By Andrei Gerasimov
Ph.D., ATA member
www.erussiantranslations.com

The objective of this article is to improve communication between freelance translators and translation agencies on various payment issues.

It is based on my first-hand experience in freelance translation from English to Russian and vice-versa for 45 translation agencies in 12 countries (USA - 11, UK - 7, Russia - 5, Japan - 4, Belgium - 3, Czech Republic - 3, France - 3, Germany - 2, Hong Kong - 2, Israel - 1, Netherlands - 3, Sweden - 1) and 20 direct clients from four countries (Russia - 14, France - 1, Israel - 1, USA - 3) from July 1999 to July 2003, with an approximate total word count of 2 million source words.

Practically all freelance translators are familiar with the frustration of spending too much time and effort collecting fees for translation. The optimization of this process may therefore be of interest to many of my colleagues.

This problem can be approache... Read more »

Oleh A.M.Sall,
professional translator,
marketing and Global Communication Consultant,
Success Mindset Philosopher
stsmpr@senfree.com
http://translatorpower.wordpress.com/

It is a well known fact that translators in general and more particularly freelance translators are the most reluctant marketers of all professional service providers.

Freelancers often don't realize they are running a business and as such they must embark on permanent, never-ending marketing activities, like any other business owner.

They must market more proactively.

For many of them, marketing your translation/interpreting services simply stops at posting your profile on Translation Portals, Directories and/or sending your resume/CV to Translation Agencies.

Well, that's a terrible mistake and, as the saying goes, that means leaving literally tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars (or however much that will be in your local currency...) on the table. ... Read more »