Greetings, readers! I hope that the final leg of summer (at least in the northern hemisphere!) is treating you well! If you’re starting to get back into work mode (and if not, good for you!), Training for Translators’ two September master classes are open for registration. On September 13, I’m teaching Aiming for six figures as a freelancer, and on September 26, Karen Tkaczyk teaches Editing and proofreading for into-English translators. We had huge turnouts for these webinars during the last “school year,” so we’re bringing them back for those who missed out the first time! Registration is $75 per class and that includes the recording.

On to this week’s newsletter; I’m thinking about teaching a class on this topic, so I’m using this post to refine a few ideas about it! If you’re marketing to direct clients, how do you determine who might need you? This is probably the most common question I get in my direct client marketing classes, particularly from people who have never worked with a direct client. Let’s take a look!

Lots of freelancers tell me that they understand the primary methods of marketing to direct clients (warm e-mails, LinkedIn connections, attending client-side events), but they struggle to identify direct clients who might need them. Here are a few thoughts on where to start:

• First, you absolutely, positively, *must* have a specialization. It’s perhaps possible to get a decent amount of work from agencies as a Jack-of-all-trades translator, but that’s not possible in the direct client market, because you have to know who to market to. So, that’s step one: you need a clear specialization or you can’t start marketing.
• The easiest place to start is often the kinds of clients that you’re already working for through agencies. Notice I said the kinds of clients, not the clients, because it would be a massive violation of your non-compete agreement with an agency to go after the end clients that you work for through them. But think about types of clients. Are you typically doing work that is sent to large law firms, pharmaceutical companies, software companies, advertising agencies, insurance companies? Where is your agency work going, and what other clients in those sectors could you market to?
• Then, think about clients that need lots of translations and generally pay well. In this category I’d include entities like law firms and international organizations. Law firms don’t only need lawyer-linguists. I’m not in any way a lawyer-linguist, and I’ve translated everything from birth certificates, to love letters, to real estate purchase and sale documents for law firms. Immigration law firms need mostly official documents and things like human rights documentation and support letters translated; particularly if you are certified by ATA or a similar entity, this is a good avenue to pursue. Every immigration law firm in your local area should know about you! Law firms are also generally really easy to contact; many of them have their staff e-mail addresses right on their websites. Same with international organizations: I translate for a lot of NGOs that need translations of all varieties: employee resumes, funding requests, quarterly and annual reports, quotes for office space, just all kinds of things.
• Then, look at international chambers of commerce for your other languages. In the US and in many other countries, there are tons of these: German-American business associations, France-UK chambers of commerce, and so on. You’re not marketing to the actual chamber, but you’re looking in their member directory for companies that might need you, because they use both of your working languages.
• Another great resource is professional associations for your target industries or sectors. There’s a professional association for every profession out there, and their website and membership directory can be an excellent resource for finding potential clients to contact.
• Finally, I often get inquiries from freelancers in small languages, who struggle to find potential clients, because they perceive that not many direct clients need someone for Hungarian, or Tagalog, or Farsi. While this may be true, in my opinion, this is when you go for the big companies. Heavy-hitting businesses may have zero interest in working directly with freelancers for large languages, but they may be more amenable when faced with translating their product or its documentation into, say, Greek or Polish. That’s when I’d recommend just contacting the corporate communications or international affairs department via e-mail or LinkedIn and pitching your services.

Speaking of pitching your services, if you’ve never taken one of my direct marketing classes, you may be thinking, and now what??? I have this list, or mental list, of potential clients, now what do I do?? Unless you have a contact within the company, the easiest way to start is e-mails or LinkedIn. These are not going to have a huge success rate; expect to contact around 100 people before you land an actual client, and don’t e-mail people in the zone covered by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (instead, use LinkedIn). In the US, I find that about one third of people will at least respond, “Thanks for the contact!” to a simple prospecting e-mail. I’m actually looking for at least one new translation direct client, to replace a big client who no longer needs French to English. Last week, I sent three of these types of messages; one didn’t respond at all (yet!), one was on vacation and I got an auto-responder, and one responded and said, “We already work with a few translators but we’ll keep you in mind!” Here’s the e-mail. It’s not terribly creative or original, but it gets the job done.

