Job Discussion Forums

[dharmapad]

People,

I would like to know what the market is like for native speaker translators into English in Spain. I am a North American with universtiy training in Brazil (I do Portuguese, too)

I also have a lot of training doing verbal interpreting into English.

If you don't know what to advise me, do you know anyone who might be informed?

Thanks a lot.

Dean

[SirKirby]

There is a market for it, but personally I found it a bit of a nightmare.

You have to be self-employed, which costs you an up-front tax payment, you have to be "legal" here (which could be difficult for someone from outside the EU) and will find that many companies will expect the translation within (say) 48 hours but won't pay you for 90 or 120 days.

Unless you are doing it "under the table" for someone you know, and paying no tax, I definitely wouldn't recommend it.

To do translation work legally just doesn't work out if you are using it to supplement your income as a teacher. I'm not sure what the self-employment tax payment minimum is, but when I was paying it, it was about 198 euros -- so you've got to do a fair amount of translation work just to cover that.

I gave up because I was sick to death of begging companies to pay me what they owed -- even after 120 days.

[dharmapad]

Sir Kirby,
Thank you very, very much for the tip.

Dean

[SirKirby]

You're welcome, Dean!

I'm hoping to stand for president of the nation at the next general elections, and my first promise to the oppresed freelance workers of Spain will be to probit by law companies from paying their workers four months late, a most regretable standard practice

To the best of my knowledge, it isn't something language schools have cottoned on to -- yet !!! (it affects only freelance "autonomos", I imagine)

[Moore]

SirKirby's right: translation is not an option for people who don't have EU papers as you have to be an autonomo (self-employed) and for that you need to be legal, in order to bill the translation companies in order to get paid.

I've never had any trouble getting paid personally, but that may well have a lot to do with luck. I always stipulate being paid within 2 calendar months, and for big/urgent jobs within one month: they are usually so desperate (agencies often have their own in-house translators to do routine stuff so what they send you will be urgent) that they mostly say yes.

It's not a fantastic way of making cash: it's lonely, usually very boring, and is a bit like being paid to do really dull crosswords all day under pressure. It's a good way of supplementing your income but if you are paying autonomo charges then an experienced teacher can find freelance teaching work for 25/hour (not everywhere, but some schools pay this) when a competent translator can average about 30/hour and teaching is a lot more fun and sociable.

_________________________________________________________________________
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[SirKirby]

I do have my serious doubts about it being a way to supplement your income as an English teacher, if it's all being done legally.

Like, I work -- say -- a total, including travel, of around 40 hours a week in my English teaching job.

To pay my self-employment fees, I've got to do -- what? -- another 10-15 hours a week translating, just to break even on those fees.

Then work 10-15 hours more -- until all hours of the night to meet ridiculous deadlines -- in order to start making any cash.

I jacked it in, as I say, finding I was spending another hour or more a week begging companies to pay me.

The worst were universities -- the stuff they sent me to translate was utter crap, and deadly to translate, and they had to be the worst at paying me within 120 days.

You could say, no deal unless you pay up within X number of days -- but in my experience they'll say, thanks, there are plenty of other mugs out there who will do it for me.

I'd rather be poor than be a slave...

[Moore]

It doesn't really cost you any more to be an autonomo if your school pays you a better rate. The standard deal here in Madrid is 16 an hour contract, 20 an hour autonomo: that means that after your IPRF has been deducted you're on 18.50, and that extra 2.50 per hour over 100 hours per month pays your autonomo fees.

So then if you do a bit of translation work on the side you can bill without paying anything extra. You also open up the possibility of working directly for companies teaching and bill them directly and so get paid a lot more per hour instead of going through a school (not that easy to find, but I know many people who do this)

The only big drawback with this is that over the Christmas and the summer months when you're not being paid you still have to carry on paying your fees, so you have to make sure you do enough translation work to justify those dead months when you pay.

The other big drawback is the paperwork which is a total ball-ache if (like me) you loathe paperwork and going to the tax office every 3 months to do your IVA declaration.

[Phil_b]

Hi, trying to do a bit of research here (regarding mediumish term future)

If I understand Moore - if you're paying 'autonomo' payments then any school you work for doesn't have to deduct your social security payments - so they pay you more (right?) - I think I did something similar in Argentina...

I really want to know a bit about translation - I appreciate that this is a teaching forum, so I would also be grateful if anyone knew of another forum to look in....

What qualifications do you need? Is a Institute of Linguists DipTrans (from the UK) enough, or should you have a masters?

What about specialisms - any idea which are the best to work in, financially and amount of work etc?

[SirKirby]

The CIoL is probably enough, and a background in something (business, technology, law...) helpful, and will always look good on a CV.

However, my experience was that no qualifications were required (I had none), and a specialization not that useful as I finished up taking whatever I could get (though specialist knowledge obviously came in useful not to land the work, but to actually do it when it arrived).

From the point of view of obtaining translation work in Spain, I found contacts (ie. who you know...) far more important than qualifications or experience.

[Moore]

SirKirby's right: qualifications don't mean a huge amount for freelance (though they might well help you for in-house work as a project manager or specialist translator: for example KPMG Consulting have their own in-house translators).

Get your cv to as many agencies as possible and build up a bit of experience. Generally they throw you the odd bone they can't do themselves, which tends to be a rush job, especially over the weekend, but if you step up and are reliable and try to never say "no" they'll keep coming back to you.

Yes, you have to pay autonomo fees, which is a pain in the arse over summer when there's no work teaching but the charge remains the same. Schools will pay you a bit more, but only the difference in social security charges they were paying anyway. For example, a teaching post that pays 16 euros per hour would probably pay you 20 per hour autonomo, so after IPRF you get about 18.50 per hour, so based on 100 hours per month (assuming no cancellations) you get an extra 250 euros per month, which should cover your fees (assuming you are working, which in summer may well not be the case)

Being an autonomo is only really worth it if you're a translator or have another business on the side, or if you have a good contract with a high paying school, or if you work directly for the company where you are teaching.

_________________________________________________________________________
...Jobs and language exchanges in Madrid, Barcelona and Berlin... www.lingobongo.com

...send your c.v. around ALL the schools in Madrid, Barcelona or Berlin in one hit with our c.v. sending service... www.lingobongo.com