Job Discussion Forums

[Glenski]

Stemming from Mapleblondie's thread on Kinki vs. Kanto, I've opted to start this new thread because the topic is so different that it warrants more eyes and responses.

Whatever you call it -- proofreading, editing, rewriting, etc. -- how do you get the work, how easy is it to get, and how much do you get paid?

People I have known, or ads I have seen. General salaries for FT work run about the same as entry level teaching -- 250,000 yen/month. More when you work overtime.

Me.
Science background. For freelance work, I spread my name around by word of mouth, beginning with some eikaiwa students who were in the science fields, or I answer ads found in The Japan Times, usually.

Fees vary. Sometimes the employer (if it is a company) just wants someone to cover overflow that their regular full-time proofreaders (for lack of a better word) can't handle. I've been paid by the hour and by the page. 2000-3000 yen/hour and 1000-2000 yen/page has been the norm, but I've also gotten higher income when I am allowed to negotiate, especially with private clients. Everyone wants to pay chickenfeed, though, so don't expect miracles. Also, you can get paid immediately after a job (private clients mostly), or when the company accounting system permits it (30-60 days from end of the month is most common).

How easy is it to get work? Depends on your initiative. I've seen some pretty nice looking bilingual ads people send by email to various scientific institutions (my clients show me to compare), and one thing stands out as a definite no-no. DON'T shotgun the email without blind copy! Potential clients don't like spam, and it certainly looks like it when they see their name in the header of addresses buried among 50 others. Moreover, it doesn't look to them like you have a real sense of privacy about their work when you do that.

Final note: if you work FT for a university, expect to get proofreading work without financial compensation. It's part of your job description in most cases that I have heard. That's not to say the profs won't pay you anyway under the table, but then again, that's not official and it could vary from straight cash (from their research funding coffers, of course) to more material things like cases of coffee or pudding, beer coupons, wine, or gift certificates.

[GambateBingBangBOOM]

Excellent thread.

Makes me think that we're all pretty much doomed, though. It seems that no matter what you do, you are never all that far from entry level in terms of pay. The only way out seems to be to work 80 hours a week and pretty much just do two entry-level wage jobs, until you die from overwork.

[Apsara]

On the other thread (mapleblondie's), Glenski, you seemed surprised that I get paid �2,500 per hour for the in-house proofreading job, but I wasn't clear whether you thought that was high or low. Yes, �2,500 per hour- it's an entry-level job really, the small amount of proofreading experience I had, and JLPT 2 was enough for them. It comes to about �135,000 per month after tax depending on the month- some months I work 8 days (6.5 hours a day), some 9.

I will get 3 days paid holiday after I have been there 6 months (almost there), and they also pay my train fare, which is good as the company is way, way out in the western suburbs of Tokyo and the commuting costs are quite high. I get the impression that they find it hard to get people who will travel that far.

To mapleblondie, that's about standard for proofreading and translating here, it is not all that highly paid compared to work in the IT and finance industries, but I am quite happy to be receiving that amount and it is better than the rate offered for most English-teaching jobs these days.

As I said in the other thread, I picked up this job by looking on the site of a fairly well-known Japanese recruitment company- PM me if you want more details of which agency etc. Other proofreading jobs I have seen on the agency's website pay between �2,200 and �2,700 per hour.

[Glenski]

I know of at least 3 outfits that pay 2000-3000 yen per hour for freelancers, so that is comparable. I also know of places that pay far more than that (2000 yen per page, for example) just for freelance work. So, perhaps full-time staff proofreading itself is not the way to go.

[NorthofAmerica]

I occassionally do proof reading for corporate and private students. Sometimes I do it for free but if I am getting paid I usually do it for between 2k and 4k.
Proofreading is often like cake in that it is easy and stress free but occasionally it can be a real headache. I proofread some technical customer service replies for a microprocessor cleaning company and I couldn't make heads or tails of what they were trying to explain.

I've never thought of doing it as a side job or real work. Anyone wanna throw up a link to some jobs or agencies that were mentioned?

When comparing hourly wages with teaching I think the big thing is prep work. With proofreading you don't need to factor in prep work. That's a big plus IMO

[Glenski]

[Mapleblondie]

Any tips for someone who is entirely new to profession editing? My specialty areas are English and Japanese, so I don't fall under the science background...but it would be nice to have an option aside from teaching for a p/t job (in addition to my ECC job).

[Glenski]

No offense, Mapleblondie, but English and Japanese are not specialties. If you mean you can translate the two, ok, but you will still have to specify what. Business forms, minutes of meetings, company prospectus, papers from economics professors, etc.? I've done all of them, and they don't take a lot of scientific thought, but they do take a lot of getting used to in terms of the Japanese-English locals use (if you are dealing with something the author has already tried to translate). So, that's a second point.

A third would be to always keep your eyes open. The Japan Times (online ads and Monday's classifieds are different) is often a good source from time to time. Same with Kansai Time Out and Kansai Flea Market (online if you are not in the area). Have your own business cards printed up (or do it yourself on the computer) and carry some with you for those opportune moments when you run into someone who knows someone...

Make contacts. I taught private lessons to a TV director for a while, and he knew a restaurant owner that wanted his menus converted to bilingual E-J in preparation for the FIFA World Cup a few years ago. Didn't get me any money, but my wife and I got treated to a magnificent dinner there (plus, I always hoped he would remember me to pass along my name).

Find ways to advertise, whether online or in paper publications. Online is a grab bag of amateurs touting themselves as proofreaders for a plethora of clients, mostly whatever the people can get. www.jobsinjapan.com has a free listing for you (not sure if ohayosensei.com needs payment), but you have to keep updating it, or your ad falls to the bottom of the list (or off it).

[gaijinalways]

The payment can be quite lucrative. I worked at a company before that handled both technical and business rewriting and proofreading. Some of the people there that did it made a lot of extra money. You had to be fast and accurate. It's difficult with some papers as the papers are sometimes written as the writer thinks rather than in a way that makes sense to the reader. Of course language problems will also make it more difficult to comprehend what the author intended to mean.

I have done some proffreading for when I was assisting with a Master's course and students wanted me to proof their papers and make suggestions. I was paid through the agency (the YMCA) who was doing it with a British university and got from 6000-10000 yen a paper (not great, but a little extra money and different than teaching ).

Proofing is generally lower paid than rewriting.

I include the defintions of rewriting and proofreading below as they are different.

proof�read (prfrd)
v. proof�read (-rd), proof�read�ing, proof�reads
v.tr.
To read (copy or proof) in order to find errors and mark corrections.
v.intr.
To read copy or proof for purposes of error detection and correction.


re�write (r-rt)
v. re�wrote (-rt), re�writ�ten (-rtn), re�writ�ing, re�writes
v.tr.
1. To write again, especially in a different or improved form; revise.