To become a translator you can work as a freelancer or for translation agencies/companies. As a freelancer you need discipline to structure your hours and take breaks to avoid burnout. Freelancing allows flexibility but you must market yourself. Working for agencies provides a steady stream of work managing administration but pays lower fees. Both the EU and UN hire translators through competitions requiring language qualifications and experience. Before freelancing consider advantages like flexibility versus risks of self-marketing.

1. How to Become a Translator Presented By: HayaaRafed AL-Obaidi ID:0879471 LANE: 462PracticumFA Instructor:Dr. ShadiaYousefBanjar

2. Working as a freelance: Freelance:, freelance worker, or freelance is somebody who is self-employed and is not committed to a particular employer long term.

3. Unrealistic expectations of freelance translators include: The ability to work more than 24 hours a day. No desire for holidays or weekends off. The ability to drop whatever you’re doing at the moment to fit in a panic job that just has to be completed by this afternoon. The ability to survive without payment for long periods.

5. Plan your working hours to allow sufficient time to recover the mental energy you burn... There are of course times when you need to stretch your working hours.

7. The difference between a translationcompany and a translation agency One decision you will need to make at one stage is whether to work for translation companies and agencies or whether to try and build up your own client base If you work for translation agencies you will be able to establish a good rapport. This will ensure a reasonably steady stream of work .You will also have the option of saying ‘No thanks’ if you have no capacity at the time. It will also keep your administration to a low manageable level. The fees offered by translation agencies will be lower than you can demand from Direct clients But consider the fact that agencies do all the work of marketing, advertising and selling to get the translation assignments. All you need do as a freelance, essentially, is to register with them and accept or reject the assignments offered. Working for translation agencies will also allow you to build up your expertise gradually. Reputable translation agencies also make additional checks on the translations you submit. They may also spend a considerable amount of time reformatting a translation to suit a client’s requirements. The fact that an agency performs these additional tasks does not in any way absolve you from producing the best possible translation you can for the intended purpose.

8. Be warning : -It is unethical to approach a translation agency’s clients directly and attempt to sell them your services. You may consider it tempting but it is viewed as commercial piracy. -It will take you some time to establish a reputation as a translator. -The world of translators is quite small and word gets around incredibly quickly if you act unprofessionally. Commercial piracy

9. Working directly with clients If you decide to work with translation agencies, all you need to do is register with a number of them and hopefully you will receive a regular supply of work. if you want to work directly with clients and this requires quite a different approach. There will be additional demands on your time that will swallow up productive and The table below will perhaps allow you to make your own judgement.

11. Test translations: the small amount of time you may have to spend on a test translation -it’s not very long. A test usually amounts to a page or so. Performing a test translation will give you a chance to shine and could be the start of a long-term working agreement. Most clients demand that translation agencies provide test translations .

12. Recruitment competitions Two major users of multilingual skills are the European Community. the United Nations. Both organizations employ a large number of multilingual service providers (translators, checkers, interpreters, lawyers, administrators, etc.).

13. The European communityGeneral conditions of eligibility for competitions for translators or assistant translators. 1-Nationality: candidates must be citizens of a Member State of the European Union 2-Qualifications: candidates must hold a university or CNAA degree or equivalent qualification . 3-languages Translators translate exclusively into their mother tongue. 4-Age: the upper age limits are 45 for LA 8 and LA 7 competitions. 5-• No experience is required for LA 8 competitions, which are open only to candidates, who obtained their degree no more than three years before the competition is announced. 6-At least three years’ experience is required for LA 7 competitions. The experience may be in language work or in some relevant professional field (economics, finance, administration, law, science, etc.).

14. Conditions of The United Nations Applicants outside the Secretariat applying for the examination must 1-have the language that they are translating into as their main language; 2- have a perfect command of English and an excellent knowledge of French and one of the other official languages of the United Nations (Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish); 3- hold a degree or qualification from a university or institution of equivalent status or hold a university degree from a school of translation.

15. Finally ; Before you consider working as a freelancer, you should really consider the advantages and risks. You will need discipline to schedule your working hours and you should treat your freelance job just like any other job. It all depends on your own capacity for work.