A catfish perspective – understanding bottom feeders in the translation market

 

[catfish]

“The agency offered three cents a word! How shameful! Even worse, there are translators that will agree to it!” Almost every experienced and not a few not-so-experienced translators have expressed that anger and probably quite often. The existence of the rock-bottom market creates the hostile angry thoughts that high street stores have in reaction to a Walmart branch. This low-price niche seems an insult, if not a threat, to the profession. However, putting emotion side, there are solid, if not always justifiable, reasons, why certain agencies offer so little and certain translators are willing to take those offers. In practice, the “high street” translator can and should ignore this market as it does not actually pose an actual threat.

There is an economic basis for agencies offering low rates, whether it is type and location of their customers, their business location, their marketing limitations or their business strategy. Many agencies, especially small ones outside of the expensive European/US markets, work with customers that have low demands in terms of quality and even lower budgets in terms of their ability to pay for translation. A classic example is Russia, where traditionally business used Russian native speakers to translate into English and, in many cases, t at local rates. Furthermore, for agencies working in countries with low-costs, notably in many parts of India and China, agencies earn reasonable profit even if they do not add excessive profit in the price-to-customer. A far more common cause of such rates is the inability of an agency to negotiate higher rates. For example, in Israel, some agencies succeed in attaining much higher rates than others even if they work the same market. Finally, of growing importance, worldwide LSPs (Language Service Providers), such as RSW and TransPerfect, use volume to cover their expenses and make profits, with their revenue reaching very high levels. Of course, some agencies do offer low rates to translators but charge high rates to the customers, earning disproportionally high profits, but this is not always the case. Thus, many agencies often offer low rates for legitimate business reasons.

Many translators often accept these rates for legitimate business reasons as well as ignorance First, newcomers to the professions often treat these low-paying jobs as a practical way to gain experience. If translation is a second income, the amounts they earn, however low, may provide a significant boost to their income, especially in poorer countries. As a primary income, the cost of living varies significantly between country to country, meaning that these rates may be higher than other available income options where they live. Sadly, many translators have no margin for slow months and must take on any relevant job.  Of course, many translators taking on these jobs are unaware that they can attain higher rates through active marketing in their country or abroad. They erroneously believe that these low rates are the market. Still, one person's "shocking rates" is another's way out of poverty.

If, as in all markets, the low budget niche exists and may be expanding, experience translators need to stop wasting energy on decrying it and focus on the better-paying niches. First, low-cost translating has always existed to one extent or another with Google Translate, machine translation and AI expanding customer options. There is no point in complaining about the rain. That said, many specialist niches not only involve deep-pocketed payers but also require high quality translation. Such niches include the medical, legal and financial fields. Another strategy is to leverage AI in translation and/or administrative tasks to increase productivity, thus creating more opportunity for high income. Translators that are so interested have a wide choice of webinars and methods. In the long term, it is possible that AI will not be able to provide the quality required by many translation buyers, causing disappointment and leading these customers to return to reliable human translators, this time with a better understanding of the cost/quality payoff. Finally, as there is no translation market in the sense that translation buyers and providers lack convenient and complete access to all offers, translators have to seek out those customers that are willing to pay the rates they wish to receive even if they are higher than the budget ones too often seen in forums. Many customers still value quality and reliability. It is a matter of finding them. That is a far better use of one’s time and energy.

Catfish are a very successful species of bottom feeders. They may look ugly (unless you are fond of long fish whiskers) but not only do they thrive, they serve an important purpose in the biosystem. Likewise, inexpensive rates interest a wide community of translation buyers and providers. At the same time, numerous companies in many industries worldwide need and demand high quality translators and are willing to pay for it. It takes effort and knowledge to reach them but they are a better option for many experienced translators. As Voltaire would say, cultivate your garden.

Making price exceptions – a case study

 

[axe in wood*]

Quite recently, one of my longest-standing clients, a smaller translation agency,  contacted me and requested a quote for translation of a death certificate from Hebrew to English. The project manager wrote that the customer budget was limited and offered me two thirds of my standard rate. It is important to note that in recent years, I have received far less business from this agency. As I was in the quiet period of the feast or famine work cycle, I considered the pluses and minuses of compromising on my rate.

