In short, like you, I faithfully and successfully serve my private clientele and a few agencies. They understand and respect that not every translator wants or needs CAT tools (I’ll use Wordfast Anywhere only if absolutely needed and that’s it) and they pay me fees that are commensurate with my professional experience and efforts.
Am I a total maverick (it wouldn’t be the first time!), or are there other freelancers out there in the same boat?
Thanks again for sharing your wisdom and expertise with us and we look forward to your next post!
I was born and raise in Chile and went to veterinarian school over there. I moved to the US 8 years ago and I have been working for the local agricultural department for 7 years. I do all the translations from English to Spanish in my office (among other duties) and I was certified bilingual by them. However, I just had a baby and I would love to work from home as a translator. The problem is that all the websites that I have found looking for translators pay very little (around $8 an hour) and I would need around $70k a year to live comfortably. Where can I find those good jobs that would pay me the amounts that you are mentioning above?
Thank you so much for the article!
Hello!
I am interested in becoming a German-English translator.
In order to become a “highly paid and requested” freelance translator, does one need a BA in translation or is a certificate in translation enough? (from the ATA, for example)
I do have Associate Degree and a BA, just not in that field.
Has anyone of you switched countries while working as a freelance translator? Is there something I should keep in mind?
Thank you