Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

translation agencies


Corinne McKay

New book: Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies

One of my behind-the-scenes projects for this year is a series of narrow-topic books for freelance translators. The first one, Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies, is freshly pressed and available in print, Kindle, and PDF format. I think that many translators feel torn between two realities: agencies are the backbone of many translators’ businesses, but there have been a lot of recent shifts in the agency market, making it more difficult to find quality agencies to work with. I’m hoping that this book provides some helpful advice on those fronts.

Big thanks to everyone who submitted a question in response to my post, Your questions about working with agencies? earlier this year. Those questions morphed into a larger-than-expected chapter, but I think they added a lot to the book. Everyone who submitted a question has now received their free contributor copy as well.

Finding and Marketing to Translation agencies is available for US $9.95 in three formats: PDF (auto-download from my website after purchase), paperback from Amazon, or Kindle from Amazon. Thanks also to my awesome book designer Sue Campbell, who takes a plain old Word document and turns it into a beautiful book!


Corinne McKay

How to become an agency’s favo(u)rite translator

This is a guest post by Tom Robinson, digital marketing and communications executive at translate plus, a Global Top 50 language services provider by revenue, offering a full range of services, including translation, website localisation, multilingual SEO, interpreting, desktop publishing, transcription and voiceover, in over 200 languages. All this is complemented by cutting-edge language technology, such as i plus®, translate plus’ secure cloud-based TMS (translation management system).

Working as a freelancer in any industry can be tough. Lots of competition, hours upon hours spent conversing over e-mail and that work life/personal life balance thwarted. But once you get there and stay there it’s an extremely rewarding career. Trust us, we know. And we know because we work with hundreds of freelance translators every day. We’ve seen them come and we’ve seen them go. The ones that stay, prosper because they know what it takes to become an agency’s favourite freelancer.
We’ll discuss how they do this and what an agency like us look for in its freelancers.
First and foremost we only work with translators that meet the minimum criteria set up by bodies like the Institute Of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), ProZ.com and relevant translation degrees from respected universities. So tip #1 would be, get the accreditations and qualifications, as most, if not all agencies will require its freelancers to meet them – it’s just good practice, don’t you think?
What an agency will look for
-Deadlines are never too far from the mind of a freelancer. So know your deadlines and stick to them. If you can’t, then let the agency know well in advance. Being responsive will make the process easier – be available for follow up phone calls and Skype chats for example.
-Keep in contact with the agency you’re working with. Good communication skills are essential for any job, in pretty much any industry. So keep the agency updated with you progress or notify them of any possible delays. This’ll help to keep things moving and make you appear reliable and open.
-The turnaround of most translation jobs is fast, agencies are always juggling high-volume projects so being a responsive freelancer will benefit not only you but also the end-client. A job well done for the punter in need of translation, will be a job well done for the freelance translator – it could even lead to more work and notoriety.
-Honesty is the best policy. Another tip is to be honest with what you can offer an agency. We value someone who knows their limits. Play to your strengths, but acknowledge your weaknesses and be open about them. If you specialise in something in particular be sure to let the agency or client you’re working with know. Most of all, do not be afraid to recognise your mistakes – its better in the long run to flag them up early.
-A willingness to improve is a great trait and one that will get you seen, heard and considered for more jobs, more often. Agencies value someone who is willing to learn from their errors and who can understand different requirements while adapting to them.
-Keeping up-to-date with your field’s developments will benefit both your reliability and aptitude to do the job. Dedication to the field we’ll call tip #13. You can do this by participating in relevant courses and attending conferences etc.

The importance of networking
Although they are your competition in a way, it’s always worth speaking to other freelancers in similar industries as you. This in turn could lead to more work should a translator you’ve befriended become too busy and recommend you to an agency.
Networking is a great way to get your name and portfolio out there. Often than not agencies hold networking events for freelancers to attend and these are great ways to meet new people. Agencies also encourage freelance translators to join bodies where you can tutor other translators in order to grow.
So the next time an agency you’ve worked for in the past invites you to a BBQ or a small get-together to celebrate the launch of a new product or service, go and make the most of it – might just be worth your time.
Stand out from the rest
You can stand out from the others if you possess good technical knowledge. For example, know the basics of Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools. They’re used by well over 250,000 translation professionals so a good grasp of what they are and how to use them could certainly come in handy. If you didn’t already know CAT tools provide a range of sophisticated features to help you complete projects more quickly and easily.
Moreover, in this digital age we live in it’s astute to have an online presence.

