Where can you find more work opportunities, Source or Target country? Thread poster: Nehad Hussein
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Hello Again,
I thought at the beginning that It is an advantage to be living in my source country, specially with the scarcity of linguists in my mother tongue who lives here in the UK. It has been many good months now of contacting companies here and there is hardly any work for Arabic. This leads to the conclusion that I will have better luck in my TL countries. Am I right in this assumption?
Thanks for your time and response.
| | | | | Different circumstances, different approaches | Apr 11, 2014 |
The Internet has made translation work ubiquitous.
Exception made to live, on location interpreting, of course, it shouldn't make so much of a difference for you being in the UK, the Middle East, South Africa, South America, or wherever you could get a good connection to the web.
However marketing online takes a quite different approach from doing it directly, personally.
| | | | Tim Friese 
United States
Local time: 05:16
Member (2013)
Arabic to English
+ ...
| Keep looking! | Apr 11, 2014 |
Hi Nehad,
I'm surprised you haven't been finding work in your pair. There is a huge volume of English into Arabic because many international firms write content in English and then localize it into other languages including Arabic. This work should exist in a number of fields, a few would include: marketing, advertising, clinical trials, pharmaceuticals, MSDSs, foods, and the list goes on. Good luck!
| | | | | It depends a lot | Apr 11, 2014 |
When one of your languages is English, you have to look at the 'Everybody can English' attitude, and see how it affects the markets where your language is spoken. And find people doing business in your specific language pair.
An agency I work for quotes a German associate:
'If I am selling to you, I will speak your language. If you want to sell something to me, then you should speak German.'
I find the majority of my clients in my source-language country, partly b... See more When one of your languages is English, you have to look at the 'Everybody can English' attitude, and see how it affects the markets where your language is spoken. And find people doing business in your specific language pair.
An agency I work for quotes a German associate:
'If I am selling to you, I will speak your language. If you want to sell something to me, then you should speak German.'
I find the majority of my clients in my source-language country, partly because I happen to live in Denmark, and partly because I deliberately look here first - other things being equal, they pay better! Scandinavians can often get by with their own English, but know that there are occasions when a professional translation is necessary. I don't know how things like that balance out in your case.
On other occasions, big companies do make use of local translators and interpreters on the spot where they are trading, whether they use English as an intermediate language or not. So for target languages other than English, it may be an advantage to live in the target country, especially if you interpret as well.
That 'Doen't everyone speak English anyway?' attitude is probably more common in the UK than in Arabic-speaking countries, but there certainly are people who know it is not true. Needless to say, you need to aim your marketing at them.
There comes a time when you can't take on more work anyway, so it is worthwhile looking for a handful of good clients who keep sending more work, wherever they are, rather than chasing large numbers.
Don't settle for too few either - clients come and go, and you need to be able to survive, even if a favourite client suddenly disappears. ▲ Collapse
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kittilina
Spain
Local time: 12:16
Spanish to English
It's hard to get started, but once you do.... I live in Spain and most of my clients are Spanish which kind of contradicts your experience. If you use ProZ and search around the internet you should have some luck. I know a translator here who does Spanish-Arabic and is never out of work!! Just keep at it. Good luck.
Kittilina
| | | | Nehad Hussein
United Kingdom
Local time: 11:16
English to Arabic
TOPIC STARTER | Thanks for your inputs. | Apr 11, 2014 |
When I was living back in Egypt, the work into Arabic was going non stop. Then, in the UK, it was the case when I was full time employed. Venturing into Freelancing is a different story as it seems.
I just felt worried and wondered if I was searching in the right place. I will keep going and see what will happen. Wish me luck.
| | | | | Wish you luck! | Apr 11, 2014 |
I wish you good luck )). I think, it's better to search for job in a source country. Here in Russia I've got a lot of texts to translate, but.... from Russian into English and for prices you could never think about (screamingly low). So I began to search actively for foreign outsourcers.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 11:16
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Search worldwide | Apr 11, 2014 |
I live now in Spain, although I very much doubt I will ever be able to speak Spanish as a working language. But it hasn't affected my earnings: I still have many clients in France, in fact I only lost one in the move, but I also have clients in other parts of the world. Personally, I'm already well into double figures for client countries invoiced in 2014.
