What type of projects do you prefer?

I enjoy translating about music, fashion, the environment, food and travelling and I wish all my projects dealt with these subjects but naturally this is not always the case.

Perversely I also enjoy legal texts; having shared many years of my life with a lawyer and having acquired much experience in this area, I have come to feel quite at ease when confronted with the convoluted ‘legalese’.

 

Can you deal with any subject?

Although I enjoy learning new things (a great perk of my job), if you ask me to translate a text about astrophysics or corporate finance I’ll have to say no (even though I will probably go and read all about it online).

The reason being that one cannot know everything and though I find some subjects fascinating, there isn’t a hope in hell that I can ever deal with them; my brain would simply explode (the effect I experience when trying to understand such concepts as the theory of quantum strings or derivatives).

So if you need to have a text dealing with rocket science translated, I can only suggest you do a search online and I am sure you will find several skilled colleagues specialising in this field who will gladly help you.

I value quality too much to compromise it by translating a subject matter I am not familiar with.

 

How many words can you translate per day?

This largely depends on the subject.

Generally I can manage to translate up to 2,500 words per day (bearing in mind that I can only sustain this for a few days).

Trying to exceed this limit would have a negative impact on quality (and on my mental health).

If the text is technical then the daily output will be lower.

I work 8 hours a day and there are so many words one can process in that time (and remember, quicker does not equal better); also, a few years ago I promised my daughters that I would stop working at weekends, a promise I have kept.

 

Are your fees high?

There are plenty of translators who charge way more and zillions who charge less.

But let me just say this: I come with 20-odd years of experience and have been translating for both agencies and end clients to their complete satisfaction (see the Testimonial page).

I love my job and take pride in it.

‘Quality and accuracy’ is my mantra and if all this sounds like I am blowing my own trumpet (which I am), the testimonials speak for themselves.

 

Do you apply discounts?

To put it plainly, no.

I won’t waste my/your time trying to explain except to point out, as I have read in a rather good blog by a colleague, that translators are professional service-providers like doctors or lawyers. You would not ask them to pay less, would you?

Or maybe if you’re the bargaining type you would, but the answer would very likely be ‘no’.