Hello [name], I hope you’re doing well! I’m a certified French to English translator specializing in the international development sector, and I wondered if you would be the correct person to speak with about offering my freelance services to [entity]?

I work with US and Europe-based NGOs, development banks, and USAID contractors, providing high-quality English translations of initial and ongoing funding requests, in-country employee materials, quarterly and annual progress reports, monitoring and evaluation materials, and other, similar documents. If [entity] works with freelance translators, I would love to talk further about how my services might be helpful to your organization’s mission.I use the subject line, “Inquiry from French to English translator specializing in the development sector.” Really simple,really direct, and it feels non-pushy.

As I mentioned above, do not do this with potential clients located in the GDPR zone (it matters where they are, not where you are). Instead, use LinkedIn, and when you connect with the person, answer “Yes” to the question, “Would you like to add a note to the connection request?” 300 characters isn’t much, but you could say something like:

Hello [name], I hope you’re doing well! I’m a certified French to English translator specializing in the international development sector, working with US and Europe-based organizations. Would you be the correct person to speak with about offering my services to [entity]?

This turned into a bit of a crash course on direct client marketing, but I hope these tips are helpful! Just hit Reply if there’s anything you’d like to tell me, and have a great day!

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how different clients serve different purposes in my client portfolio, which is something I enjoy. Let’s take a look at how this might help you create a more robust and diverse client base.

If you prefer a relatively homogeneous client portfolio, where your clients are very similar in what they need from you, the type of work they have to offer, and what they pay, that’s not a problem. Personally I feel that having some diversity in my client portfolio keeps things interesting and serves various business purposes, which I’ll explain here.

• First, I have what I think of as my A-list clients. These are clients who have interesting work, pay rates in my green zone, and are pleasant to work with. I try to be as available as possible for work from these clients, whether it’s interpreting or translation.
• But the issue is that I don’t want only A-list clients. This might sound weird, but hear me out. A-list clients are the ones that you really want to never turn down, because you don’t want the risk that they’ll stop using you if you’re not available. Thus, I want some “buffer” room in my schedule so that I’m available for my A-list clients when they need me, even if it’s on short notice. That’s where the “clients that serve different purposes” come in.

In my business, A-list clients aremostly my translation direct clients and my conference interpreting clients, which are mostly agencies. I really, really enjoy working with these clients, and I want to be available whenever they need me, which means I can’t be booked solid all the time. Thus, I also enjoy working with:

