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How do Translation Agencies work?
Thread poster: Diego Achío
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 09:23
French to English
Darva Apr 20, 2013

Darya Ko wrote:

Hello!
I am very curious about the work of translation agencies, particularly about how much they earn. And how much money goes on taxes? For example what is the percentage-payment to translator/tax/payment to the agency?

My second question is about working with freelancers legally and illegally. If I am a translation agency when should I pay taxes while working with freelancers and how much?

What about the payment method to the translators who don't work with the agency officially (freelancers). How do they get paid? By Paypal? If they get paid by bank transfer their accounts are systematically checked if there is some regular activity or some transfers for some jobs. How does this work?

Thanks in advance


Nobody here will be giving you advice about working illegally.

Working with freelancers is not "unofficial" if there's a PO, and no translator with an ounce of common sense is going to start working with an unknown agency unless they have that PO.

As for tax, you have to see your local tax office to see what has to be paid but as Benjamin Franklin put it "The only things certain in life are death and taxes".
 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 09:23
French to English
In-house translators Apr 20, 2013

Alexandra Lindqvist wrote:

In my experience in-house translator do exist. About half of my clients have in-house translators as well as freelancers.

I believe that have in-house translators is more cost efficient. I have worked both as a freelancer and as an in-house translator. Where I used to work we were expected to reach 3000 words per day. After becoming a freelancer I calculated that this salary could be reached as a freelancer for the same company by translating 1000 words per day if they kept you full time busy. However it is rather rare that a single agency will keep you full time busy only working for them. And this in-house salary was not so high since the company was in Latvia.

So why have freelancers if you can make more profit if you have in-house translators? Perhaps some agencies have very varied work flows and they are not sure that there will always be work in-house. Also if the agency is smallish perhaps it's easier they don't have to deal with the tax payment, pension etc.


I have worked as one, so yes they do exist.

Translating into English, you get all the little jobs that free-lancers can't be bothered with, or for which they apply a hefty minimum charge because small jobs generate as much admin as large. You also get the choicest of proofreading jobs: you come back from your Christmas break and the PMs have been outsourcing to whoever and the clients send it back saying it's a load of rubbish and they're not paying, so you have to clean up the mess and provide a report to be sent to the translator to come to an agreement about a discount, and a pristine version for the irate client. You also have to look at the results of tests to choose translators for important jobs. For the PMs, the fact that there's an in-house translator means that for certain clients you can rely on it always being the same translator. You get paid a salary however productive you are, and you get to go home on time and to spend your weekend with your family. A lot of in-house translators will only do proofreading, especially in those agencies which promise their clients that all translations are thoroughly checked. It can be a great learning experience before striking out on your own as a free-lancer.
 
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