This a guest post by Shu Ni Lim

You want to establish yourself as a freelance translator but the fear of making a mistake is preventing you from taking the first leap. Well, the bad news is that mistakes are inevitable.

However, there are plenty of people before us who came, failed miserably on the way, and conquered the translation trade – and we can learn from them. After all, prevention and preparation is always better than being blindsided by a problem.

Let’s look at five mistakes every freelance translator should avoid and why.

1. Not tailoring your resumé to the job

It goes without saying that you won’t be the only one eyeing the job posting you found online so you’ll have more than a handful of competition.

To increase their chances of landing a job, some people might even bid for multiple jobs at once with a generic resumé and portfolio.

One factor that’ll help you to stand out is a strong cover letter or resumé – one that clearly indicates you have the right skills to tackle a particular job rather than a collection of varied but mismatched experiences.

Given the number of candidates that recruiters go through in a day, they may not always have time to look at your portfolio, no matter how well-rounded it is. However, here is where your tailored resume comes in. With its help, clients could make assumptions about your experience, character, and communication skills, and then decide whether to move on from there.

Hence, take a few minutes to change up some details in your cover letter or resumé to fit and you’ll help your potential clients see better why you’re the right person for the job.

2. Not knowing your worth

The freelance market has become oversaturated in recent years so many people feel the need to lower their rates in order to win contracts.

When I started freelancing, I’ve also admittedly set my rates extremely low in hopes of attracting more customers. Since then, I’ve learned the hard way that doing so will only end in frustration because:

●      You will attract bad clients. (No, the customer is not always right, especially when they don’t pay you on time (if at all) or expect you to give more than what was agreed on.)

●      You will feel undervalued because the time and effort you give does not yield proportionate returns. As a result, the job is neither financially nor mentally fulfilling.

Even if you’re “just a newcomer,” translation is a complex and technical task. If you know what you’re doing and you’re good at what you do, be fair to yourself when negotiating your rates.

The key is to communicate to the potential client about the advantages you bring to the table. Perhaps you have tackled a similar project before, or maybe you have a degree in the subject matter, which brings us to the next mistake…

3. Not having a specialization

Some freelance translators tend to accept every offer they receive despite not being familiar with the topic or the industry. Although it’s a good thing to develop your knowledge in these unfamiliar terrains, being a specialist in one or two areas is useful in building your brand.

If you have academic qualifications or special interests for specific topics or niches, frame and advertise your services as such (e.g. “I specialize in legal translations.“). It’s easier for recruiters to find you when they search the relevant keywords on marketplaces.

Moreover, a 2020 survey by Inbox Translation found that specialists charge 29% more on average than non-specialists. Hence, being a kind of “expert” on a subject may give you the upper hand during the negotiation stages.

My advice is to specialize in a few domains you have the interest and aptitude for when you’re starting out. You can always diversify your services (and even cross-sell) once you’ve established your customer base.

4. Not brushing up on your software skills

You never know where your next gig will come from and whether the company will need you to adapt to their way of working.

Different companies would have different systems in place to manage and run their translation projects. You’ll have the opportunity to work with various tools and programs from a simple Microsoft Word document to more complex translation software.

Some of these tools have a steeper learning curve than others so it helps to improve your software skills as part of your career development. While it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll quickly adapt to all the tools your client uses, it certainly makes it easier.

5. Not using the right tools

Using the wrong tools could have adverse effects on your work. As a translator, this may also mean that you’re not making full use of the resources available to you. A good example is translation software designed to make a translator’s life much easier.

They usually consolidate features like dictionaries and machine translation into a single program, which could significantly improve your productivity.

Of course, this isn’t to say that you should immediately invest in translation software because we’re on a freelancer budget after all.

When your business has gained some momentum, it would be useful to look into a translation management system to upgrade your workflow and get even better at what you do. There are also plenty of free options on the market, such as CafeTran Espresso.

It’s all about researching the technology available to translators today and figuring out which one is the best for you.

6. Communicating poorly with your client

Clients may understandably feel anxious for progress when an important project is at stake. You can strengthen your client’s trust in you and build a lasting working relationship by:

●      answering their emails promptly

●      updating them on your progress

●      being honest about any potential setbacks

●      showing accountability for your mistakes

In my experience, clients won’t always go with the person with the most experience or with the lowest prices, but they will go with the best communicator. A freelancer who is responsive and transparent gives them the confidence that the project will be seen through successfully, even if there are mistakes along the way.

Author bio: Shu Ni Lim holds a degree in linguistics and freelanced as an English to Chinese / Malay translator, mostly working with social media marketing content. Now working as a content writer, Shu Ni hopes to create useful content for translators and businesses by utilizing her experience in translation, marketing, and discourse studies.