In theory, when deciding on whether to bend on price, three elements, among others, are relevant. First, the freelancer has to take into account how much work is coming in at that moment since more getting work  in busy times is less important than during a dry period. The second question is whether the customer is established or new. It can be good practice to show some flexibility with established customers as a way of strengthening the business relationship. On the other hand, new customers have this nasty tendency to come to the conclusion that the “exceptional” discount is the rule. Finally, when a special request comes after or during a large project, the translator easily makes up any “loss” that is incurred on the larger project. The supermarkets called this a loss leader. Thus, I balanced all these factors in my mind and made a decision.

I responded by telling the project manager that, while I understood the situation,  I do not compromise on quality and expect not to have compromise on price. What I was really thinking was that the difference in price was the cost of a coffee and croissant in many countries. Not only that, if I didn’t get the project, I still would be able to buy bread next month.

I did not get the project but did not lose the client either. In my opinion, there is a justification for making discounts in certain circumstances, but they are truly the exceptions.

 

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The peaks and valleys of translation quotes – what does it all mean for translation buyers?

 

                                                                [Mountain and foggy valley*]

Anybody that has ever asked for a quote for translation of documents probably was rather surprised by the price range. The highest proposal can easily be two times or more than the lowest one. The reasons for this high variance include both personal situations and market conditions. For the translation buyers, I present some ways to process and interpret the rates in order to identify the most appropriate translator.

Both individual considerations and market realities affect specific proposals. Since translators operate on the Internet, including email and professional sites, geography does not play a major role in limiting potential customers. Translators in Germany and India compete for the same buyers. However, the local standard of living creates a minimum level of effective income. In simple terms, translators have to know how many hours at a certain rate they have to work to pay the rent and buy groceries. In that sense, low and high are also relative terms in relation to the local standard of living. Of course, many freelance translators choose low rates as the consider it as a side-occupation, closer to a hobby than an occupation. On the other spectrum, other linguists need to make a living from their work and demand commensurate rates as they wish to live at a certain standard of living. On a more conscious level, many translators deliberately choose a strategy, including low- or high-end pricing. To explain, if income is defined volume multiplied by rate, some prefer to increase volume by opting for lower rates while others opt for rate by seeking deep-pocketed buyers. Experience level  often influences this choice. With experience, it is natural and healthy to demand higher rates while new translators are hesitant or nervous about demanding upmarket rates.

All these issues are overshadowed by a major market force in translation: nobody knows what the market rate is (see post). Freelancers and even some agencies rarely post translation rates. National laws may even prevent it as some countries consider rate discussion as price fixing. Even among colleagues, most translators considerate it “indelicate” to ask how much the other is charging. This fog leaves everybody in the dark. Even with years of experience, it is often unclear whether a given rate for a given job in a given year is high or low. Thus, aside from individual choices, translation quotes can vary greatly simply because nobody knows what the market rate is.

The issue is how should a translation buyer process the proposals and identify the most appropriate. The usual policy of automatically eliminating the highest and lowest is not relevant as the price does not necessarily reflect quality or base cost for the service provider.  It is important to keep in mind that agency quotes generally do not specify the actual cost of the translator. This rate, especially for the some of the larger agencies, can be rather low. The ideal buying process is to first identify the level of specialized knowledge required for the translation, the level of quality required for the actual use of the translated material and the budget. For example, if an attorney needs translation of a foreign court decision to submit to a local court, such a translation requires thorough understanding of the concepts, must be completely accurate in terms of content and should be stylistically appropriate for court use. Otherwise, the translation is defective or useless. By contrast, staying in the legal field, the translation of a series of legal documents for purposes of firm-level identification of issues requires far less expertise and polishing. The message must be clear. In the first case, it may be worthwhile choosing the high bid as the resulting translation will be “less expensive” than that produced a translator with less expertise. In the second case, even a translator with little experience at a commensurate price but sufficient knowledge may be able to provide a “good enough” result at a lower price. The key is to identify (as much as possible) the most appropriate translators for a specific job and then take the budget into account.

Like a statistician facing too much outlier data, translation buyers are sometimes confused by the lack of any industry standard rate range. The key to dealing with this variance is to focus on the solution, i.e., an appropriately knowledgeable translator as demonstrated by previous exposure to the genre, formal or informal, regardless of the level of experience, for the quality required of the job and then compare prices, obviously taking into account budget limits. It is important to remember that, in translation, to a certain degree, but only for a certain degree, you get what you pay for.

