Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

Freelancing


Corinne McKay

Using objective data to set your translation rates

Possibly the most anxiety-provoking aspect of launching or running your translation business is deciding how much to charge. Charge too much and you’ll be priced out of the market; charge too little and you’ll be working overtime just to make ends meet. The easiest way to remove the anxiety from this decision is to gather some objective data such as how much money you would like to make and how much it will cost you to run your business.

Adding to the pricing confusion is that most people are used to calculating their wages by the hour, rather than by the word. Beginning translators often don’t know how to estimate how long a translation will take, so don’t know how to set their per-word rates in order to reach their target hourly rate. Whereas an experienced linguist knows approximately how many words per hour he or she translates when working on various types of documents: general, technical, highly technical, handwritten, hard copy, HTML, etc., there is no way to know this if you haven’t done much translation; you simply have to time yourself while you translate to see how fast you work. In general, a translator who is a relatively fast typist (or uses speech recognition software that works well) can translate 400-600 words per hour or 2,000-3,000 words per day, but this is only a ballpark figure. When working on a highly technical document, even an experienced translator might work as slowly as 150 words an hour, and I once worked on a project where I consistently translated up to 1,000 words per hour because the document was non-technical and very repetitive.
Calculating your billable hours
First, complete the following calculation using your actual or estimated totals:

  • Hours per week you would like to work
  • Weeks per year you would like to work (subtracting vacation weeks)
  • Multiply the above two items to get your total working hours per year
  • If you foresee taking sick time or additional legal holidays off, subtract those hours
  • Subtract your non-billable time, normally 25-50% of your total work time, for marketing, accounting, meetings, slow work periods, etc.
  • This is your total billable hours per year

Calculating your target hourly rate
Now, calculate how much money you need/want to earn, by adding together:

  • Your salary goal in dollars
  • Taxes (15-50% of salary)
  • Internet, web hosting, phone, fax, cell phone
  • Professional memberships and continuing education
  • Marketing materials and advertising
  • Office supplies
  • Computer hardware and software; technical support
  • Auto and travel expenses
  • Other costs of operation such as work-related child care, office rent, website development, etc.
  • Add the above items together to get your total cost of business operation
  • Then, divide your total cost of business operation by your billable hours from the first calculation, which will show your required hourly rate

Once you have this hourly rate worksheet completed, you’ve completed a major step in pricing your translation services. Your next step is to determine how you’re going to arrive at that hourly rate. For example if you want to earn $60.00 an hour, you can achieve this by translating 600 words per hour at 10 cents per word, 400 words per hour at 15 cents per word or 300 words per hour at 20 cents per word. In order to do this, you need to know how fast you work (the only way to figure this out is to time yourself while you do some translations) and what the range of rates for your language pair(s) and specialization(s) is. For example, you might look at rates surveys on online translation marketplaces, the ATA compensation survey or look at websites of translators in your language pair to see if they publish their rates. Some translators, although not all, are also willing to discuss rates with their colleagues.

Knowing how much you need to charge also tells you what type of clients you need to look for. For example, if your hourly rate goal is high, you may need to market to direct clients rather than to translation agencies, or at least to very high-end translation agencies. In working with beginning translators, I find that work speed is often an issue for them and it impacts their work in a few ways. First, a translator whose work is solid but who translates 250 words an hour is going to struggle to make a living on typical agency rates. Second, agencies understandably like working with translators who can turn around large documents in a short amount of time, and won’t be thrilled to hear that it will take you four days to finish 5,000 words.

Yet another element that enters into the rates equation these days is currency exchange rates, especially for translators who have clients in the euro zone. With today’s news of the euro breaking the longstanding barrier of US $1.50, Europe-based translators are taking a big hit when paid in dollars, and those of us in the US are staring in disbelief at the calculator as that 2,000 euro invoice turns into $3,000. Wherever you think the dollar is headed from here, it’s something to take into consideration in your pricing equations.


