Job Discussion Forums

[JZer]

Does anyone on here do any freelance translating to supplement their income? I know I have asked a similar question but was wondering about the possibilities of translating to supplement one's income in poorer countries?

[naturegirl321]

Not much in Peru, about 5 dollars a page, better off doing privates.

[JZer]

I guess my thought was to do translations for a company in your home country while working in a poorer country. I am looking for a good way to live in Brazil, Peru, or Chile.

[Glenski]

You might want to check online for some companies that offer such work no matter where you live.

[naturegirl321]

[Vanica]

You can do translations for your home country while living in another country very easily if you have a good internet connection. The company pays to your bank account and your social insurance number. The company or agency may like to phone you from time to time, but mostly all communication takes place over the internet. Actually I would be better able to work if I were in a different time zone as well, because, more often than not, they call me at 6pm to start work for a 9 am delivery!

Translators also use paypal to get paid from other countries. Then you have the whole exchange rate, taxation thing to worry about.

However, there is suddenly far less foreign investment going on, so you might be doing everything right and not get any work anyhow. Or you might do the work, they go bankrupt and the cheque never arrives.

[JZer]

[Vanica]

What is your field? That is, do you want to be a financial or legal translator, pharmaceutical, petroleum...? The technical fields can be lucrative, but that may require a Master's in engineering, plus fluency, training and experience, simply in order to approach firms. You can also think about interpreting.

[JZer]

I would like to do whatever translations are best online. I do not know about interpreting. That seems like something you would need to live in your home country to do. I would like to do some translating and move to another country and try to pick up another language. Maybe I would like to go to Thailand or Vietnam.

[Vanica]

You have to be highly fluent to be a good translator. Most bilingual people can't do it. You can practice with some magazine articles and see what subject areas suit you.