Be active on social media, write a personal blog and share your body of work. Agencies look out for this and you have more chance of being noticed and considered for upcoming jobs if you appear proactive.
Follow agencies on social media and interact with them online. We network with our freelancers via social media on a regular basis. It’s a great way to keep in touch and apprise each other of any forthcoming events which might convert a good opportunity for all involved.
Being respectful and helpful – applies to life in general really – is a sure-fire way to get yourself in an agency’s good books. Clients-alike will value someone who is respectful and professional towards its employees and who uses positive language and is always willing to help.
Have fun. Freelancing can be stressful at times, like all jobs and the uncertainty of work as a freelancer can sometimes be the hardest challenge. So have fun, enjoy what you do and revel in the company of the people you work with.
Finally, being passionate about translation is essential and our tip #59. We highly value someone who is as passionate as we are about languages and translation. Get all these things right and you could be on your way to becoming an agency’s favourite freelancer.


Corinne McKay

Your questions about working with agencies?

I’m currently working on an e-book about finding, marketing to, and working with translation agencies. It’s nearing completion, and I’d like to add a section with reader questions. Here’s what to do if you’d like to submit a question for me to answer in the e-book:

-Write your question in the comments section on this post. I’d like them to go in the comments so that you can see if someone else has already submitted the same question you’re thinking of.
–Important! Let me know if it is OK to use your name. Write “OK to use my name” or “Don’t use my name” after your question.
-If I select your question for the reader questions chapter, you’ll receive a free copy of the e-book when it’s ready.

Thank you!


Corinne McKay

Why don’t more translation agencies…

I wonder a couple of things about translation agencies. And when I say “I wonder…,” I mean that honestly. Not as in “most agencies do it this way, and that’s clearly the wrong way.” As in “I honestly wonder.” Here we go:

Why don’t more agencies have in-house translators?

The knee jerk answer to this is cost and flexibility. When agencies use freelancers, they pay only for the services they need, when they need them. No benefits, no office overhead, no providing computers and software, no caffeine-addicted translators draining the coffee pot all day, and so on.

But here’s the other side of the coin: I’m guessing that most mid-sized agencies, and certainly all large agencies, have enough work to keep at least a few in-house translators busy full-time in their most commonly requested languages. And then, the agency has a few advantages:

  • Those translators can work for the same clients all the time, which the agency can’t guarantee when it uses freelancers.
  • Those translators are on salary, so the agency can charge a markup for rush projects without paying more to have them translated.
  • Confidential projects are never sent outside the office.
  • It’s easier to monitor the quality of a translator’s work when they’re right there in your office.
  • A small team of translators would get used to working together, which would probably raise the quality of their translations.
  • The agency could cut its administrative overhead significantly. Instead of having to find an available freelancer, negotiate a rate and deadline, deal with snafus like the project being late or the translator having a computer crash, the project could just be assigned to one of the in-house translators with no back and forth.

Why don’t more agencies specialize?

One of the first pieces of advice given to any beginning freelancer is: specialize. Become the expert. Don’t try to be all things to all clients. Yet, the vast majority of agencies do not specialize *at all*, and even use “translating all subjects, all languages” as one of their selling points. Just Google that and you’ll see what I mean.

There are exceptions: I work with a couple of agencies that only do one subject area, and I can think of a handful of agencies that only do one language. But again, that’s the exception. It seems to me that by specializing, agencies could reap many of the benefits that specialized freelancers do:

  • Become the go-to agency for their language or specialization.
  • Fish in a smaller pond when it comes to marketing.
  • Get to know one subject area really well, thus producing better translations.
  • Know who to market to, rather than anyone on Earth who needs a translation.

Agency owners? People with insights into this? Any thoughts here?


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?