| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Getting established as a freelance and find clients ready to pay decent rates Thread poster: Inge Schumacher
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Inge Schumacher 
France
Local time: 16:53
Member (2023)
French to German
+ ...
Hi everyone,
As a newbie to the freelance market, I often wonder how (apparently) almost everyone who regularly contributes to the forums here manages to find clients who pay properly - everyone except me!
Despite my many years of experience as a (mainly technical) translator and my (really) excellent level of French and German (my target languages), I still struggle to find these "pepites".
Perhaps Proz.com isn't the best medium for promoting my service... See more Hi everyone,
As a newbie to the freelance market, I often wonder how (apparently) almost everyone who regularly contributes to the forums here manages to find clients who pay properly - everyone except me!
Despite my many years of experience as a (mainly technical) translator and my (really) excellent level of French and German (my target languages), I still struggle to find these "pepites".
Perhaps Proz.com isn't the best medium for promoting my services (too many, too highly qualified competitors)?
I have to admit that I'm getting a bit bored with looking for interesting, well-paid jobs.
Any suggestions?
Kind regards,
Inge ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:53
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Are you hoping to work for agencies or for direct clients?
[Edited at 2024-01-08 11:33 GMT]
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Entering the translation world takes a lot of work. You need patience, diplomacy, persistence, resilience and even at times a pretty thick skin. Suggestions? Keep trying... Good luck, anyway!
P.S. There are a lot of videos on YouTube on tips on how to get new clients and I think Proz has also some videos and courses...
| | | | Joakim Braun
Sweden
Local time: 16:53
German to Swedish
+ ...
Becoming a sworn translator was helpful for me. It pays better, and sporadic one-off jobs will trickle in from new agencies - some of these contacts will turn into long-term relationships. Also you'll get contacted by lawyers and other direct clients, and by agencies who are trawling the sworn translator lists. All of this is pretty low-frequency, but over time it makes a big difference.
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Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 16:53
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
| Define decent rates | Jan 8 |
Some people are happy with a certain rate, others wouldn't even start working for the exact same rate. So define what you consider to be a decent rate. Otherwise it's difficult to give any advice whatsoever.
| | | | IrinaN
United States
Local time: 09:53
English to Russian
+ ...
I have never sought anything on Proz since 2002, never even bothered to update my pretty lousy profile in 2017 after restoring my registration. It's mostly forums and Kudoz for fun, but if you are looking at Proz as one of the platforms to help with the new clients, I would mention 3 things:
1. You claim 31 years of mainly technical experience but do not advertise any specific technical fields except for Computers (general) and Manufacturing, which is a very vague and generic descri... See more I have never sought anything on Proz since 2002, never even bothered to update my pretty lousy profile in 2017 after restoring my registration. It's mostly forums and Kudoz for fun, but if you are looking at Proz as one of the platforms to help with the new clients, I would mention 3 things:
1. You claim 31 years of mainly technical experience but do not advertise any specific technical fields except for Computers (general) and Manufacturing, which is a very vague and generic description.
2. You do not participate in Kudoz at all, whereas Kudoz points are supposed to be one of the main attractions for the outsourcers. At least, this seems to be a common perception by both members/users and Proz founders.
3. You advertise all sorts of MT/AI translation "helpers". This is pure honey for the flies aka lowest-paying clients who love to manipulate potential vendors by promising huge volumes to compensate for a joke of a rate.
The drying pool of serious, well-paying clients still does not appreciate it; some even prohibit any kind of machine translation. Maybe you should keep it to yourself and/or discuss with each client separately, depending on their requirements. Let them mention it first.
Good luck. ▲ Collapse
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You need to get your name out there and don't rest on your laurels.
While it feels bad to turn down offers, having more job requests than you can handle is where you want to be.
I've also learned the hard way not to take regular clients for granted. Sometimes it takes a stroke of bad luck
(and let's agree not to talk about black swan events in the last few years), like when your contact person is laid off,
retires, or goes on a longer leave and you're basically ... See more You need to get your name out there and don't rest on your laurels.
While it feels bad to turn down offers, having more job requests than you can handle is where you want to be.
I've also learned the hard way not to take regular clients for granted. Sometimes it takes a stroke of bad luck
(and let's agree not to talk about black swan events in the last few years), like when your contact person is laid off,
retires, or goes on a longer leave and you're basically starting from scratch. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Inge Schumacher
France
Local time: 16:53
Member (2023)
French to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Samuel Murray wrote:
Are you hoping to work for agencies or for direct clients?
