Many people would love to become a translator but their first stumbling block is how to find those first few elusive clients: meaning, how do you get started in the translation industry? Well, there’s no definitive answer to this question because everyone has a different story about how they got started. Some people went back to school, some started cold-calling potential clients, some started doing volunteer work, and others already had connections they were able to contact.

Here we will detail our advice on how to break into the world of translation, remembering that it does depend on your level of experience and your particular interests.

The Two Categories of Clients

There are two basic categories of clients for translators – the translation agency, which is a company that serves as the go-between between the end-client and the translator; and direct clients, where there’s no middleman involved and the translator works directly with the end client. There are different benefits and costs involved with each approach: many translators start their career working for translation agencies where a translator can earn a steady income. The agency also provides value-added services such as proofreading, marketing, collections, and project management; remembering that in return for these services the agency will take a portion of the total fee collected for the translation. On the other hand, translators working for direct clients usually have higher earning potential, but the translator is often required to perform tasks such as proofreading, editing, quoting jobs, and so on – jobs that are usually handled by translation agencies.

Play by Their Rules

If you’ve decided to start your translation career by applying to translation agencies, then in order to maximize your chances of being awarded translation work you must remember to play by their rules. When you check out the websites of translation agencies you’ll see that they have a translator application form – check under the ‘Opportunities’ or ‘Contact Us’ sections of the website to locate this form. Don’t send a hard copy resume to the agency if they have specifically requested an electronic one. In addition, unless you’re applying for an advertised position, most agencies prefer that you don’t contact them by phone. What you can do, however, is to request in the ‘Comments’ field for an in-person meeting, or advise the agency through this section that you’re a new translator in their area.

There are some basic rules to follow regardless of whether you’re applying to direct clients or translation agencies -

Because you’re applying for language work, it’s vitally important that your application material is completely error-free: do this by ensuring that everything you send out has been proofed by yourself and a minimum of one other person.

Ensure that your email has a clear subject line: like ’French-English freelance inquiry’. It’s important that you clearly state your language pairs. Your first sentence might read: ‘I’m a freelance French-English translator and I’d like to offer my translation services to your agency’, or similar.

Translation client rating lists and translators’ associations are ideal places for locating the names of agencies to apply to, but you must use these directories wisely: once you’ve found an agency in a directory you should then go to the agency’s website and follow their application process. Don’t use the contact information listed in the directory.