Of course, it's nice and simple to have clients in your home country. But our profession really doesn't respect boundaries the w... See more I live now in Spain, although I very much doubt I will ever be able to speak Spanish as a working language. But it hasn't affected my earnings: I still have many clients in France, in fact I only lost one in the move, but I also have clients in other parts of the world. Personally, I'm already well into double figures for client countries invoiced in 2014.
Of course, it's nice and simple to have clients in your home country. But our profession really doesn't respect boundaries the way most do. I think you need to look for clients wherever they are in the world. It's much better to have one really good client on the other side of the world than two bad ones close to home. ▲ Collapse
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| In your time zone | Apr 14, 2014 |
Most of my clients are in my time zone (CET) or time zone +1 or -1 (Ex. GMT)
I think the clients find it reassuring to be able to reach their translators all the time.
However, I think your problem here is not about lack of needs in your country but more about how to get the clients pick YOU instead of your colleagues. I think most of us had this moment when we started out. The advice I can give you is to market yourself, get some positive feedbacks from satisfied clients and... See more Most of my clients are in my time zone (CET) or time zone +1 or -1 (Ex. GMT)
I think the clients find it reassuring to be able to reach their translators all the time.
However, I think your problem here is not about lack of needs in your country but more about how to get the clients pick YOU instead of your colleagues. I think most of us had this moment when we started out. The advice I can give you is to market yourself, get some positive feedbacks from satisfied clients and never give up! Think positive and positive things happen!
Good luck
[Edited at 2014-04-14 09:08 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Rob Prior
Germany
Local time: 12:16
German to English
| Source country has its advantages | Apr 14, 2014 |
Hi,
The big advantage of being in the source country is that you can actually physically go to your clients. I know everyone can be reached via email etc, these days but there is still nothing like a face-to-face with a potential client and actually getting to know them.
This is particularly true for direct clients, some will be more willing to work with someone from the local area. Plus you can also go to trade fairs to find clients.
Plus when living in a... See more Hi,
The big advantage of being in the source country is that you can actually physically go to your clients. I know everyone can be reached via email etc, these days but there is still nothing like a face-to-face with a potential client and actually getting to know them.
This is particularly true for direct clients, some will be more willing to work with someone from the local area. Plus you can also go to trade fairs to find clients.
Plus when living in a different country to most of your clients there are issues with currency conversion, costs associated with cross-border payments, etc. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Phil Hand
China
Local time: 18:16
Chinese to English
| Work goes where the workers are | Apr 14, 2014 |
Nehad Hussein wrote:
Hello Again,
I thought at the beginning that It is an advantage to be living in my source country, specially with the scarcity of linguists in my mother tongue who lives here in the UK.
It's a global industry, so I think the point is that people don't even bother looking in the UK for good Arabic linguists these days - they just go straight to (an agency who goes straight to) an Arabic speaking country. If you can find some clients in the UK, I'm sure they'll be very glad of you. But they're probably not looking for you on their doorstep.
| | | | Rita Pang
Canada
Local time: 06:16
Member (2011)
Chinese to English
+ ...
Moderator of this forum | Research, my friend, research! | Apr 15, 2014 |
Work comes in any shape or form and the way it comes in can be as well. I've gotten work from fellow Proz forum participants, from LinkedIn contacts, from high school classmates, you name it. If anything, the majority of my own clients are not local, for the very reason that the industry itself has gone very much global.
You shouldn't email every single agency listed in Proz who work with ArabicEnglish, for example, as unsolicited emails often go straight into a PM's trash bin. Howe... See more Work comes in any shape or form and the way it comes in can be as well. I've gotten work from fellow Proz forum participants, from LinkedIn contacts, from high school classmates, you name it. If anything, the majority of my own clients are not local, for the very reason that the industry itself has gone very much global.
You shouldn't email every single agency listed in Proz who work with ArabicEnglish, for example, as unsolicited emails often go straight into a PM's trash bin. However, browse around and see what your colleagues in the same field has to say. You are not really "fishing for work" from them, but rather you're getting a feel of what people are going with, which could help.
Research is king I'd say! ▲ Collapse
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