Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

Clients


Corinne McKay

Finding your first translation clients: three ideas

“I know I can do this job, but clients don’t want to hire me without experience. So how do I get experience without experience?” This chicken/egg dilemma stymies many beginning freelancers, and it’s admittedly hard to find a way out. High-quality agencies often require at least three years of experience, and they’re the clients that many translators prefer to work for, so they receive lots of applications and can afford to be choosy. However, there *are* lots of other options, most involving excellent language skills, creativity, perseverance, and being able/willing to outlast the competition. Based on my own experience, and on advice that I’ve given to students over the years, here are three potential strategies:

  • Work the local market
  • Work for big agencies that base their hiring mainly on their own tests and are always looking for new translators
  • Develop a micro-niche and market yourself as *the translator* for that niche

With the caveat that all of these have their pluses and minuses, let’s take a closer look at each one.

Working the local market

Even in the online age, many clients are still more likely to take a chance on someone they’ve met in person. When I started freelancing in 2002, I knew I could do this job. I already had a Bachelor’s and a Master’s in French and had done a translation course and a translation internship during my study abroad year in France, plus some small translation jobs for friends. But I had pretty much zero real client experience. When you’re a beginner and you don’t have tons of work, one thing you do have a surplus of is time. So, I contacted every translation agency or other potential client (i.e. the local chapter of the Alliance Française) within an hour’s drive of my house and asked for an informational interview. I pitched it as, “I’m a new translator in the area and I’d love to learn a little more about your business and how I might fit in.”

Be prepared: the majority of your contacts may respond in a noncommittal or lukewarm way. “We’re not looking for additional translators in your language pair right now.” “We don’t have much work into English.” “We only use people with three years’ experience.” No problem; show up anyway if they’ll meet with you. I did this, arriving with business cards, a small gift (perhaps chocolate…now I can’t really remember) and a prop, in the form of a binder that I had loaded with printed copies of the few translations I had already done. I had a list of questions prepared, about the agency’s primary specializations, biggest growth areas, the best way to break in as a newbie, and so on. And, either surprisingly or not surprisingly, I ended up receiving work from nearly every agency I went to meet with. At some point, they landed a large project for French to English and needed to quickly add more translators. Or one of their stalwart French to English people wasn’t available, or raised their rates, or took an in-house job. Or they had a rush project on a Friday afternoon and their other regulars didn’t want it, and I was motivated (and hungry). Whatever the case, I probably visited six potential clients and ended up getting work from five of them.

If you’d like to pursue this route, look for agencies through the ATA corporate members directory, your local association directory, local cultural associations for your languages, etc.

Apply to large agencies

We all know the downsides of this one: large agencies tend to pay lower rates than smaller agencies do, they often require high-volume work with a fast turnaround, and they are often impersonal to work with. But large agencies have a few major pluses if you’re a beginner.

First, many large agencies base their hiring primarily or even exclusively on their own tests. The three years of experience, certification, Master’s in translation-type requirements are less likely to be a factor for big agencies, depending on your languages and specializations. Second, big agencies are always looking for new translators because people tend to work for theses types of agencies for a while and then move on. Third, big agencies are good “filler” clients because you can take work from them when you’re available and decline when you’re not available. A few recent students have told me that some of their large agency clients have even moved to assigning jobs through an online portal that you log in to and browse the available projects (even less personal than the old mass e-mails!). But these factors can make large agencies a good starter client or fill-in client for someone in their first few years of freelancing, or someone who combines freelancing with another job or with going to school.

If you’d like to pursue this route, Common Sense Advisory produces a yearly report on the 100 largest language services providers (their term: I prefer “agency”). The current year’s report is available only to their paying subscribers, but you can access the 2012 report for free.

Cultivate a micro-niche and look for direct clients

The direct-to-direct client route can work. I wrote about it here, and the comments were really interesting. It’s worth noting that one of the most common comments from experienced translators was, “I started that way, and I wouldn’t do it again, but it worked” (kind of how I feel about our fixer-upper house: never again, but it worked!).

