How to Succeed

So how do people succeed in this profession? Is there a secret, and if so, what is it? And why, some people might ask, would anyone bother becoming a translator? All good questions; let’s examine each in turn.

First: how to succeed. In a nutshell, you succeed by working hard. Sorry, that’s really all there is to it. You can sit in your home office, watch your screen saver draw little fish or flying toasters on your computer monitor, and think that you are failing simply because you are an unrecognized and undiscovered genius, you are working in a language with little demand, or you don’t have the right background or equipment. However, the truth is much simpler.

If you are not succeeding, you are not working hard enough.

Of course, this assumes that you do have some equipment (translations hewn in stone or written on parchment are not acceptable these days), that you know a good language (little demand nowadays for Hawaiian or Basque), and that you have some ability (though if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be reading this article). Maybe you are the next great literary translator, the person who will bring new meaning to the Upanishads or the Iliad. But most translators are not literary geniuses, and they don’t have to be. In other words:

If you’re not succeeding, you’re not working hard enough.

So what do I mean? Simply this: being a free-lance translator involves a lot of business and a little translation. You will have to spend your time marketing yourself, telling clients that you exist and are available to do work, proving to people that you can do what you say you can, and continuing to do this for the duration of your stay in the profession. No matter how long you’ve been a translator, you’ll have to market yourself incessantly. Send your resume hither, dither, and yon. Cold call potential agencies or clients. Walk into local companies (for example: law firms and consulting houses) and see what their needs are. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce or the appropriate embassy or consulate.

Do all this and keep doing it. The people who succeed in translation are the ones who are willing to do all this and more.

Second: what’s the secret? I wonder if I should let you in on this, because if I do, then it won’t be much of a secret. And I might create more competition for myself by doing so. However, like most secrets, it’s not really a secret. And saying it is much easier than doing it. So, without further ado, here it is. The secret of success in translation is: TIMING.

Timing is everything in translation; and I mean this in the broadest sense possible. When you sent your resumes and cover letters to potential clients, when you submit samples of your work to agencies, when you take vacations, when you make new purchases, when you pay taxes, when you get paid, and most importantly, when you submit work.

Let’s start with the last first. Submitting work to an agency or client is what you have to do in order to get paid. Clients and agencies want the work on time. That means don’t submit anything late, ever! If you think it will be late, then call them ahead of time and make arrangements. Be sure to fix a date and time when you negotiate the terms of delivery. And keep in mind where you are and where the agency or client is. I often have to wake up quite early to deliver something to New York at 9:00 a.m. (I live in California) or submit it in the evening of the prior day.

In sum: NEVER SUBMIT ANYTHING LATE!

Next, when you give and receive money. The government has this rule that self-employed people have to pay taxes quarterly (by April 15, June 15, September 15, and then January 15). When you do your annual income taxes, you figure out what you owe, then subtract what you’ve already paid and then pay the government the remainder (unless you paid too much, in which case you get some back). Financially, the best strategy is to pay something every quarter so that you avoid the penalties for underpayment at the end of the year and the shock of a large payment on or before April 15. If you have already paid most of what you owe at year’s end, you won’t have to pay much of an underpayment penalty, if anything at all.

You should also plan your purchases, be they personal or business, around your finances and payment schedules. Any large business purchase is best made at the end of the year when you are close to getting your deduction for it. Any large personal expenditure is best made when you have a lot of work and a bit in money in the bank. And always keep some extra in the bank, just in case.

As for when to take a vacation, this depends a lot on your personal life. However, it’s very easy to get work around Christmas and New Year’s because almost no one is around to do it. Also, during August, the supply of translators drops (they all migrate somewhere) and so if you’re available, it might be easier to get work. And, you should know the annual cycle for the languages you’re working in so that you know when the busy and off seasons are.

Finally, the when of marketing. I have harped on marketing as being the element which separates the successful translators from the failures. Maybe this is harsh, but I do believe it’s true. However, although marketing may involve some subtle and ethereal qualities which are difficult to define and explain, one quality which is easy to explain is timing. You have to send resumes to agencies and clients regularly. Time your mailings so that they correspond to the busy season for your language (it’s up to you to find out when that is). Also, know when to call them. Wait at least a few days if not a week after sending a resume before calling. Call around mid-morning because that’s when people are available but still reasonably relaxed. Call during midweek, for the same reason. And most of all, do all this regularly.

Remember, the secret is timing, and experience is the best way to master it.

Finally, we’ll close this article with a brief exploration of why people become translators. I imagine that other translators reading this will find my reasons familiar, though they might differ from your own. I’ll also add what I’ve heard from others, and then you can add your own. If you are thinking of becoming a translator, this might help you make your decision. If you are working with translators, this should help you better understand those mysterious people who work alone to reproduce information.

I translate because I like to write and I like languages. I am a free-lance translator because I like to work for myself. I have translated in-house in Japan and have had teaching jobs on both sides of the Pacific. I’ve also worked as an hospital orderly, as a desktop publisher, graphic artist, database consultant, truck driver, stock boy, and garbage shoveler (yes, that really is a job). I prefer working for myself and that’s certainly one of the reasons I like translation.

Some people are in translation because they like to translate. They enjoy the challenge of taking information in one language and discovering a way to render it into another. They relish the challenge of wading through uncharted linguistic and terminological waters. They thrive under the pressure of harsh deadlines and irregular work schedules. And, they like the income.

Some become translators because they know two or more languages and a subject area and want to do something with this knowledge. Bilingual computer scientists and software engineers find the move into technical translation to be smooth, though not necessarily easy. Many people blindly enter translation, not realizing just what it is like to sit alone at a computer, dictionaries piled around you, working for six to twelve hours on a document which came in the day before and has to go out the following morning.

Is there a right reason to be a translator? I doubt it. Is there a wrong reason? Sure. Knowing two languages is not a good reason to be a translator. It’s a start, of course, but there is a lot more. Loving languages is also a start, but I know people who love languages and hate translation; they seem to head into linguistics.

So in closing: if you’re a translator, great. If you want to be one, great. If you don’t want to be one, great. I like this profession and I know may others who do. With any luck, more of us will be able to know each other better, and the profession itself will be better for it.