ProZ.com Translation Forums

Welcome 2026! What will change in translation? | If it's all down to price...

Maria Laura Curzi — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 22:03:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Welcome 2026! What will change in translation?
Poster: Maria Laura Curzi
Post title: If it's all down to price...

[quote]Peter Motte wrote:

It's a myth that only the good ones will survive.
In reality it's the price/quality ration which is important, which means that often the good ones disappear, because they need time to check the translation thoroughly and that means their price is higher per volume.
Often it are the bad ones which remain, because they deliver quick-and-dirty work, but the client has no problem with subpar quality.
That means that everybody in the field has to try to find another job.
Teaching is a possibility. [/quote]

If the only thing in consideration is price (worth noting the difference between price and value), then I think not even the bad ones will remain, because AI can do an equally dirty, good-enough job faster and cheaper (or even for free!).
The growing problem, as I see it, isn't that many clients have no problem with that, but also that many greedy agencies/LSPs not only have no problem with that, but also embark on the current tech hype that encourages the use of GenAI.

Greedy people who are unwilling to think outside the tech hype will sink everybody in the translation industry, whether they are good, bad, or valuable experts.

Welcome 2026! What will change in translation? | Pivotal year

Lieven Malaise — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 15:04:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Welcome 2026! What will change in translation?
Poster: Lieven Malaise
Post title: Pivotal year

To nobody's surprise I don't know what will change in translation.

I do have a feeling though that 2026 will be a pivotal year, in which I either:

- Will finally go down with so many others (meaning having to give up my fulltime occupation), or
- Once again will stand my ground and even reinvent myself within my occupation to continue for several more years until AI really improves significantly.

I really believe it can go both ways and at this exact moment I've got no clue what it's gonna be, other than that this first week of the year has given me no reason to start being more worried than I normally am.

Welcome 2026! What will change in translation? | It's a slow day, so…

Mario Chávez — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 14:32:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Welcome 2026! What will change in translation?
Poster: Mario Chávez
Post title: It's a slow day, so…

…I'll keep it short.

Nothing and everything will change in translation. See how that sounds? Another banal affirmation, like the ones we see in social media or in motivational posters.

Whatever happens (or not) to a bunch of colleagues on the other side of the world doesn't affect me. It's their lives, their circumstances, not mine.

Can we stop and think of other translation-related topics we'd like to discuss? Maybe a novel translated into our language that we'd like to talk about? Or what we think about the relationship between what we read and how we translate? You know, relevant topics?

MC

Welcome 2026! What will change in translation? | It’s high time to bail out!

Peter Motte — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 14:26:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Welcome 2026! What will change in translation?
Poster: Peter Motte
Post title: It’s high time to bail out!

It's a myth that only the good ones will survive.
In reality it's the price/quality ration which is important, which means that often the good ones disappear, because they need time to check the translation thoroughly and that means their price is higher per volume.
Often it are the bad ones which remain, because they deliver quick-and-dirty work, but the client has no problem with subpar quality.
That means that everybody in the field has to try to find another job.
Teaching is a possibility.

Welcome 2026! What will change in translation? | High time to bail out

Daryo — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 16:29:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Welcome 2026! What will change in translation?
Poster: Daryo
Post title: High time to bail out

Translations will always be needed. No doubts.

To which extent and for how long translating - in the unadulterated meaning to the term - will still be a profession for real competent people, well that's another story altogether. That may go away entirely, or at best shrink to a tiny minority.

Even without waiting for my crystal ball to quit sulking, it's easy to predict the outline of what lays ahead, even if details are less predictable. And it's not good for the vast majority of translators.

For most, it’s high time to bail out!

Welcome 2026! What will change in translation? | STOP DOING TRANSLATIONS!!!

Novian Cahyadi (X) — Sun, 04 Jan 2026 11:21:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Welcome 2026! What will change in translation?
Poster: Novian Cahyadi (X)
Post title: STOP DOING TRANSLATIONS!!!