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For love or money – the chaos behind freelance pricing

 

[reeds*]

If human beings were rational creatures and actively motivated to seek their maximum financial benefit, the range of prices among freelancers, an unregulated and competitive world, would be relatively small, reflecting mainly differences in geography and personal situation. Instead, freelancer pricing for any given service, including translation, is marked by extreme differences far beyond those factors. Rates range from the sublime high to the ridiculous low. Clearly, price choice goes beyond mere rationality and involves, as Hannibal Lector from Silence of the Lambs would say, the question of what people seek. As I see it, freelancers aim to varying degrees to win the sales game, position themselves among their competitors or maximize their income or achieve any or all of these goals at different times. The interplay of these motivations ultimately shape the actual price choices.

First, there are people for whom attaining the best price is an earnest game. To clarify, it is not the actual amount of money or profit that matters but instead the perception that they “won” by getting the price they wanted. For these people, negotiating rates is an addictive and serious game that must be won. They sense the relative strength and weakness of the other party and strive to maximize their own benefit. By contrast, many freelancers are disinterested, even dismissive, of price negotiation, considering it irrelevant or even distasteful. Some would even provide their job for free for the sheer enjoyment. That a person is willing to pay for the service is merely a bonus. At either extreme, money tends to be of predominant or no importance.

Far more freelancers tend to take a comparative approach, placing themselves in a given niche in the market via their pricing. After an analysis of the market of some sort, such entrepreneurs define the price of the product and/or work hour in relation to others in the same field. However, some religiously monitor the market and adjust rates to maintain their position, like NFL quarterbacks comparing salary among each other, while others consciously or unconsciously forget the matter and let their relative rates and position change as inflation, competition and technology alter the landscape. While one group actively maintains its chosen price niche, the other one is not actually committed to the concept.

Some freelancers are far more calculating in their choices. They determine how much money they require to live their chosen lifestyle and tailor their pricing strategy to meet that goal. They constantly evaluate where to put their efforts to attain their income goals. Interestingly, there also those that merely want to pay their bills and live comfortably. Any income beyond that amount  is of relatively little interest. Whether such freelancers are foolish or modest is a matter of perspective.

In practice, over a long career, freelancers modify their pricing strategy as circumstances and awareness change. Family status, age and personal ambition have varying impact over the years. As a result, the approach to pricing also changes, meaning that freelancers may be motivated by any of these instincts to one degree or another at any time.  Still, a desire for victory, status or comfort seems a basic instinct that varies from person to person beyond logic. Pascal noted that humans were thinking reeds but we each bend to our own direction, including in pricing.

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Foreign teaching

 

[Inca king and queen*]

As Susan Dray wrote in one of her recent posts, going on vacation is a great opportunity to observe and learn not only ways of conducting life but also conducting business. On my just completed family visit to Los Angeles, I visited many commercial establishments, not always by choice, and gained valuable insight how to attain high prices and create a distinctive brand as well as a negative lesson on how to lose potential customers, which is no less important.

[clothes rack]

One business lesson reinforced by this trip was the vital connection between high prices and personal service. I took my 95-year mother to an upscale clothes boutique and watched for an hour and a half how the staff of three women made each of the customers feel like a queen. They greeted them by the first name, carefully choose their clothing, brought it to them in the dressing room, complimented them when appropriate and let me them choose at their speed. When it came to pay the bill, they gave each a discount, more symbolic than anything else given the income status of these women, thus providing each of the customers the feeling that not only had they bought beautiful clothing but paid less for it. It was clear that these women would return when they again needed an outfit for a special event. The store was able to sell at high-end prices because it had sufficient help, treated their customers professionally and friendly and created the image of a good value in terms of quality and price.

[donut assortment]

On the other economic scale, I stopped for a snack at one of the umpteen small donut shops in Los Angeles. Their names, physical layout and menu are essentially identical. However, one distinguished itself enough to lead me to return with its spirit of its service, quality of its food and unique atmosphere. The woman at the cash register had a huge smile (despite opening the shop at 05:00) and exuded genuine warmness. The bagel sandwich I ordered was both tasty and far less expensive than its Starbucks cousin. What really sold me was the classical music in the background, a Chopin concerto if I identified it correctly, which made my breakfast even more pleasant. I certainly did not expect that atmosphere at a donut shop. I then noticed that most of the customers were regulars that ate their donuts and sandwiches in the shop, attesting to the hominess of the place. Despite being at a first view a carbon copy of countless other similar business, this donut shop was special and personal, an ideal for all business in competitive fields.

