THE HARSH REALITY OF FREELANCE TRANSLATION

[@magdad7357]

I try to go out and meet people after work to balance my social life and working alone. Another issue I'd add to the list is a lack of seniority benefits on retirement, but I've heard (and hope so) it is going to change soon.

[@cacciatore_5320]

Hi Adrian! Frankly, for a video about harsh truth, I'm getting a bit of motivation from hearing you! I'm currently studying for my master's degree (remote, so I've got extra free time) and basically, I've got nothing to lose so I just went for it and created my business last month. I haven't had much luck yet, but I'm working hard and trying my best ! And your advice is really, really helpful, and motivating too. Thanks for everything :)

[@loopusconsultingkosova]

Hello Adrian, the best solution for beginners is to play safe (in-house), until you get clients for freelance, once you get 2-3 mid-size agencies, you can easily juggle all three jobs. Certainly, you will have to sacrifice your social life and sleep to make it worth. Greetings from Kosova

[@nevertoolate8589]

Excellent video. All very valid points (from someone who’s been in the business for a long time).

[@kanthanatpiyasakulchaichan5846]

Very excellent and straightforward in the real situation now. I am being asked for several agencies but there is not much job offered for working even though my regular agents have very less job as the competition (EN>TH) is very high. It is fortunate that can translate TH>EN, ZH>TH. In the future, will look for German to Thai and Chinese to English language pair

[@Freelanceverse]

Thank you very much for your feedback and good luck going forward

[@stepheng707]

Your videos are very helpful, thanks!

[@ckoul5351]

Thank you very much for all these really useful points and for your work on this channel overall 😊

[@Freelanceverse]

My pleasure!

[@piedadlorenserrano196]

Hello Adrian, thank you for this video.

[@melr3566]

Thanks for for being real 😊 Also, good day at the beach !

[@Freelanceverse]

Thank you, it was fantastic :)

[@ObsaGetnet]

I would like to thank you for the information you provided. Can you please give us tips how to find clients on rare languages? ( For example mine is Oromo) and I want to say keep it up!

[@Freelanceverse]

That is a great idea, thank you. I would need to get an expert on this on the channel. I'm adding it to my content idea list! Cheers!

[@ievabarkauskaite702]

I love your videos. So helpful. Is there a video on your channel on how to deal with clients who do not pay? Thanks.

[@Freelanceverse]

There is indeed :) It's called "HOW TO DEAL WITH NON-PAYING CLIENTS (Freelance Translator)"

[@cavalheirosa]

Hey Adrian, thanks for this video! just found your channel, do you think there are any specific challenges or do you have advice for translation as a side hustle?

[@Freelanceverse]

Hi there. Thank you for checking out the channel! Means a lot :) you basically have the same challenges if you do it as a sidehustle, in fact, I recommend to everyone to start on the side and then scale it later. The main problem you probably have with sidehustling it is not being available enough for potential clients. When they need someone spontanuously because their main person dropped out, is when you can sweep in and take over.

[@king-yc4zd]

Great video Adrian, thanks. I had a question I'm struggling to get clients and always get rejected one of the statement of rejection is (We have now had the translations assessed and unfortunately, on this occasion, your text was not deemed to have the right style and tone for the client ) what is this means and thanks again!

[@nevertoolate8589]

Beware of scams, this could be a trick to have you do the work but not pay you. They should really inform you beforehand of what style/format they are after. If they don’t, you should check with them before you start working on the translation. If they say nothing specific, then they can’t turn around and refuse your work on the basis you didn’t meet the style/format.

[@Freelanceverse]

Hi there, that is a very valuable feedback. Usually you would get no feedback or someonething very cryptic, but this clearly means that you missed the required style and register. So lets say the client's text is a dental hygiene manual for regular people, then you need to adjust your style and choice of words so that the target audience understands everything. If the manual is targeted at dentists however, you can use all kinds of special terminology and expert style language. Make sure you read different types of styles and registers in your target language so that you can switch up the styles required in your translation. And always make sure you know who your target audience is.

[@Sarah_Sunshine1]

Won't quality agencies with ISO standards in Germany, and certain companies prefer translators with a German business address? I'm not sure if we are competing with digital nomads or people from Pakistan. Are you sure? Is it not a trust and data privacy issue in lots of cases?

[@Freelanceverse]

Hi Sarah, hmm good question. I for one have a Belgian business address and yet all my clients are German or Swiss, so I don't think the clients require a German business address. However, you are right that quality clients probably look for a closer relationship with their provider. On a high quality scale, you will not compete with people from Pakistan, but if you go on gig platforms, then you definitely will.

[@yizhigezi]

Hey Adrian, thanks so much for this video! I'm wondering how difficult it would be to find work as a freelance translator part-time, such as while studying in grad school. I do want to continue it as a lifetime career, but also need income for living costs now. Is it harder to get clients or be accepted by an agency if your available work time is limited? I'm thinking of how in some fields, you need to keep putting out content/work very regularly to avoid becoming invisible.

[@nevertoolate8589]

I personally think being available makes you visible and conversely, refusing jobs too often because you’re not available means they might not call you back. I think it can be done part-time, but will your grad schedule allow the flexibility to work? Some projects are very short term or last minute so you’d have to see if you think it is feasible for you to free yourself for a day or two to work on the project and deliver within deadline.

[@yizhigezi]

​@@nevertoolate8589 that makes a lot of sense, thank you for taking the time to reply! I was thinking I would sporadically pick up projects when school workload is light or during breaks. Would it be possible to acquire assignments on short notice like that?

[@nevertoolate8589]

It might depend what kind of translation you do. But for some projects yes. Bear in mind though that from my experience, materials aren’t always sent to us on time (client changes their mind, amends the materials, anythjng). So you’ve bloked a week off and everything’s running 2 days behind. Then you’re running into the following week. Can then clash with your next project or school assignment. Maybe some translators don’t experience this, I don’t want to generalise.

[@yizhigezi]

@@nevertoolate8589 ah yeah, I think people/companies not sticking to timelines is just ubiquitous in every field. Good point to keep in mind. I would be doing Chinese > English and am interested in a neuroscience/medical specialization (my BA is in Cognitive Science, not sure if that would be considered enough though)

[@nevertoolate8589]

@@yizhigezi enough to work as a translator? If you can do good quality, accurate work, I think you should go for it. There’s a higher demand for Chinese/Japanese translators as there are fewer of them than for all the European-Eng language combos. At least in Europe, I don’t know where you are based.

[@SpectacularSuperSoup]

Beach! Ostend? Watch out for sand in your laptop!

[@Freelanceverse]

In that area yes, but out of town :)

[@hiss9989]

If those are the harsh realities, then being a freelancer is, indeed, perfect for me.

[@Freelanceverse]

:) great to hear!! for me too

[@callmerays684]

Hello, I'm stuck between choosing an emphasis on translation or on interpretation in my university. I would like to hear your point of view on which would you recommend, such as which field has more potential, salary,etc... Personally I find interpretation to have a higher potential since an interpreter is arguably harder to replace than a translator, though i could be completely wrong. I would appreciate your opinion on this, and thanksm