[*] WORDS WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE UNDERSTOOD BY EVERYONE
[*] YEARS OF TRANSLATING yet NO REAL-WORLD USE FOUND for speaking a foreign language other than WEEBSPEAK ON ANIME FORUMS
[*] Wanted to speak a foreign language anyway for a laugh? We had a tool for that: It was called "CHATGPT"
[*] "Yes please give me a QUALITY translation. Please make it as if it was originally written in the TARGET language" - Statements dreamed up by the utterly Deranged

LOOK at what Translators have been demanding your Respect for all this time, with all the dictionaries & termbases we built for them

(This is REAL Translation, done by REAL Translators):

[img] [url removed] [/img]
???

[img] [url removed] [/img]
???????

[img] [url removed] [/img]
??????????????

"Hello Dear"

They have played us for absolute fools

Welcome 2026! What will change in translation? | what

Gregor Trebec — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 10:52:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Welcome 2026! What will change in translation?
Poster: Gregor Trebec
Post title: what

There are like dozen discssions about AI and you opened a new one?

[Edited at 2026-01-03 10:54 GMT]

Welcome 2026! What will change in translation?

MassimoA — Sat, 03 Jan 2026 08:02:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Welcome 2026! What will change in translation?
Poster: MassimoA

Happy New Year to everyone from Milan, Italy.
What will happen in the world of translation in 2026?
I remind you that it's impossible to get everyone to speak the same language, so translation is a profession that will last forever!
But the risk of AI looms, that is, of leaving everything in the hands of AI...will humans still be needed?

Percentage and hour-based PM fees and charges | Many jobs don't pan out

Joakim Braun — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 20:09:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Percentage and hour-based PM fees and charges
Poster: Joakim Braun
Post title: Many jobs don't pan out

To judge from my own bids, a lot of jobs don't pan out, even for PMs/agencies.
So if you're on percentage you'll do a great deal of your work for nothing - perhaps even most of it. And there's not very much you can do about it, even if you're good, except crank up processing volume. The fee has to reflect that.

7% of a typical project cost... Well, that depends on project size and market niche. Most agency inquiries I get are for jobs of a few thousand words at most. You'll handle many jobs of only 2-3 pages and end-customer cost of a few hundred euros tops. When adjusting for jobs that don't pan out, yielding zero income, maybe 7% at a decent rate doesn't leave you with all that many minutes per job. Just sayin'...

Percentage and hour-based PM fees and charges | hourly rate

Zea_Mays — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 09:41:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Percentage and hour-based PM fees and charges
Poster: Zea_Mays
Post title: hourly rate

I do not accept PM jobs, but if I did, I would charge my hourly rate like an employee, plus surcharges for evening/weekend work, also like an employee.
This way I know exactly what I'm earning, and rules are clear for both parties. I wouldn't rely too much on percentages, as this could be very unfavorable for you. And how would you know what's the actual value of each project? Would they show you the contract with the final client?

Percentage and hour-based PM fees and charges

Kanstantsin Loichyts — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 08:46:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Percentage and hour-based PM fees and charges
Poster: Kanstantsin Loichyts

Hi colleagues,

I’d like to hear your advice on setting fair PM fees. I was offered a contractor role as a Project Manager with teams handling Middle Eastern and European languages for both translation and interpretation.

The role typically includes:

* Coordinating multi-language teams
* Handling frequent urgent requests
* Being on weekend email standby at least once a month (rotation)

I’m trying to figure out whether it’s best to charge a flat % of the project budget, a per-hour rate, or build the PM fee into per-word/minute pricing. FYI, I was offered 7% of the total project cost. From what I’ve seen, however, industry averages suggest 10–20% of the total project cost for PMs, and with the urgency and weekend standby, it feels like 7% is not even remotely enough for this role.

My questions to you:

1. How do you structure your PM fees in similar situations?
2. Do you apply a higher percentage for urgent/after-hours coordination?
3. For recurring clients, do you charge a retainer for standby availability, or keep it project-based?

I want to stay competitive but also make sure the PM work (especially in high-pressure conditions) is valued fairly. Would really appreciate hearing how others in the field approach this!

Thanks in advance!

[Edited at 2025-09-02 09:10 GMT]

Best PM solution for micro business | Awtomated TBMS

Antonella Candia Baca — Sat, 19 Jul 2025 10:19:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Best PM solution for micro business
Poster: Antonella Candia Baca
Post title: Awtomated TBMS

You can look for Awtomated for the project management. Its light weight, and built for small and medium sized LSP. You will have a ll the necessary feature from Task to Vendor assignment to file management.

