how/where to seek translation work?

Posted by: Kati

how/where to seek translation work? - 01/27/05 10:34 AM

Hey all!
Can anyone please give me ideas about getting translation work in Spain? I've contacted a bunch of translation offices and language schools. Other than this, what could I do? Post ads somewhere? Does this work? Thanks for your input, experience, advice...
:-)
Posted by: MadridMan

Re: how/where to seek translation work? - 01/27/05 01:03 PM

That's tough. You first have to be/become a an official, licensed, certified translator. Is that what they told you to do at the translation offices? I don't think there's much work for those who are not licensed.

Good luck! Saludos, MadridMan
Posted by: Kati

Re: how/where to seek translation work? - 01/27/05 01:33 PM

Well, I'm not "licensed" (whatever that means exactly) but I have a MA degree in French and I am a licensed language teacher. Most language schools here provide translation/interpretation services as well and so far I haven't been turned down because of not being licensed. I've also worked as a translator before so if they need references or anything I can produce some.
However, I don't yet know how this works exactly with official translation offices, ie. if they only give you like a one-page text every six months or so, or is it a "real", reliable job?
The other thing is, I don't know what other resources exist to seek translation work. When I look at the job ads I don't even see a category for this. So the real problem I have is where to offer this kind of service, where to find people/organisations/companies etc. who might be interested?
Thanks for your reply, MadridMan. :-)
Posted by: el viajero

Re: how/where to seek translation work? - 01/30/05 07:07 PM

If you're looking for a full-time staff position, it's very tricky. However, if you're looking for freelance work, you have more options.

You only need to be a traductor jurado for certain types of work. Translation agencies in Spain can use freelancers from outside the E.U. (therefore not sworn translators in Spain) for jobs not related to legal cases, government work, etc.

Register with as many agencies as possible both in and outside of Spain. Thanks to the internet, the translator, agency and client can be in three different countries. Don't forget to try out the online communities for translators as well (proz.com, translatorscafe, etc.) You also might want to subscribe to Spain-based listservs and online newsgroups related to translation. People often post jobs for freelancers.

Good luck.