Transpanish’s April 1st post focused on things that novices to the craft of English-Spanish translations should avoid.  This weeks post will focus on the business side of freelance translating.  Novice Spanish translators may be eager to please their first few clients, and that makes sense.  But beware of being so eager to please that you end up exhausted with very little return or making mistakes that could potentially turn clients off from being repeat buyers.

To avoid this, keep the following in mind:

1. This is a business!  As a freelance translator, you are first and foremost a business person.  Your translation services are what you sell, but you also need sound business practices to survive and thrive.  Consider taking a course in running a freelance business at your local college or adult education center.

2. Communicate, communicate, communicate with your translation buyers.  Don’t stalk them and update them on every miniscule bit of progress you make, but do keep in touch with them.  Ask them clarifying questions and remind them that their answers help you provide them with a superlative end product.  If it’s a large project and the deadline is far off, don’t just disappear.  It’s good relationship building to check in occasionally, even if it’s just to say that you’re making progress.

3. Be realistic about what you can complete.  Don’t jump at the chance to take on a project if the terms seem unrealistic.  If the buyer wants 10,000 words translated in a day, be honest that this is not realistic.  Rather than taking on a project that’s too large and then renegotiating the terms after, only agree to projects you know you can accomplish.  As you start out, you may have a learning curve about your output which could cause some sleepless nights but as you go you should start determining what you can really do.

4. Get the project terms in writing.  How many rewrites and adjustments are you willing to make before tacking on extra fees?  Do both you and the buyer understand the terms of payment?  Sort this out beforehand and set the terms down in writing before starting a Spanish translation project.

These four tips should get you started as you think about how to manage your freelance translation business and apply whether you freelance after a day job or want to translate full time.  Being prepared will have the dual benefit of protecting yourself and keeping translation buyers happy.

Freelance translation work can be a very lonely pursuit, as many Spanish-English translators can attest.  But the Internet is rich with resources for translators that include community and assistance with translations.  This week the Transpanish blog will highlight three forums for translators that offer both help with translations as well as camaraderie and discussions about larger translation issues.

ProZ.com’s KudoZ Forum and General Forum

ProZ is an authoritative forum and job search board for translators working in hundreds of different language pairs.  On their KudoZ forum, registered users are able to ask questions about tough translation terms and receive answers from other ProZ users.  The person who asks the question is then able to rate the answers based on how helpful they were.

At the entry page to the KudoZ forum, a user is able to refine the questions posted by language pair, and Spanish-English appears as a “major pair” on the right-hand side of the screen.  The site breaks down the questions into two categories: non-Pro (meaning any bilingual person could answer) and Pro (a question requiring specialized translation knowledge).  For Pro questions, you must log on to post.

ProZ also has an extensive community forum where users can discuss the finer points of linguistics, issues with translation memory software, and the ins and outs of being a freelance translator, along with many more topics.

To resister on ProZ.com, start here.  Members can use many site features, but to have full access to everything they offer, you must upgrade to a paid membership.

Word Reference’s Dictionary and Forums

In addition to an excellent online dictionary, Word Reference also has a forum for questions about Spanish-English translation terms.  In fact, when you search Word Reference for a word or phrase, the search engine also pulls up anything similar that’s been discussed on the forum.

The site is easy to navigate and you don’t need to register to browse the forums.  You will need to register to post.  The Spanish-English forums are at the top of the community page, and the sub-forums include General Vocabulary, Grammar, Specialized Terminology (further broken down into subcategories), and Resources.

The interface between the online dictionary and the translation forums is extremely helpful.  Many knowledgeable bilingual Spanish-English speakers post, though the forums are less geared towards professional translators than ProZ’s.

Translator’s Café Terminology and Discussion Forums

The Translator’s Café site is also geared specifically toward freelance translators, and has many of the same features that ProZ boasts.  You can post questions about difficult terminology at their TCTerms portal. You may search for language pair and further refine your results by specialization.

The Café has an extensive menu of sub-forums for freelance translators to discuss many topics related to the freelancer’s life and career.

To start using many of the free features, click here to register. As a Master Member who can access all features, you will have to pay to upgrade.

If you use Trados to translate your documents, one of the most important steps is to analyze your files. Analyzing files allows you to identify how much text can be leveraged from an existing Translation Memory (TM), or if you do not have an existing TM it allows you to analyze the source files. Example:

1. You have two files to translate:

a.       DOCUMENT_1

b.      DOCUMENT_2

2. You want to analyze them against the empty memory to find out the total word count and whether or not there are repetitions.
3. To analyze a file, select Tools, and then Analyze. Click Add and browse for the two files you want to analyze.
4. Once the files are located click Open to add them. (You can also drag files from Windows Explorer into the Files to analyze dialogue box.)

a.       Remember if you want to analyze the files against an existing TM, you must have the applicable TM open.

5. Be sure to save your log file to the correct place so that you can easily access it.
6. Click Analyze

a.       A summary of the log file appears in the dialogue box. The .txt and .csv log file have also been saved to the folder you selected for the log.

Sample of a log file:

Analyze Total (2 files):

 Match Types  Segments    Words    Percent     Placeables

 Context TM          0            0              0          0

 Repetitions          111         561           2          3

 100%                   35           61            0          0

 95% – 99%           0            0              0          0

 85% – 94%           2            4              0          0

 75% – 84%           3           31             0          0

 50% – 74%          18           68            0          0

 No Match        1,593       31,104      98          1

 Total               1,762       31,829     100          4

 Chars/Word       5.18

 Chars Total   165,170

“.docx” is the new file extension that Microsoft Word 2007 uses when it saves documents in the new default format.

To open Microsoft Office Word 2007 .docx or .docm files with Microsoft Office Word 2003, Word 2002, or Word 2000, you need to install the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for 2007 Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint File Formats and any necessary Office updates. By using the Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system, you can open, edit some items, and save Office Word 2007 documents in previous versions of Word.

Although you can open Office Word 2007 files in previous versions of Word, you may not be able to change some items that were created by using the new or enhanced features in Office Word 2007. For example, equations will become images that cannot be changed. You will find a list of document elements that are changed when they are opened in a previous version of Word here.