Looking for a lead tracking tool | Labels

Anne-Virginie Lerat — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 11:50:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Looking for a lead tracking tool
Poster: Anne-Virginie Lerat
Post title: Labels

You are right, I always forget about the labels in lsp. I will investigate this! Thank you again for the tip!

Looking for a lead tracking tool | Labels + Activities (notes) is enough for my purposes

Michael Beijer — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 15:39:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Looking for a lead tracking tool
Poster: Michael Beijer
Post title: Labels + Activities (notes) is enough for my purposes

[quote]Anne-Virginie Lerat wrote:

I already use lsp, I find it very useful for job tracking and invoicing.

However, when it comes to tracking the agencies/potential clients I have contacted in order to offer my services, I am not sure lsp offers this functionality. [/quote]

I make extensive use of the very handy labels functionality, plus the Activities feature.

It's not a full lead management system, but enough for my purposes!

[Edited at 2025-04-04 15:42 GMT]

Looking for a lead tracking tool | Google Workspace Streak Add-On

Ricardo Aries — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 14:37:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Looking for a lead tracking tool
Poster: Ricardo Aries
Post title: Google Workspace Streak Add-On

It is available on Google Workspace as an add-on with a free trial. You should give it a try. Lead tracking tools are typically difficult to find outside the translation industry. Alternatively, you might try this tool instead: [url removed]

Looking for a lead tracking tool | Thank you for your reply

Anne-Virginie Lerat — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 12:34:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Looking for a lead tracking tool
Poster: Anne-Virginie Lerat
Post title: Thank you for your reply

I already use lsp, I find it very useful for job tracking and invoicing.

However, when it comes to tracking the agencies/potential clients I have contacted in order to offer my services, I am not sure lsp offers this functionality.

Looking for a lead tracking tool | LSP.expert

Michael Beijer — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 12:24:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Looking for a lead tracking tool
Poster: Michael Beijer
Post title: LSP.expert

I highly recommend: [url removed] (ps: this is an affiliate link)

I use it for invoicing, business expenses, reporting and lead tracking.

[Edited at 2025-04-04 12:25 GMT]

Looking for a lead tracking tool

Anne-Virginie Lerat — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 12:12:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Looking for a lead tracking tool
Poster: Anne-Virginie Lerat

Hello,

I am looking for a solution to track my leads/prospects. The CRM all seem a bit too complex to me.
I mainly want to follow prospects and know when to recontact them.
Thank you very much in advance!

Becoming a translator for publishers | what i know ....

edward o loughlin — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 19:59:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Becoming a translator for publishers
Poster: edward o loughlin
Post title: what i know ....

trying to get a book contract for .....2 years now....
sent off sample chapter for 4 or 5 different books and all the elements eg what is the intended market,
titles of all chapters , and so on.. i used the manuscript template publishers provide on their site as a structure. Sadly , replies were very few and no one was interested. Yes , i scrolled through their titles to match what i would like to work on, still no joy . Find a publisher who does bi lingual titles or
separate german _ english editions of one book. I think biggest block is that publishers much prefer to select their own titles from other publishers lists , and are not open to suggestions from outside.
Most likely because they dont " know you " they will say NO.
How you ' get into their networks ' is the crux.... if you find out , pls let me know !

(Long) A problem in Korean translations (clients / agencies) | Write them off and collect the debt

Joakim Braun — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 14:48:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: (Long) A problem in Korean translations (clients / agencies)
Poster: Joakim Braun
Post title: Write them off and collect the debt

Regardless of who's right, clients who don't reply to reasonable e-mail inquiries aren't clients anymore.

You don't want clients who don't pay.

So collect the debt and forget about them.

(Long) A problem in Korean translations (clients / agencies) | RE: Zea_Mays

coneco — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 13:02:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: (Long) A problem in Korean translations (clients / agencies)
Poster: coneco
Post title: RE: Zea_Mays

Quote from the PM's mail: "the reviewers did not wish to waste their time providing the flaws of others in detail"

So, PTSGI claimed that they reviewed my work.
In return, I've asked them (many times) to please provide feedback, so that we could discuss the matter of quality (this was the standard process for any other works where the client was dissatisfied).

