Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters


Corinne McKay

Tom West's new blog: read it!

If you’re a French<>English translator, you probably know Tom West, an attorney turned translator (and former ATA President) who owns Intermark Language Services and has spoken at numerous ATA and SFT conferences. Tom launched a new blog in January, and I just hopped over there to read it. Great stuff! Specifically, he is currently running a series of posts called, “The French they never taught you,” with such gems as:

Tom also has some good information for Spanish and German translators. Definitely an informative new addition to the translation blogosphere. Speaking of which, I’m sure that there are lots of other good new translation blogs that I don’t know about; feel free to mention your favorites in the comments.


Corinne McKay

Time management strategy: look at your rates

Here’s a time management strategy that, at first glance, doesn’t seem like a time management strategy. Make sure that you set your translation rates so that you have enough time for non-billable work. If you’re looking for the sound-bite version of this concept, you can stop reading! Otherwise:

This came to me while I was prepping for the work-life balance panel that my friend and colleague Eve Bodeux moderated at last year’s ATA conference in Chicago. I do a lot of work-related things that are not billable: of course marketing, accounting, billing and other administrative work, but I also spend a lot of time on work for the ATA Board, writing this blog, working on books and articles, presenting webinars, participating in professional development training and so on. Other translators ask me about this a lot. “Do you ever actually translate?” “Does your family know what you look like?” “Do you sleep three hours a night?” The answers to those questions are Yes, Yes, and No (I sleep almost as much as our cat does!) so here’s the trick.

I set my translation rates so that I can earn my target income if I am *actually translating* 20 hours a week. I’m a pretty fast translator, so I usually estimate that I can produce 500 finished words per hour including proofreading. I like to be able to take six weeks of vacation per year. So I look at my total output: say 20 hours times 500 words times 46 weeks=460,000 words. Then I take my target income, divide it by 460,000, and that tells me the average rate I need to charge in order to reach my target income. Then, and this is very important, *I do enough marketing that I have enough work at that rate, essentially all the time.* It’s definitely one of those “sounds simple, gets more complex when you try to do it” concepts, but I do think that at least having that calculation in your head is helpful. If you’re working for rates such that you have to translate 40 hours a week to reach your target income, either you’re going to end up working 60 or 70 hours a week and probably burning out, or you’re going to end up letting the non-billable work slide. No marketing, no training, no networking, equals a business that is potentially dying and at the least becoming stagnant. So, don’t do that. Step one: figure out what rate you need to charge in order to have enough time for non-billable work. Step two: market as assertively as you need to in order to fill your inbox with work at that rate.


Corinne McKay

New podcast: insights from a PM turned freelancer

Over at Speaking of Translation, we’ve posted a new podcast for your listening pleasure: Tips from a project manager turned freelance translator.

Eve Bodeux and I recently caught up with freelance French<>English translator Angela Benoit. Angela earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in France (from the same school where I did study abroad…Grenoble pride!) and then worked as a translation project manager in New York for over six years. About a year and a half ago, Angela decided to cross the aisle and launch her freelance translation business; in this podcast Angela shares what she’s learned from this career switch. How can a translator move from an agency’s database to actually getting work? Are rate negotiations just about the money, or are there other factors? Who gets picked for an agency’s plum assignments? And how can project managers find the best translators out there, or help the best translators find them? Give it a listen, and let us know what you think! Thanks to Angela for sharing these valuable tips with our listeners.


Corinne McKay

Beyond the Basics of Freelancing: starts February 18

If you’re an established freelancer who needs a nudge toward your business goals, you might be interested in my online course, Beyond the Basics of Freelancing. The next session starts on February 18 and I have five spots left. It’s a four-week, completely online session, and open to translators in any language combination. Everyone receives individual feedback from me on four assignments (your freelance goals, resume/business profile, rates/billable hours, and marketing plan), plus one hour of individual consulting time with me. We also do a one-hour question and answer conference call every week (recording available if you can’t make the live calls). Registration is $350, with a $50 discount for ATA members. Participants in the course have commented:

I really loved Corinne´s course. Her passion and daily commitment is out of this world. The course is full of cutting edge experience and knowledge, generously shared. I believe Corinne gave us material to implement and work on for many years ahead!

Corinne’s course was exactly what I needed at this stage in my career. She asked the right questions to get me thinking and focused on the next steps to grow my business.

I can’t recommend Corinne’s course highly enough. There’s so much advice out there to read that it can be overwhelming. But Corinne gives you practical advice, examples and techniques you can actually apply to your own business. Incredibly valuable.

Thanks, and I hope to see some of you there! To register or read more, visit my website.


Corinne McKay

Video: translating for individual clients

I do a pretty brisk business translating for individual clients (anything from birth certificates through self-published books). It’s a niche that many agencies and freelancers avoid, so it can be a good niche to address if you’re interested. In this six-minute video, I give you some thoughts on what’s appealing about the individual-client market and how to dive in if you’d like to.