Translation Work in Spain - Getting it and keeping it!

[Ben]

I get a lot of questions about translation work over here, so I thought this tips post from the blog would make a useful stickie post:

One. Your CV. Exaggerate a bit, all the Spanish do, and here there seems to be no chasing up of references. Remember that one translation you did for your uncle’s website? If it went well then your CV might as well say that you did regular translation work for his company for a year. I had no translation courses on my initial CV when I started free-lancing 3 years ago, just pretty fluent Spanish and some ‘expanded’ translation experience like this.

Two. E-mail a covering letter with a brief outline of your experience to a long list of translation agencies, offering to send them a full CV. Lists of agencies can be found via obvious google searches (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGGL,GGGL:2005-09,GGGL:en&q=traduccion+agencias), and the Spanish yellow pages (http://www.paginas-amarillas.es/resultados.asp?activ=traduccion&pgpv=1&mode=simple)

Three. Aim to do around 3,000 words a day to start with, this is what the agencies will expect as a minimum, though with time, practice, and useful translation tools (see below), this may well increase to up to 6,000 a day. Say yes to all offered work and never miss a deadline!

Four. Use translation tools/programs such as Wordfast (http://www.wordfast.net/), and, if you can afford it, SDLX (http://www.sdl.com/products-translation/products-freelancers/sdlx.htm) (try trial version first). These can save hours of your time and increase efficiency dramatically.

Five. Money. Expect to get 4.5 to 6 centimos per word from agencies, and 6 to 8 from direct clients. Direct clients come over time and are obviously preferable, as no agency cut is taken from the original price. You will need to be self-employed, or ‘Autonomo’, to work seriously as a translator in Spain.

Six. Get a decent broadband connection, you will need to be on-line all the time, using invaluable dictionary and definition websites. I swear by Proz.com (http://www.proz.com/), whose incredible web search engine (http://www.proz.com/wts) searches all my favorite sites at once. Make sure you include Eurodicautom in the selected dictionaries. Proz.com (http://www.proz.com/) also has other excellent resources for translators, such as the ability to send quieries to other translators around the world for help. And google is great for checking whether the word you just guessed at really exists or not.

Seven. Check check ckeck. When you finish a translation start with a spell check, then carefully re-read and revise your work, and finally spell check again. Imagine that another native speaker is going to quality check it after you (this does happen in some agencies), so make sure it sounds like good English (or the language in question) before you send it back. Ideally leave several hours, even a day, before a final read-through.

Eight. Learn to type fast, or use voice recognition software like Dragon Naturally Speaking (http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/), which really does work.

Nine. Be patient. It can take up to a year to build up a regular flow of work, but with hard marketing at the beginning, this may be quicker. You may need up to 3 or 4 agencies sending you work to make a good, secure living. It works well combined with other jobs such as English teaching (to get you out of the house!)

Ten. Advantages - the freedom of self-employment and working from home, and good money if you get enough words per month. Disadvantages - working from home (do you like your own company? Find a way to get out and see people a couple of times a week!), the downsides of self-employment (you will have to work the odd weekend and late night), plus it can be stressful when the client/agency wants that huge translation a.s.a.p. Finally, a lot of translation work is very boring (conracts, technical and engineering documents). But don't let that put you off - it's just something to bear in mind!

If you have any more ideas or questions, please feel free to reply below...

[Edith]

Thanks Ben for posting... I'm still thinking about embarking on that four-year Spanish translator's course next year! Unfortunately, I can't show you the curriculum details because they are all in Dutch, otherwise I would like you to see it. First of all, they teach you Spanish, and lots of it. Other subjects include computer skills (*heh*), translation skills, intercultural communication, history and culture of the Spanish-speaking world, etc.

[Marina]

That would be a great way to learn Spanish and get the skills for a future job if you move to Spain!!!
¡Animo!

[Edith]

That would be a great way to learn Spanish and get the skills for a future job if you move to Spain!!!
¡Animo!

Thanks Marina! :) Four years is a long time but it's something I've always wanted to do, so why not now?
But first... ¡Tenerife! :cheers:

[gary]

..... Other subjects include computer skills (*heh*).....


Today iTunes - tomorrow the world!!!

Hope youre getting to grips with the vagueries of your new toy...

[Edith]

Today iTunes - tomorrow the world!!!

Hope youre getting to grips with the vagueries of your new toy...

So far, so good... ;)

I haven't downloaded any music from my CDs yet, that's my project for the weekend. ;D

[gary]

So far, so good... ;)

I haven't downloaded any music from my CDs yet, that's my project for the weekend. ;D

make sure you are connected to the internet - iTunes goes online and puts in the details of each track from a database called Gracenote

You can put the cd in the drive and click File>import then navigate to your cd

or

Let the cd load up so you can see the tracks in the iTunes window then hold down shift > click the top track then the bottom track to hilight all and drag the tracks over the library icon....

reasy peasy

If you want to share your tracks with others select Advanced>Advanced>MP3 encoding

(The default is AAC encoding which only works on your ipod )

[Edith]

All right, vamos a ver! :)

There's tons of music stuff I'd like to download on my ¡Pod. Thanks for the explanation!