Thanks for your showing your interest, and I hope this clears things up for you!

(Long) A problem in Korean translations (clients / agencies) | First thing I notice

Zea_Mays — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 12:42:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: (Long) A problem in Korean translations (clients / agencies)
Poster: Zea_Mays
Post title: First thing I notice

Did the agency apply the standard four eyes principle? I. E. did they proofread your translation?

(Long) A problem in Korean translations (clients / agencies)

coneco — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 10:44:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: (Long) A problem in Korean translations (clients / agencies)
Poster: coneco

Tl;dr: I delivered a 10K words job last November. PTSGI (the translation company) and the client both claimed that the quality was poor, yet they have provided absolutely no proof to support their claim, and PTSGI has been ignoring my mails since January.

I had a very satisfactory business relationship with PTSGI for almost a decade.
The work volume, lead time, communication with PMs, payment... everything was fine.

However, it has come to my attention that there are clients who will make unjust claims, and incompetent PMs who let those clients get away with anything.
I fear that this could be a hazard to freelance translators, as well as to translation companies. And in the long run, this may have a bad influence on the whole industry, which led me to write this post.

The below is a summary of my current situation.
- I have translated a project and delivered the finished work by the agreed deadline around mid-November of 2024.
- The client claimed they were not satisfied with the quality and demanded a half deduction from the original payment.
- Also, the client proposed that they will provide a corrected version (presumably to prove their point), by the end of January.
- PTSGI reviewed my work on their own and agreed to the client's opinion. However, PTSGI wouldn't (or couldn't) provide any examples, or point out the faults.
- To this day, neither client nor PTSGI has presented any kind of correction to prove their claims (details below).
- Also, no PO was issued (either half or in full), so no payment has been made yet, almost 4 months after the job was completed.
- And finally, PTSGI has been ignoring my e-mails since January.

The below is a more detailed version, which some may find interesting.

Mid-November, 2024.

I have completed a kor>eng project at the request from PTSGI, around 10K words in volume, divided into 4 files. A deadline was set for each file, which were all met and delivered on time.
All deadlines were quite urgent, and the PM seemed quite satisfied with my punctuality.

* One thing I may mention, which may be important (as I expect PTSGI may refer to this incident to their advantage):
After I delivered my final file, the original PM’s co-worker contacted and requested me to make some corrections.
The nature of this request was a bit vague, as they did not specify which kind of stuff needed correction. (I have to translate this part as the mail was written in Korean) The co-worker asked me to “review and correct the whole work that has been delivered”.
This happened on the weekend, and I was out of office at the time. I explained my situation and said that I'll try to clear my schedule for them in the following week. I also asked them to give me some examples, so I would know which part of the translation needed corrections. But I never got any reply to this mail.

About a week later, I asked them when I could expect the PO, and the PM replied that the client wasn't satisfied with the translation quality.
In my reply, I asked them to please be more specific, or provide some examples.
This led to a long and pointless discussion that went around and around.

Mid-December, 2024.

There was a lot of correspondence by this time, and it was very hard to get some straight answers from the PM.
I had to rephrase what I've written in the previous e-mail many times, and the PM either didn't understand my inquiries or deliberately misinterpreted them.

But anyway, the following is how I've summarized the situation:

- The translation has been assessed by various 3rd party reviewers, and the reviewers all agreed that the quality was poor. -> (However, those reviewers did "not wish to waste their time providing the flaws of others in detail". This was the reply to my request (to provide a couple of examples). I didn’t ask for every single correction for the project. Just a couple, or like 3-4 examples.)

- The client demanded 50% discount from the original payment. -> (To this day, I do not know if they made the payment to PTSGI, either in full or half of it. I also do not care, because I'm dealing with PTSGI and not the client - PTSGI themselves make this point very clear, and I'm not allowed to contact the client in any way.)

- The client seemed to have made corrections by their own, and they will likely provide the corrected file by the end of January. -> (Like many of their other claims, this seems to take forever. As I've mentioned above, the project was quite urgent and the PM was quite pleased that my delivery was on time, but when the table turns and it comes for them to provide something… yeah well I guess the paying client and a huge corporation can afford to take all the time they want to.)

