How is the freelance translation market in the UK right now? Thread poster: Natalia Pastor Pearce
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Hi all,
It's been a while since I last visited Proz
I've been working as an in-house medical/life sciences translator for a pretty large agency for the past 3 years, I have around 10 years' worth of translation experience and have just finished my Master's in Translation. For various reasons, both of a professional and personal nature, I feel like it's time to dip my toes into freelancing waters but with all the uncert... See more Hi all,
It's been a while since I last visited Proz
I've been working as an in-house medical/life sciences translator for a pretty large agency for the past 3 years, I have around 10 years' worth of translation experience and have just finished my Master's in Translation. For various reasons, both of a professional and personal nature, I feel like it's time to dip my toes into freelancing waters but with all the uncertainty we've had in the UK (and the world in general) over the last few years, I don't know if it's the right time for freelancing.
How are others finding the market these days? ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:21
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| If you're based in the UK, it doesn't depend on the UK | Sep 19, 2022 |
If you're based in the UK, it doesn't depend on the UK; it depends on the market in the country whose language you are translating into English.
I'm in the UK, but my work depends on the market in Italy, because I translate from Italian into English. The documents I translate are produced in Italy, not in the UK, and 99.99% of the people I work with are in Italy.
So if you want to know what the UK market is like, you should be asking people who are translating from Engl... See more If you're based in the UK, it doesn't depend on the UK; it depends on the market in the country whose language you are translating into English.
I'm in the UK, but my work depends on the market in Italy, because I translate from Italian into English. The documents I translate are produced in Italy, not in the UK, and 99.99% of the people I work with are in Italy.
So if you want to know what the UK market is like, you should be asking people who are translating from English into other languages; in your case specifically, translators whose mother tongue is Spanish.
If you want to know what the market is like for translating from Spanish to English, you should be investigating what the market is like in the Spanish-speaking countries.
[Edited at 2022-09-19 11:52 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-09-19 12:07 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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and very difficult to find new clients because the markets are flooded with very low rates. Also, acquiring a decent portfolio of clients requires time, sometimes years. I would say it's the wrong time for your transition, even if you have enough savings to navigate the change. Let's see what the other colleagues say.
[Edited at 2022-09-19 12:36 GMT]
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My language pairs are different from yours and for me the market has been as unpredictable as ever. I wonder if your particular circumstances, both at a professional and a personal level, allow you to start freelancing while working in-house? That’s what I did for a while before taking the plunge... Good luck!
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| A gradual transition | Sep 19, 2022 |
Teresa Borges wrote:
I wonder if your particular circumstances, both at a professional and a personal level, allow you to start freelancing while working in-house? That’s what I did for a while before taking the plunge...
Yes, this would be my suggestion too. It's a very good idea to start gradually and freelance on the side while keeping your day job so you can see how things go. Unless you're unusually lucky, you will probably pick up clients slowly over a long period of time (months, maybe more than a year), so it may be quite some time before you have enough work to go full time.
I can't comment on the markets for your languages specifically as I don't work with them, but I share Giovanni's view on the state of the market in general.
Despite that, as for timing, I'd say go for it now if it's what you want to do. I don't imagine that global instability will go away any time soon, so I see little point in waiting for that to happen, and the sooner you start, the sooner you'll find out if you can make a go of it. But as Teresa recommends, I wouldn't go full time straight away, and I'd also go into it with realistic expectations about how long it may take to get established and the fact that a sizeable proportion of outsourcers - more now than ever before, I'd say - want to pay rock-bottom rates that won't be worthwhile. Better clients are out there, but they're harder to find. Networking and building up a list of contacts in the fields you want to translate in - potential direct clients - could pay dividends, but remember that it's normal for things to develop slowly in the early months, whatever you do.
There are a lot of previous threads in the "Getting established" forum which are well worth a browse as a lot of tips can be found there. Among the many contributors I could mention (no offence to anyone else!), I would recommend looking for posts by Sheila Wilson in particular. She was a fountain of good advice about getting started - among other subjects - until she stopped posting a year or two ago, I think she might have retired.
Good luck!
| | | | Julia Mojik 
Germany
Local time: 17:21
Member (2007)
English to German
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Hi Natalie,
I as specialising ENG>GER translator with 14 years of full-time freelance experience with regular clients and located in Germany agree with Giovanni and Teresa. Don't change now, unless you your employer is bullying or cheating on you.
Best regards,
Julia
[Edited at 2022-09-19 15:48 GMT]
| | | | David GAY
Local time: 17:21
English to French
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The company you work for owns a big chunk of the translation market in the UK, especially in life sciences. If, for some reason, you couldn t derive at least half of your earnings as a freelancer from this LSP, you would struggle a lot as a freelancer. So you have to find out how much work they could bring you as a freelancer. Would it be enough to live on
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:21
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
| Go into it with open eyes | Sep 20, 2022 |
Peter Shortall wrote:
Despite that, as for timing, I'd say go for it now if it's what you want to do. I don't imagine that global instability will go away any time soon, so I see little point in waiting for that to happen, and the sooner you start, the sooner you'll find out if you can make a go of it.
