Can one make money reviewing translations?

kyoto wrote:

I am frequently asked to handle QM-ing or reviewing in addition to my regular translating. I would like to ask if one can make money doing this at the low rates offered and whether the mindset of a translator is suitable for reviewing. When I have occasionally checked the translation of a colleague, I can see the problems he/she faced and tend to be rather forgiving. I take no pleasure in tearing a translation to pieces as I have seen other "reviewers" do. I find translating a voyage of discovery and challenge with each new project. Reviewing strikes me as being a bit of a plodding "picking up the pieces" activity. And, finally, are there effective ways to make reviewing less of a chore?

kyoto wrote:
I would like to ask if one can make money doing this at the low rates offered

and whether the mindset of a translator is suitable for reviewing. When I have occasionally checked the translation of a colleague, I can see the problems he/she faced and tend to be rather forgiving. I take no pleasure in tearing a translation to pieces as I have seen other "reviewers" do.

Sheila Wilson wrote:
But translator-reviewers who overlook problems to be "kind" to the original translator, or who tear an adequate translation to pieces just to show how clever they are, are clearly not suitable as reviewers. Every reviewer should be able to focus on the needs of the client and the requirements of the job.

Merab Dekano wrote:

You have to be very experienced translator/linguist to effectively handle editing/proofreading at professional level. If someone is just breaking into translating, I would advise to avoid it.

Can you make good money out of it? That will depend on the approach you decide to take. "Per word" way oftentimes backfires. If you get shabby translation to edit, you will spend a lot of time just to get over a few hundred words. In any case, good standard would be to set your per word rate at half for editing and maybe quarter for proofreading (in relation to your translation rate).

If you decide to skip per word method (recommended), you can start charging per hour. If you translate 300 words an hour at a rate of say 0.10 (for the sake of the exercise), you are making 300 x 0.10 = 30 EUR an hour. So charge 30 euros for one hour spent on editing. Some colleagues charge 35 euros, 45 euros or even 50 euros an hour. Others probably accept 20 euros.

The trick is to never accept a text for editing/proofreading before actually going through it. The risk is high. As we say in Spain "te pueden dar gato por liebre" (pig in a poke).

Tom in London wrote:



All too often, when reading through somebody else's translation, I come across expressions I'm not sure about. To understand what the meaning was intended to be, this means I have to go back to the original text in the source language, and re-translate.

This is very time-consuming; in effect, it takes just as long, if not longer, than a full translation. For that reason I have stopped doing this kind of work.

Henry Schroeder wrote:

You are completely right in my opinion. Even the maximum rate (0.04 EUR/Wort) for proofreading (i.e. comparison of the original and translation) that a translation agency will pay is too low to make proofreading profitable relative to translation. There are a variety of reasons for this, including the fact that the proofreader must adapt his/her mind not only to a new original text, but also to an unfamiliar style of translation. This is too much for the mind at once and requires slower reading - if you are going to pick up the minor errors that all translators make every few thousand words (misreading a word, leaving out a word, altering the tense, etc.). God forbid the translator's text be poor. No matter what, the price you are being paid for the number of words is too low relative to the price you would be paid to translate the inverse amount (see below), so you may as well translate for the most part.

However, it can be very interesting to see the styles of other translators. I do some proofreading for one company that has the stage integrated in their process, but only for the sake of interest - to see what other translators are doing, how they translate, etc.

One must add that a proofreader is critical for the process. Figuring out how to integrate this into a business model profitably and with good quality will result in an exceptional business model. I'll give you one hint on how to do: make sure you don't have any debt payments for the business.

I recently blogged on this subject, partially in German, partially in English. Here is an excerpt:


(iii) Lektorierungsarbeit ist interessant, lohnt sich aber nicht. Es ist super ein bisschen zu lektorieren. Die Übersetzerin von dem XXX Text hat das super übersetzt und bietet dadurch Anreize und Einblick ins Übersetzen an. Die Übersetzerin von den Startup-Incubator-Texten (für YYY Chefs Firma; fällt mir im Augenblick nicht mehr ein) vor einigen Jahren waren auch unwahrscheinlich gut. Aber interessant heißt nicht, dass es sich lohnt. Bei 0,03 EUR/Wort lohnt es auf keinen Fall im Vergleich zum Übersetzen, weil es einfach zu schwer ist, sofort in die neue Sprache schnell hineinzudenken. Es geht natürlich, aber es geht langsamer, als wenn man selber den Text übersetzt (dadurch schon ein bisschen verinnerlicht hat) und dann selbst lektoriert (aus genau diesem Grund sind die maschinellen Übersetzungen wertlos). Das Übersetzen von 3.000 Wörter pro Tag x 0,09 EUR/Wort ist wesentlich leichter als das Lektorieren eines entsprechenden Textes im Umfang von 9.000 Wörter.

http://perypatetik.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-greatest-problem-in-commercial.html

Andrea Halbritter wrote:

Yes, you can and I like it. I work as a translator for direct clients and as a proofreader/editor for a few agencies. In some fields and for some agencies proofreading can really pay well, especially if the documents are to be printed. I make up to 80 € per hour for reviewing... (even when I am the second proofreader...).

I do not go through really bad translations though. If there are to many problems I propose a retranslation instead.

[Modifié le 2015-02-13 17:07 GMT]

Edwin den Boer wrote:

I tend to earn more money per hour from reviewing than from translating (although not as much as Andrea). On the other hand, there are more translation jobs available.

Some relevant factors are:

1. How agencies/clients allocate their budget. Some agencies that specialize in rather technical texts, hire translators that are competent in general translation and rely on editors to ensure that the translation adheres to the client's style and terminology. That makes sense when there's a limited number of experts.

2. How fast you can work - whether you're paid per word or per hour according to a certain standard. The ideal editor has a different personality than the ideal translator - more critical, maybe less creative. I read fast and write slowly, so I prefer editing (or translating a difficult text).