But here’s my suggestion: if you’re a beginner, you can increase your chances of success and decrease your learning curve by targeting the direct client market in a micro-niche. Pick a topic you know a lot about, and/or that you love to research. Then, instead of “translator with minimal experience, now serving Fortune 500 clients with an enormous risk of failure,” you’re:

  • “Helping German companies craft outstanding press releases in English”
  • “Helping ski resorts welcome Latin American tourists with outstanding Spanish web copy”
  • “Helping US-based Airbnb hosts appeal to Japanese guests with engaging property descriptions in Japanese”
  • “Helping French universities expand their international programs with marketing materials in English”
  • “Helping Italian cooking schools attract English-speaking participants with YouTube videos in English”

By targeting a micro-niche, you do a few things. First, you cut down on analysis paralysis because you know who to market to. Rather than wondering where to start with companies that need pharmaceutical translation, you make a list of cooking schools in Italy, or hot spring resorts in Japan, or horse breeders in Kentucky, or whatever your niche is, and you contact them directly. Second, your translations will be better because you’re working in a small niche in which you can become an expert (and don’t forget to work with an editor for direct client work!). Third, it’s easier to market a niche business through techniques that pull clients to you, such as an SEO-optimized website, Google or Facebook ads, attending trade fairs for that industry, and so on. It’s almost impossible for a freelancer to budget for keywords like “German translator,” but niche keywords are a lot more affordable.

I’ve been thinking a lot about micro-niches lately, because one of my own micro-niches is helping French universities market their international programs in English. At the ATA conference, I was interested to see a few presentations on micro-niches (I went to an excellent one on translating for the cruise industry by Jeana Clark and Esma Gregor). Micro-niches can work well for experienced translators too, but I think that they are an especially appealing option for beginners who have some knowledge of, or interest in, a specific subject area.

I used all of these techniques (to a greater or lesser extent) when I launched my freelance business in 2002. But I’m also interested to hear from readers who have tried these techniques, or who have other creative suggestions for getting around the chicken/egg issue.


Corinne McKay

Can you give us a quote and a turnaround time?

“Can you give us a quote and a turnaround time?” As freelancers, we hear or read those words a lot: a client, or prospective client, has a document that they need translated, and they want to know about how long it’s going to take, and about how much it’s going to cost. So, when you’re on the receiving end of that request, what’s the best way to proceed? Let’s look at a few options.

You could pick up the phone. If you have a confident but non-pushy phone manner, a phone call makes an immediate personal connection. “Just wanted to touch base about your document and ask you a few questions that will help me get a better sense of what you’re looking for. What’s the purpose of the translation? What’s the deadline?” On the plus side, you’re making the effort to make this personal connection, and you’re getting a better sense of what the client is actually looking for (which may be different from what they think or say that they’re looking for). On the minus side, the potential client might view the call as mildly invasive (if they’re thinking “just tell me how long it’s going to take and how much it’s going to cost”). You also need to make sure that you don’t sound awkward or overly salesy on the phone.

You could give them a brief and direct answer. It’s going to cost X, and it’s going to take X business days from your go-ahead. On the plus side, this is easy for the client to digest and respects the client’s time. On the minus side, there is no engagement here: the interaction is purely transactional (price and speed), and in a sense, encourages the client to select a translator based simply on those transactional factors. As an aside, *never* give a hard deadline (“next Tuesday”), because you don’t know when the client is going to respond. Always frame it as “X days from your go-ahead.”

You could give them a less brief, but still direct answer. In my unscientific tests, I think that most clients respond better to multiple pricing options, even if the “options” are a bit of a stretch. For example if a client asks for a quote for a 10,000 word document, I’ll often say, “My normally turnaround time for 10,000 words is five business days, and the cost would be X. However I could potentially translate this in four business days, for which the cost would be X. And if you’re not on a tight deadline and you have eight business days, the cost would be X.” I think that simply seeing multiple options makes the client feel that you’re flexible (even if the prices are not wildly different), and avoids a “take it or leave it” feeling.

