STARTING OUT AS A FREELANCE TRANSLATOR (w/ Antoine Wicquart)

Say hello to Antoine Wicquart in another episode of Meet the Freelancer. He's a French translator that agreed to come on the channel to talk about his experience of starting out during the pandemic. We had an interesting chat together that might be useful to many of you. Feel free to reach out to him directly or ask your questions in the comments.
Video by Adrian Probst
- What Antoine has going on -
Website: awi-translations.com
LinkedIn: / antoine-wicquart
ProZ.com: www.proz.com/translator/2626411
- SDL MTPE Certification -
www.sdltrados.com/learning/tr...
To subtitle my video into your native language, drop me a message to:
[e-mail].
Feel free to connect on LinkedIn and send me a message:
/ adrianprobst-freelance...
- Socials -
Check out the Freelanceverse on Spotify/Instagram/Twitter as well and give it a follow :)
Instagram: / freelanceverse
Twitter: / freelanceverse
- Chapters -
0:00 Intro
1:23 Introduction Antoine
2:03 Getting started
3:13 Impact of pandemic
3:58 First jobs
6:59 Specializations
8:30 Surprises
9:18 MTPE Certification
10:54 Questionable projects
11:31 Actions in the beginning
12:26 ProZ.com
12:57 Networking
13:36 Advice to newbies
14:32 Registering
15:33 Success
17:06 Invoicing
17:58 Outro

[@bythewordtranslations]

Antione!!! 6:02 Yes, he translated my website into French. It was so funny to see him on ProZ after not having heard from him in so long.

[@Freelanceverse]

What!! no way! :D and now you're here as well haha

[@antoinewicquart225]

[@bythewordtranslations]

@@antoinewicquart225 Ich habe versucht, deinen Namen zu korrigieren, aber das darf ich irgendwie nicht. Jetzt musst du halt Antione sein.

[@antoinewicquart225]

@@bythewordtranslations passt schon - es sind nämlich Menschen, die meinen Namen aussprechen genauso wie du ihn hier geschrieben hast ;)

[@Freelanceverse]

Thanks to Antoine for joining me for this video :) make sure to connect with both of us on LinkedIn to have a chat. Links in the description.

[@afrocaribbelle]

Interesting! This was very much needed. Merci beaucoup.

[@Freelanceverse]

Glad you liked it, Rebelle! Good luck with everything! :)

[@mavutivepersonalfinancelif5326]

This could have been a podcast 😃

[@Freelanceverse]

Great!! That's the vibe I'm going for :D

[@jeppjepp5405]

What a great video! As someone wanting to become a translator it is so interesting hearing the story of how other people got into the business :)

[@Freelanceverse]

Exactly, these stories are always motivating. Thanks for the feedback, Jepp!

[@alexismontgomery-bugel3481]

Nice to watch this! I started just over a year ago and I’ve had a similar experience as Antoine! :) Thanks Adrian!

[@Freelanceverse]

Thanks for sharing Alexis! How is it going for you so far?

[@456cookielove]

Thanks for all the insight, this was super helpful! I can really relate to Antoine. I’ve also worked as a copywriter for a company and now I’m starting out as a freelance translator. However, I’m planning to become a literary translator, which is quite different from technical translation. So if there is any chance you can get somebody on who works in that field, I would love to hear their perspective (if it’s not too much of a hassle of course - I’m sure a lot of work goes into these videos).

[@Freelanceverse]

Thanks so much for the comment. Glad you liked it and can relate to Antoine. Yes, there will definitely be a 'Specialized' video on literary translation as it's also a topic I'm interested in but know very little about. They are a lot of work, but I really enjoy making them and I can also learn a lot. It will definitely come, stay tuned :)

[@456cookielove]

@@Freelanceverse Great :) I’m looking forward to it!