Hi Samuel,
I think both have pros and cons:
Working for agencies has the advantage of having a wider variety of subjects to cover. I'm very curious, and like to be confronted with a wide range of different subjects. There's not much that doesn't interest me (apart from finance and big money), my favorites are sciences.
Working for clients allows you to ... See more Samuel Murray wrote:
Are you hoping to work for agencies or for direct clients?
Hi Samuel,
I think both have pros and cons:
Working for agencies has the advantage of having a wider variety of subjects to cover. I'm very curious, and like to be confronted with a wide range of different subjects. There's not much that doesn't interest me (apart from finance and big money), my favorites are sciences.
Working for clients allows you to acquire in-depth knowledge of a particular field, which makes the work easier and allows you to go into greater depth, fine-tune and polish your work.
Or, ideally: Work for several clients, in different fields
[Bearbeitet am 2024-01-08 11:37 GMT]
[Bearbeitet am 2024-01-08 11:49 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:53
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
Inge Schumacher wrote:
As a newbie to the freelance market, I often wonder how (apparently) almost everyone who regularly contributes to the forums here manages to find clients who pay properly - everyone except me!
It may be that some of the people who have a lot of time to chat on the forums have so much time precisely because they are not drowning in work. Or, some of the people on the forum may seem very successful but there is no way of knowing which of them are struggling and which of them are forced to work for peanuts.
Despite my many years of experience as a (mainly technical) translator and my (really) excellent level of French and German (my target languages), I still struggle to find these "pepites".
Yes, and unfortunately, you just have to strike it lucky. But you can increase your luck ("make your own luck") by keeping up your marketing, by which I mean that you keep on contacting more and more agencies. You can use the Blue Board to see which agencies have good reviews. You really need to contact hundreds of them -- individually -- and eventually you'll get some work, and some of that work will turn out to be profitable arrangements (most will be of the low-paying, irregular kind, though).
Perhaps Proz.com isn't the best medium for promoting my services (too many, too highly qualified competitors)?
You can't really "use ProZ.com" to promote your services. You should have a well-written profile page, but that's all you can do.
Some people advise new translators to try to get high on the directory listings, but the only way to do that is to pay money and to answer KudoZ questions. You are already a paying member, so you are on the first set of pages in directory search results, but you have very few KudoZ points, so you will be near the bottom of the lists.
Unfortunately ProZ.com has existed for over 20 years, and translators who have been here forever have gathered so many KudoZ points during that time that you'll never beat them. You'll need to gather at least 200 points in French-to-German and about 100 points in German-to-French to make any dent. For both English-to-German and English-to-French you need to gather at least 400 points each. This is a near impossible task. That said, if you consistently give very good answers in KudoZ, other translators will start to notice you and may refer work to you.
The biggest aspect of your marketing that ProZ.com would be involved in is your access to the Blue Board, where you can find agencies and write to them personally and/or visit their sites and fill in in their forms. Because you are a paying member, you can see the individual comments by translators who have worked for agencies.
I have to admit that I'm getting a bit bored with looking for interesting, well-paid jobs.
Yes, it's boring and it's repetitive to market your own services.
[Edited at 2024-01-08 11:37 GMT]
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As a newbie to the freelance market, I often wonder how (apparently) almost everyone who regularly contributes to the forums here manages to find clients who pay properly - everyone except me!
What makes you think everyone else is getting paid properly? (And what do you even mean by 'properly'?)
Despite my many years of experience as a (mainly technical) translator and my (really) excellent level of French and German (my target languages), I still struggle to find these "pepites".
Perhaps Proz.com isn't the best medium for promoting my services (too many, too highly qualified competitors)?
If Proz is your only medium for promoting your services I suggest you widen your net. There is much, much more to the translation world than ProZ.
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ProZ is not a good place to get well-paid work (although some here will disagree).
I would instead visit agency websites and register with them. Direct clients you can get through networking.
Either way it can be a painful process, requiring luck and persistence.
But if you are any good at actually translating, you only need to strike lucky a few times.
| | | | Inge Schumacher
France
Local time: 16:53
Member (2023)
French to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Rachel Waddington wrote:
What makes you think everyone else is getting paid properly? (And what do you even mean by 'properly'?)
Hi Rachel,
1) I just noticed that some/many/most(?) linguists who post on the forums seem to be offended by the rates charged by others.
