Monterey Language Services' Blog » freelance translator https://www.montereylanguages.com/blog Translation reaches every corner of our culture. Our blog shares stories related to translation, culture, language, quality, writing & interpretation through the eyes of translation professionals. Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:36:30 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.35 Difference between Freelance and In-House Translators and Interpreters https://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/difference-between-freelance-and-in-house-translators-and-interpreters-4577 https://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/difference-between-freelance-and-in-house-translators-and-interpreters-4577#comments Mon, 03 May 2021 18:13:43 +0000 http://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/?p=4577 When starting a professional career as a translator or interpreter, there is a very important choice you need to make regarding how you would like to work. The choice might depend on your current situation or job availability, but it also depends on how you want your work life to be structured. If you do not want to necessarily be bound to a contract or to rates that you can’t set yourself, then you would probably lean towards working as a freelancer. However, if you like more structure and having a contract, then you would most likely prefer working in-house. If you are still undecided or wondering about what the benefits are of working either as a freelancer or an in-house interpreter, then read on to find out what you can expect at each role.

Let’s start with freelancers. Why would someone want to work as a freelancer rather than an in-house translator? One of the main attractions to being a freelancer is the ability to be your own boss. You can decline the jobs that you don’t like while accepting the ones you do. You are able to set your own rates and your own hours. You have more flexibility to arrange your schedule around your needs versus regular employees who are expected to work a scheduled amount of time each day. In general, freelancers have the potential to make more money than in-house translators as well, so it is a very attractive path for many.

So why would someone not want to be a freelancer? The freedom sounds like it would be enough, not to mention the potential amount of money that you can make. One of the main reasons that some people prefer working in-house over freelance is because of the variance in the work. The frequency of work that you receive is not always guaranteed even if you have repeat clients. You are reliant on people offering you work rather than just having a steady stream of guaranteed work. Also, you need to be able to market yourself and compete with other freelancers for work. If you are unable to set yourself apart from the other translators out there, then you will have difficulty finding work because you will just be blending in and not showing off your skills.

What makes working in-house so great then? One of the biggest draws to working in-house is having structure. If you are hired as a translator or interpreter for a company, you will only have to worry about the work that they give you. You will have a schedule for your work hours, you will have a team to work with, you will have a steady salary, and you will have company benefits. You might even receive training that will help you improve your skills or work better in the company. There will also be opportunities to use new technology or receive benefits that you would have otherwise have had to pay for on your own if you were a freelancer.

The downside of working in-house though is the fact that you are working for a company and have to play by their rules. You have to make sure that you conform to their company culture and values, so that could mean that you lose a lot of your individuality and uniqueness. The translation or interpretation styles that you had in the past might not work at the company anymore. You also have no ability to choose the work you do. If your employer gives you the same kind of work over and over again, then you have no choice but to do it.

]]> https://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/difference-between-freelance-and-in-house-translators-and-interpreters-4577/feed 0 Dealing With Difficult People as a Translator and Interpreter https://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/dealing-with-difficult-people-as-a-translator-and-interpreter-4569 https://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/dealing-with-difficult-people-as-a-translator-and-interpreter-4569#comments Mon, 05 Apr 2021 16:49:48 +0000 http://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/?p=4569 When you’re working as an interpreter or a translator, it is inevitable that you have to work with other people especially clients. Regardless of whether you are a freelancer or working in-house, you will have to interact with your clients to find out the scope of work, their expectations, and to negotiate with them to ensure that both your needs are met. Usually, these talks go very smoothly, but there are times where your client will not be so kind or maybe even the people you work with won’t be so kind or easy to work with. The question is, what is the best way to deal with the situation so that you can avoid making the environment worse and spiral into an unsalvageable situation. Here are some tips to make sure that you are able to deal with these kinds of difficult people.
First, try to focus on yourself and calm down. This might be one of the more difficult tips in this post, but it is one of the most important ones. If you can stay calm, you can control the situation. For example, if a client begins requesting unreasonable things from you such as shorter turnaround times, a reduced cost, or are constantly arguing with you about how to translate certain things despite not being an authority on the language or subject, it is easy for you to become heated. You might feel as if your professionalism and your skills are being attacked, that they don’t respect you, or even that they are trying to cheat you. The best thing to do in this situation is to step back, take a deep breath, and calm down. If you can calm down, you will be able to not give into emotion, give calm answers, and stay in a position where you are able to effectively negotiate with the difficult person and come out on top.
Next, when you are talking with the difficult person, it is important that you try to understand things from their perspective. Really try to understand why they might be acting the way that they are. Of course, some people might just be difficult for the sake of being difficult, but the majority of the time, there is always some kind of underlying reason. Try and ask questions that are not too aggressive, and instead ask questions that won’t allow them to answer in an aggressive way and instead lead them to a more friendly answer that only has the necessary facts in it.
In addition, when you do try to talk to them, try only stating the facts instead of talking about your feelings or opinions. If they have the facts laid out in front of them, it will be difficult for them to try and dispute whatever you talk about. It will also help you to stay calm and not make them feel as if you are attacking them. It will also make for an easier conversation where you do not have to think about how to phrase your questions. By sticking to the facts, you make for a quicker, more structure conversation that will be hard to derail without the other person looking like they are intentionally being difficult. For example, if there is a dispute about a specific translation, and your reviewer says that your translation is wrong despite there being a style guide where it says how the client wants a specific phrase translated, then be sure to cite that when talking to them.
There are many more things you can do to make sure that you are able to effectively communicate with a difficult person and to diffuse the situation, but one of the most important things is to just remain calm and stick to the facts. This could be considered the most basic of the tips for dealing with difficult people, and is a great way to start. Remember, you cannot control how other people act, but you can always control how you act.

