How can I start a French to English legal translation career?
Thread poster: Emma Nendick
Emma Nendick
Emma Nendick
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:51
French to English
Mar 23, 2021

I have some French to English legal translation experience from 30 years ago. I am keen to revive that and become a professional translator.

Can anyone give me any advice on how to break into the legal translation field?

I am a native English speaker and have degree level qualifications in English law and French law. I worked as an English lawyer for 15 years, specialising in tax law, and have worked in a publishing company for the past 15 years, gaining experience in e
... See more
I have some French to English legal translation experience from 30 years ago. I am keen to revive that and become a professional translator.

Can anyone give me any advice on how to break into the legal translation field?

I am a native English speaker and have degree level qualifications in English law and French law. I worked as an English lawyer for 15 years, specialising in tax law, and have worked in a publishing company for the past 15 years, gaining experience in editing and proof-reading in English. I worked and studied in France for around 3 years in my twenties, including some time as a legal translator, and was virtually bi-lingual 30 years ago! I have not used French in my work a great deal since then, although my knowledge of the language is still strong (and I am working on improving it).

Thank you in advance!

Emma
Collapse


 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 12:51
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Just get stuck in? Mar 24, 2021

Emma Nendick wrote:
Can anyone give me any advice on how to break into the legal translation field?

It seems you have qualifications and some translation experience plus a lot of sector experience. So why not just dive in? You will need to work hard on reviving your French comprehension and updating your legal knowledge in both languages/systems, but at the same time you could accept any jobs that you feel you could complete successfully.

First though, you have to make sure you don't become dependent on the peanut-paying agencies. There are a lot around nowadays and you don't want to be sucked into providing specialised legal translations for a couple of cents a word. Active marketing is the way to avoid that, along with specialisation. Make sure you concentrate on giving a very clear and professional marketing message, and get it heard by as many potential clients as possible. Potential clients are hiding everywhere there's social media, so networking is extremely important nowadays. But your freelancer-style CV and your quotes are still very important too. You could do worse than making this site your professional shop window (to start with, at least) as it's the most well-known, so I advise you to check out the Site Guidance Centre as well as the forums, the Wikis and the training videos here. Last but not at all least, check out the Scam Centre as new translators are the most vulnerable to scams - and the most targeted.


Jorge Payan
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Paul Malone
Rachel Waddington
 
Anton Konashenok
Anton Konashenok  Identity Verified
Czech Republic
Local time: 13:51
French to English
+ ...
Don't start, continue! Mar 24, 2021

Emma, your qualifications already place you in the top 5% of the legal translator community. Just write a nice CV and go ahead. With qualifications like yours, I would probably not even bother with the agencies but rather go directly to large law firms, especially those likely to need your services. Maybe also big accounting firms and the like.

Paul Malone
Dan Lucas
Rachel Waddington
Angie Garbarino
 
Emma Nendick
Emma Nendick
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:51
French to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you! Mar 26, 2021

Sheila, Anton - thank you so much for your advice and encouragement. I had been wondering about approaching agencies, so it's particularly helpful to get your views on that.

 
Thaís Caroline Silva
Thaís Caroline Silva  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 09:51
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Amazing experience Mar 29, 2021

Just use part of your quote as your presentation. Just by Reading it you'll find a client.


Emma Nendick wrote:

I have some French to English legal translation experience from 30 years ago. I am keen to revive that and become a professional translator.

Can anyone give me any advice on how to break into the legal translation field?

I am a native English speaker and have degree level qualifications in English law and French law. I worked as an English lawyer for 15 years, specialising in tax law, and have worked in a publishing company for the past 15 years, gaining experience in editing and proof-reading in English. I worked and studied in France for around 3 years in my twenties, including some time as a legal translator, and was virtually bi-lingual 30 years ago! I have not used French in my work a great deal since then, although my knowledge of the language is still strong (and I am working on improving it).

Thank you in advance!

Emma


 
Aisha Maniar
Aisha Maniar  Identity Verified
Member
Arabic to English
+ ...
Setting up... Mar 29, 2021

... as a freelancer takes time even if you are experienced. You can use that time to continue improving on the skills you feel have become rusty. In addition, it's important to let potential clients - agencies or direct clients - know that you specialise in particular areas of legal translation. In that way, you can even charge higher rates for those specialisations, such as tax law. As has also been mentioned here, you can also advertise yourself as an accounting (law) translator.
Good lu
... See more
... as a freelancer takes time even if you are experienced. You can use that time to continue improving on the skills you feel have become rusty. In addition, it's important to let potential clients - agencies or direct clients - know that you specialise in particular areas of legal translation. In that way, you can even charge higher rates for those specialisations, such as tax law. As has also been mentioned here, you can also advertise yourself as an accounting (law) translator.
Good luck!
Collapse


 
Emma Nendick
Emma Nendick
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:51
French to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you! Apr 3, 2021

Thank you so much for your encouraging comments and very practical suggestions about promoting myself. The average rates tool is really helpful too, in giving me a sense of what I can expect to be able to charge.

[Edited at 2021-04-03 10:03 GMT]


 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

How can I start a French to English legal translation career?







Trados Studio 2022 Freelance
The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.

Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

More info »
CafeTran Espresso
You've never met a CAT tool this clever!

Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer. Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools. Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free

Buy now! »