7 ways to identify a bad-payer before you take up the translation job

7 ways to identify a bad-payer before you take up the translation job 1. If the email comes with subject in Capital letters with or without an exclamatory mark(!),. its a suspect. I delete it without opening . Project managers will never write mails in capital letters. 2. Mail coming from free email providers like yahoo, hotmail, gmail- If the agency could not afford to pay for their own domain names how can they pay you? This does not mean that all client having a free email id is suspect. The point is to know who is behind the email id. If the client provides his full contact details or website but has a free email id, then its fine. No problem. After all there are benefits of using free email id's and it is convenient. The point is- one needs to know as much as possible about the client before taking up a job. Email is just one pointer in that direction. 3.Job request without contact addersses, website for the agency- they are suspect. 4. Agency wants 5000 words in a day. 5.Do a google search for the senders name and email address , like I search for john@yahoo.com and also for john, I add 'payment review' in the search string after the name or email id. 6. I look for reports about the agency in PROZ blue board 7. I check for the agencies in 'payment practices yahoo and other egroups If you know any other mathod let us know for the benefits of all. You can write to me - gdc at getdirectclient.com happy translating! Ostom Ray

Great quote

" I am convinced that life is 10 percent what happens to me and 90 percent of how I react to it. ... The greatest discovery of my life is that by changing my attitude, I CAN CHANGE MY LIFE" =Dr. Charles Swindoll

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.

Deciding upon freelance translation as a profession

Articles: My Top 10 Article Directories for 2006

Article Directories have become one of the critical tools in your seo strategy however not all article directories are equal. Over the last few months my team and I have been evaluating over 700 Article Directories and from those we have assessed what we consider our top 10 article directories. We have looked at a number of difference attributes when assessing the article directories including the following: 1. Number of People Reading the Articles 2. How Quickly Articles Are Approved 3. Whether you can access your article statistics 4. Level of Support and help from the article directory owners 5. The Terms of Service 6. How Easy it is to submit articles After reviewing each of these core attributes the number one article directory on the internet is certainly hands down Ezine Articles. Managed by Chris Knight this site is the epitome of outstanding service to article writers. Ezine Articles runs a program in which writers with over ten approved articles have their writer rating upped to a Platinum Status which enables the writers to have their articles approved within 24 hours. If article directories do not approve articles regularly then the whole value of the article will never be realized and that is why we have given article directories that regularly approve articles a higher position in the top ten then those who do not. Finally out top ten article directories for 2006 are: Number 1: Ezine Article (www.ezinearticles.com) Number 2: Article Dashboard (www.articledashboard.com) Number 3: Go Article (www.goarticles.com) Number 4: Search Warp (www.searchwarp.com) Number 5: Afro Articles (www.afroarticles.com) Number 6: Amazines (www.amazines.com) Number 7: Article Teller (www.articleteller.com) Number 8: Article Alley (www.articlealley.com) Number 9: Article OnRamp (www.articleonramp.com) Number 10: Article-Gems (www.article-gems.com) Article Source: http://www.article-gems.com/ Chris Le Roy If you would like to access over three hundred article directory's visit our Article Directory List. If you are looking for other great online and offline web marketing web information visit Online Marketing Source- http://www.1-on-1.biz/products/articledirectory/articledirectory.asp http://www.youronlinemarketingbusinessopportunity.com/

Are you a Professional Freelance Translator? Find Out

The work done by professional freelance translators is not an easy one. Some people speak fluently in more than one language and thinks that they have all that takes to become a professional freelance translator. However, the truth is a bit different. You are the best judge of yourself. Following are some of the determining factors that can help you decide whether you have got professionalism in freelance translation jobs in you. Through the following seven factors listed below, try to identify and question yourself to derive the correct answer. · Does your experience in the foreign language last for 2-3 months stint you did in any crash course? · How many translation assignments have you worked on? Was it a college assignment? · Take a look at the email address you employ to be in touch with your clients. Does it read something as funny as bunny06@yahoo.com or something similar? · Do you have the tendency to accept all translation offers that comes your way? How often do you make the effort to find out the subject matter of the translation before embarking on the project with the client? · Are you wondering what “Deadlines” are and the importance of it? · Do you rate interpretation and translation as the same thing? · Do you make use of online translation tools and pass them off as your own work? If you identify yourself with the above factors, then you are just a wannabe freelance translator and need to work on your language skills to sharpen it further. But, don’t lose heart, hard work in the field of freelance translation jobs pay off well. Be determined, work hard on languages, bid for simple translation works, and gradually work your way to become a success in this industry

Freelance Translation Works – How to go about it?

