Rates are always a hot issue among translators, especially low rates offered by clients. Some translators are tempted to accept these low rates or to lower their rates just to get work. However, there is no excuse to accept low rates.
“If my rates are too high, I won’t be able to find any clients”
If you raise your rates, there will always be clients who will find them too high and who won’t hire you. But do you really want to work for clients who underpay you for a job that requires specialised skills? There are plenty of clients out there who know what it takes to create a professional translation and who are prepared to pay a decent rate for quality. There are even clients who will not work with translators offering low rates, because they don’t trust “cheap translations”. If you offer quality translations, you will be able to find quality clients who are willing to pay for what you have to offer. It will take time and effort, but that’s all part of running a business.
“I only see job offers on the internet offering low rates”
There always have been, and always will be, clients who are only interested in making a quick profit and they won’t go away, not as long as there are translators who are prepared to work for these low rates. If you are serious about your business and you are able to offer quality translations, you don’t want to work with these clients. And you don’t have to, because there are plenty of serious clients out there who are willing to pay for quality. It just takes more effort to find them, or have them find you. Make sure you market yourself professionally, provide samples of your work and be active on the internet and/or in networks so clients can actually find you. You are in charge of your business, so you set your rates.
“I’ve only just started and am not very experienced yet”
Obviously, more experienced translators can ask higher rates than less experienced translators. Be careful, however, not to charge rates that are too low when you are just starting, because it will be very difficult to raise those rates to a decent level once you have gained some experience. If you start too low, you will most probably lose most of your current clients and you will have to find new clients, which means you will basically have to start all over again.
“A client asked me to lower my rate in exchange for a high volume of work”
Whether you are working on a 1500-word job or a 15,000-word job, the average number of words you translate per hour will remain roughly the same. So why should you be paid less for a big job? In addition, taking on a big job also means you will have to turn down other jobs and may lose (potential) clients. So why should you settle for less during the whole time you are working on this big job?
“I don’t need to earn that much, my partner earns enough to pay the bills”
Good for you, but that doesn’t mean that your work is worth less. Besides, there are plenty of translators who do have to earn a living translating. By underselling yourself and your work, you are damaging the profession’s reputation and you are ruining the market for others.
De Vertaalacademie in Maastricht organiseert een post-hbo-cursus Ondertitelen van vier dagen (plus een terugkomdag) voor afgestudeerde vertalers die de beginselen van het ondertitelen onder de knie willen krijgen. Tijdens de cursus komen de basisvaardigheden van het ondertitelen aan bod en is er de mogelijkheid om in een ondertitellokaal aan oefenopdrachten en een individueel ondertitelproject te werken met behulp van de onderstitelsoftware SPOT.
Voor 2010 zijn twee cursussen gepland: de eerste cursus begint op 26 februari 2010 (inschrijving sluit op 9 februari) en de tweede cursus op 21 mei 2010 (inschrijving sluit op 4 mei).
Meer informatie: Cursusinformatie (PDF-bestand) en Aanmeldformulier (PDF-bestand).
De Volkskrant meldt dat er in 2015 een nieuwe versie komt van het Groene Boekje:
De Nederlandse Taalunie begint volgend jaar met de voorbereidingen voor de nieuwe versie van de Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal, beter bekend als het Groene Boekje. Het is de bedoeling dat een sterk uitgebreide, digitale versie in 2015 uitkomt.
Sommige mensen hopen dat de spelling op sommige punten zal worden aangepast en vereenvoudigd, maar volgens Rik Schutz, projectleider spelling van de Taalunie zal dat niet het geval zijn:
Het is juist niet de bedoeling om de regels opnieuw te veranderen, uitgezonderd een individueel geval waarin een andere spelling meer voor de hand ligt. ‘We willen vooral veel meer samenstellingen opnemen, nieuwe woorden die in de maatschappij ontstaan en het geheel beter doorzoekbaar maken.’ Volgens Schutz hebben de verantwoordelijke ministers besloten dat de huidige spellingsregeling nagenoeg compleet is en niet meer veranderd hoeft te worden.
Lees het volledige artikel.
On Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 November 2009, ProZ.com organises its first Netherlands Conference in Soesterberg. The programme includes sessions on subjects such as translator-agency communication, online networking, freelance career building, translation quality, transcreation, video game localisation and interpreting.
For more information, check out the conference website.