[newpaper ads]

As a reminder of how not to run a business. I picked up a local weekly newspaper whose target audience would be quite relevant to me. Unfortunately, their lack of urgency and interest made sure that I would never spend any money on advertising in it. I called the advertising manager in the morning but was told that she was on the other line and would get back to me shortly. Shortly never arrived but I called back again that morning. She answered and provided me with several pricing options. I asked her to send the specifics to my email, whose spelling was confirmed over the phone. She then told me that she would send me the proposal “that afternoon”. I failed to understand why such a 5-minute task would need to be postponed to the afternoon but was still willing to be tolerant. More than a week later, I had yet to receive any proposal. As my late father would say, that is no way to run a railroad. Customers appreciate promptness and urgency. If they are not important at the sales stage, they will most probably not exist after the sale.

[coffee and patisserie]

As a side note, company names are important even if ignorance can be excused. I stopped at a cozy little expresso shop, filled with couches and cushions, and ordered a coffee and a pain au chocolat. (I can highly recommend the latter). The name of the café is La Laiderie, which had bothered me every time passed it previously. The reason finally clicked: laid means ugly in French; To be fair,  the name is actually composed of the various first names of the owners’ children. While appropriate in LA, the name faces some issues in other places. I suppose many other establishmen names do not travel well.

As the expression goes, a word to the wise is sufficient. Even experienced entrepreneurs need occasional reminders of correct business practice and the importance of making customers feel like kings and queens. It is far less expensive to do this by observing others than making your own errors. As the essential rules of business are essentially identical worldwide, a perspective person can even learn when touring abroad. Now, I am happily back home and back to work and just a little wiser from my trip.

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All pictures via Pixibay.

Good wine and translation – Marketing the unknown

 

[bottle of wine*]

Being allergic to grapes, I am far from a connoisseur of wine despite my French mother. Still, from time to time, I have to go to the store and choose an appropriate bottle of wine to bring as a gift or use in a boeuf bourguignon. As a non-expert, I look at the labels, the bottles and the price and make an uneducated guess which is ordinary vin de table and which is a distinguished vintage. Likewise, purchasers of translation and similar services must look for clues to somehow distinguish the risky providers from the ones they can trust. These service providers can learn much from the wineries in how to market their products and attain higher prices. Specifically, it is important to understand the similarities in market niching, messaging, framing and pricing.

It is clear that some people are neither interested in nor can distinguish a fine wine. Thus, they are not willing to pay more for a better product and are quite satisfied with a cheap fermented-grape liquid, a bit like Google Translate. On the other hand, for reasons of pride, need or personal taste, other wine buyers seek the extraordinary and pay a premium for it without hesitation on condition that they receive value of course. Likewise, with machine translation of various types readily available and often able to produce understandable texts, many translation purchasers do not require more than a satisfactory rendition of the text and view low cost as an essential factor. On the other hand, in some fields, particularly medicine, law and marketing, accuracy and seamlessness are vital for the success of these materials. These customers seek expert translators to provide local versions of the text with the knowledge that the benefits of a solid translation far outweigh any cost. As one expert said at a conference, there are two ways to make money as a translator: work quickly or specialize. Wineries and translators must choose a path.

Faced with a wall of similar sized bottles, I depend on the labels to provide me some clues to the quality of the wine. If I see a wine that claims “made from the finest grapes”, my initial question is whether there are wines made from the poorest grapes. On the other hand, “Graced the tables of Louis XIV, Napoleon and George Pompidou” or “Grand Cru ”indicate the vintners have a strong idea of what they are doing. In short, it is important to build trust in a few words. Translators also must express their uniqueness in a few words to build trust. “15 years’ experience”, “Certified Translator by X” and “20 years of professional background in Z”, to name a few, indicate that this person is superior to others. By contrast, “expert translator and “reliable editor” merely state the minimum requirements. So, extraordinary wines and translators must define themselves and express their distinctions to the buyer.

Seemingly minor, the form of the text on the bottle creates an impression. Like clothes, design elements such as font, pictures and aesthetics create an overall impression. Simply put, a cheap label indicates a cheap wine while a fancy label hints at a fancy wine. For translators, since many translation purchasers cannot distinguish proper translation from poor translation, they notice obvious visual elements. Therefore, translators need to make sure that the formatting is neat and identical to the original (or at least as identical as relevant). Obviously, translators must make every effort to avoid spelling errors. In particular, errors in spelling names can often upset customers. It is important to relate and explain any non-translated item, include charts and screenshots. As in wine labels, a classy look indicates a quality product.

