Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters


Corinne McKay

Reader question: following the money

A student in my online class asks: how do you know who the “big payers” are in a given industry, and how do you find them or help them find you?

That could be a whole course in and of itself; but here are my thoughts in a nutshell:

Every industry or sector has “big payers.” For example, when I tell people that I do mostly international development translation, they often say “But isn’t it all small NGOs run out of someone’s garage on a shoestring budget?” And yes, there are *tons* of those small “garage” NGOs out there that always need pro bono translators. But the real “big payers” in the development sector are companies that get huge contracts from USAID and other entities like that. For those clients, a contract of $50 million would be considered medium-sized. A big grant from an entity like the Gates Foundation would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars; so these clients are much more concerned with quality, consistency and confidentiality than with saving a few cents per word.

Here’s another example: another student in the class is interested in art-related translation, and I suggested looking at art law. Like my example above, you’re going to find tons of small players in the art sector who have little to no money, and might be a good target for pro bono translation. But envision if a large museum in the US is doing a major exhibit on, let’s say, Frida Kahlo, and they’re going to borrow a bunch of paintings from museums in Mexico. Again, here, we’re talking huge amounts of money: paintings that are insured for millions of dollars and have to travel under certain conditions and with an attendant from the “home” museum at all times; and they have to be displayed only under certain conditions, and hung a certain way. And they have to be evaluated by a curator before they leave the home museum to check for damage and all of that stuff, but all of that stuff is in Spanish. Same with the books and brochures associated with a traveling exhibit; they probably already exist, but in Spanish. So again, there would be a lot of translation work there, with an enormous cost of failure for the museum.

So, how do you land those kinds of clients? A few tips: first, you make sure that if they are just blindly looking for someone online, they find you. You are on LinkedIn and you have a website that clearly describes your services. Also, you have a large network of other translators who refer work to you because you are ultra-trustworthy and never let down the clients who someone refers to you. Also, you hang out in places where your target clientele hangs out; you are a member of their professional associations, and you go to their conferences and things like that. But, you also do not wait for them to find you; let’s say that you see a notice in the local press that a museum in your city is doing that big Frida Kahlo exhibit; they just signed the contract! So you fire off an e-mail that’s low-key but well written, and say something like this to the person who’s listed as the contact: “Dear Ms. Simpson: I just read the news in the local paper about your upcoming Frida Kahlo exhibit. How exciting, and what a great cultural opportunity for the art community in town. I’m a professional Spanish-English translator specializing in fine arts, and I can envision that you might need someone to help with translations related to this exhibit. If so, feel free to keep my contact information on file. In any case, thank you so much for bringing this incredible event to our city, and I’ll definitely be looking forward to the exhibition!”

So, that’s very brief, but there’s the basic concept of how the “high payer” world works, in my experience. Readers, other thoughts?


Corinne McKay

When a client says, "Geez…that's really expensive!"

A student in my online course asks, “What do I respond when a client comments that my rates are really high?” Good question, student! Because if you’re running your business the right way, someone, someday, and maybe even lots of people almost every day, will think that you’re too expensive. Which leads us to rule number one of pricing: If no one ever thinks that your rates are too high, that means that they’re too low. Or at least that you could be charging more. Also remember that numerous wise people who have gone before you (in my case, my accountant) have commented something like “Your rates should make people sit up and take notice, but not jump across the desk at you.” Point being, as long as you have enough work, you want a decent percentage of potential clients to find your rates expensive.

But back to the question: what do you say to the sticker-shocked client? Well first, what is the client actually saying? Note that in this example, the client did not say, “You are an imposter and you’re not worth what you’re charging.” You may have heard that, but that’s not what the client said. So, let’s say that you’re on the phone and the client remarks that your rates are high/expensive/more than they planned on spending. What do you respond? Nothing. Zippo. The client did not ask a question; they simply made an observation, so you don’t need to say anything. All the client did was make an observation: that is more than we planned on paying, for example. But no one likes a big, awkward silence in a conversation, so you can either make a non-committal utterance (“Mmm?” “Mmm hmmm”), or you can quietly and slowly take an extremely deep inhale/exhale breath, to give yourself something to do while the client mulls it over.