Op 17 oktober 2009 bezoeken verschillende boekvertalers een aantal boekhandels om met het publiek in gesprek te gaan en hun werk te presenteren. Ook worden er speciale boekenleggers over de vertalers gemaakt. De actie is een initiatief van literair vertalers Andrea Kluitmann, Nicolette Hoekmeijer en Gerda Baardman en wordt ondersteund door het Fonds voor de Letteren, de Vereniging van Letterkundigen en het Expertisecentrum Literair Vertalen.
Meer dan de helft van de titels in de boekwinkels in Nederland en Vlaanderen is oorspronkelijk niet in het Nederlands geschreven. Dat we die boeken toch kunnen lezen, is te danken aan het bijna onzichtbare werk van de boekvertalers: iets wat de meeste lezers zich niet realiseren. De actie Vertalers worden zichtbaar wil hier verandering in brengen.
Ga naar de website van het Fonds voor de Letteren voor meer informatie.
Dutch linguist Nicoline van der Sijs has written a book about the influences of the Dutch language on North American languages. The book will be published in September, both in Dutch (Yankees, cookies en dollars: De invloed van het Nederlands op de Noord-Amerikaanse talen) and in English (Cookies, Coleslaw, and Stoops: The Influence of Dutch on the North American Languages).
From Santa Claus (after the Dutch folklore saint Sinterklaas) and his sleigh (the pronunciation of the Dutch slee is almost identical) to a dumbhead talking poppycock, the contributions of the Dutch language to American English are indelibly embedded to some of our most vernacular terms and expressions.
The novel The Translator – A Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari is
a suspenseful, harrowing, and deeply moving memoir of how one person has made a difference in the world — an on-the-ground account of one of the biggest stories of our time. Using his high school knowledge of languages as his weapon — while others around him were taking up arms — Daoud Hari has helped inform the world about Darfur.
The Translator tells the remarkable story of a man who came face-to-face with genocide– time and again risking his own life to fight injustice and save his people.
“I am the translator who has taken journalists into dangerous Darfur. It is my intention now to take you there in this book, if you have the courage to come with me.”
What are the benefits of joining a professional association for translators and interpreters?
The benefits of membership of a professional association depend of course on what the association in question has to offer, but most associations offer the following benefits:
- Representation and promotion of interests of translators and interpreters
Many professional associations take part in discussions about the translation and interpreting profession and are involved whenever new rules and regulations affecting the profession are being developed. - Information about new developments in the business
Most associations publish their own newsletter or bulletin with information about whatever is of interest to their members: new rules and regulations, information about and reviews of software and books, articles on how to market your services, interviews with fellow translators, etc. - Continuing education
Professional associations often organise workshops and/or conferences on subjects which are important for their members, allowing them to improve their language and business skills and to keep up to date with the latest developments in the business. - Networking with other translators and interpreters
Membership of a professional association gives you an opportunity to meet fellow translators and interpreters, either at meetings of local chapters or at workshops or conferences organised by the association. - Professional services
Many professional associations offer professional services such as model terms of business, professional insurance, debt collection services and legal advice for free or at a discount and specifically tailored to the translation profession. - Searchable member directory
Professional associations often have a searchable database of their members, which potential clients can use to find a service provider.
[Thank you Céline Graciet for adding this one]
Can anyone become a member of a professional association?
No, all professional associations have minimum requirements for membership. Some offer different types of membership. For some associations/memberships, sending in copies of credentials and references will suffice, while others require passing an exam or work assessment.
Which professional association should I become a member of?
It is always useful to become a member of a professional association in the country you live and work in, so you can visit their meetings and use any professional services they offer. In addition, it might be useful to join an association in a country of your working language(s), to be able to keep up to date with developments in that country/language and to meet other translators working in the same language.
Where can I find a list of professional associations?
The website of the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs/International Federation of Translators and Interpreters (FIT), the international umbrella organisation of associations of translators, interpreters and terminologists, contains a list of FIT members all over the world.
According to a Reuters article, the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary is going to add about 100 new words in its 2009 edition, among them words which have been created by blending existing words. Some examples of these so-called ‘portmanteau words’:
staycation – a vacation spent at home or nearby
frenemy – someone who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy
Other new words to be added have to do with the environment (green-collar jobs – jobs that help the environment), health and medicine (locavore – someone who eats foods grown locally) and online activities (sock puppet – a false online identity used to deceive, vlog – a blog containing video material, webisode – a TV show that can be seen through a website).