[richardksa]

...... I can't show you the curriculum details because they are all in Dutch, otherwise I would like you to see it.

So your first translation job is to put it into English!!!!!!!!;)

[Epicman]

I'm a native Spanish speaker but lived in the US from the time I was 8 until last week. My English is better than my spanish, specially when it comes to writing. As far as finding work teaching english goes, I have no experience in teaching. Do I just say I do until I start finding work? Also, I take it CV mean resume? Thanks.

[Ben]

CV means resume, yes. I don't think there is any harm in a little exageration on the cv, even a tiny bit of invention at times....

[Epicman]

Would you say it's better to find translation work or work teaching English?

[Ben]

Teaching English is more fun, but more tiring and sometimes not as well paid. You can always try a bit of both at the same time!

[Shona]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and would like to say that I think your site is fantastic. It's got really useful information and I can't believe the amount of work you must put in to maintain the excellent quality. Anyway back to the translation topic. I'm applying for a translation job in Madrid which doesn't require any translation qualifications or experience - just a native English speaker with a high level of Spanish. They have asked me to confirm my expected salary range and I'm unsure what would be deemed average for this type of role in Madrid. Is anyone able to give me a rough idea?

[lightangel]

As I hope to move to Spain next year I'm just looking at various options employment wise. If anyone has done translation work it would be interesting to know of your experiences ie...did it actually pay in the long term, was it too time consuming etc., it is definitely something worth considering.

[omeyas]

I've not done any paid translation, but know people that have, and it seems to me that it can be extremely competitive and not that well paid. To be able to speak Spanish reasonably well is no guarantee that you will be able to do translation work well. Have a look here (http://www.proz.com/) and look in the forums, ask your questions there, these people are much better equipped to answer your questions. I don't want to appear negative, but it seems that everyone moving to Spain wants to work as a translator or do TEFL. Even if you succeed in getting a job, prepare yourself for a shock when they tell you the salary! :(
Direct link here (http://www.proz.com/forum/24).

[Ben]

When I worked full time as a translator I earnt around 2000 euros a month in a reasonable month, up to 3,500 in a busy month. A 2000 euro month meant working hard most days, but not too stressful. The 3,500 euro months were, however, very hard work. Translating involves a lot of tight deadlines and a lot of very difficult material (contracts, engineering, insurance, etc), and it takes months to build up a good level of work. English teaching provides a quicker means to a regular income, but unless you do a lot of private classes, you won't break the 2,000 euro a month barrier either.

[María Madrid]

I agree, teaching is not so well paid. But besides boring technical translation :thumbs-down: there's a more interesting alternative: interpreting.

Obviously it's not so easy to get regular interpreting assignments BUT they're very well paid and if your clients like your job, they'd normally prefer to stick to their usual translators rather than trying new ones, even if they're cheaper.

Simultaneous interpreting is more difficult (and better paid!), but consecutive interpreting is easier and a good alternative many clients will be happy to accept. One day's work (8 hours) will get you around 600-800 €.

I don't like technical translations because, unless the text is directly related to your field, providing a good text takes a lot of research and double checks. And all that is so incredibly boooooring. :)

[jimrodic]

I get a lot of questions about translation work over here, so I thought this tips post from the blog would make a useful stickie post:.....

If you have any more ideas or questions, please feel free to reply below...


Great information from Ben, Thanks. I was searching for the Translation from english to spainish (http://www.movingoncourses.com/Faq_en.htm) long days. Then my freind in Spain told about one in Spain. I have Got a Great Training and Excellent Ideas there. Then I have recommended all my Friend thier.

Thanks.:)

[Embug2000]

Ok, so I am fairly new to the forum and I am learning alot as I read through the various posts. This one caught my eye because I am trying to figure out what to do when I move to Spain in 2009. I am currently a Spanish teacher in the States with an intermediate-high language proficiency, a friend in Spain recommended that I look into translating from Spanish to English, which seems like a pretty feasible idea. But I have so many questions about it all. Can anyone help me out?

1. I have only had one translation course and that was during my undergrad about 7 years ago. Will this hinder me? If so, what should I do to get a better foothold into the profession?

2. I have registered with proz.com at the suggestion of a forum member and after talking with my translator friend. But now I am at a loss of how to market myself since up to this point I have never done any translating. How does one market themselves for their first translation jobs? I don't even know what my specialty is!