Corinne McKay

Dear Client…

Interestingly enough, I’ve been asked more than once, “How does a freelance translator fire a client?” Although “part ways with” might be a better term than “fire,” this phenomenon definitely exists, and is a customer relations issue that translators have to deal with. I think that there are a few reasons for this: the supply and demand situation in our industry means that highly skilled translators may be interested in raising their rates and leaving their lower-paying clients behind; raising rates often means looking for new clients, and unfortunately there are translation clients out there who are very problematic to work with. To be fair, we’ll agree that the same is true of freelancers, and that clients are also sometimes forced to sever the relationship with translators, but in this post we’ll look at when and how to politely write a Dear Client letter.

To me, the primary rule of client interaction is “act with class.” Regardless of the issue you need to address, remain professional; don’t get personal, don’t get nasty, don’t sling mud. At the same time, I think that it’s fine to tell the truth about your reasons for severing the client/translator relationship if you want to, and that it’s also fine to say as little as possible, this is really a personal decision. Always keep in mind that the translation industry is a small one and is also very word-of-mouth driven; avoid burning bridges whenever possible. Let’s look at a few scenarios and possible ways to communicate with your client.

Scenario: A new client contacts you with an offer of a project. You look them up on your favorite translation client rating list (you have one, right? and you always check it before working with a new client, right?) and find that they are a known non-payer or late payer.

Possible responses: 1) Very brief “no thank you” message, not addressing the issue 2) I’ll admit that although I don’t give specific information in this type of message, I do let the agency know why I’m declining the offer, for example “Translation industry ratings of your company are such that I must decline to work with you at this time unless you are able to pay in advance by wire transfer or credit card.”

Scenario: You have raised your rates beyond what a long-time client will pay, but the client continues to contact you with offers of work at your old rates; let’s assume that other than the rates, you enjoyed working with this client. For what it’s worth, this is the scenario that I’ve been asked about more than any other.

Possible responses: I would address this politely but directly, for example: “Thank you for your message. While I do appreciate your ongoing offers of work and have enjoyed working with you in the past, I have, as you know, raised my base rate to X cents per word.  Please feel free to contact me if you have any projects for which you have a budget of X cents per word and I will be happy to take a look at them.”

Scenario: A client has become very problematic to work with. We’ll assume that this client doesn’t owe you money, but that you no longer want to work with them in any capacity.

Possible responses: 1) Brief and to the point: “Effective immediately, I no longer wish to be considered for assignments from your agency. Please remove me from your list of available freelancers.” I wouldn’t advise this unless you really, really don’t want to ever hear from this client again, but it gets the point across effectively. 2) Addressing the issue in some way while remaining professional: “Due to some differences between your work style and mine, I have decided to focus my translation work on other clients. Please remove me from your list of available freelancers. Best regards, etc.”

Scenario: A client that you otherwise enjoy working with cannot pay you more than what you are currently charging, and you have decided to raise your rates.

Possible responses:  To me, this is the hardest type of situation to handle, especially if you have been working with the client for a long time. In this scenario, I would always leave the door open for working with the client in the future; emphasize that you are terminating the relationship at this time, but that you are open to renegotiating in the future. For example, “Although I have always enjoyed working with your agency and hope to do so in the future, I understand that my new base rate of X cents per word is outside the range of rates that you are able to pay at this time. If in the future you are able to consider higher rates, please let me know and I will be very interested in working with you again.”


Corinne McKay

The new ATA compensation survey: some interesting statistics

The current issue of the American Translators Association‘s Chronicle includes an article on the results of the most recent ATA compensation survey, which uses data gathered for the year 2006. The survey is interesting enough that I’m thinking of purchasing the full report ($45 for ATA members, $65 for nonmembers), but even the summary that appears in the Chronicle contains some really useful information.

When taking a look at the results, it’s important to remember that this represents a very compartmentalized snapshot of the translation profession; 979 out of 8,700 people who received the survey responded (ATA’s current membership is about 10,000) and the ATA is certainly not representative of all working translators, even within the U.S.