You could give a ballpark answer. It’s generally accepted in the negotiating world that the first person to say an actual number (“it’s going to cost…”) is at a disadvantage. Because if you quote less than what the client was willing to pay, you’ve left money on the table. This is tricky: while it’s certainly possible to ask the client, “What’s your budget?” or “If you work with translators now, what are you paying them?,” it’s generally the service-provider who is expected to say a number first. I like the “what’s your budget” approach in theory, but I’d be very turned off if I wanted to hire a new accountant, asked about her/his rates, and was then asked, “What were you planning on paying to get your taxes done?” It’s a little odd.

Leave a little wiggle room if you want to. When I give a quote to a new client who looks promising (meaning that I’m very interested in their work), I always include phrasing such as, “If this is outside your budget, just let me know and we can talk further.” I’m not saying, “If this is too expensive, just say the word and I’ll charge less.” I’m just saying that we can talk about it. Maybe I can negotiate a longer deadline; or maybe I can ask about their budget and suggest what I could do for that amount of money. You’re not required to leave wiggle room, but it’s an option.

Readers, any other thoughts on requests for quotes?


Corinne McKay

Speaking of Translation: translating outside the box

Eve Bodeux and I just released a new episode of our podcast, Speaking of Translation; here it is! We are also on iTunes if you’d like to subscribe to us there.

In this episode, Eve and Corinne discuss how to identify, market to, and successfully work in non-traditional translation specializations. Drawing on their own experiences translating children’s books, personality tests, university marketing materials, and zombie role-playing games (really!), Eve and Corinne offer ideas of other non-traditional specializations that translators might want to pursue, along with some pluses and minuses of working in the non-traditional market.

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Translating outside the box


Corinne McKay

Yelp, Craigslist, Upwork: should you be there?

When it comes to marketing your freelance business, it’s important to cast a wide net. Taking an “if you build it, they will come” approach, for example by putting up a website and waiting for the work to start flowing in, is definitely not the way to go. But how wide should that marketing net be? Specifically, should you be on websites such as Yelp, Craigslist and Upwork? Let’s look at some of the pros and cons.

In my opinion, here’s the main argument for being on these types of websites: many direct clients know nothing…zero about translation (and as I’ve mentioned before, that’s not their fault). So, when they want to hire a translator, they’re likely to look in the places they’d look to hire other kinds of service providers. We may not love the idea of a client thinking, “Wait, I found my lawn guy on Yelp…maybe translators advertise there too,” but if the client puts those two things together, you want to be the person they end up finding.

Additionally, the fact that Yelp and Upwork allow/encourage reviews is likely to inspire trust in a potential client. I think that increasingly, when we ask the question, “How do you find a service provider (whether that’s an orthopedic surgeon or a landscaper) who you feel is trustworthy?” the answer is “I read online reviews before I contact them.” It’s a good idea to put testimonials on your website, but the potential client knows that those are cherry-picked from your favorite clients; online reviews tend to portray a much more realistic picture.

Finally, there’s the fact that you can piggyback on these sites’ very high search engine rankings and advertising power (this is also the reason I think every freelancer should be on LinkedIn). It’s free to create a basic account, and when someone Googles “Italian interpreter Detroit,” these sites are probably going to rank ahead of any individual freelancer’s site.

Then, there are the negatives. Chief among these (and this also applies to LinkedIn, and to online translation marketplaces) is that these sites advertise the competition right alongside you. And when the client is buying something they don’t really understand, like translation or interpreting services, and there are lots of people offering that service, they’re likely to gravitate toward the less expensive people. Encouragingly, I’ve recently read several online posts by translation clients who have used these services (specifically Upwork) and specifically said that they did not go with the cheapest person, but rather with the person who seemed the best fit for the job. That’s very positive. But still, having 15 different translators to choose from is very different from attracting a client to your own website, which features only you.

These types of sites have a few other negatives: they may be a “closed system,” where you are prohibited from communicating with clients outside the platform. They may take a commission on any work you find via the site. They may encourage reverse auction-style bidding on jobs. They may force you to name a specific hourly or per-word rate and guarantee that any work you find through the site will be done for that amount or less. They also may attract clients who have very small budgets or are looking for an absolute rock-bottom rate, and those are the clients you can do without.

