| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Projecting oneself as a translator without areas of expertise Thread poster: Jorge Rodríguez Rodríguez
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Dear colleagues,
I would like to ask for pieces of advice related to the fact of getting established as a freelance translator.
I guess that most of us started without a clear area of expertise or you tried to specialized in one or several areas but never received jobs on that fields and ended up in another area of expertise as the years went by.
Someone told me in a social network (I do not remeber who was) that she started sending emails to every single a... See more Dear colleagues,
I would like to ask for pieces of advice related to the fact of getting established as a freelance translator.
I guess that most of us started without a clear area of expertise or you tried to specialized in one or several areas but never received jobs on that fields and ended up in another area of expertise as the years went by.
Someone told me in a social network (I do not remeber who was) that she started sending emails to every single agency in order to get established. Although she wanted to be a medical translator, she ended up as video games localiser.
Almost every agency ask for your areas of expertises and, although I am stepping into the technical translation, I think I can project myself as a general translator to some agencies just to try to increase my potential client portfolio.
Thank you for your pieces of advice.
Best regards. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| Never close yourself from opportunities | Feb 10, 2022 |
The first job I got as a freelancer was translating a legal document, I am now (mostly) a subtitler and have full confidence to never touch the legal field ever again. And all these were far different from what I had envisioned in 2017-2018. I wanted to be a saucier back then.
Just try it. You might end up in a place you never expected before. Only make sure you do it professionally. 
EDIT:
Al... See more The first job I got as a freelancer was translating a legal document, I am now (mostly) a subtitler and have full confidence to never touch the legal field ever again. And all these were far different from what I had envisioned in 2017-2018. I wanted to be a saucier back then.
Just try it. You might end up in a place you never expected before. Only make sure you do it professionally.
EDIT:
Although you'd still need to target several areas of expertise to focus on. Else, you will have to compete with some Upworkers or Fiverrs, who... you know how it is.
EDIT #2:
No, I'm not suggesting OP to be a generalist. In fact, I promote specialization. What I was saying is that he might need to experiment a bit before knowing which field(s) to specialize in. So keep that finger off the trigger, tiger. 
[Edited at 2022-02-11 08:07 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I wouldn't recommend marketing yourself as a generalist | Feb 10, 2022 |
1. You must know something about something
2. Choose something you are interested in, accept jobs with care, and learn on the job
| | | | Baran Keki 
Türkiye
Local time: 14:44
Member
English to Turkish
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Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
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I don’t have just one area of expertise as I started out some 40 years ago as a generalist translator and slowly but surely over the years I left some areas I wasn’t comfortable with and gained experience in others, sometimes through self-teaching and area-specific training. Nowadays, most of my jobs are related to EU matters (I worked for 20 years as staff translator at an EU institution). With hard work and a desire to learn you’ll get there…
| | | | Mihai Badea (X)
Luxembourg
Local time: 12:44
English to Romanian
+ ...
| Do what you like | Feb 10, 2022 |
You will become a specialist quickly and easily.
Theory is often discarded as useless, but this is only because it works in the background. We are not aware of how exactly it helps us. But it helps. There is no doubt about that. It is first of all about confidence in your professional abilities.
There are books, there are courses (a vast MOOC offer), there are various domain specific associations ...
Get as much specialised knowledge as you can in whatever ... See more You will become a specialist quickly and easily.
Theory is often discarded as useless, but this is only because it works in the background. We are not aware of how exactly it helps us. But it helps. There is no doubt about that. It is first of all about confidence in your professional abilities.
There are books, there are courses (a vast MOOC offer), there are various domain specific associations ...
Get as much specialised knowledge as you can in whatever field(s) you choose to focus on. It will help making translating much easier. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Thank you all! | Feb 10, 2022 |
Thank you all for sharing your experiences!
I am being "forwarded" to the technical field and I am sure there are fields like medicine, finance or biology where I face much more difficulties to success on even if I am given the opportunity.
I was just wondering how to send an email to an agency that does not work on technical fields without mentioning any area of expertise and let fortune decide if I am given an opportunity.
Best regards.
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Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
Jorge Rodríguez Rodríguez wrote:
I was just wondering how to send an email to an agency that does not work on technical fields without mentioning any area of expertise and let fortune decide if I am given an opportunity.
Whenever I feel like rolling the dice, I'd just write an open-ended line such as "I specialize in x and y fields, but I am open to other areas of expertise". That way, you're not underselling yourself as a generalist while still open for new possibilities.
[Edited at 2022-02-10 16:27 GMT]
| | | | | General information for the public | Feb 10, 2022 |
- General information for the public is a huge field - if you can call it a field at all.
