Wrapping up 2021 and looking ahead

After taking a couple of weeks off over the holidays for some digital detox and skiing in the Colorado mountains, I’ve been back at work since around January 4. I’m finally getting around to assessing how last year went, and looking ahead to what I’d like to accomplish in 2022.

Big-picture thoughts on 2021

My word of the year for 2021 was/is “and.” It was intense and hard in a lot of ways, *and* I accomplished some things that had been on my bucket list for a while. The ongoing COVID situation was really challenging to deal with, *and* I feel grateful for vaccines, and that I managed to sneak in a Europe trip during the three weeks when it looked like COVID was over. Pursuing conference interpreting is a whole new prong of my freelance business with so much to learn, *and* it’s been really healthy for me to venture out of my comfort zone. 2021 was a year of “ands.”

Income

Most basically, I’m happy with how much I earned in 2021: about US $102K, down slightly from the year before, but not bad considering I was in grad school for half the year, and an amount that I’m relatively happy with. I say “relatively happy” because I’d honestly like to aim for more like $140-$150K, because that would be on par with a six-figure corporate job, plus the additional expenses that we incur as freelancers (self-employment tax, paid vacation, professional development, etc.). I’m also relatively happy with the division of my income between translation, interpreting, and teaching/writing. I earned roughly

• 50K from translation for direct clients and agencies
• 10K from translation for individuals
• 9K from interpreting (coincidentally, exactly the same amount I earned from translation during my first year as a freelancer in 2003, which seems like a good omen)
• 20K from online classes I taught
• 10K from Training for Translators classes taught by other instructors (that’s net, after paying the instructor, my webinar assistant, and hosting expenses like Zoom and Thinkific)
• 3K from book royalties and consulting

Ideally, I’d love to make about 60K each from translation and interpreting and maintain my teaching income at around 30K, but that depends on how the interpreting side of my business develops (more on that below).

Conference interpreting: a whole new world

As I’ve written about here, and here, my major project for 2020-2021 was doing a Master’s in Conference Interpreting at Glendon College/York University. Classes finished in April, I took the exit exams at the very end of May, and got my results (pass!) at the very beginning of July. I then took most of July off, and started marketing for conference interpreting work in August. Here’s where I’m at with that, so far:

• I’d really like to apply to the US Department of State, but they haven’t tested anyone since March of 2020 and don’t yet have online testing options. So for now, that’s on hold.
• I’ve applied to about 100 agencies and am continuing to chop away at a long list of potential agency clients; those efforts have started to yield some interesting work.
• I’ve done some pro bono interpreting for a grassroots environmental organization and for an interpreting summit.
• I took and passed the test to interpret in the US immigration courts.
• I’m still interpreting for the Colorado state courts.
• Non-court legal work (mostly depositions) has picked up a lot.

Pluses and minuses so far:

• I love interpreting and I’m really glad that I did the Glendon program. Hands-down, it was the right decision for me.
• It’s definitely an advantage to have a Master’s from an AIIC-compliant program. I find that it opens a lot of doors, and that I get a much more enthusiastic response from most clients than I did when I was a beginner translator in 2002/2003.
• The ongoing COVID situation is a huge shakeup in the interpreting world. I think that at the outset, a lot of people just sat tight, thinking that everything would be back to in-person in six months. Two years later…I think a few factors are in play. These are just my personal opinion and I’m far from a seasoned interpreter, but here goes! 1) I think we’re in a bit of a dead zone where online events are no longer novel, Zoom is no longer exciting, but a lot of people still aren’t comfortable attending in-person events, nor do clients want to sink a bunch of money into an in-person event that might be cancelled at the last minute, and 2) Most online events simply are not as long as in-person events used to be, and some are radically shorter. I’ve had several potential conference interpreting clients tell me, “If you got your MCI in 2019, we could have immediately plugged you into a four-person team of interpreters working three-day in person events. But those events are now half-day online events which only require two people, and we need to keep our regular interpreters busy enough that they stick with us.” At the same time, I’m definitely seeing some clients (like the grassroots environmental organization) use interpreters simply because RSI is an option; in the past, they absolutely did not use interpreters. And finally 3) RSI, and online interpreting marketplaces, seem to be placing some of the same pressures on interpreters that translators have felt for a while: “Everyone else charges a one-hour minimum,” “Clients are refusing to pay for more than one interpreter for a one-hour meeting,” “We know the audio quality isn’t ideal, but just do your best.” For a long time, I think that conference interpreting was more of a bastion of solidarity between interpreters, where working conditions were substantially better than what a lot of translators will agree to, simply because there were no cracks in the conference interpreting wall. And now, I feel like that’s less true.

Highlights of the year

Finishing my conference interpreting Master’s was definitely a milestone, something I’ve wanted to do for a while and that honestly was made possible by the pandemic, when the Glendon program went online. I am still translating as much as ever, but I love interpreting and am having so much fun with it. I also turned 50 this year, and my back-of-the envelope plan is to work full-time for around another 20 years (then maybe semi-retire and translate books?). I wish I had done an MCI sooner, but I feel like I still have enough working years left to make my interpreting degree worth it.

In August, I felt safe enough COVID-wise to return to a co-working office, after working from a small private office for almost a year. My previous and much-loved co-working office went out of business in the pandemic, so I moved to a new office where I’ve been very happy.

In October, I attended the ATA conference in person, which was another highlight of the year. I presented an AST session that went well, and it was so great to see colleagues in 3D again.

I’ve been doing a lot more professional development (as a participant!) in the past few months. After being the one on the presenting end for a long time in the translation world, I’m actually enjoying the “beginner’s mind” aspect of attending interpreting workshops. And I highly recommend the offerings of Techforword and The Interpreting Coach!

What’s ahead for 2022?

Well, there’s a question! Mostly, I’m hoping to continue with my translation work and the Training for Translators side of my business, while expanding the interpreting side beyond court interpreting. I love court interpreting and have no plans to cut back on it, but I’m starting to get some conference work which is what I trained for at Glendon, so I’m excited about that.

I already submitted two proposals for the 2022 ATA conference (Los Angeles, here we come!), and I’m hopeful that this is the year that COVID really starts to wind down. Although, after saying that so many times, who really knows? However I’m excited about the opportunities this year will offer.

Readers, over to you! Any summaries of 2021 or goals for 2022?