That being said, I found that some of the statistics corroborated my own theories about trends in the industry, while others really surprised me. For example, my own hunch about the level of education required to enter the translation industry turned out to be correct: only about 7% of the survey’s respondents have less than a Bachelor’s degree (so much for Parade magazine’s touting translation as a “no college degree required” profession!) and over half have a Master’s or higher.

I was surprised by how much the average full-time freelancer’s income has risen (to slightly over $60,000, a figure that I think is quite achievable by translators who have excellent language skills and are willing to market aggressively), but also by the fact that translation company owners earn an average of slightly over $67,000, which seemed low to me when offset by the added responsibility and constraints of running an agency.

The highest and lowest-paid language combinations were also interesting; English>Arabic and English>Danish topped the list, while English>Italian and English>Portuguese came in last when ranked by per-word rate, and Chinese>English and English>Chinese commanded the highest hourly rates.

In addition to the yearly average earnings that the compensation survey cites, I would be interested to know how those earnings break down in terms of the hours that the individual works each year. For example, when looking at the average earnings of full-time in house and freelance translators (approximately equal, with in-house translators earning a little below 60K and freelancers a little above 60K), my assumption is often that the in-house translator has to work more hours for essentially the same money. Admittedly, this is based on my own tendency to take at least four completely work-free weeks of vacation each year and at least two additional weeks where I might work a couple of hours a day. In addition, my average work week is probably closer to 30 hours rather than the 45 or 50 that most in-house employees are probably working.

However, it’s likely that many freelancers work that much, say 2,000 hours a year or more, which then  makes the in-house and freelance earnings figures much more comparable. It’s an interesting topic, and I’m looking forward to learning more from the full report.


Corinne McKay

Getting things done

When asked why they failed at freelancing, many former freelancers say that they simply couldn’t deal with the unstructured nature of the freelance day and ended up working out/watching TV/cleaning the closets etc. instead of working. Succeeding as a freelancer (translator or any other freelance job) requires that you be able to meet tight deadlines with very little external supervision. So, how do you avoid becoming one of those people with really clean closets and an empty checkbook? Here are some time management strategies that I use on a daily basis, which can be tailored to your work style and personality. For what it’s worth, my closets are very messy, but I’ve never missed a freelance deadline!

  • Enjoy what you do. This seems obvious, but when you look forward to your work, the temptation to avoid it in favor of other things decreases, and the reverse is true as well.
  • Use visual reminders of what you have to get done. When you sit down at the computer with no visual cues in front of you, it’s all too easy to check e-mail at a leisurely pace, read the news, get that second cup of coffee…and by that time you’ve convinced yourself that there’s nothing very pressing for you to do anyway. If you have a visual reminder of a task, whether it’s a to-do list, post-it notes or pop-ups on your computer screen, it’s much easier to force yourself to act on it.
  • Don’t interrupt your work to perform small tasks. For most people, momentum and uninterrupted work time are key to completing projects. When you remember that you need to send an invoice, follow up with a client, check if you received a wire transfer, etc., don’t interrupt what you’re doing to perform the task. Instead, record it on your prioritized to-do list (see below!).
  • Use a prioritized to-do list. I force myself to do this because the low priority items (“look for other translation-related blogs; research possibility of work-related trip to France”) are much more alluring than the high priority ones (“fill out W-2 forms; photocopy 2007 payroll taxes”). Although I’d much rather be doing the low priority items, having a category labeled “must be done today” makes me complete the high-priority tasks first.
  • Keep a list of quick jobs where you can see it. I think it’s very tempting to waste time in small increments, because you can ignore the fact that 10 minutes here and and there adds up to a lot of time over the course of a day or week, and it’s not as if you just spent two hours trolling Craigslist. So, I keep out a list of jobs that take 5-10 minutes and aren’t too onerous; entering business-related receipts into my accounting program, writing a check-in e-mail to a client, responding to a non-urgent e-mail that’s descended to the bottom of my inbox, etc. and when I feel like taking a break from translating, I do one of those things.
  • Give the day some structure. This depends on your work style, but I find that it’s important to break the day in the home office up into chunks and set some goals for each chunk. For me, this avoids the “it’s 4PM, where did the day go?” phenomenon.
  • Take exercise breaks when you need to think. This might brand me as a resident of America’s second fittest city, but I do think it works. When you have something you need to mull over, get out of the office and move instead of staring at the blank screen. If you want to be really productive about it, carry a digital voice recorder with you and talk into it while you exercise, then transcribe your thoughts when you get back to the office (refreshed!).


