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A column with practical tips for practicing translators.
Q:
You two are always boasting about charging customers an arm and a leg. Well I'm a damn good translator from German to English, yet I can't get anyone to send me prestigious, highly paid jobs. Maybe you should both just shut up and leave us working stiffs alone, instead of adding insult to injury.
Injured in Indiana
A:
Dear Injured,
We hate to rub it in but there is a reason why you cannot get the high-priced work—you're out in the sticks! Even in today's globalized economy, physical proximity to your target market counts. Supposedly the Internet makes physical distance obsolete, but don't believe the hype. High-priced translation—the type that allows you to earn a middle-to-upper-class income—is never purchased anonymously.
In many other industries everyone agrees that you have to be where the action is. Could you be at the South Pole and sell a script to Hollywood for half a million bucks? In principle, yes, of course. In practice, fuhgeddaboudit. Can you become pro wrestling champion of the world if you never set foot in the USA? Sure, in principle. In practice, geddouddahere.
If you never leave Hicksville, Indiana, you are doomed to stay in your rut—more likely than not churning out volume work for companies that will drop you without a second thought if you raise your prices by even a measly cent per word.
The terrible truth is that, while the US leads the world in most industries, it is in many respects a backwater when it comes to premium translation. After all, who is going to pay top-of-the-line prices for translations? Not companies like Wal-Mart or Home Shopping Channel. They already have their supply contracts in place and know they will sell the entire batch of Taiwanese inflatable mattresses regardless of how well the instructions are translated.
For clients willing to pay top dollar, you must cast a wider net. First of all, look for text that has been written to persuade, sell or impress—in other words, advertising, PR articles, glossy brochures and the like. This is what some people call "outbound" texts (as opposed to "inbound" ones, which are often far less demanding in terms of style).
In your case, the most lucrative work is likely to come from non-US companies anxious to break out of their home market. Such buyers are extremely self-conscious about presenting their best face to English speakers, whom they (rightly or wrongly) equate with the world. Their anxiety, compounded by the experience of having been burned before, makes it unlikely that they will send their material thousands of miles away to be translated by an anonymous service provider.
So how does the image-conscious client find the translator who will lavish care and attention on their marketing materials (for a price)? Well, this is where the proximity thing comes in. What most Internet gurus don't tell you is that despite the globalization trend, location is just as important as ever. No matter what the industry, if you look closely you will find that there are centers of excellence with clusters of specialized suppliers servicing their client businesses.
True, for the commodity end of translation it no longer makes a difference where the work is done. Anything that is routine or standardized can be done anywhere. But if you are not doing routine work—if you have invested the time needed to acquire specialist knowledge and have honed your translation skills to near perfection ("damn good" is a good start)—then you need to link up with a small, discriminating clientele. And that means being where the clients are. It means hooking up with the firms listed on the Neuer Markt who must publish in both German and English, it means selling directly to French companies and their advertising agencies, it means winning the business of high-tech manufacturers in Northern Italy. It means being part of an informal network of buyer-supplier relationships, where somebody picks up the phone to ask a trusted supplier for a recommendation, and your own telephone rings five minutes later. In this respect, relationships with your peers can be as important as marketing and salesmanship to end clients.
If you cannot physically relocate to Germany, then research the market from Indiana and spend at least a week every year in Germany visiting potential clients. Emphasize your competitive advantages—you know how to weave in the latest cultural allusions so that texts have maximum impact on target readers, you can turn out work overnight because of the difference in time zones—and go get'em. Good luck!
FA & WB
Q:
I've decided to quit my day job and become a translator. Can you give me any pointers on how to find clients? Please note that I haven't got a fax machine or a computer yet, I will buy these later once I've made enough money.
Thrifty in Trieste
A:
Dear Pound Foolish,
You have got to be kidding. What do you think this is, Earn Money from Needlepoint in Your Spare Time, Send No Money Now? Get real.
If you aren't ready to invest in a bare minimum set-up—which includes, among other essentials, a computer and a fax—then you are not being serious.
