Once you’ve been in the freelance translation business for a few years it’s only natural that any capable and hard-working translator working with an in-demand language pair will want to take their business to the next level. For the purpose of this post we’ll assume that you’ve been in the industry for more than five years, you’ve never had to worry about not having enough work, and now your goal is to move from working with your average translation agency to working for high-quality clients. These high-quality clients could well be agencies or direct clients.

Fortunately for translators, it doesn’t seem to matter what type of economic climate we’re living in because our translation skills and knowledge will always be in-demand, so there’s no good or bad time to move your business forward: the only question is, are you ready to do it, and how do you go about it?

Continue Study in Your Area of Specialization

Our first suggestion is that you enroll in a course in one of your areas of specialization. Most translators are self-taught when it comes to their area of specialization, so you’ll stand out from other translators when you contact direct clients or other agencies and tell them that you recently completed a course in stock trading, contract law, medical terminology, or whatever your area of specialization is. Have a look online to see what online/correspondence classes are being offered, or even check out your local community college.

Check out Your Work in Action

Another suggestion is to check out your work in action. Try sitting in court for a day or so and observe the local legislative body when it’s in session; visit a coffee roasting plant, a patent agent, or a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. Remember that manual you translated? Go and have a look at how the manual in action actually works?

Write for a Translation Industry Publication

Write an article for a translation industry publication such as your local translator's association newsletter, the ATA Chronicle, or even better, a trade publication that you know your prospective clients might be reading. Send a copy of this article to the clients that you’d really love to work for. Along with your article, you could offer them an introduction on how to find a good translation provider, how the translation process works, and some best practices and pitfalls for having their documents translated.

How Do You Proofread Your Translation Documents?

It’s really critical that you find more effective methods for proofreading if you’re looking to move up in the translation market. Most translators cringe at the sight of an error in print, so they understand only too well how important proofreading is.