• A couple of good translation agencies that often have large, relatively straightforward projects. These clients don’t always pay in my green zone; typically they pay 14 cents a word, so if I’m producing around 500 finished words per hour (because I would only accept straightforward work at this rate; projects in a subject matter area that I’m very comfortable with, and that do not require complex formatting), my effective hourly rate is around $70. I know that my green zone rate is more like $90-$110 an hour, but these clients have a few advantages: they’re easy and pleasant to work with, and they often have a “take whatever you want” project, where they’re translating a large volume of legal documents on a short deadline. One of these projects recently coincided with a cancelled interpreting assignment, so I was excited to take it. These clients also have other French to English translators, so it’s not the end of the world if I turn them down.
• Court interpreting for me will always be yellow zone work; I actually love court interpreting and I find it meaningful, but it has some financial constraints. In Colorado, certified interpreters for languages other than Spanish get paid $65 an hour with a two-hour minimum. Again, this rate is below my green zone, but there are a few advantages, in addition to the fact that I enjoy the work. Remote court hearings are often very short: yesterday, I earned this $130 minimum charge for a hearing that lasted four minutes. Although I still have to block out two hours on my schedule, I’m then freed up to do something like work on a writing or teaching project.
• I also enjoy having at least one major client with whom I have almost no personal relationship. Again, this sounds kind of bizarre, but I’ll explain. For me, this client is the agency that provides interpreters to the US immigration courts. For most assignments, they use a completely automated scheduling system: assignments are posted on a calendar and any certified interpreter can go claim an assignment that they want. I wouldn’t want to work like this all the time, but it alleviates a lot of scheduling stress. I find the scheduling part of interpreting intensely stressful. Conference interpreting requests seem to come in waves, sometimes for no apparent reason. June tends to be a slow-ish conference interpreting month, but out of nowhere, I received four requests to interpret on June 15. I have no idea why. And then I’m left wondering, how many times can I turn down an A-list client before they stop using me; can I take the risk of finding another interpreter to replace me because I got a better offer (something that some conference interpreters do do, but I’m not secure enough in my client base to take that risk). Partially, this is a “me” issue; but partially, I actually really enjoy having a client that does things impersonally, because I know they have other interpreters and I don’t feel bad declining them, nor do I have to wonder whether they like me or not: every assignment is available to every approved interpreter on their roster.

I know that there are freelancers who work with one type of client: translating almost exclusively for law firms, or interpreting only for one or two agencies. I don’t think that’s objectively a bad thing, but I do think that diverse businesses are more resilient, and leave you more options in the event of a business downturn or a big change with one of your clients. I hope these tips and examples are helpful to you!

This week, let’s talk about how to deal with colleagues who criticize you or your work; a situation that’s probably happened to all of us at one point. Here are a few comments I’ve received from newsletter readers in recent months:

–I work with an interpreter whose A language is my B language. This person is great at the job, but constantly makes little digs about the fact that I’m not a native speaker of the language we’re interpreting into, asking me things like, “Do you understand what I’m saying?” or even giving me a list of errors that I made during the assignment. Maybe this person is trying to help, but it rattles my confidence and gets under my skin.

–I have a colleague who is generally really enjoyable to work with, but who makes comments about my work in a way that feels rude and condescending. I’m the first one to admit when I make a mistake, but this person’s tone could really use some improvement.

First, know that you’re not alone in these kinds of situations. One truth about translators and interpreters is that we enjoy being right about everything, and that’s part of why we’re good at the job. Criticism from colleagues is never easy to hear, but it can sometimes point out an area in which you need to improve, or something you could do differently. Here’s how I’d go about dealing with these types of situations:

• First, know that if a colleague habitually criticizes you, or does so in a way that feels condescending, it’s about them and their insecurities, not about you. Maybe the person is a better translator or interpreter than you! But if they constantly have to make that point, it’s either because they build themselves up by putting other people down, or they’re so insecure that they have to establish a “pecking order” with everyone they work with. This doesn’t necessarily make the subtle (or not-so-subtle) digs easier to handle, but it gives the situation some context.
• Second, remind yourself that it’s OK to be right about something and just let it slide. It’s never fun to be called out as wrong…in a situation where you’re actually right. This happened to me in a professional situation recently, where I was sure that a colleague was going against the instructions we had received from the client. After several back-and-forth interactions, I just said to myself, I know that I’m right about this, and it doesn’t really matter. The world is not going to stop turning because of this, and I need to just let it drop and move on.
• Third, consider whether what this person is saying is true. This sounds basic, but it’s a step we often skip. Is this person right? Is there a skill that you need to work on so that you don’t make this kind of mistake again? Do you need to up your language game in general? In my family, we have a saying: There’s a shred of truth in every unhinged rant, and the same rule applies in professional situations.
• Fourth, decide whether this situation is worth addressing, or not. Consider factors such as: How often do you have to deal with this person? Is it possible to just smile and nod and move on? Is it worth discussing it with them? Is this person really trying to help, or is it about their ego issues?
• If you do decide to address this person’s behavior, expect it to be awkward. Sometimes, people just don’t realize how their comments are perceived, or it’s also possible that you’re particularly sensitive to what they say or how they say it. More often, people whose communication style is harsh and condescending tend to get defensive or turn the criticism back on you. You have to be prepared for this to happen, and feel that it is worth the risk.

