As I mentioned in my last post, I am publishing a new book in January 2022 about how bilinguals can earn income doing written translation. Specifically, it focuses on starting a “side hustle” (part-time), but there is certainly the possibility of making translation your main career.
Some translation tasks require that the translator be certified, for example official documents such as diplomas, academic transcripts, birth certificates, etc. I do these occasionally, but it is difficult to earn a good hourly rate because of the formatting and paperwork involved.
Here’s a secret I’ve learned over the past few years: there are other types of translation that are much more profitable and do not require that you be a certified translator. When working into my mother tongue (English) from another language (French) in a subject area that I am familiar with (religion), I can do translation and revision incredibly fast.
And since translation and revision rates are usually based on the number of words in a document, how much you earn is entirely dependent on your efficiency. The client never needs to know how much you are earning per hour; and it is irrelevant as long as you do quality work on time for the amount agreed upon.
Translation rates vary around the world, but I would like to give you an example of my own translation income potential. When I left my job in Ontario as a law clerk in 2008 to do nonprofit work, I was earning a decent hourly rate after having accumulated 15 years of experience and having had some promotions.
To help fund our nonprofit translation endeavours, I started doing freelance translation for a few hours each week. When I began, I was earning a similar hourly rate to what I did as a law clerk. But now that I know which types of translation work I can do most efficiently, I am earning 4 times that hourly rate. That’s a 400% increase from my office employee earning potential 13 years ago to my freelance translation earning potential today.
So if you are bilingual and enjoy writing, think about the possibilities doing freelance translation as a side hustle. Or even as a career: with higher income per hour, you could work fewer hours and have free time to do volunteer translation for the nonprofit of your choice!
Have a great day!
Liane 😊
