When Vacations meet Work

Mar 27

LaurentTout un métier 9 Comments

Some time ago, after reading Sarah Vilece’s blog Translating Berlin, I decided that I wanted to go on a working vacation (not to be mixed up with vacations spent working, says Sarah). The principle is simple: I leave my everyday life for a few weeks and I continue my regular work in a different place.

I chose to go to the United States, where part of my family has a large house: I don’t have to worry about lodging or Internet access, and the place is really nice (just think about The Ghost Writer) despite the changeable weather. Here are my motivations:

  1. My main objective is to keep on working. I’ve been here for nearly a week, and it's already been my biggest work week of 2010.
  2. I wished for a change of scenery. I love my life in Paris, but fresh air and a dose of iodine is always pleasant.
  3. I intend to practice my English, which is my main working tool, after all. I thought it needed to be refreshed.
  4. It’s a good opportunity to extend my activity on a new market: meet prospects and colleagues, attend to ATA regional conferences, etc.
  5. And, of course, a working vacation is still a vacation. It would not make sense to stay at home since I can go out, visit the ea, get some exercise, learn more about the local culture…

If you want to read more about working vacations, Sarah Vilece wrote one, two, three and four blog posts about it. Also, I discovered the CITL association can accommodate literary translators from a week to 3 months (for €20/day).

What about you? Could you go on WV or would you fear to procrastinate too much?

Rates in Technical Translation

Jan 21

LaurentTout un métier 9 Comments

Reminder: this is only a recap of the French article. To read the full post, click on the French flag on the upper right corner of the page.

This is certainly a vast question: what rates for technical translations? I will not give numbers, as it is almost impossible to determine a fixed price for an intellectual service. But here are some pieces of advice to set a fair price.

So how should you choose your rates? It all depends on the type of text, the deadline, your skills, the languages, etc. To get an idea of the market, the French translators association SFT conducts an annual survey. For 2008, you can see that the average rate for an English to French translation is €0.12 per word, but can reach €0.40! Whereas Finnish to French seems pretty lucrative with an average of €0.31.

The translation agency TradOnline and the European Council for Literary Translators also published rates surveys (links below). Also, here are some great blog loaded with essentials tips.

Download the translation rates surveys of the SFT, TradOnline and the CEATL.