Are you multilingual and looking to make a living as a translator? This article will be of immense help to you, as it discusses the top 5 platforms where you can work and earn huge wages as a translator.
But before we go into that, let’s look at how you can earn a living from the skill, as this is a question that’s bothering many aspiring translators.
Can You Make a Living Being a Translator?
Being able to speak two or more languages is a skill most people are willing to pay heavily for. In case you’re still wondering if you can earn a living as a translator, take a moment to think about how authors, business people, web and app developers, news services, etc. get their products to be accessible in many languages.
These people pay a lot of money to experienced translators in order to get their products used all over the world. Even tourists or expats in foreign lands are good clients for native translators.
If you understand your potential, you can earn a lot of money by translating languages. You can charge as much as you want and in whatever way you want. And what’s more? You’re not inventing anything. You don’t have to write a book from scratch, write a fresh description for a product, or even write web pages or copies from scratch. That is not part of your job description. You only need to translate words from one language to another.
As many brands are moving towards global dominance, the demand for translators has increased worldwide. However, very few beginner translators know where to find gigs.
5 Platforms Where You Can Make a Living as a Translator
There are many platforms where you can work and earn a living as a translator, but these are the ones that stand out.
1. ProZ
ProZ is the go-to platform for every translator, both beginners and those well experienced in the job. And this is not far from the fact that it is the largest platform for translators in the world. More than 300,000 registered translators and interpreters on the platform provide services in a wide range of languages.
One thing that makes ProZ a great platform for new and aspiring translators is its professional development programs. People get trained on translation and the business side of it, making it easy for them to earn while learning on the platform.
There’s also a forum where different topics are discussed. This makes it easy for skilled translators who may not have a strong portfolio to build a trusted audience on the platform. By answering questions and contributing to discussions, translators can get spotted by clients and land gigs in the process.
In addition to organizing contests and prizes for translators, ProZ provides tools to help translators flourish in their jobs.
2. TranslatorsCafe
TranslatorsCafe is another amazing platform where you can make a living as a translator. The platform allows you to register as a language professional or a translation agency, making it easy for you to find translators to collaborate with.
Once you register the language pairs you are skilled in, the platform begins to send you notifications about available jobs. This gives you an equal chance with others, as you’d certainly apply while others are doing the same.
There are tons of resources available on the platform to make your job easier and more effective. The dictionary tool allows you to create a dictionary of terms in the language pairs of your choice. You can also benefit by making use of the publicly created language pair dictionaries, some of which have over 5000 entries. There are also forums where you can follow discussions to learn from them or contribute to them.
You can make as much as $70,000 per year on this platform while working on a flexible schedule.
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3. Textmaster
Textmaster is a translation agency that’s already gained global dominance. It is one of the best platforms to get started as a translator.
However, the platform prides itself on its ability to hire only top, highly-skilled professionals. So, you’d need to have a good level of translation skills, enough to pass their recruitment tests, to get hired.
The good thing, however, is that once you’ve been hired, you’ll have jobs assigned to you by project managers. That takes off the worry of sourcing clients, as you’d only have to worry about delivering on the jobs you’re given.
To ensure quality service delivery, the agency gives you access to communicate with the clients. However, your communications will be monitored by a project manager, who will also assess your jobs before you send them over to the clients.
For a start, the agency pays you about $.15 per word, but as you progress, your rates will substantially increase.
4. Smartcat
Smartcat, through its translators, provides translation services to individuals and businesses who are seeking global recognition. Most businesses go to Smartcat to make their business platforms and documents multilingual when they want to go global.
The platform allows translators to bid for clients. Also helps clients discover clients by providing them with a shortlist of the best translators on the platform.
The best way to get on this shortlist is to use the platform’s computer-aided translation (CAT) tool to work on your translation jobs (both the ones obtained from and outside the platform). The more jobs you perform with the CAT tool, the higher you rank on their freelancer marketplace. This helps you get discovered when clients are sourcing for translators with your specific skills.
The platform, however, receives payments on your behalf. The money reflects on your balance and is available for withdrawal at any point.
5. Upwork
Upwork is another platform where you can make a living as a translator. It has over 750,000 verified clients who are actively posting jobs on the platform.
The beauty of this platform is that you can set your rating as high as you want, and even increase it as you gain more experience and reviews. You can make between $10 and $50 an hour as a translator on Upwork.
The platform has a secure system that protects its freelancers and clients from getting scammed. This is done by using the escrow payment system, where clients deposit the money for the task in the platform before you begin and release it to you once you’re done.
Upwork is one of the most popular freelance platforms in the world. So, it would require a little more dedication to get your first client. But once you do, you’re surely on a ride to a sweet freelance adventure on the platform.
Conclusion
Translators are in high demand worldwide. Therefore, provided you’re confident in your skills, you’ll always have jobs to do. The platforms above are just a few of the many where you can make a genuine living as a translator. You can even set up your own agency, build a website, and use search engine optimization (SEO) to source for your own clients.
The main thing to note here is that being multilingual is a skill you can use to change your life forever. Don’t sleep on it.
Hopefully, you can begin your career as a translator with one of the platforms listed in this article.