[@adaopingano7839]

Great video, I found it very useful so thank you

[@Holly698]

Interesting, I get some tips from it! On the contrary,I haven't been so lucky in job search from my graduation on March 2020 but I'm studying for pubblic exams,networking, sending cv and get known and because of covid I can't move to another city or country. So, in my opinion a bit of luck is always welcome! In Italy,it is difficult to be a freelancer and find job quickly . Starting out as translator or interpreter changes from country to country,unfortunately.

[@Freelanceverse]

Thanks for the comment, Rita. The path is not the same for everyone, that's true. I know it's hard to not compare yourself to other people, but that's really the only way. People's living standards, expectations, needs are so different. What's 1000 euro to one person might be 5000 to the next. In terms of location, I'm not sure it has a huge impact. Why do you think it's tougher in Italy? In my experience, the country barriers can be overcome with our professions rather quickly, but I also don't know enough about the Italian market of course. Would be interesting if you could share the difficulties.

[@Holly698]

@@Freelanceverse You are welcome, Adrian. In general,isn't a catastrophic situation but Italian market problems are related to the lack of clear guidelines, official registers and acknowledgements for translators and Interpreters nationally. In addition to a backing influence in some market niches, in favour of few lucky professionals . Job negotiation is not that open-minded, I could say.

[@astridarroyave]

❤

[@N8rQuran]

Intriguing video, need only a cup of coffee and to spend time on it. Good luck dear, wish u smash the record. 👍🏻

[@Freelanceverse]

Haha yes it's a long one this week. Grab some popcorn ;) Thanks for the comment, Hamza!

[@davidpassalacqua91]

Cool interview! Gratulálok! (:

[@Freelanceverse]

Thanks!!

[@LuciaCoetsee]

Nice! I'm watching all of your videos. I really want to start doing translations, and I have so many questions and fears, mostly fears 😅

[@Freelanceverse]

Hopefully the videos can help with that! :)

[@igakedzierska4594]

I'm in my second year of Translation, studying in London and we talk a lot about the pricing, market expectations, ethics etc.

[@Freelanceverse]

That's great, Iga! Keep it up :)

[@themultilingualfamilyhub]

Hello Adrian, I really enjoy your videos - thanks so much for putting the effort into creating them and sharing them on YT :) Do you have any videos for freelance translators who are perhaps a few years into their careers already? I have been working as a freelancer for years and am doing ok, but would love to find better-paid work from higher-quality agencies or even direct clients. Would love to see a video on that :) Thanks!

[@Freelanceverse]

Hi Kayee, thanks for reaching out, glad to see already established freelancers enjoying the content as well :) there are a couple videos on that, but I will take it to heart and make more content that goes in this direction, thank you!

[@gadu890]

Thank you so much for this video. I found it really useful 👍 And please, do the invoicing video 🙏🙏🙏

[@Freelanceverse]

Coming next Monday :) thanks for the feedback!

[@gadu890]

@@Freelanceverse great 🤩

[@arterialclock1]

Nice video!

[@Freelanceverse]

Thanks!!

[@liuayo1452]

Am just a new one to this, just wanna start a freelancer as a translator, Kind of need help on this

[@samiatris6237]

Hey I am starting to work as a translator. I am translating from arabic to english and german. I really would like to get connected to you (the translator-community)

[@naseermak4357]

I have worked under someone as a translator. I want to work independently. Where to find work

[@b.b.wijaya2521]

I have a question as a beginner freelance translator. Is it right to state that I am a beginner in first year experience when applying? I don't have any intention to lie about my job qualification because I think it gonna be messed up if I'm unable to catch up clients' expectation, but on the contrary I hope I could impress them.

[@Freelanceverse]

Hi B. B., if you really haven't done any translation work (in a previous job, volunteer basis, for family/friends), then yes, you would have to state that you're a complete beginner I'm afraid. It can be hard in the beginning, that's why I encourage people to either take a job first in an agency first or do some other jobs on the side before going full-time.

[@drzeworyj]

A question to you, Adrian: how much of your workload in % is postediting?

[@Freelanceverse]

Hmm maybe 5% currently. I do it quite rarely.

[@mootmoot6723]

arry

[@Freelanceverse]