When you are on freelance translation jobs, you need to make sure that this business becomes a permanent marketing activity, just like any other business in the market. Often it is found that freelance translators promote their translation skills by simply posting profile on directories and translation portals, and distributing resume to translation agencies. You need to market more proactively through forums, blogs, newsletters, email marketing, networking, referrals, additional publicity and advertisements. To be in business, you need to make you mind work like a journalist and expose your skills through Press Releases. The Headline is the most crucial element as it grabs attention of readers. The Sub-head should explicate the Heading in a few lines. The Lead Paragraph must answer questions like how, where, when, what, who. The following paragraphs should explain the story in detail and the conclusion should enclose information about your business and work. Once you complete working on the Press Release, work on strategies to distribute and publish the material in all forms of media. The best way to advertise your freelance translation service to thousands of potential targeted clients is through online Press Release services. Initially select the online services that are free since you will have nothing to lose and only the possibility to gain! You can also contact PR distributors for sending your service information to the media. If you want to contact the media directly, you need to know the trick of writing a convincing pitch letter. It is a short letter that you address to the editor requesting him to read the attached PR. Press Release is a very powerful tool, and when combined with serious marketing efforts, can take your freelance translation services to new heights

How to increase your online freelance translation business?

How to increase your online freelance translation business? You have to expand your business an increase profits and for this there are certain things to be kept in mind. Here are some of the effective points that will help you to make your business boom and become lucrative. Have an email address for your self, as this will give a chance for your clients to get an instant access to you. Build a website of your own. Invest in a website for your freelance translation business. This needs to be absolutely crisp and totally informative without any frills. This would ad on a professional touch also to your online business. An email signature block is a must. It should not be too long but should bear the name of of the website that you own along with the area in which you specialize. Articles are the best way to show and market your talents. Write in forums that are there on line and you will fin that your market is expanding as more and more people are getting to know about the type and the quality of work that you are doing. Take out some time to relax. Without this you will tend to find the job extremely boring and tiresome. If you take the help of the many software used for translation you will save time and it will increase your quality of work also.

Freelance Translation Ethics

Generally people think that freelance translation jobs require little or no ethics at all. However, since this profession deals with clients and other people, freelance translators need to maintain certain standard ethics. Even though it is not easy to point out unethical behavior in freelance translation services, there are a number of ways to keep out from them. There are various forms of unethical behavior in the field of translation. Freelance translators attempt their best to meet the given deadline on time and candidly replies back to the client on what they can achieve within the given timeframe. It is unethical to avoid informing the clients in situations when you are unable to meet the deadline, as the clients may also have their own deadlines. Disrespecting deadlines can only bring downfall to your freelance translation business. Always try to keep information of your client confidential. Also, avoid overcharging the clients once the price is quoted. There are a lot of clients who are new to the business and have little knowledge on calculating translation fees. Avoid the temptation to overcharge ignorant clients. This may temporarily earn you a few extra dollars, but will also pave the path of your doom in freelance translation services. Any profession can face these ethical issues and the profession of translation is no exception. Freelance translators should be well aware of the ethical issues that can pop up so that they can work to avoid them. Being ethical should be one of the prime responsibilities of freelance translators.

Ways to Keep yourself Motivated during Freelance Translation Jobs

Any type of work requires self-discipline. But when you are doing freelance translation jobs from home, self-discipline is not sufficient. You need to know how to sustain motivation since it is an essential element in enhancing productivity. You will instantly know that you are lacking in motivation when you lose enthusiasm to work on translation. To regain it back and improve the situation, you must first identify the reasons for your lack of motivation. If the reason is that the translation work is distasteful, then you can try to offer a reward to yourself on its successful completion. You can fit in small breaks of songs and music in between your work schedule and break the task into smaller work fragments. By inserting exciting tasks in between the fragmented work, you will be motivated to continue working on translation. Often in freelance translation jobs, you may come across situations when you become overwhelmed by difficult projects. Moreover, the fact that you are not working in an office where you have colleagues to encourage you does not help either. In such situations, try looking for online resources, bookstores and libraries. If that doesn’t help, contact people who are familiar with such projects since brainstorming for ideas can provide new ways. It is best to set goals for freelance translation works. If your focus is not clear, you may risk losing enthusiasm and direction of work. Maintain a daily work schedule. This will keep you in a routine and will enhance motivation. Lack of proper exercise and food can make you become lethargic and steal away motivation. Thus, you should increase intake of essential vitamins and minerals, and re-vitalize yourself through physical workout. Try out the following tips to sustain motivation and improve productivity and efficiency.