| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Starting as freelancer in the UK - Rates/Legal requirements Thread poster: Wojciech Szczerek
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| Determining a rate | Jun 24, 2015 |
Sheila Wilson wrote:
That's how a newbie ends up earning less to start with. If you're determined to do a good job, as you should be, you'll fully research every term you aren't sure of, check most of those you DO already know, and you'll proofread your work until you know it by heart. Your client will pay the correct amount for a good translation, but you'll probably have earned only half the amount per hour that an experienced specialist charging the same average rate would earn. That way you don't have to do anything to increase your income - it will just happen with experience. Later on, if/when you find you're having to reject work because your days are full, you start quoting a higher rate to new clients. If that works, then raise the rate you charge those clients who aren't great for one reason or another (not your favourite work, complicated admin, late payments...).
This is why I found it really difficult to determine a fair rate to start with! The hourly rate you aim to earn does not work when starting out, because everything takes so much longer than it would for someone experienced in translation as well as the subject area. I don't mind that and I have already noticed that I am starting to work a lot more efficiently for one client (my main client and a very good client), however, I know now that I should have started with a slightly higher fee, but I can't raise it now as it would hurt too much loosing them, unless I had other clients to fill that space.
I found it really difficult to figure out what a fair rate should be. Here in these forums people talk about 'fair rates', 'bottom feeders', 'working for peanuts' ... but specifics are not often discussed. In the ITI literature I found no more than a mention of 'professional rates'.
Of course, what is acceptable also depends on where you live, but professional translators in the UK have to charge a certain amount in order to support themselves adequately, meaning in relation to their education and skills.
| | | | Sheila Wilson 
Spain
Local time: 07:27
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Rate is a taboo subject for many professionals | Jun 24, 2015 |
Gabriele Demuth wrote:
I found it really difficult to figure out what a fair rate should be. Here in these forums people talk about 'fair rates', 'bottom feeders', 'working for peanuts' ... but specifics are not often discussed. In the ITI literature I found no more than a mention of 'professional rates'.
I doubt you know what doctors and lawyers generally earn per hour, either. Just a few of them will publish their rates. It's the same here - only a few of us state our rates in black and white on our profiles, although many more have entered them for filters etc but keep them hidden from general view. Those are the figures used to compile the 'community' rates here: http://search.proz.com/?sp=pfe/rates I imagine some are skewed due to small sample size, but the FR>EN seems about average to me.
| | | | | I've heard... | Jun 24, 2015 |
from some Polish colleagues that, because of the scarcity of English mother-tongue people who know Polish, they tend to translate into English as well....
Gabriele Demuth wrote:
Your samples are into English!? Why not load samples into Polish, the language you translate into.
[Edited at 2015-06-24 13:06 GMT]
| | | | Wojciech Szczerek
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:27
English to Polish
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TOPIC STARTER | Thanks again! | Jun 24, 2015 |
Thanks for all posts!
Jacqueline,
I appreciate constructive criticism - I will definitely get someone check my profiles and CVs, thanks.
Charlie, Sheila
I think at this point I might skip registering as a VAT payer.
As far as I know, it is difficult, but not impossible to explain to international clients, especially from within the EU, that VAT is not a must for a small business like mine to be run legally in the UK.
Sheila,
Thanks,... See more Thanks for all posts!
Jacqueline,
I appreciate constructive criticism - I will definitely get someone check my profiles and CVs, thanks.
Charlie, Sheila
I think at this point I might skip registering as a VAT payer.
As far as I know, it is difficult, but not impossible to explain to international clients, especially from within the EU, that VAT is not a must for a small business like mine to be run legally in the UK.
Sheila,
Thanks,
I think that you expressed my financial expectations of a newbie in the best possible way - I prefer to provide a good quality service. For a beginner that means more time spent on a piece of text and consequently fewer jobs that I am able to take, but at the same time - a perspective that my clients will want to work with me again.
Gabriele, Giovanni and Tom
Thanks for drawing my attention to my translation samples - I should've definitely provided samples for EN-PL pair.
However, as pointed out by Giovanni, it is not uncommon for Polish translators to translate into a foreign language. The reason for that is simple - even though Polish is not the most difficult language in the world, it requires some time to learn.
In one of the language exhibitions I went to, an employee of an official EU translation body complained about how difficult it is to find English native speakers who know a European language and can translate from it.
Obviously, they seem to be the only reliable people to work with official documents. However, the rest of the market has to sometimes cope without them - hence, there are so many confident, or if you like "overly confident", Polish speakers willing to translate into English. This is not to say there are no English speakers who know Polish, it's just too few of them.
I agree that no-one will write a better text than a native, but if there's no-one available to do it at a given time, non-natives are assigned such jobs as well. ▲ Collapse
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