I agree with Peter. For most new ventures, the time and the conditions will never be just right. There'll always be reasons to delay and defer. Why not start now? Provided that you approach it with care, it should not affect your day job.
Dan
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Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 17:21
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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Natalia Pastor Pearce wrote:
With all the uncertainty we've had in the UK (and the world in general) over the last few years, I don't know if it's the right time for freelancing.
Unless you live in a country where the electricity and internet access is unreliable and your freedom of movement is restricted, there is nothing stopping you from becoming a freelance translator today. While it's true that some industries may suffer (and translators who focused on those industries face uncertainty), there is nothing special about the current world situation or even the current UK situation that would make starting or continuing as a freelancer any more problematic than any other time in recent history. It may be that some potential clients may be less eager to buy translations due to various uncertainties, but just think how well you would end up doing once everything recovers and you already have a solid client base.
Julia Mojik wrote:
Don't change now, unless you your employer is bullying or cheating on you.
Perhaps I misunderstood what Natalie meant by "dipping her toes". I agree that it is generally a poor decision to quit a sure thing and start a freelance venture from scratch. Remember the rules of thumb: it takes 6-12 months to build up a client base large enough to support you. So unless you have a solid amount of savings to live off, you can "dip your toes" but don't jump right in. Build your freelance client base gradually (and as quickly as you can) over the coming 6-24 months.
[Edited at 2022-09-20 07:50 GMT]
| | | | Natalia Pastor Pearce
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:21
Member (2023)
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you all for your helpful (and varied!) replies
Unfortunately, my employment contract has a clause strictly forbidding any kind of work (whether paid or unpaid, during or outside of working hours) that isn't my employment duties, so part-time entry wouldn't be possible in my case.
I think I'll try to save enough to get by for 6 months without work and reassess the situation once I have that safety ne... See more Thank you all for your helpful (and varied!) replies
Unfortunately, my employment contract has a clause strictly forbidding any kind of work (whether paid or unpaid, during or outside of working hours) that isn't my employment duties, so part-time entry wouldn't be possible in my case.
I think I'll try to save enough to get by for 6 months without work and reassess the situation once I have that safety net in place. As many have mentioned, it'll never be the perfect time to dive in, so I guess I'll just have to base the move on my personal circumstances rather than external ones.
@Peter, thanks for the tip on the Getting Established posts by Sheila Wilson -- I'll be checking those out ASAP.
Thanks all again! ▲ Collapse
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Natalia Pastor Pearce wrote: Thank you all for your helpful (and varied!) replies Unfortunately, my employment contract has a clause strictly forbidding any kind of work (whether paid or unpaid, during or outside of working hours) that isn't my employment duties, so part-time entry wouldn't be possible in my case. I think I'll try to save enough to get by for 6 months without work and reassess the situation once I have that safety net in place. As many have mentioned, it'll never be the perfect time to dive in, so I guess I'll just have to base the move on my personal circumstances rather than external ones. @Peter, thanks for the tip on the Getting Established posts by Sheila Wilson -- I'll be checking those out ASAP. Thanks all again!
1. If you freelanced on the side, how would they know?
2. Will your employer give you work when you leave? (Assuming you haven't clashed over point 1!) It's often the starting point for freelancers.
3. It's not a good time to be a translator in general but there's no reason why you should have it harder as a freelancer than as an employee.
| | | | | Is that legal? | Sep 21, 2022 |
Natalia Pastor Pearce wrote:
Unfortunately, my employment contract has a clause strictly forbidding any kind of work (whether paid or unpaid, during or outside of working hours) that isn't my employment duties
Can they really do that in the UK? Does this mean that you're not permitted to do housework? Or gardening?
To me this seems a) unlikely and b) unenforceable. An employer can't control what you choose to do in your free time.
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Natalia Pastor Pearce
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:21
Member (2023)
Spanish to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | My thoughts exactly! | Sep 21, 2022 |
Philip Lees wrote:
Can they really do that in the UK? Does this mean that you're not permitted to do housework? Or gardening?
To me this seems a) unlikely and b) unenforceable. An employer can't control what you choose to do in your free time.
Glad it's not just me who thought this was strange. But I checked my contract a couple of days back and the wording leaves little room for misinterpretation. So I asked my employer today and they confirmed that I need written permission (!) if I'm thinking of taking up a second job... It's in a contract I've signed, so legally binding apparently
[Edited at 2022-09-21 12:07 GMT]
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Unfortunately, my employment contract has a clause strictly forbidding any kind of work (whether paid or unpaid, during or outside of working hours) that isn't my employment duties, so part-time entry wouldn't be possible in my case.
That's bizarre and probably unenforceable.
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