Translator Paid Per Word or By the Hour?

As a translator should you get paid by the word or by the hour? This is a question that new translators face when taking a new translation job. Even established translators may occasionally have to make a decision on which of the two modes of payment is best for a particular project.

In most cases, the translation industry prefers paying by the word. Under certain circumstances, established and experienced translators offer some of their services and charge them by the hour. The two methods have advantages and disadvantages. It is important to have the whole picture of the project before deciding on the best billing method.  Read more...

How to Be a Subtitler

Have you ever watched a film or a T.V program and got annoyed by the inconsistency of the spoken words and the featured subtitles? If there was a function to switch off such subtitles, you are forced to activate it and struggle to hear what the actors or presenters are saying. Professionally done subtitling is important in several ways.  Read more...

• It helps viewers who do not understand the primary language the program or the film is presented in.
• It helps those who are hard of hearing to understand the spoken word of the program and hence fully benefit from it.

Patent Translation Service

What is Patent Translation?

This is the translation of legal information pertaining to governmental authority giving a person or a corporation the exclusive rights to produce or benefit from an invention (intellectual property) for a given period of time. Related terms include a license and copyright.

Accurate patent translation protects the inventor(s) from patent thieves who would want to utilize loopholes that may be present in an inaccurately translated document. It helps the inventor to recoup expenses incurred during the invention process and also to make profits. It is a necessary step needed while getting into new markets in different geographical locations.  Read more...

Legal Translation Market

Legal translation is one of the fastest growing in the technical translation field. This is necessitated by formations of various economic and political blocks among nations that use different official languages of communication. For example, according to the Greece ministry of foreign affairs, the demand for qualified translators in this field outstrips the supply. Needless to say, this is a lucrative area for those who are qualified. If your desire is to work here what do you need to fit in?

Before answering this question, it is important to point out a few facts and challenges this market presents.  Read more...

Getting Jobs from Small and Midsize Translation Agencies

It is many translators desire to set up their own translation services business. For various reasons, this may not be possible at the outset. A good way of getting into the waters of the translation world is to start as a freelancer and get translation jobs from both small and midsize translation agencies. How can you improve your chances of getting jobs from these agencies?

Do Not Get Discouraged  Read more...

Medical Translation

Medical and pharmaceutical translation market is one of the most lucrative and in demand specialty in the translation industry. Specializing in this niche can offer ongoing and well-paying work for a long time. What does it take to get into this market?

Translation in these two fields is critical and there is no room for inaccuracies. Poorly translated prescription information, for example, can easily cause injury or even death. This is one of the reasons that a translator getting into this field must be keen to details and be highly skilled in both source and target languages. Other qualifications include:  Read more...

Highest Paying Interpreting Areas of Specialization

Highest paying interpreter career specializations are part of the larger language interpreting industry. For many people, interpreting as a career is synonymous with translation. While both involve some form of communication from one language (source) to another (target), there are significant differences.

An interpreter’s job involves the spoken language only. While the translator has the luxury of using translation aides such as dictionaries and computer programs, an interpreter has to verbally translate what one person is saying in one language into a another language for another person to understand what the first said. In essence, an interpreter echoes what one person says but in another language.  Read more...

Highest Paying Translation Areas of Specialization

There are many factors that determine a translators’ income. One of this is the area of specialization. Apart from doing general translation in a particular language, specialization means going further and focusing on a particular field. A translator can go a step further and concentrate on a sub-niche of a broader niche.

A common feature in all high paying translation areas of specialization is that big money is involved. These are sectors that involve heavy investment or big transactions.

High Paying Translation Specialties  Read more...

Degree in Translation

Many translation or interpreting students wonder whether they need a degree in these disciplines in order to do better. Qualifications related to these careers range from a certificate, a diploma, a degree all the way to masters level. But foremost, what is the difference between a translator and an interpreter?

Simply put a translator writes content from one language to another. A translator has the time to research and use various programs to come up with a document in the target language that reflects the original message in the source language. In addition to this, a translator must know the culture of the target language people to create an effective translated work.  Read more...

Getting Paid as a Freelance Translator

It is demoralizing and frustrating to do a translation job expecting to be paid only to realize that your efforts could go uncompensated. The inability of using legal means to get your pay due to client geographic location or involved legal expenses, make the situation worse. What are some of the reasons why expected pay could fail to materialize? There are many reasons and the following are just a few of them.  Read more...

1. Fraudsters and Internet Scammers