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A day in the life of a freelance translator

By Lawlinguists In Translation services, translator

The benefits of working as a freelance translator is the fact that the workday is pretty flexible and allows you to get enough time for simple things in life like sharing time with your family. But, not all is so wonderful and knowing when your next payment comes is a big challenge.

 

People think that you know the meaning of every single word in the language as a dictionary. But, the truth is that the translator must analyze the context and get the most suitable translation. He/She needs to find out words and expressions typical from the languages that have to be translated which involve an investigation and additional time.

 

The first moment in the morning, is for responding the most important emails, sending some budgets, accepting the new projects, scheduling some meetings and attending others. Once buried in work, start translating the works that have more urgency to deliver, for example the clients who paid in advance all translations work of the year, incredible isn’t it? Such customers are those who must to be maintained. Then, you turn into one shorter project that you have to deliver today. It´s time for lunch.

 

Foreign language translation is not something that can be rushed, it requires a lot of concentration; just one word can be enough to hold you up with your daily work, it can be quite frustrating. While this happens, you get more emails, more appointments and payments of some customers. The day seems to have improved!

 

Regarding translation speed, all day is based on satisfying the needs of clients. For this reason, is important to be planned and accept the work you can do. A very strong suggestion is to have some colleagues who can review your work. Use the tools on the Internet and participate in Social Network groups.

 

Being a translator has its pros and cons. Translation is an amazing job where you always learn something new. Fortunately, being freelance allow you to take a break when you can and come back with more inspiration. But remember: All clients want their translation for yesterday.