2) Descent rates: Let's say 0,04 EUR/word for revision; 0,07–0,12 EUR/word for technical "technical"(no law, finance, stock exchange) translation, 0,06 EUR/word for MTPE? What do you thi... See more Rachel Waddington wrote:
What makes you think everyone else is getting paid properly? (And what do you even mean by 'properly'?)
Hi Rachel,
1) I just noticed that some/many/most(?) linguists who post on the forums seem to be offended by the rates charged by others.
2) Descent rates: Let's say 0,04 EUR/word for revision; 0,07–0,12 EUR/word for technical "technical"(no law, finance, stock exchange) translation, 0,06 EUR/word for MTPE? What do you think?
I've seen profiles of (French) translators who seem to charge up to 0,19 EUR/word!! I can't imagine though that they have much work!
More often, when taking a look at new projects, I'm shocked about rates like 0,01-0,03 EUR/word for translation!
Rachel wrote:
If Proz is your only medium for promoting your services I suggest you widen your net. There is much, much more to the translation world than ProZ.
No, of course, I don't rely on Proz. ▲ Collapse
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Inge Schumacher
France
Local time: 16:53
Member (2023)
French to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Joakim Braun wrote:
Becoming a sworn translator was helpful for me. It pays better, and sporadic one-off jobs will trickle in from new agencies - some of these contacts will turn into long-term relationships. Also you'll get contacted by lawyers and other direct clients, and by agencies who are trawling the sworn translator lists. All of this is pretty low-frequency, but over time it makes a big difference.
Hi Joakim,
I'm actually looking into this at the moment!... See more Joakim Braun wrote:
Becoming a sworn translator was helpful for me. It pays better, and sporadic one-off jobs will trickle in from new agencies - some of these contacts will turn into long-term relationships. Also you'll get contacted by lawyers and other direct clients, and by agencies who are trawling the sworn translator lists. All of this is pretty low-frequency, but over time it makes a big difference.
Hi Joakim,
I'm actually looking into this at the moment! My favorite French agency recommended this the other day, saying that they have big problems to find sworn German linguists for French courts and that these charge "exorbitant" rates. Apparently, there is only 1 German linguist (a professor in Germanic studies at a French university) here in France. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 16:53
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Rates on profile pages | Jan 8 |
Inge Schumacher wrote:
I just noticed that some/many/most(?) linguists who post on the forums seem to be offended by the rates charged by others.
Yes, but you'll always find such people. Those that charge 20c per word are offended that some charge 15c per word, and those that charge 15c per word are offended that some charge 10c per word, and those that charge 10c per word are offended that some charge 5c per word.
Also, some of those who are publicly offended by low rates do accept low rates in secret.
I've seen profiles of (French) translators who seem to charge up to 0,19 EUR/word!! I can't imagine though that they have much work!
You really can't trust what rates people put on their profile pages. The two main purposes of the rate on a profile page is to (a) ensure that you don't receive job offers via ProZ.com's job system that are low-paying and (b) to create the right kind of impression with clients. If you appear to charge a high rate, clients will think that you must be a good translator. Also, translators who accept low rates might not want their colleagues to know that they accept such low rates, so their profile pages show higher rates.
More often, when taking a look at new projects, I'm shocked about rates like 0,01-0,03 EUR/word for translation!
That is true -- most jobs posted on ProZ.com's job system are very low paying jobs.
| | | | Inge Schumacher
France
Local time: 16:53
Member (2023)
French to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Christopher Schröder wrote:
ProZ is not a good place to get well-paid work (although some here will disagree).
I would instead visit agency websites and register with them. Direct clients you can get through networking.
Either way it can be a painful process, requiring luck and persistence.
But if you are any good at actually translating, you only need to strike lucky a few times.
Hi Christopher,
That's what I... See more Christopher Schröder wrote:
ProZ is not a good place to get well-paid work (although some here will disagree).
I would instead visit agency websites and register with them. Direct clients you can get through networking.
Either way it can be a painful process, requiring luck and persistence.
But if you are any good at actually translating, you only need to strike lucky a few times.
Hi Christopher,
That's what I do. I visit all kinds of websites, register, take tests ... and then sometimes even start to work. It's ALWAYS good to acquire a maximum of experience, one day it will pay out.
Painful process. Yes, I've just had an extremely painful experience that completely brought me to my knees. I'm just starting to recover now, more than one month afterwards. I paid the high price for this experience!
But... I'm tough. ▲ Collapse
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