Korean Job Discussion Forums

SomeWaySoon · Joined: 02 May 2003

I have an interview tomorrow morning with some translation institute. Does anyone know if these editing jobs are any good? Are they at all interesting or do they suck? Any info would be great, thanks.

marsha marsha marsha · Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003 2:37 pm Post subject: Depends

Can totally vary. I had a sweet gig for about 3 years editing and writing for a company in Seoul. Paid me fat cash and they were always very kind to me and treated me like one of the family. Never once tried to screw me out of money. Gave me tons of work and never rushed me if things got backed up. Loved them. Hated to leave them when I moved away.

Had another few jobs that were so boring and underpaid, it just wasn't worth it.

Trinny · Joined: 01 Feb 2003

It depends on the quality of translators you will be working with. If translator's English is rather limited and thus does word-by-word translation, you will be left alone figuring out what they try to say and rewriting the whole darn thing into proper English.

At the interview, you can insist on working with translators who have at least studied or lived in English speaking countries. And also, you can offer to give feedback to the translators, so that you can give them opportunity to correct the mistakes the translators make repeatedly.

Most of the insitutes have pre-determined payment rate per page. That means if you receive a bad English translation, you will spend endless hours spinning the wheel correcting bad translation, while your rate is fixed per page. If it is the case, your rate can go down to the minimum wage per hour. Tell the institute you will clock your work and invoice them by the hours you spend on a specific project.

Finally, find your own niche in subject matters. Translation companies tend to toss any work they can get their hands at to you. One day, you will receive medical research paper and the other day, you will find yourself studying the anatomy of Eastern Asian Buddhist pagodas. If you develop a comfort level in some subjects (IT, English education, literature, medicine, law), you can improve the productivity on your area greately, as well as finding editing a lot less tedious.

Overall, it will be a good work experience to add to your resume. Good luck on your interview.

The Great Wall of Whiner · Joined: 24 Jan 2003 Location: Middle Land

YAWN~~!

The most boring job I've ever had was working as an editor and writer in Seoul.

Sitting at a desk for four hours listening to Korean girls talk about KBS dramas is not what I had in mind when I came to Korea.....

katydid · Joined: 02 Feb 2003 Location: Here kitty kitty kitty...

Here's a question....how does one get one of these writing/editing jobs, and how well do you need to know Korean?

Stunted Wookie · Joined: 06 Feb 2003 Location: Sound Studio

Hi my wife and I do some freelance translations & editing. Mostly for trade companies but we do work for a middleman at times....
no wait we DID go thru a middle man at times...The last job we did, a translation of a promotional blurb for a contractng website; it went like this.

Translate and proof...3 hours.
Send email to company...8 seconds.
Wait for reply...1 hour.
Read reply....2 minutes.

"We are sorry but we will not pay you for this piece."

ummm, then I would like it back....

"no"

If I see you I will kick you, and make you squeal like a pig as you wimper for mercy....

..click....

My advice and purpose of this rant is to suggest with the help of a Korean friend place an ad to proof websites, or writings..freelance. Its the best way to avoid problems.
I just started talking to friends I knew..and found a few people with a site or a product they advertised in English...that's how we started. I do not speak Korean well so the full translations I work on with my wife. Edits and proofreads...just making sense of the Konglish; not too bad.

saharzie · Joined: 22 Jan 2003

Katydid,

Go to Korean websites which have an english version. You will find mistakes. Mail them with a correct version of the text. Send them a few articles, published or unpublished.
I cannot speak korean yet survive now solely on writing and editing. The great thing about most of these gigs is that they can be done on your own time. They pay immediately and you can get a lot of work out of them. Money wise you can make upwards of 5-6 million a month after 3-4 months once you build up your contacts and gain more experience

good luck

Canuck · Joined: 05 Apr 2003

Where do you get hooked up with one of these gigs?

Zyzyfer · Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 4:31 am Post subject:

yodanole · Joined: 02 Mar 2003 Location: La Florida

I do a lot of this. Trinny knows whereof she speaks.