Like every other business, translation means investing money and taking risks. You can't dip one toe in the water and expect the fish to bite.
Come back when you have bought a rod, some tackle and bait.
FA & WB
Q:
When I fled office politics to become a translator, I was happy to be working alone at last. I was fortunate that I did not have to work my way up through a patchwork of poorly paid jobs. Instead, I got a steady stream of assignments from a machine tool manufacturer.
This worked well enough for eleven years. I've never earned great riches but have always been able to provide for myself and my family in our little neck of the woods. Recently, however, my primary client, who accounts for nearly all my income, has informed me they are going out of business. I am at a loss as to what to do. The idea of knocking on doors and asking for business hat in hand terrifies me. Do you have any suggestions?
In the Woodwork
A:
Dear Woody,
This may sound cruel but the hole you are in is one you dug for yourself. Here is what you did eleven years ago:
You escaped the sharks in the office pool, you got off the greasy pole and stepped out of the rat race. Fine. But at the same time, you placed most of your eggs in the basket of your no. 1 client, and now the chickens have come home to roost. Do not ever become that dependent on a single client again. Giving more than twenty per cent of your time to any one buyer is risky, giving more than forty per cent to one is courting disaster.
Translators are seldom extroverted go-getters. However, in your present situation you don't have much choice: you have got to start marketing yourself actively. You can do this by networking with colleagues and attending industry events to find clients who will value your skills. If all you need is a push, consider yourself pushed. And cheer up: you probably know an awful lot about machine tools by now, and we assume you already follow the specialist press in this field. Why not start by contacting advertisers and companies mentioned in articles who might need your language combination(s? Be sure to emphasize your years of experience.
FA & WB
Q:
I take your point about encouraging feedback from clients. But lately some comments have come too close for comfort.
For three years I've been translating a corporate newsletter into English for employees of the US subsidiary of a Spanish engineering company. Last month a manager at the US company went through my text and changed a lot of it.
This person is not a translator—he's not even a linguist—but about 75% of his suggestions were definite improvements on what I'd written. And since his comments reached me through my client, they've seen all his corrections: they know how dismal my effort was. How am I going to live this down?
Heading for the Hills
A:
Dear Heading,
An in-house target-language subject-matter expert prepared to take the time to review your work and make detailed suggestions is no reason to disconnect your phone and hide out in the basement, much less skip town. This guy is a find, a gem, a jewel.
Step back a minute and think. Your prime concern—your commitment to your client—is to turn out a top-quality newsletter in English. By taking the time to mark up your text, the US manager has already demonstrated that he can help you do just that. Which makes him a potential ally (unless he is angling for your job, in which case you have got a problem).
We suggest you accept his input as a wake-up call and view it as opportunity to kick your own operation into shape.
Don't dawdle. Phone your client and tell them how pleased you are to get the feedback. Mention that you won't be using every single suggestion (to save a little face, you might cite one of the guy's obvious mistakes in an offhand way), but confirm to them that this is precisely the type of exchange translators need to work well. (This happens to be true).
Ask if you can contact him through them. Put it this way even if you've already got the man's name and contact details, since it is good to keep their head office in the loop, at least for your initial exchanges.
When drafting your comments to him:
- Ease in with sincere thanks and acknowledgment of a slip-up, but don't dwell on it. Something along the lines of "Professional translators can get so caught up in their work that they lose sight of the forest for the trees, and I want to thank you for helping me get back on track" should do it.
- Keep the flow going: Ask for some assistance on a few more terms—confirmation of tricky technical vocabulary, for example, or his opinion of job-title translations. You do this because you actually need the information (or at least a confirmation), but also to remind him—and whoever may be skimming through the letter at head office—how complex your job is.
- End with at least one big(ger) picture query. Ask if the subsidiary he works for has a style book (references, please), or if he has any general comments on the journal that you might pass on to the Spanish editor. This information will be invaluable to you as you work on future editions, and is an excellent way to consolidate your position as the US subsidiary's interface with its Spanish parent.
In short, rather than view this out-of-the-blue editing as a catastrophe, learn from it, build on it, use it to expand your network of contacts in the company.