In general, I would put these kinds of sites in the “worth a try” category, but I would not depend on them as a source of high-quality clients. However I’m interested to hear from readers who have found clients through these sites or other, similar ones. Any thoughts?


Corinne McKay

“Agencies won’t pay my rates, and I can’t find direct clients”: what to do?

Here’s a conundrum that I hear frequently from freelancers at all experience levels: agencies won’t pay my rates, and I can’t find any direct clients. What should I do? Well, let’s see:

  • First, adjust your mindset. Tough love tip: if you truly believe that *zero* agencies will pay your desired rates, and that you will *never* be successful finding direct clients, you need to either shift your thinking or find a different job. If you’re approaching every interaction with a potential client as, “Here goes round 1,000 of beating my head against the wall,” then that’s the first thing that needs to change. Use growth mindset statements like, “There are plenty of clients out there who need what I do. I’m going to keep knocking on doors until I find them,” or “Instead of just translating what lands in my inbox, I’m going to actively seek out the kind of work I enjoy and am good at,” or “The marketing methods I’ve used in the past haven’t worked very well. Now I’m going to try something new and see if that gives me different results.”
  • Assess what “won’t pay my rates” means. As I’ve written about before, you don’t need hundreds of clients to have a thriving translation business. If you apply to 100 agencies and 98 of them think you’re too expensive and two of them think your rates are fine, that’s success. And remember, thanks to a little thing called the Internet, you’ve got the whole world to work with. But…
  • Work the local market. When I started my freelance business in 2002, I knew essentially nothing about entrepreneurship. So I opened up the yellow pages (remember when?) and started cold-calling translation agencies in Colorado and asking for informational interviews. As it turns out, I had stumbled onto a marketing technique that was actually very effective. The vast majority of these agencies responded something like “We don’t have much work for French to English/only work with people with five years’ experience/already have a couple of French translators we like, but if you want to come in and talk to us for a few minutes, no problem.” And since I had very little work, I had tons of time, so I went and talked to them. And guess what, when they had a sudden and urgent need for more French to English translators, or their existing French to English person went on vacation/raised their rates/was suddenly unavailable, guess who they called next? In-person marketing really is worth the investment of time, whether you’re looking at agencies or direct clients.
  • Don’t market to direct clients in the same way you market to agencies. Agencies understand what you do. They know that they need you. They know the difference between a translator and an interpreter. Direct clients know none of this, and it’s not their fault. But they know that in a business sense, translation might be necessary, helpful, or both. So, it’s up to you to market to them in a way that they can understand: “Have you ever considered what an English website might do for your business?” “I’ve helped multiple US-based investment companies understand the financial statements of the Russian companies they invest in.” “When you work with me, I have one goal: to take the hassle and stress out of the translation process.” You’ve heard it before, but let’s say it again: focus on what’s in it for the client, not on how many words a day you translate and what TM tool you have.
  • Keep marketing to agencies, but be selective. When I launched my freelance business, I was 100% *un-selective* about the agencies I marketed to. I opened up my paper copy of the ATA corporate member directory and started at A, going to the agencies’ websites and seeing if they were hiring. By the time I hit the middle of the alphabet, I was getting some work from the As and Bs. But if you’re not a beginner, don’t do that. Even if you are a beginner, vet the agencies you apply to by checking their ratings on Payment Practices or the ProZ Blue Board before you apply. If you’re beyond beginner stage, target your marketing. Sort the agencies’ ratings on one of the sites above, and apply only to the ones with impeccable reviews. Ask translators in other language combinations who their favorite clients are, or what agencies they’ve heard good things about. Google “engineering translations” or “cookbook translations” or whatever your specialty is, and apply to the agencies that advertise those services.
  • Ditch the “I don’t have time” excuse. OK, I’ve used it too. But really, you have 15 minutes a day, right? And even 15 minutes can make a big difference. In 15 minutes, you can send a warm e-mail to a prospective direct client. You can apply to most agencies in 15 minutes. And most importantly, 15 minutes a day keeps the ball rolling and makes marketing a habit, which is one of the keys to success.

Readers, any other thoughts on how to break out of a mental block when it comes to marketing?