What Makes a Good Translator?
Although we are an agency employing freelance translators around the world, we’ve done our fair share of translation ourselves in a freelance capacity. So we can see the translation process from both the customer’s and the translator’s point of view. This means that we understand the difficulties and demands of both parties, and that puts us in a good position to come to the best solution for everybody.
We’ve worked with a large number of translators, ranging from helpful, friendly, professional gems to charlatans (luckily we can usually spot the latter a mile off so can steer clear of them!). So what are the DOs and DON’Ts of being a translator? Here are just a few – we don’t want to offend any experienced translators, but if you’re just starting out in the business, these give you an idea of what makes us send work to one translator rather than another.
DON’T
- be late, or even worse, disappear: Sometimes things happen – your train’s delayed, your father’s rushed to hospital, your PC was infected by a nasty virus. Sometimes it might just be that a job is taking you longer than you anticipated – but please, just tell us as early as you can, and we can sort something out. One of the worst things that can happen to a project manager is that a job is due and the translator isn’t answering emails or calls. Thankfully it doesn’t happen very often, but it is the one thing that is more or less guaranteed to take you off our list of preferred suppliers straight away.
- get upset if we query your work. We check everything in house, but we might not speak your language, so we will sometimes question things that are 100% correct. We might also pick up on genuine mistakes. We do understand that omissions and typos can slip in – that’s why we’re checking your work to begin with. If we’re wrong, let us know and we’ll apologise but respect your accuracy. If you’re wrong, let us know and apologise – we won’t hold minor slip-ups against you, we promise (within reason obviously!).
- get someone else to do your work for you: if you’re an agency or work with a colleague, then tell us – we’ll still use you, but we’d like to know exactly who’s doing the translation. If it comes to our attention that you’ve been outsourcing without telling us, we’re unlikely to come back to you, even if you personally have never made a single mistake.
DO
- be friendly: as well as the quality of their work, the translators we go back to time and again tend to be people we like. It’s refreshing in the middle of a busy day to hear about your holiday or your children. Obviously we don’t really have time for your life story, but a personal touch helps us remember you and sympathise when you ask for an extension because you suddenly have to rush your toddler to A&E!
- go the extra mile: we hope that our demands are never unreasonable, but occasionally a job will be particularly urgent or tricky. We always try to reflect this in the rate we pay you for the job, but if you squeeze in a last-minute amend or agree to check something we’ve typeset, we will be eternally grateful and are much more likely to offer you more work in the future!
- be honest: we would much rather you told us at the beginning that a deadline’s going to be difficult for you or the subject matter’s not your thing. If you take on a job just to please us (or because you think that if you turn it down we’ll never ask you again) and the results are sub-standard, it’s unlikely that we’ll give you a second chance.
- ask questions: if you’re not sure about something, we’d much rather you ask us than take a guess. It actually makes you look more professional than if you just pretend you know what you’re talking about and get something wrong. Obviously we would hope you’d do some research first before asking us about something, and the sooner you can send us any queries you have the better, but it’s always better to ask if you’re not sure.
Basically, it’s all about communication. Tell us what you think of us, if you’re happy or unhappy, and we’ll do what we can to put it right. If we don’t say it enough, we really do value our translators and the relationships that we have with them. Without them, we wouldn’t be anything!
Cooper Security
