| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6] > | Being competitive without experience Thread poster: Quentin NEVEN
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Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 13:37
French to English
Tom in London wrote:
Yes- I'm scared to read back through my old translations. I always find something.
Me too, but then I try to reason with myself that this means I'm improving.
Imperfection leaves room for improvement.
Just think how insufferable a perfect translator would be!!
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Kay Denney wrote:
Just think how insufferable a perfect translator would be!!
You called?
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This post certainly boomed since the last time I looked...
Just a comment about translating into English - I have met some non-natives who could translate into English, but the amount of research they had to do and time taken - I don't know if it really makes sense. At least in my experience, people who have studied languages often have a bee in their bonnet about how they sound, how natively their texts read, blah blah blah. I used to be the same and was very hard on myself when I ... See more This post certainly boomed since the last time I looked...
Just a comment about translating into English - I have met some non-natives who could translate into English, but the amount of research they had to do and time taken - I don't know if it really makes sense. At least in my experience, people who have studied languages often have a bee in their bonnet about how they sound, how natively their texts read, blah blah blah. I used to be the same and was very hard on myself when I made a mistake, now not so much.
I remember one contact, a native German speaker, who was adamant on translating her own text into English. A blah blah text about an artist's work. I was looking at the sweat pour from her brow and, sorry to say, I rather enjoyed it. Rather determined not to ask me for help. She ended up with a good translation and was happy. However, it would have taken me a couple of hours tops, in comparison to her week or so. Her time could have been spent better on other things. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Quentin NEVEN
Belgium
Local time: 13:37
Member (Jan 2024)
English to French
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | The land of confusion | Jan 25 |
Hi everybody,
Thanks for your input.
It really strikes me how opinions diverge on this particular topic.
Some people recommend to do one thing, others suggest doing the exact opposite.
Many people believe there is no future for this industry, some point out that it's actually growing.
I guess we all have different experiences, and we tackled this our own way based on what we knew at the time.
As for me, I decided... See more Hi everybody,
Thanks for your input.
It really strikes me how opinions diverge on this particular topic.
Some people recommend to do one thing, others suggest doing the exact opposite.
Many people believe there is no future for this industry, some point out that it's actually growing.
I guess we all have different experiences, and we tackled this our own way based on what we knew at the time.
As for me, I decided to go all in.
- I plan on being as active as possible with the community of translators through forums, Linkedin and the like.
- I will learn the basics of marketing to know how to build my brand and attract the right clients.
- I will devote 10h/ day building my business and keep the weekends for myself (my previous plan was 6h everyday, including weekends).
- I will reduce my personal costs as much as possible because I haven't earned anything so far and I want to last as long as possible, financially speaking.
- I will increase my visibility on the web through a channel about worldbuilding (my tabletop RPG campaign) and a series of articles about the current state of the industry, trends in videogames and audiovisual content, etc.
I am aware that going all in is not a guarantee it will work, but at least, knowing I gave it my best shot will be a victory in itself.
Best of luck to you! ▲ Collapse
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 13:37
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Different opinions | Jan 25 |
Different opinions are due to us being very diversified: different pairs, locations, specialties, backgrounds, skills and personalities.
Another one: take free advice on the forum with a grain of salt. Professional consulting costs $500/hr.
[Edited at 2024-01-25 13:10 GMT]
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Lingua 5B wrote:
Another one: take free advice on the forum with a grain of salt. Professional consulting costs $500/hr.
I reckon Keki & Associates could beat that price.
That said, the info you get here, even if conflicting, will be more useful than anything any consultant could offer.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 13:37
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Can have some value | Jan 25 |
Christopher Schröder wrote: Lingua 5B wrote:
Another one: take free advice on the forum with a grain of salt. Professional consulting costs $500/hr. I reckon Keki & Associates could beat that price. That said, the info you get here, even if conflicting, will be more useful than anything any consultant could offer.