Corinne McKay

The 9 out of 10 factor

A few years ago, I wrote an article for NewsForge about Linux consultants, and in the course of researching the article, I interviewed Sean Reifschneider, the founder of Colorado-based Linux consultancy tummy.com ltd.. When I asked Sean to compare working for someone else with working for himself, he said “At the large company [I worked for], I watched while a few people around me worked hard and the rest mostly were waiting for retirement. When you’re a one-man show, EVERYTHING depends on how well or how poorly you do your job, and I’m not just talking about the technical side.”

Since then, I’ve paraphrased that quote in nearly every talk I’ve given to beginning translators, and I’ve often referred the phenomenon Sean’s talking about as “the 9 out of 10 factor.” While a corporate employee who is overall a C+ kind of worker (let’s call that person a 7 out of 10) is maybe not going to be promoted but likely will not be fired either, a C+ freelancer is going to have a hard time staying in business. When clients have a vast array of potential freelancers to choose from, most will choose to work with the best people they can afford, who we’ll call the 9 out of 10, or A+, people.

To be fair, there are reasons for this other than the fact that it’s hard to fire someone from a full-time job simply because they’re not outstanding at what they do. In big corporations, employees contribute skills other than those that directly apply to their jobs, whereas the expectations of freelancers are much more targeted and quantifiable. For example when I was a high school French teacher, I did lots of other things in addition to teaching French, such as advising the yearbook club, serving on faculty committees, chaperoning school dances and trips and running a dorm of 9th-12th grade girls (why I left teaching: a topic for another post!). So, while I would rate myself maybe an 8.5 in teaching skills and much lower in discipline and classroom management, I did a decent job overall at the three schools where I worked because I got along well with my colleagues and students, volunteered for a lot of extra duties and even survived 4 days in Quebec City with 75 middle school girls.

Now, my job description is much more limited: take this French document and put it into English, or proofread the document that someone else already put into English. Certainly, clients enjoy working with translators who are flexible, friendly, generous with their time and get along well with their project managers and other translators, but a translator who is mediocre at their core job is, I believe, much less likely to be forgiven than a corporate employee in the same situation.

So, let’s take a look at what it takes to be an A+ freelance translator:

  • Meet every deadline. This is an absolute requirement for developing a base of regular clients. In addition, don’t “meet” the deadline but send in a huge list of questions along with the file, or untranslated portions of text that need clarification. Allow time before the deadline for these tasks.
  • Have A+ target-language writing skills. Of all the issues that a freelance translator can have, this is perhaps one of the stickiest: not being a good writer in one’s dominant language is a serious handicap.
  • Have A+ source language comprehension skills. Don’t launch a translation business based on “adequate” comprehension of your source language(s); your source language comprehension skills need to be near-native.
  • Translate into your native/dominant language only. This is an important factor in producing a translation that doesn’t sound like a translation and is linguistically accurate. Except when no other option is available, the translator should not be translating into his/her second, third etc. language.
  • Stick to subject areas you know well. If there’s a subject that you struggle to understand in your own language, it will be even worse in your source language(s).
  • Don’t overcommit. It’s always hard to say no to a client or a desirable prospective client, but it’s important to avoid the working too much/working too fast/working too late trap that ends in poor quality work.
  • Be open to feedback. An error on your part doesn’t have to be the end of the client/translator relationship if you handle it correctly. Thank the client for taking the time to go over the issue with you, and assure them that their feedback will help you better meet their needs in the future.