Let’s say this happens over e-mail, and then you have to actually respond. Or it’s on the phone, and in addition to the “that’s really expensive” observation, the client actually asks if you can do the job for less. A few options:

  • In my opinion, the best defense is a factual one, like “Your project sounds really interesting and I’d love to work with you. But to be honest, I’m busy all the time at my regular rates, so I cannot offer a discount at this time.” You’re simply telling the truth in a respectful way.
  • Ask, “What budget did you have in mind?” If the client is honest about their budget, this gives you an idea of whether you’re 10% different or 90% different.
  • Educate: tell the client something like, “I agree, high-quality work is never inexpensive. Also, translation might be more time-consuming than you realize if you haven’t worked with many translators before. For example, your 10,000 word document would represent at least a week of work for me, and I would be working entirely on your project during that time.”
  • Be a little snarky. Not that I’m advocating this, but it’s an option, like “Then you might need to find someone whose experience is more in line with your budget.” I do sometimes tell potential clients, “To be honest, I don’t know any professional translators who work for that rate.” A potential client once asked me if I charged “for the little words,” and I responded “Only if you want them translated.” I don’t want to get sarcastic or condescending on clients, but I think that with certain people, a little humor can work.
  • Negotiate on factors other than price: if you do honestly want to work with this client but the issue is their budget and they’re not budging, find non-financial factors that might make a difference. How about a really long deadline so you’re not tied up for days/weeks with their project? Do they produce a product or service that they could offer you for free, as a trade for part of the translation fee?

Wise readers, any other thoughts here?


Corinne McKay

Beyond the Basics of Freelancing: starts November 12

The next session of my online course Beyond the Basics of Freelancing starts on November 12, and I have five spots open. This course is for mid-career freelancers who have established businesses, but want to earn more money, work with higher-quality agencies or direct clients, develop a clearer financial plan for their businesses and get more enjoyment out of their work (why not?). The course is four weeks long and entirely online, and registration is $350, with a $50 discount for ATA members. The registration fee includes four weekly lessons, individual feedback from me on each assignment that you submit, a weekly one-hour question and answer conference call for the whole class, and a one-hour individual conference call for you after the class ends.

Here’s a comment from a recent participant in this course, “Though I was more or less satisfied with my business, it had plateaued and I wasn’t sure how to up my game. Corinne’s class was exactly what I needed. She asked questions that forced me to focus on the most important aspects of my business and acted as a sounding board for marketing ideas. I especially appreciated that the class included ample opportunity to ask specific questions about nearly anything. I learned a great deal from Corinne and from the other students and came away from the class with a concrete plan and timeline for the next 6-12 months to take my business to the next level.”

To read more or to register, hop on over to my website.


Corinne McKay

International development webinar: feedback and questions

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!


Corinne McKay

How to decide if a translation specialization is viable?

A student in my online course asks: How do I decide if a translation specialization is viable?

Hmm, interesting question, and one that nearly all freelancers have to grapple with at some point. Short answer: nearly any specialization is viable, depending on your marketing zeal and income needs. Longer answer follows.

When you’re looking at potential specializations, here are a few factors to consider (and readers, please add your thoughts in the Comments):

    1. What’s your knowledge of/interest in this specialization? That’s undoubtedly the most important factor, and one that outweighs most other factors if you’re looking at a technical subject area.
    2. What’s the demand? Some specializations (like legal translation) are so content-heavy that having enough work isn’t much of a concern. Others (restaurant menus) may have a lot of demand in terms of the *number* of clients, but not in terms of the size of each individual project.
    3. Who are the clients? This is one that a lot of translators overlook. Some specializations (software, pharmaceuticals) are almost exclusively the domain of agencies, because most of the end client companies are so huge that they tend not to use individual freelancers. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there an infinite number of niche specializations that are almost exclusively the domain of direct clients. I’ve met translators who specialize in horses, cross-country skiing, stamps, cookbooks, and so on. If you’re outside the scope of the big business areas like legal, financial, medical, pharmaceutical, IT, patents, etc., you need to consider whether you are OK with working only or primarily with direct clients.
    4. How much are you willing to market? Again, this is a big one. Law firms and legal translation companies are easy to find, and there are lots of them out there. Cookbook publishers that need a Russian translator? They’re out there too, but you’ll have to work harder to find them.
    5. What’s the income potential? Of course, there’s a huge variation within every specialization. But in general, you can’t translate poetry if you need to make money from it, and you wouldn’t translate financial documents just for personal enjoyment.
    6. How much do you care about doing work that is meaningful to you? Again, mileage varies widely. But many clients in, say, legal or IT translation are only translating because they have to, not because they really want to. But one of the things I particularly enjoy about international development translation is that the documents affect real people’s lives, and are commissioned by clients that really, really care about the quality of the translation.

Readers, your thoughts?