Statistically in wine and translation, there is no correlation between price and quality. Some table wines are quite good while some expensive wines do not justify their price. Still, faced with two bottles with red liquid from the same grapes, I look at the price and assume, from lack of contrary information, that the more expensive one is better. So, if I want to bring a more impressive gift, I choose the more expensive option. Likewise, when customers that require a quality product receive varying price options, they assume that the translators with the lowest ones are less capable of providing that quality. In short, higher prices not only create more income per product but also may increase volume just like with wine.

Translators and providers of similar services need to focus their market, communicate with that niche, arrange the package elegantly and price it to complete that image. Lehaim, salut and nazdorovie to all.

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The myth of market price in translation

 

[best price*]

The issue of ideal pricing is of great interest to all business people, including freelance translators. For the latter, many seek the market price as it were the holy grail (and bewail those that "break" it. In one sense, it is similar to that holy object: it does not exist (no offense to those of religious faith). While in economic theory, supply and demand intersect over time to determine the proper price, the conditions for that convergence do not exist in the freelance translation business due to the lack of information by both the purchaser and provider. This darkness leaves the players to follow Candide’s advice: il faut cultiver son jardin [you must cultivate your own garden].

In order to understand the mechanics of the freelance marketplace, I will first describe two markets where supply and demand do affect pricing directly. The first is a retail purchase of a standard physical product. A consumer wishing to purchase a Black and Decker 4-volt electric screwdriver at an attractive price can check the advertised price in local stores and compares them to prices available from online outlets, taking into account transportation and shipping costs, as applicable. Within a short period of time, the careful consumer has a clear picture of how much the item should cost. On the other side of the fence, the retailers also have full access to the price of their competitors, both physical and online, and are fully aware of their inventory and when it was purchased. If a given store finds itself with excess inventory that is not moving, it generally can announce a sale and clear it out for more profitable items. This action in practice changes the price situation and affects consumer behavior. Thus, both sellers and buyers can identify an ideal price or at least such a range.

The interaction involved in providing a service, such as a lube and oil shop, can also create a market price. Car owners can easily check listed price for this car maintenance service. Taking into account physical distance and perceived quality of service, they can identify the best deal and have their car serviced. A garage owner, seeing a drop in the number of service calls and significant downtime by its employees, can choose to lower its price for such a service and thus increase its volume, or alternatively raise the price if the volume or price comparison indicates that its rate is too low. Again, each side of the transaction exerts constant pressure on the price level.

Freelance purchasers do not enjoy such transparency or knowledge. A translation agency may have created a list of freelance translators and their rates but elements of this year may be and quite often are quite outdated. They are certainly not shared with other translation agencies. In practice, only when an agency is required to recruit additional service providers does it discover that rates have decreased or increased. Furthermore, only experience can determine whether the translation quality is sufficient for their purposes. End customers such as consumers or non-translation companies generally have no or very little knowledge of translation rates and must base their decision on a very small sample, possibly 3 quotes, or a discussion with a few colleagues on their experience. It is essentially impossible to do a market survey as most agencies do not nor cannot post the actual cost on their sites, but only ranges, while the fast majority of translators either choose not to or may not post rates. Since the translation business is Internet based and thus unaffected by physical geography, a local survey is irrelevant to the issue. Thus, purchasers of translation are obliged to make a poorly educated guess of rates.

On the other side of the coin, freelance translators are completely in the dark. They simply do not know what purchasers are paying or competitors are charging. The only proof of successful pricing is the confirmation of an order but that notice does not indicate whether their bid was very high or very low nor how much other bidders offered, if relevant. In many countries, including Israel, it is illegal for service providers to discuss prices as such an act is considered “price fixing”.  Even if legal, most freelancer are loath to openly discuss their rates out of fear that theirs are way out of line or of losing business to a colleague. Since translators live throughout the world, standards of living vary extremely, often rendering any such comparison irrelevant. In practice, freelance translators work in the dark not only in terms of typing away in isolation in their homes but also in terms of almost no awareness of market price, previous and current. In such conditions, it is impossible for them to influence the market price as they are unaware of both supply and demand.

As we do not live in ideal world, as Voltaire reminded us in Candide, freelancers essentially decide the best policy for themselves given their place of residence, choice of life style and financial situation. They choose rates based on the income they expect and need to earn, not what is actually possible. Thus, Chinese and Indian translators can earn sufficient income from 0.04 USD a word while European and North American ones find that impractical. Purchasers of translation do not generally survey rates, meaning that the quality of the service is the most important factor over the long term as long as the rate is in line with their budget. Of course, agency conglomeration and machine translation affect the industry but these are long- term dynamics with a very long tail. Freelance translators define their own market.