You can also take this as a moment to consider how and when you give feedback to colleagues. Some things, in my opinion, are out of our league as freelancers. For example, if you really feel that a colleague’s skills are so weak that they should not be working on the project you’re working on, you need to address that with the client, not with them (in my opinion). Yet, we can all use tips like:

• It is absolutely OK to correct a colleague in a “you have spinach in your teeth” kind of way. We’ve all benefited from more experienced colleagues pulling us aside and giving us some helpful corrections, even if they were hard to hear at the time.
• Keep it short and straightforward. This sounds basic, but in my experience, the lengthier you make the explanation of your criticism, the more it sounds like a rant. Keep it brief. “Hi there! I was just looking over your section of the translation and I noticed that a couple of terms (insert examples) don’t follow the glossary. Maybe have a look before you submit that section?”
• Try to make observations instead of judgments: “Your tone is too informal” is a subjective comment. Instead, give an example: “For this formal type of document, it seems to me that we might want to use “lessor of the apartment” rather than “landlady.”

Most of all, I feel like we can all get better at managing our own egos, emotions, and our ability to respond thoughtfully instead of react defensively. Daily meditation (I use the Calm app) has really helped me with this! I hope that these tips are helpful to you as well!

This week, let’s talk about whether, as translators and interpreters, we should fear AI or embrace it, or some of both? Or something else! I have a lot of random and conflicting thoughts on these questions, but here’s an attempt at something coherent!

In the past couple of months, I’ve participated in a few webinars on AI, including demos of Chat GPT and Gaby-T. Wherever you stand on the “fear or embrace” spectrum, I think it’s really important to understand how AI tools work and what they can and cannot do, so that you know when they might be helpful. I think this is also true of machine translation: whether you find MT really helpful or totally useless in your own work, you need to know what it is and how it works, so that you can offer an intelligent response when clients ask you about it, and so that you can make an informed decision about whether you want to use it.

When it comes to the new generation of AI tools, I think we need to divide the question into two components:
-How useful, if at all, can these tools be to us?
-How might they affect the language professions and the language industry in years to come?

Those are two different questions: sort of like, what can these tools do for me, and what might these tools do to me? At this point, my sense is that:
-AI tools may end up being very helpful for translators and interpreters, and particularly for interpreters
-AI tools may also radically change how the language industry operates, particularly for translators who want to work with agencies

I’ve honestly been really impressed with the demos of AI for interpreting prep: being able to tell an AI tool, “Take this document, extract the keywords, translate them into French, and make a two-column list of the French and English keywords,” is a huge time-saver, if (biiiigggg “if”) you know enough about the subject matter to check the AI tool’s work. Having an AI tool that could reliably display place names, dates, people’s names, book titles, etc. during a speech (which is a feature that’s being incorporated into various AI tools) would be hugely helpful for conference interpreting. And I personally find it so much easier to write e-mails in French in Google Workspace now that I can quickly draft an e-mail on my US keyboard, without any accent marks, then go back and accept or reject Google’s suggested changes to the French text. I am personally really enthusiastic and excited about these kinds of AI innovations.

I also think that automated interpreting is such a huge challenge that it’s not worth stressing out about it for the moment.

