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Friday, February 23, 2007

The homework of a freelance translator

The homework of a freelance translator

If you are providing for freelance translation services there are a lot of things that are supposed to be kept in mind. One should not take the risk of ignoring these, as these are actually the infrastructure on which your career of a freelance translator is based upon. Here are some of the things that you should keep in mind.

· Remember always to find out who the client is. This can be very helpful to determine the register of your translation.
· Make sure that you have a point of contact with the client. This would help you to get your queries answered. Remember to keep a record of the contact person’s telephone number, email and obviously the name.
· When you are translating find out the language variant if any. For example there are certain differences in the English of the United Kingdom and that of the United States of America.
· Find out whether there are any particular standards for the translation work that you are doing.
· There are instances where you are to work under a particular contract on behalf of a company. You should strictly adhere to the style guide if any. There might also be certain rules for the dates of translation that are essential and need to be followed carefully.
· There might be text areas that are within certain images or tables. Remember to enquire whether these texts need to be translated as well or not. If you have a grasp over graphic editing programs it would be a definite advantage.
· Find out whether the client requires a particular word processing software for the translation or not.

These will help you to get a fair idea of the requirements of the client.

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