- Quite (and justly, if I may) frustrated, I have contacted the PM's supervisor, a team leader, who promptly replied with "I will collect informations and reply you soon." -> (After this, I have received no e-mails from the said supervisor. Nor has he replied to 3 or 4 e-mails I've sent since then. Could be he's still collecting informations to this day. Who knows, could be their team leaders are only allowed to use land-line modems.)

There’s one more thing I should mention: In one of the numerous e-mails I have received, the PM actually HAD sent me a file, which included some corrections of sorts.
Also, this file was attached to the mail which first mentioned about the 50% deduction. So, naturally, I interpreted that this must be their proof, or what they thought may support their claims.

Here's a couple of examples in this file:

"XXXX must be collected and submitted XXXX should be returned and submitted"
"The contractor must attach XXX along with XX at all times Contractor must always attach XXX with XX"

I have commented that these seemed re-phrasing rather than corrections. To which the PM answered: "The file I provided to you is a version retranslated by a third party, not the one modified directly by the client. The client's modified file is currently in use and cannot be shared at this moment. However, we have already requested the client to provide it to us once their project is completed".

I really don't understand what all this means.
It kind of suggests that this wasn't an official correction, but if so, why did the PM send it to me in the first place? I've asked the same, but couldn't get a better explanation from the PM.

This is a follow-up explanation from the same PM: “The document I sent you is for you to compare the changes made by the third party, as well as their stated points of critique.”

Well, for one, there were no “stated points of critique”, just the corrections (in the form of MS-Word’s Track changes). And sure, I compared them; how else would I have asked her opinion on whether they seemed like mere rephrasing?

On an additional note, I don’t remember the number exactly, but it took me more than a couple of mails and a lot of rephrasing of my own to receive the above replies from the PM.
Each… time.

The following is one of my earliest counter-claim to the PM - to which I never got any satisfactory reply.

1. “Specified timeframe” - I have already provided my translation within specified deadline. Then, your colleague requested review within 1700 of the same day, regardless of my own schedule.
No such conditions were mentioned before beginning my work, as you well know.

2. Inconsistent terminology - give me a couple of examples, please? If they say so, do you simply acknowledge it without checking?

3. Unnnatural English - same as above.

4. Imprecise technical and contractual language - same, examples please. I would also like to point out that there was no glossary to work with, and you have also confirmed this point.

5. Unclear performance indicators and specifications - same as above. Just show me a couple of examples. Better yet, if they have an evaluation sheet, please share that with me.

One final point: I know you do not understand Korean, so this is simply my opinion which you may verify with a native Korean. The quality of original text was pretty low to start with as a general written material, let alone expertise or professional. Given this fact, I’m not sure how they could make such nonsensical claims. If you can provide the revised text, I’ll show you why I am making my counter-claims.

I suspect that, just possibly, I shouldn’t have written that last sentence. I really don’t think the PM was lying when she said my work has been reviewed by 3rd party reviewers, but at the same time, I really don’t think they could point out any obvious, concrete errors.

It may be well to mention one e-mail from the PM, to which I fully agree:

The client mentioned that they found a currency conversion error in the previous document. "200억" should be "20 billion," but you wrote it as "2 billion."
The client asked if you could please be mindful of this for the remaining content.

So, in the 10K-word project, a group of reviewers from PTSGI and the client (plus any number of reviewers the client has involved in this matter) managed to point out one single, concrete, clear, obvious, watertight mistranslation to this day. I have no objection whatsoever against this claim and will gladly take responsibility. Considering the rate of roughly 0.05$ per word, would 1$ deduction seem fair? How about 5$? I can take that.

Yet, as for now, PTSGI seems to think that roughly 250$ should be deducted from my payment. With absolutely no evidence to support their claims. And they are simply waiting it out, letting time pass by, until, presumably, I give up and agree to them.
Which is not going to happen. Either I get a reasonable explanation from them for all this, or nothing.

As I’ve mentioned at the beginning of this lengthy post, I had a very healthy business relationship with PP. Like at least 10-20K words every month – sometimes as much as 50-60K words. Yet, since November, I got ZERO requests from them. So it seems there’s not much they want to do with me in the future. There’s really no point for me to take their 250$, or 500$, or whatever. This post will stay on until I get some detailed explanation how this kind of thing can happen in a renowned company such as PTSGI.