I’m less excited about how I think AI may affect certain segments of the translation market (emphasis here on “think,” “may,” and “certain segments”). This is because:

• There’s already a pretty big market for “good enough” translations: translations that are neither great nor terrible. And if a client’s main concerns are price and speed, with quality in third (or distant third) place, AI-assisted translation plays right into that market. For an end client that really doesn’t care about translation, and is only doing it because they have to, it’s appealing to get the translation done faster and cheaper (more on this below).
• Lots of agencies seem to be investing heavily in AI-leveraged translations. Companies such as Lionbridge, RWS, and TransPerfect (and many others) have significant website real estate devoted to AI-powered options for their translation clients.
• Lots of large end clients have more and more content, and tighter and tighter budgets; to be realistic, lots of large end clients like pharmaceutical and technology companies are legally obligated to produce huge amounts of translated content (software end-user license agreements, patient information sheets) that almost no end users or patients ever read. These companies may be exposing themselves to legal risks by procuring ‘good enough’ translations, but they may know that and do it anyway, for cost reasons.
• I think that AI may make significant inroads into the middle of the translation market, which is where most translators are working. You just don’t see that many translators saying, “I leverage every possible piece of technology and I translate 5,000 good-quality words a day,” and you don’t see that many translators who are really, really successful in the high-end direct client market. It seems to me like most mid-market agencies are looking at AI-powered translations in at least some way, because the market demands it.

What would I recommend in terms of business strategy, given the above?

• First, a few caveats. I may be way off base here. I don’t use AI-powered tools myself, I don’t generally work for mid-market agencies, and most of my active marketing energy these days goes into conference interpreting, for clients who use no AI or MT tools at all. My translation direct clients are much more likely to ask, “You don’t use any machine translation tools, do you??” Also, even super-smart, super tech-savvy people get the technology trajectory wrong, for all kinds of reasons. Google co-founder Sergei Brin famously said in 2012 that fully autonomous, self-driving cars would be “a reality for ordinary people in less than five years,” and 12 years later, that whole concept seems to have lost a lot of mojo. The same thing could happen in our industry.
• That being said, I would encourage anyone reading this to think about whether or not you’re interested in working on AI-assisted translations. I honestly think that there’s enough high-end translation work, for clients who really care, to keep a lot of people busy for a long time. I actually think that the high end of the translation market is kind of underexploited by freelancers (a topic for another post!). And/but, the reality is that most translators aim for the path of least resistance: mid-market agencies, which, I think, may go the AI-assisted route in a big way.
• I would also encourage anyone reading this to think of diversifying into something that is not so prone to AI incursion. I think lots of translators these days are branching out into specialized writing: not churning out blog posts for $10, but things like writing specialized reports that require a writer with a certain type of certification, or ghost-writing articles and presentations for C-level business executives, or doing medical or legal writing for clients who see $150-$200 an hour as a pretty reasonable rate. For what it’s worth, one of my favorite websites on this topic is Make a Living Writing, which covers all kinds of topics from choosing a writing specialization, to writing technique, to writing business practices. Also consider translation specializations (like official documents, genealogical records, etc.) that will never be automated because the actual files are too hard for a computer to read.
• The same advice you’ve been hearing forever still applies: aiming for the high end of the market, where clients care much more about quality than price, is the way to go in any freelance knowledge profession, because there is no way that AI can compete with human creativity and linguistic resourcefulness. See French to English translator Ben Karl’s comparison of his translation and various AI translations as an example.

As a final observation, and in line with the final bullet point about freelance writing, one thing I see coming as a result of the AI boom is a growing income disparity among translators. Again, I see interpreting as a whole different case here, because it’s so much harder to automate; I have thoughts on the future of interpreting, but those are for another post. To me, it seems to have become more common to see freelance writers talking either about writing for content mills and making (literally) $8 an article, or about landing $15,000 worth of freelance writing work in one week, with not a lot of “mid-market” work left. In fact, I found it really interesting that in Make a Living Writing’s 2021 reader income survey, the percentage of their readers (10%) who reported earnings of 50-75K (which I would call a “mid-market” income) was only one percentage point higher than the 9% of readers who reported that they earned more than 100K. I’m wondering (and again, this may be completely incorrect) whether translation is going in much the same direction.