While your work is probably not as dismal as you say, may we also suggest that you arrange for regular, independent editing by this in-house expert or someone else. No secret here: when you produce work for publication, a second (or third) pair of critical eyes is essential.
Finally, a word of caution: the next time a client calls with a newsletter project, locate your in-house subject-matter native-language expert before the first issue goes to press.
FA & WB
Q:
I have a client—a European businessman—who travels extensively in the developing world. Over the past five years, he has had me translate personal correspondence, mainly letters from women he has picked up, used and professed undying love to before heading back home (the exchanges usually continue for a month or two after his return).
Until now the moral side hasn't really troubled me. As far as I can tell, his lady friends are all of age and street-wise. They have no hang-ups about asking him for money, for example; in fact, that seems to be part of the deal.
Last month a new lady appeared. A young college student in a desperately poor country, she expresses affection for him and even suggests marriage. Unlike the others, she is genuinely articulate and seems, well, nice: what she is doing with this pot-bellied, wattle-necked pig is beyond me. I feel like clueing her in.
The whole situation has got me depressed. What should I do?
Moral Dilemma
A:
Dear Postillon D'amour,
What is this—have you suddenly got religion? You happily took Pigman's money for five years, so spare us the rending of garments.
But to answer your question: one of the advantages of being self-employed is that you and only you decide who you work for.
If you have personal no-go areas, by all means say so up front in your terms of business (e.g., "I do not work on military contracts for religious reasons"). If for whatever reason you decide that an existing client is not—or is no longer—your cup of tea, there are at least two foolproof ways to get him off your customer roster. -
Announce a steep (100-500%) rise in price.
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Be busy every time he calls; he'll get the picture sooner or later.
If you opt for 1 and he accepts anyway, fall back on 2. If he's still there, try 1 again. Then 2. In fact, a steady stream of 1-2-1-2-1-2 before caving in ("one last time") might solve all your problems, allowing you to retire with enough money to pay for a shrink to talk through Pigman and other moral dilemmas.
FA & WB
Q:
I'm a native certified teacher of Romanian and EFL, graduated in Bucharest at Univ. of Languages (Romanian and EFL), also at a Teaching college in Romania. I have an experience of teaching languages and translations in Romania—for 18 years, also 4 years of substitute teaching in Canada, where I'm living now.
Can I translate from Romanian-English or English-Romanian? I'd be interested to get involved in translations in these languages, I'd like also to translate from Romanian newspapers or literature if would be any interest for these.
Please, let me know how I could start my activity of translations if woud be interest.
Thank you in advance for your amability.
Balkan Butterfly
A:
Dear Butterfly,
Most experts agree that translations should read as though produced by a native speaker with very good writing skills. While your spoken English may be fluent, the many awkwardnesses in your e-mail message make it appear unlikely that you are ready to translate into English. At the very least, you would have to hire an expert editor to fine-tune your texts, which could have you operating at a loss. As for the Canadian market for into-Romanian translations, FA and WB have no knowledge of it but suspect it may be tiny. The only way to find out is to get in touch with some professional translators who work in that direction, perhaps through your national or regional translators' association. They will be able to help you assess the market and—with luck—give you an honest appraisal of your writing skills and career prospects as a translator into your native language.
But keep in mind that translation is not the only profession that uses language skills. How about instead acquiring a working knowledge of either two other Romance languages or two other Balkan languages, and then looking for a job with an exporter or freight forwarder—either as a secretary or, after some business training, a trade specialist?
FA & WB
Q:
How can translators get the respect they deserve?
Looking for Attitude
A:
Dear Looking,
By delivering impeccable work, on time, to discerning clients. By saying "no". By not undercharging. By signing their work. By using a whole string of tactics to remind clients just how hard it is to be an expert translator, and by demonstrating conclusively that the texts they produce will make a big difference to clients' image and, ultimately, bottom line.
Of course, if translators don't do this they also "get the respect they deserve"—but that's not what you are talking about, right?
FA & WB
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