This chaotic pricing situation is not negative in itself. It provides freelancers with freedom of choice and the ability to create niches to survive, even thrive. However, any talk of “market price” for a translation product has no or very little meaning. As my father would say, the value of an item is what a person is willing to pay for it. The best option for translators to find customers that are willing to pay more for it.

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The price is right – setting rates on certificate translations

 

[curtain*]

A significant part of my work volume is translating certificates of all kinds, from the simplest, college degrees, to the most complex, government tax forms. While it is quite common and accepted, if not ideal, to price documents by word count, this method does not reflect the actual work involved. Instead, it is advisable to price each certificate in a rational way using a base adjusted by its specific factors. It is also my experience is certificate translation is profitable both in the short and long term.

Certificates vary in the number of the number of words but more importantly in terms of formatting complexity, vocabulary and clarity. Clearly, some official documents are very short, such as drivers’ licenses, while others extend to many pages, such as bank statements. However, if time is money, formatting runs up the meter. A water bill of two pages can take 2-3 hours to recreate merely because of the formatting. To the best of my experience, automated PDF converters do not provide a professional result, leaving it up the translator to do the ant work, at least the first time. Furthermore, in some cases, the language used in the document is quite specific and must be, correspondingly, very accurate. Insurance and tax documents use terms whose translation require checking to ensure accuracy. This search takes time. Often, the quality of the PDF is poor, with no better copy available. Even worse, handwritten text can be quite difficult to decipher, requiring time and concentration, if not consultation. Thus, all certificates of the same number of words are not created equal.

I suggest setting a base rate for one page which reflects a set time and the economic reality. This base rate should represent what the translator wants to earn per hour, which of course depends on the cost of living and financial circumstances, among other factors. Translators also need to consider supply and demand. It is not difficult to ascertain the range of rates for the translation of a marriage or death certificate, rather standard documents. The rate should lie within this range, preferable towards the upper half. This number may vary depending on whether the ordering party is an agency or an end customer and the country of purchase. With this number, it is possible to assess the basic rate for each certificate.

At this point, the actual rate can be set by adjusting it upwards or downwards as required. Premium elements include rush jobs, difficult formatting, poor quality of the original, multiple pages and your expected level of distaste/boredom in doing the work. QA and accounting time should also be included. Discounting factors include short texts, simple language, customer budgets, quasi pro-bono situations, one-time discounts and established relations with customers. Furthermore, if there are more than one document of a similar type but with different numbers in the package, e.g., salary slips from several months, it is possible to reflect that repetition in lower rates for the additional documents. Note that having a template of the document from a previous translation is not relevant to the equation. When the plumber comes and fixes the problem in 10 minutes, he still charges for a full visit and correctly so as you pay for his experience.  As each document is treated individually, the sum total of the rates should reflect the total number of hours you expect to invest multiplied by your hourly rate. I often add a “surprise factor” to allow for unpleasant discoveries. The factor should not be so high as to distort the quote but enough to allow me not to get upset if the translation takes more time than I expected. The final amount is your quote, which, in the case of single documents, almost all customers find affordable.

I profit in the short term both emotionally and financially. When larger projects are lacking, it is reassuring to receive short translations to fill the time and create a feeling of working even if they will not pay any serious bills. More importantly, the actual per-hour rate for certificates can be amazingly high. In simple words, my profit is my expertise. The difference between the theoretical time required to translate the document from scratch and the actual time is often night and day, leading to healthy hourly rates with little stress. Of course, the first time I translate a new form can take a long time but this investment bears fruits in the future. Given the constant demand for certificate translation, I am generally quite busy with a good profit rate.

In the long term, certificate translation is the key for gaining the trust of customers and receiving more financially meaningful projects such as contracts and long documents. Viewing the translator-customer relation as potentially long term, it makes no difference if the first project only pays for today’s lunch or dinner. It is quite possible that in the near or far future the same customer will need a major translation. Having previously proven your quality and reliability, you have a significant advantage over potential competitors. In practice, trust is as important as rates, if not more. Furthermore, these small jobs often lead to referrals to other customers, creating a whole network of contacts, all from a small certificate translation. Thus, certificate translation is part of my long-term translation marketing strategy.

Certificate translation is a profitable niche on condition that the rates reflect actual reality. The price, seemingly insignificant, is right both in the short and long term, especially if you can use it to get to what is behind the window in the next round.

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