3. Rates!? How do I know how much to charge? At this point I am still teaching in the States and I am just trying to build up a client base and repertoire before I make the move next year, so that when I am living in Spain I have some kind of income. (I am also going to apply to be a cultural assistant and try my hand at teaching English. I know it sounds like a lot but I will still have a few expenses back in the states to take care of, AND I want to travel while I am there.)

I am sure that there are many more questions floating around in my head but I can't put them into words right now. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[Ben]

1. I have only had one translation course and that was during my undergrad about 7 years ago. Will this hinder me? If so, what should I do to get a better foothold into the profession?
I hadn't done any translation courses before I started working as a translator, it didn't seem to matter at all. I was able to put a couple of things on my cv (fairly exaggerated at the time - I had done one translation for my father in law, so said I had worked as a translator for an architectural company...) and that was enough.


2. I have registered with proz.com at the suggestion of a forum member and after talking with my translator friend. But now I am at a loss of how to market myself since up to this point I have never done any translating. How does one market themselves for their first translation jobs? I don't even know what my specialty is!
See how other translators are marketing themselves on proz and copy their techniques! See what specialities other people put, see which ones you think you could do, and copy that! But offer as wide a range of services as possible. When I started I was being sent civil engineering translations - I had no idea about that field, but with the proz dictionaries etc I was able to keep doing the work. So be as open as possible.


3. Rates!? How do I know how much to charge? Again, just see what other poeple are charging on the one hand. I think the first post in this thread talks about rates in Spain as well. Often it is simply a case of seeing what the agency is going to pay you - they set the rates. If it is a direct client, then you can charge more than you would get from an agency, who always take their cut before paying you. You can try and find what they charge clients direct by looking at a few translation agency websites.

I know these answers are a bit vague, but when you start out, don't be afraid to be a bit brash, to copy what others are doing, to exaggerate your experience (Spanish companies rarely do any background checks). You could try signing up for online agency http://fluentwork.com/ - there is a link on there saying they are looking for translators.

Good luck! With perserverance, and a willingness to try different things too, like teaching, you will surely do well here.

[Embug2000]

Thanks Ben! It seems daunting at first and I guess I am a bit scared to screw something up the first time around with translating, but I am not one to give up so I guess there is no time like the present!

[chicoinglés]

Hi Ben,

I am 23, and have just finished my BA (Hons) degree in Spanish and Italian, and am due to be going to Barcelona on the 12th September, to do my MA in Translation Studies at the Universitat Pompeu i Fabra. My plan after finishing this is to stay on in Barna and hopefully live with my Spanish fiancée. I would love to be a translator, and maybe even an interpreter one day, and therefore, while I am studying for the MA, I would like (and need) to get a job to finance it. It would be fantastic if I could work in the translation field, i.e. have some practical experience while I'm studying, and hopefully, this would then lead to a career as a translator.

With regard to my translating experience, I am similar to one of the other posters on here, in that I have only done some basic translation study in my final year at university, which although being a useful insight to the field, doesn't really count as 'work experience'. I have been looking (very briefly at this stage, I might add) at various translation agencies in Spain, and more in particularly, in Barcelona to assist with my job search. I have also registered on http://www.proz.com as a 'Student', but I'm not sure where to go from here. Perhaps you could give me some pointers in the right direction?

Another thing, I don't know how I could put 'the odd translation' I've done for whoever on my CV, because I haven't had any experience of this kind. (plus I'm not very imaginative when it comes down to it)

Me serviría de mucha ayuda cualquier consejo que me podrías dar,

Un abrazo,

Jordan

[WanderingBull]

When I was living nomadically in South America I worked as a translator on the internets for some Spanish translation companies. I think like some folks said, it would be possible to make alright money after building oneself up for up to a year in Spain on the internets. But what if one were to work in-house for a translation company? That might be more fun because I would get to meet some real Spaniards in the flesh instead of sitting home in a dark apartment room totally isolated from society. I mean I might as well be in friggin Cleveland, OH! Anyways, enough with the ranting. I looked on loquo.com and it appears the going rate is 21,000€-24,000€ bruto. Does this mean before taxes or after taxes? And... is it possible to live decently with 21,000€/year in Madrid? That translates to oh about $30,000 and in these here United States you can't live too well on that... thanks for any help!@

[reneedamstra]

Thanks Ben for posting... I'm still thinking about embarking on that four-year Spanish translator's course next year! Unfortunately, I can't show you the curriculum details because they are all in Dutch, otherwise I would like you to see it. First of all, they teach you Spanish, and lots of it. Other subjects include computer skills (*heh*), translation skills, intercultural communication, history and culture of the Spanish-speaking world, etc.

Edith, where do they teach that? I'd like to translate to Dutch as well. (spreek Nederlands uiteraard maar zo kunnen andere mensen het ook nog lezen).