Becoming a translator for publishers | Translating books

Susanne Döring — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 05:38:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Becoming a translator for publishers
Poster: Susanne Döring
Post title: Translating books

[quote]Jean-Rémy Émorine wrote:

I have been a professional English to French translator for 25 years and I would like to enter the publishing market.
I would be very grateful for tips and experience sharing.
Thanks! [/quote]

I do translate novels, but rarely for publishers, most of the time for self publishing authors or smaller enterprises who help self publishing authors to get their books translated and marketed. The per word rate is very low, agreed. But other than with very specialized texts I can translate mostly in a flow, so the per hour rate is good enough for me. The main advantage in my eyes is that my time is again mine to plan - no short deadlines, no daily querying for work.
The downside: just now many authors complain about the market getting worse, I am having less work than ever in the last ten years. And it is not so easy to acquire new clients - most of these authors don't go to places like ProZ, much more often they ask other authors whose books they see for sale in other languages - or, like in some cases with me, they see my name as the translator of a book in their genre and search for me - which is why I keep a very small blog to show some of my work and an email addy to contact me.

Big publishers would not give me work - that might be different for you depending on your credentials.
One caveat: I see a lot of translations from people who might be able to deliver a good translation for non fiction texts, but who make a mess with reproducing an author's way of telling a story. It looks easy, but it is not - like, not anyone would be able to write a story themselves, would they?

Of course, forget all I wrote if you want to translate non ficition. I have very little experience with that.

Becoming a translator for publishers | Ask for a translator test

Vanessa Dias — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 17:16:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Becoming a translator for publishers
Poster: Vanessa Dias
Post title: Ask for a translator test

One way to contact publishers is by sending an e-mail asking whether they have translator tests open. Even If they don't have one, they may save your CV for the future.

I've translated a book last year and, yes, as some colleagues have mentioned above, publishing houses usually have a lower rate than some agencies, but I must say that translating a book was really rewarding.

Becoming a translator for publishers | Non-fiction

Rachel Waddington — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 20:04:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Becoming a translator for publishers
Poster: Rachel Waddington
Post title: Non-fiction

I have translated engineering books for a major scientific publisher in the past. It was interesting work, but less well paid than my normal agency work at the time taking into account all the backwards and forwards between me and the publishing company and the author. There was quite a lot of faff involved.

I didn't set out to get that kind of work - the publisher found me through my marketing efforts - so I don't really know how you would go about it. I'd suggest finding publishers specialising in the fields you are interested in and getting in touch. Can't hurt to try.

Becoming a translator for publishers | BEoming a translator for publishers

Jean-Rémy Émorine — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 15:31:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Becoming a translator for publishers
Poster: Jean-Rémy Émorine
Post title: BEoming a translator for publishers

In response to a very relevant comment, I have no experience in fiction translation, but I am interested in translating documents like reports, memoirs, historical, political and sociological studies and advocacy documents

Becoming a translator for publishers | May not be worth it

Anton Konashenok — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 21:33:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Becoming a translator for publishers
Poster: Anton Konashenok
Post title: May not be worth it

I have been in contact with several publishers in the course of my career, but no contracts ever materialised. Not a single one of them was willing to pay more than half my regular rate.

[Edited at 2025-02-09 21:34 GMT]

Becoming a translator for publishers | Projects

Maria Laura Curzi — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 15:02:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Becoming a translator for publishers
Poster: Maria Laura Curzi
Post title: Projects

From what I've been told by literary agents, publishers hire translators according to the projects they have. Meaning that if they want to expand the sales of books in some country/region/language, then they hire translators for it.

So, the best way to get hired by a publisher is to **offer** them a project to translate—that is, a book you're interested in getting translated.
Sometimes it helps if you contact the author of that project/book you want to work on as a means to make her/him/they interested and help you talk with the publisher.

From my point of view, it seems it requires a lot of time investment in networking, much more than in translation itself.

Becoming a translator for publishers | For what?

Rachel Waddington — Sat, 08 Feb 2025 23:19:00 +0000

Forum: Translation Project / Vendor Management
Topic: Becoming a translator for publishers
Poster: Rachel Waddington
Post title: For what?

It would probably help people answer if you at least tell us whether you're interested in translating fiction or non-fiction.