Years of experience and documentation Thread poster: Kathryn Litherland
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The thread on native/non-native has gotten me to thinking: For profiles, etc., where you are asked for years of experience, what is the most honest way to state that if part of your experience is part-time, informal/unpaid, as a secondary job duty, etc.?
One of the reasons this issue has come up for me is that I recently received a request to submit documentation that I meet the standards of ISO 9001-2000 norm EN-15038. So a subsidiary question would be--what sort of documentation ... See more The thread on native/non-native has gotten me to thinking: For profiles, etc., where you are asked for years of experience, what is the most honest way to state that if part of your experience is part-time, informal/unpaid, as a secondary job duty, etc.?
One of the reasons this issue has come up for me is that I recently received a request to submit documentation that I meet the standards of ISO 9001-2000 norm EN-15038. So a subsidiary question would be--what sort of documentation would be valid evidence of years of experience in translation? ▲ Collapse
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Gerard de Noord 
France
Local time: 00:17
Member (2003)
English to Dutch
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| 150,000 words or more | Oct 20, 2008 |
Dear Kathryn,
For the sake of this - I hope interesting - thread, I'd say that the first year of translation experience mentioned at ProZ should be the year somebody has translated 150,000 words or more. Completely arbitrary, I know, but we have to start somewhere. Years of experience is an even fuzzier concept than native language.
I've received ISO requests similar to the one you mention. The only way I can prove I've translated at least 500,000 IT words would be subm... See more Dear Kathryn,
For the sake of this - I hope interesting - thread, I'd say that the first year of translation experience mentioned at ProZ should be the year somebody has translated 150,000 words or more. Completely arbitrary, I know, but we have to start somewhere. Years of experience is an even fuzzier concept than native language.
I've received ISO requests similar to the one you mention. The only way I can prove I've translated at least 500,000 IT words would be submitting the invoices I sent to the companies I've worked for or the uncleaned documents I've kept. That would be out of the question so I didn't apply.
Regards,
Gerard ▲ Collapse
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| The ATA asks for your tax returns | Oct 20, 2008 |
I think the ATA requires you to send in a copy of your tax returns. I guess the idea is that if you worked in-house, your W2 form would state that, and if you worked as a sole proprietor, your tax return would also show that. I am not sure whether they require you to have a certain minimum amount if income from translation per annum, but maybe that information is available on the ATA website.
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mediamatrix (X)
Local time: 18:17
Spanish to English
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Katalin Horvath McClure wrote:
I think the ATA requires you to send in a copy of your tax returns. ...
In every democratic country I've lived and worked in in the past 40 years or so the data I provide in my tax returns has been regarded as "top secret" and cannot legally be handed over - by me or by the tax-man - to other authorities (and less still to a 'mere' professional association) except in response to an order from a competent court of law.
Is the US an exception?
MediaMatrix
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mediamatrix wrote:
In every democratic country I've lived and worked in in the past 40 years or so the data I provide in my tax returns has been regarded as "top secret" and cannot legally be handed over - by me or by the tax-man - to other authorities (and less still to a 'mere' professional association) except in response to an order from a competent court of law.
Is the US an exception?
It is absolutely standard operating procedure to be asked to provide copies of your tax return whenever documentation of income is required, especially when applying for loans.
Not only are you expected to supply copies of your tax returns, there is even a form that companies can use (asking you to sign and return to them) so that they can request "official copies" directly from the IRS in order to properly verify the information.
I recently spoke to a contact who still resides in Germany, and she told me that her vocational health insurance fund regularly asks for copies of her tax assessment notices (these are official documents issued by the revenue office after they've reviewed your tax returns) to verify her income. So Germany must not be among those countries you mention either...
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"Lawmakers in Germany's ruling coalition have agreed to plans to increase compulsory contributions to state health insurance. Healthcare payments will be increased from the current 14.9 percent of gross wages to 15.5, while workers will pay 0.5 percent less toward unemployment funds."
That's the reason why you have to provide your income tax return; otherwise they wouldn't know how much you have to pay. If you're employed, the contrubition is automatically deducted from your salary.... See more "Lawmakers in Germany's ruling coalition have agreed to plans to increase compulsory contributions to state health insurance. Healthcare payments will be increased from the current 14.9 percent of gross wages to 15.5, while workers will pay 0.5 percent less toward unemployment funds."
That's the reason why you have to provide your income tax return; otherwise they wouldn't know how much you have to pay. If you're employed, the contrubition is automatically deducted from your salary.
Nobody else is entitled to request a copy of your tax return but if you need a proof of income (bank loan or else), you're free to use it.
The IOL wants you to prove your experience (words translated per year), but they specifically ask you to send no invoices etc. So, an MCIL should be able to tell us more. ▲ Collapse
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