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Translation - art & business » Money matters »
Weak dollar and UK based translator
Thread poster: Rad Graban (X)
Rad Graban (X)
Rad Graban (X)  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:15
English to Slovak
+ ...
Nov 11, 2007

Hi all,

Appart from translating I do a fair bit of telephone interpreting. Even though it is for UK DWP, NHS and HMRC, the company I work for is US based. All calls duration is rounded down to the last minute (for the call lastin e.g. 2 min 59 sec, I only get paid for 2 min). It didn't bother me that much before as I get some bonuses depending on how many calls I accept during the pay period, but now with dollar so week, I think I'm loosing fair amount of money.
Should I appro... See more
Hi all,

Appart from translating I do a fair bit of telephone interpreting. Even though it is for UK DWP, NHS and HMRC, the company I work for is US based. All calls duration is rounded down to the last minute (for the call lastin e.g. 2 min 59 sec, I only get paid for 2 min). It didn't bother me that much before as I get some bonuses depending on how many calls I accept during the pay period, but now with dollar so week, I think I'm loosing fair amount of money.
Should I approach the agency and ask them to review my rate?
Bear in mind that it's very flexible thing which I don't wanna lose. I only accept calls when I want to and it can pay me as much as £1500 per month if I do enough of them.
Any advice would be very appreciated.

Rad


[Edited at 2007-11-11 17:18]

[Edited at 2007-11-11 17:20] ▲ Collapse
 
Jan Willem van Dormolen (X)
Jan Willem van Dormolen (X)  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 18:15
English to Dutch
+ ...
Negotiate Nov 11, 2007

I have two US clients (for translation), and I had the same problem - with the USD falling and falling, I got paid less and less. After some fretting, as I didn't want to lose their business, I wrote them a polite message, in short: 'Can we work something out?'. They both agreed immediately that I should raise my rates, didn't even put up a fight.

I think if your client appreciates your work, he will appreciate your problems. You might have to meet each other half way or something, ... See more
I have two US clients (for translation), and I had the same problem - with the USD falling and falling, I got paid less and less. After some fretting, as I didn't want to lose their business, I wrote them a polite message, in short: 'Can we work something out?'. They both agreed immediately that I should raise my rates, didn't even put up a fight.

I think if your client appreciates your work, he will appreciate your problems. You might have to meet each other half way or something, but you can certainly ask for some lenience in this situation. ▲ Collapse
 


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Weak dollar and UK based translator


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