]]> https://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/dealing-with-difficult-people-as-a-translator-and-interpreter-4569/feed 0 How to Avoid Scams as a Translator/Interpreter https://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/how-to-avoid-scams-as-a-translatorinterpreter-4566 https://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/how-to-avoid-scams-as-a-translatorinterpreter-4566#comments Fri, 19 Mar 2021 23:45:41 +0000 http://www.montereylanguages.com/blog/?p=4566 If you are a freelance translator or interpreter, you have received your fair share of emails requesting your services. While the scope and details of the project can vary, the objective for you as a translator or interpreter always remains the same—to provide your expert services and get paid for them. In an ideal world, every request you receive is perfectly legitimate and are genuinely asking for your assistance, but that is unfortunately not always the case. In this day and age, where it is increasingly encouraged for all of us to be connected via the internet, it is very easy to try and connect with someone even if you have never met them before.

This is both a blessing and a curse. Though you may be able to connect with someone who needs your services, you may also attract someone who is just trying to scam you into giving them access to your personal information so that they can make some easy money. Fortunately, there are ways to try and stop scams before they get too far, and make sure that you are able to continue working without having to worry about whether or not a potential client is just someone looking to scam you. In the beginning, they might appear to just be normal customers, but if something sounds suspicious to you during your communication with them, then you should stop communication and then they will stop as well.

First, some of the most recognizable scams are those that list illogical arguments or deals that are too good to be true. Either way, you should always be cautious of any suspicious links or files that are sent to you. If you are suspicious of something, do not open it. This is easier sometimes in the more recognizable scams. For example, if someone contacts you with an offer for translation services, but they need your bank account number so that they can directly deposit the payment, and they send you a link so that you can do so, then that should already be sounding off alarm bells in your head. If anyone asks for personal information, then you should begin to be weary of them. You should either just not respond at all or say that you are not available for their assignment, and move on.

If something sound too good to be true, you should also be cautious of whether or not it is a scam. While a juicy offer of maybe $.50 per word might make you reluctant to turn you down, if they start showing signs of asking for any kind of personal information that they don’t need to, then you should turn them down immediately and cease all contact.

Next, some scams are a little harder to detect because they seem like they are real people trying to actually enlist your services. They might have a real document for you to translate, a backstory where they say they need it for a specific event, and even give you their full name, company name, and phone number. Up to this point, everything seems normal and there is no reason to have any suspicion. However, remember that scammers are always after ways to get money. So when the conversation changes to payment, this is where you should start to look extra carefully at what they are saying. There are scammers who will agree to your price and then send a check to your address for maybe double what they said. They will say that it is a “mistake” and ask that you transfer the money to their account because they need the money for some kind of personal, family emergency. This is where you should step back, tell them that you are no longer able to work with them, and then block their email address.

There are also resources that you can access if you feel that you need more education or assistance with dealing with scams. For this, ATA has a wealth of resources that you can utilize, such as an alert page: https://www.atanet.org/membership/internet_scams.php. They also help to keep everyone more aware of scam attempts through their articles in the The ATA Chronicle, which is published monthly.

Phishing: How to Avoid Being Reeled In
The ABCs of Cyber Security: Spam—It Isn’t Just for Breakfast Any More
A Little Paranoia Can Go a Long Way

You can also report fraudulent businesses and/or activity to www.fraud.org. That information will be transmitted to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

There are a lot of ways for scammers to try and get you to give them what they want, but the important thing is always to just cease all communication as soon as possible. Scams are possible to be avoided, and through our collective cooperation, we will be able to give each other the tools and knowledge to prevent us from having to go through the horrible ordeal of being scammed. Hopefully this post helps you to avoid scams in the future.

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