[reneedamstra]

Two. E-mail a covering letter with a brief outline of your experience to a long list of translation agencies, offering to send them a full CV. Lists of agencies can be found via obvious google searches (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGGL,GGGL:2005-09,GGGL:en&q=traduccion+agencias), and the Spanish yellow pages (http://www.paginas-amarillas.es/resultados.asp?activ=traduccion&pgpv=1&mode=simple)




Do you mean just putting agencies on the list you found on google or the spanish yellow pages aka lying about your experience? :P

[Ben]

I would never advocate lying about anything :(

[reneedamstra]

I would never advocate lying about anything :(

Sorry I read your post wrong.
Maybe it's because I'm having the flu :P should go into bed right now!

[Legazpi]

...I looked on loquo.com and it appears the going rate is 21,000€-24,000€ bruto. Does this mean before taxes or after taxes? And... is it possible to live decently with 21,000€/year in Madrid? That translates to oh about $30,000 and in these here United States you can't live too well on that... thanks for any help!@

If they put "bruto" then it means before taxes (i.e. "gross"). You can live ok off €21,000/year. I guess it translates to taking home about €1350/month which should cover sharing a decent flat (about €400/month) and still leave enough to go out a fair bit (provided you don't run a car)

[iris83]

bonjour,
je dois partir en Espagne faire mon Service Volonatire Européen, j'ai donc du rédiger ma lettre de motivation et je souhaiterais que quelqu'un la relise afin de me dire si c'est compréhensible!
merci de me faire signe car je ne peux pas la mettre dans le message!

[Hagrid]

I´m fairly new to these boards and finding out a lot of useful info from them. Just want to say thanks for all the useful posts! I am currently doing an online translation course(WLS Certificate course-however not sure if it will be recognised in Spain seeing as it´s not a Spanish qualification) as it´s something I´m interested in doing and would like a career change. I´ve been working as a TEFL teacher for the past 6 yrs and have had enough of working in academies, being "ripped off" and just teaching in general. However, sounds like translation work is very competitive and I find the course tough going and boring at times. At least, now I know some ways of how to go about finding work/promoting myself when I finish my course and will hopefully find work when I come back to Spain!

[Ben]

Good luck with the course, and the return to Spain!

[ang]

Finally, a lot of translation work is very boring (conracts, technical and engineering documents). But don't let that put you off - it's just something to bear in mind!


hey ben, i'm currently working as an engineer in the uk and have pretty good all round communication skills (sadly a rare thing for engineers!) and a basic grasp of spanish.

while i'm nowhere near ready yet (just completed an intermediate course), i'm thinking of the next 5-10 years maybe doing something with my spanish, possibly moving over there. would i be at an advantage for translating with my technical skills background? or would i be better to stick to the straight technical jobs?

[Legazpi]

hey ben, i'm currently working as an engineer in the uk and have pretty good all round communication skills (sadly a rare thing for engineers!) and a basic grasp of spanish.

while i'm nowhere near ready yet (just completed an intermediate course), i'm thinking of the next 5-10 years maybe doing something with my spanish, possibly moving over there. would i be at an advantage for translating with my technical skills background? or would i be better to stick to the straight technical jobs?

I work in IT in Madrid and occasionally have translations thrown my way, including some engineering translations (my first degree was in Mechanical Engineering). I think there is quite a bit of work available for translating technical documents and there are some courses that help you to specialise in it:

http://www.iol.org.uk/qualifications/exams_diptrans.asp (file://///euqaext1/ES/SpainDocs/DocSys/138548/)

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/humanities/translationgroup/mscintranslation

Of course you can find a lot of translation work online, so you don't need to come to Spain before giving it a go. You could even try to build up a client base and seeing whether its a viable option while your still in the UK. You'll also get a chance to see for yourself whether you like the work or not.

Personally I prefer to do straight technical jobs in Spain since they give me the chance to work in a Spanish office, meet Spanish people, improve my Spanish, and generally integrate into Spanish society. I also prefer the social contact you get from working in an office to the rather isolated world of the freelance translator.

[Oksie]

Hi Ben,

Sorry to ask this question here (Teaching English forum has been closed).

I am Russian and have been living in the UK for 3 years, have been studying English for 14 years, have done a degree in teaching English in Russia and have 2 years of teaching experience (also in Russia) and I speak Spanish to an advanced ( I hope !) level. I am thinking of doing CELTA, here in the UK and then trying to find a teaching job in Madrid (maybe even teaching both English and Russian!).
I wonder if Spanish employers will be willing to issue a work permit (as I am not an EU-national and not a native speaker), especially taking into consideration the state of the Spanish economy.

Also, is it worth having all relevant diplomas/certificates from Russia translated into Spanish and notorised?

Gracias de antemano,

Oksana

[oreocrisps]

hey,

i was wondering if you would be able to suggest some good translation service companies. i have been looking around but i am not too sure. my friend referred me to a company but i would like some more feedback. please let me know. thank you!