Can have some value, but info needs to be interpreted and synthetized adequately. Obviously, the OP is confused and doesn’t know how to do it (may be due to inexperience, don’t know). That’s where the consultant comes in (providing they are good). My price is not exaggarted, in serious niches. Don’t know about translation.
| | | | Lieven Malaise
Belgium
Local time: 13:37
Member (2020)
French to Dutch
+ ...
Giving adivce in these forums is definitely more fun than getting advice, that's for sure. There is no single truth in approaching freelance translation and I think that's more of a good than a bad thing. Remember an awful lot of translators started without consulting Proz, and yet somehow they managed to find their way. All is relative and using common sense is probably more useful than all Proz advice combined.
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Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 13:37
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Some of the advice given here, and even some routinely given advice would be highly wrong, dangerous and misleading (wasting people’s time or money) in my language pair.
But they may work for other pairs. Impossible for me to know.
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Lingua 5B wrote:
Some of the advice given here, and even some routinely given advice would be highly wrong, dangerous and misleading (wasting people’s time or money) in my language pair.
Are you going to leave us hanging?
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 13:37
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
Christopher Schröder wrote: Lingua 5B wrote:
Some of the advice given here, and even some routinely given advice would be highly wrong, dangerous and misleading (wasting people’s time or money) in my language pair. Are you going to leave us hanging?
Nope, I am not going to name names or quote advice.
| | | | P.L.F. Persio
Netherlands
Local time: 13:37
Member (2010)
English to Italian
+ ...
| That's the spirit! | Jan 25 |
Quentin NEVEN wrote:
As for me, I decided to go all in.
And best of luck to you too, Quentin!
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Edward Potter
Spain
Local time: 13:37
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| I can just feel it | Jan 26 |
Godwin's Law will take effect soon.
Just joking. There is actually a lot of good discussion on this thread. Pat on the back to everyone.
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Quentin NEVEN wrote:
Hi everybody,
Thanks for your input.
It really strikes me how opinions diverge on this particular topic.
Some people recommend to do one thing, others suggest doing the exact opposite.
Many people believe there is no future for this industry, some point out that it's actually growing.
I guess we all have different experiences, and we tackled this our own way based on what we knew at the time.
As for me, I decided to go all in.
- I plan on being as active as possible with the community of translators through forums, Linkedin and the like.
- I will learn the basics of marketing to know how to build my brand and attract the right clients.
- I will devote 10h/ day building my business and keep the weekends for myself (my previous plan was 6h everyday, including weekends).
- I will reduce my personal costs as much as possible because I haven't earned anything so far and I want to last as long as possible, financially speaking.
- I will increase my visibility on the web through a channel about worldbuilding (my tabletop RPG campaign) and a series of articles about the current state of the industry, trends in videogames and audiovisual content, etc.
I am aware that going all in is not a guarantee it will work, but at least, knowing I gave it my best shot will be a victory in itself.
Best of luck to you!
That sounds like an excellent plan.
Yes, you will get a wide range of opinions on here, some of them exact opposites of each other. None of us knows the 'truth', we only know our tiny corner of the translation world plus what we have picked up from conversations with other translators (online and offline). I started translating in 1998 - what do I really know about what it's like to get started now? But I still think it's worth listening to what people have to say and tapping into that diversity of opinions.
Good luck, and keep us posted on how you get on!
| | | | | Sorry, but just for a laugh... | Jan 26 |
Quentin NEVEN wrote:
The land of confusion
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/U7X7cEh5au8
Apart from that, I really do wish you all the best. I suspect that if you have the will and determination, you'll be able to find clients.
Ah yes, at the start (talking nearly 20 years ago, eeek), I worked as a PM and translated on the side. Gave the PMing up within a year as I found it to be brain numbing, but continued with the translation.
Would I recommend someone just out of university to be a translator? I'd say go for it, but keep your options open and don't be too surprised if you have to juggle careers. I also work as a "contemporary jeweller" (in fact my main "passion") and sell some pieces now and again, have also done some teaching.
[Edited at 2024-01-27 09:46 GMT]
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