 Fire Ant  Worker Bee | |
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The Bottom Lineby Fire Ant & Worker Bee | ||
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Q: I've been in business for three years and recently had my first bad payer. The amount was under €1,000, but the incident was maddening and made me aware that I must get a system in place for checking out new agencies. I belong to a translator elist where participants occasionally swap information about the good guys and bad guys, but I'm looking for a one-stop shop. I've heard of specialized lists. Can you suggest one? On Their Case
Bad payers are nothing new—even in 1950, who was going to travel from Paris to Los Angeles and back to collect USD 1,000?—but with a large percentage of all translation business now being commissioned and delivered online, client references are more essential than ever. You'll be happy to know that a number of translators have set up structures to pool payment information, starting with the visionary Karin Adamczyk in the 90s. As you read through the list below, keep in mind:
With those rules of thumb out of the way, here goes:
Newsletters and Mailing Lists
But don't forget other sources of information: BBB, Dun & Bradstreet, credit agency reports, court records and company registries. Information in this list was forwarded by Ted Wozniak (thanks!), who took over Karin Adamczyk's Payment Practices list two years ago. Note that he will be making a presentation on "Getting paid—what to do before, during and after the job" at the ATA's next annual conference in Toronto, from October 13-16, 2004. FA & WB
Q: I am Colombian-Australian. I am going to finish high school by the end of this year, if everything goes all right. I intend to become a translator and wonder if you could advise me on a university in the USA, where I could study, as I tried in Australia, and they seem to focus on Asian languages rather than Spanish. Heading North
A: Dear North, Sounds like you need Park's Guide to Translating and Interpreting Programs in North America, published by the American Translators Association and touted as "the best source of comprehensive information on translating and interpreting education in the United States, Mexico, and Canada." You can order it online at http://www.atanet.org/bin/view.fpl/13761.html. FA & WB Q: I agree wholeheartedly with your advice to Hard to Just Say No. These days I do no subcontracting at all. Instead I refer clients to other translators when I am unable to do a job. Yet on more than one occasion, the client has complained, not about the quality of the work, but about the translator's customer relationship skills. It seems that some translators demand that referrals pay up front, on delivery or within two weeks. As if that weren't bad enough, they hound the client if the check is a day late, or call me to complain about the client! Is there some way, other than going back to subcontracting, that I can nip this one in the bud? Stuck in the Middle
Are we correct in assuming that your translator contacts do provide good quality and that the clients are generally pleasant? Good, that makes it simpler.
You say this even if—hey, especially if—Gloria has been on the phone for the past ten days yapping about hopeless clients or tearing down fellow translators. (We're assuming her work is good and that she is stepping into the breach because you are swamped). By taking this approach, you will have passed on essential contact information and ensured you will get a report, distancing yourself from the job and translator without voicing any particular opinion except that their work has been said to be good. If Gloria does go twitchy on this customer, too, proper behavior is to chuckle about it with the client the first time, directing their attention back to the good work produced. The second time you are free to revert to the Extreme Case phrasebook above. By the third time you may well have decided to do what many translators do from the start and refer clients politely to the directory of your national or regional translators' association. With Gloria's help, they will in any case be all the happier when your backlog clears and they can return to your congenial fold. FA & WB Q: I would be extremely appreciative if you could help me evaluate whether my current plan makes sense and deserves investment of time. I am in a serious financial bind right now, and I need to increase my family's income by $400 US per month. I can devote about 20 hours per week to this project, but if this will take months to start then I need to do something else. To give you some background, I am from the United States and presently living in Mexico. My Spanish is fairly good but I do not yet understand the culture or the economy here. I have almost finished a Master's degree in Community Counseling back in the US. I have worked as an interpreter but have no training in translation. My plan is to do literary, legal, or business translations. I prefer to translate from Spanish to English, but for less than US $4.00/hour I can employ good writers of Spanish to help me produce high quality translations from English to Spanish. My immediate problem is that I have no customers. I would also like to do editing of academic writing here, if I can attract customers. I am leaving flyers at local universities for proofreading or editing of English language academic writings. I have been trying to find customers through personal contacts. Now I am working to enhance my website (www.geocities.nuevomundots.index.html). My next step may be to do some unsolicited literary translations and give them to the authors in hopes of getting some attention. Another option is to go to the United States for a week to try to drum up some business among attorneys and professors I know. I don't have any international business leads, but suppose I could visit companies in hopes of connecting with a need. The advantage I have to offer is a much lower price than other high-quality internet translation services-and my service can also be customized to the client's needs. Can you give any suggestions to help me evaluate what aspects of my plan might be most realistic for helping my family out of our immediate financial crisis? Do you know about the market for thesis editing in Mexico? By the way, I respect good translators and their work, and while the urgency of my situation makes me bold to presume I am one, I intend to keep learning and to become increasingly worthy of the profession! South of the Border
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