Some of it does require specialist knowledge - package inserts for medication, for instance, but press releases, lots of information in the tourist and travel industries ... and many other areas do not require more specialisation than you can pick up by reading around. They may not always be the best paid jobs, but you can build up a routine and pay the rent that way.
Gradually you... See more - General information for the public is a huge field - if you can call it a field at all.
Some of it does require specialist knowledge - package inserts for medication, for instance, but press releases, lots of information in the tourist and travel industries ... and many other areas do not require more specialisation than you can pick up by reading around. They may not always be the best paid jobs, but you can build up a routine and pay the rent that way.
Gradually you will find some areas more interesting than others - or there will be more clients needing translation in some areas. Or, let's hope, clients will like your work and become regulars. Then you can start specialising more, so when new clients appear, you can set your rates up. As others have said, you can work faster, too, so you take less time to earn the same fee.
I found a combination of training days and self-study suited me best. A good teacher/instructor who has collected the basics and arranged the material logically can be very stimulating, and there are good courses online. But they are not free, and they take time. Then, when you come back to translating, there are still gaps in your knowledge, or you simply find a field that is interesting, so you can work for a while on your own. Self-study can be fitted in whenever you have an hour or two.
Tell your clients when you take time off to study - I find it is useful marketing! ▲ Collapse
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Ice Scream wrote:
1. You must know something about something
2. Choose something you are interested in, accept jobs with care, and learn on the job
I know it is not a very good idea to market yourself as a generalist but, bearing in mind some conversations with other translators, many of us have specific education in a field (in my case, both translation in that field and a non-translator too) but we do not manage to get jobs on other supposed expertises, but on other ones.
That is my case: I have professional experience and education as IT Technician and education in Software, Mobile Apps and Video Games translation and localization but I have hardly ever touched those fields during my career.
However, I have been given jobs on engineering, which I have completed successfully, although I am not any kind of engineer at all.
That is what I was wondering: how to avoid not being given some jobs just for your own way of presentation.
Of course, I will choose my areas of expertise as I get more experience and I am learning myself about topics I am interested in but I remember the case of a colleague who wanted to be a medical translator and attended all kind of courses and never managed to become one. She is on the Video Game field and happy with that once she accepted the medical field was unreachable for her.
Thank you for sharing your opinion. I absolutely agree with you that being a generalist is not the best way to earn a way of living with translation but I guess that many or even most of the translators are generalist for the first years of their careers.
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
| I can relate | Feb 10, 2022 |
Jorge Rodríguez Rodríguez wrote:
I know it is not a very good idea to market yourself as a generalist but, bearing in mind some conversations with other translators, many of us have specific education in a field (in my case, both translation in that field and a non-translator too) but we do not manage to get jobs on other supposed expertises, but on other ones.
Originally, I wanted to specialize in the culinary and tourism fields, as those are the subject matters where I had a formal education and work experience from. It's been almost 2 years, and I have never seen or being offered a translation job within those subject matters in my language pair. I'm honestly considering to drop them as two of my specialization fields altogether.
[Edited at 2022-02-10 16:36 GMT]
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| Exact the same | Feb 10, 2022 |
Novian Cahyadi wrote:
Jorge Rodríguez Rodríguez wrote:
I know it is not a very good idea to market yourself as a generalist but, bearing in mind some conversations with other translators, many of us have specific education in a field (in my case, both translation in that field and a non-translator too) but we do not manage to get jobs on other supposed expertises, but on other ones.
Originally, I wanted to specialize in the culinary and tourism fields, as those are the subject matters where I had a formal education and work experience from. It's been almost 2 years, and I have never seen or being offered a translation job within those subject matters in my language pair. I'm honestly considering to drop them as two of my specialization fields altogether. [Edited at 2022-02-10 16:36 GMT]
That is exactly what is happening to me and I think has happened to many of us. I have not dropped IT as field of expertise because it is to early to decide but I am getting much more on engineering and consumer products than IT. In addition, I have never translated and localized any app nor video game although I have education in translation and localizing.
Best regards.
| | | | Mr. Satan (X)
English to Indonesian
...you are already in the path of specialization. If you find these fields to be profitable and you are comfortable handling these types of translations, by all means go for it. If your clients were happy with your works, they'll send you the same types of jobs in the future, resulting in a positive-loop feedback.
Jorge Rodríguez Rodríguez wrote:
but I am getting much more on engineering and consumer products than IT.
[Edited at 2022-02-10 17:00 GMT]
| | | | | I just say "anything that's not highly technical"... | Feb 10, 2022 |
...and it seems to work. You can always research the terminology.
Being a jack of all trades can be an advantage. I realized this when I was chatting to a pilot on the Panama Canal, and he said he could operate anything from a sailboat to a supertanker.
[Edited at 2022-02-10 18:20 GMT]
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