半路出家的我,请指教

xiaodan sun wrote:

在此厚着脸皮向专业翻译的前辈们请教.我在国内本科毕业后到英国留学三年,之后又因为偶然的机缘学习了意大利语并到意大利工作了4年.在意大利工作期间做了大量翻译,刚开始是硬着头皮边查字典边翻译的,渐渐喜欢上了翻译这个行业.目前因为孩子还小没有出去工作,很希望能在proZ上开拓一片新天地。自知不能和翻译专业毕业的前辈相比，但是希望也能有些许机会磨练自己。
万事开头难，目前注册了一个月左右除了两个短短的意大利翻译中文的小文章还没有其他业务，我经常检讨自己，也希望提高自己的水平，希望大家指点。

谢谢

J.H. Wang wrote:

你在英国留学三年，意大利工作四年，很羡慕你啊，俺从来没有出过国门！

你才在 Proz 上注册一个月，还不必着急，慢慢来。可以把自己的 Profile 好好弄一下。相信有一年半载的时间，客户数量就上来了。

[Edited at 2013-03-12 12:21 GMT]

[Edited at 2013-03-12 13:57 GMT]

James_xia wrote:



论坛相关信息很丰富，如有具体问题，不妨提出大家帮你把脉诊断一下。:D

xiaodan sun wrote:


我在注册之后，发过几个工作的申请，都石沉大海，只有一个意大利翻译公司给我了两份小文章翻译，完成后就再也没有了消息，觉得有些沮丧，也怀疑是不是自己的水平有限，翻译的不好以致失去继续合作的机会。目前我发的申请多为意大利翻中文，因为总觉得英文水平高的前辈太多了，自己根本没什么机会，果然到现在发的英文简历完全没有回音。每天一有点时间就不停刷proZ，希望有对口的工作，但还没有什么成果。觉得是不是应该去参加一些proZ的培训会好些呢。纠结中

xiaodan sun wrote:

我在注册之后，发过几个工作的申请，都石沉大海，只有一个意大利翻译公司给我了两份小文章翻译，完成后就再也没有了消息，觉得有些沮丧，也怀疑是不是自己的水平有限，翻译的不好以致失去继续合作的机会。目前我发的申请多为意大利翻中文，因为总觉得英文水平高的前辈太多了，自己根本没什么机会，果然到现在发的英文简历完全没有回音。每天一有点时间就不停刷proZ，希望有对口的工作，但还没有什么成果。觉得是不是应该去参加一些proZ的培训会好些呢。纠结中

James_xia wrote:



I hate to play devil's advocate here, but if you are translating stuff while having a thesaurus or something similar as your main guide, it probably speaks for itself via your work. I checked out your profile and your rates are VERY low for those language pairs. Why are you underselling yourself and why are you setting those rates so low? None of us should be working for pennies. Italian-Chinese is a popular pair but surely it's nothing close to the ridiculously huge number of people who'd be working for peanuts when it comes to the EN-CH pair. So why settle for 0.05 EUR if you are truly capable of the work? You should not push down market prices for other translators working in this field.

When I first started out, since I didn't know jack about marketing my services, I used to set rates at 0.05 or something per word. I have learned my lesson as low rates don't get me anywhere and I have received spiteful messages on proz forums with people literally dissing me and telling me to "go elsewhere" and not push down the market's prices. I have taken their advice and thank the day that some Irish guy gave me a virtual lesson in a Proz forum. The lower you market yourself, you're only giving crappy agencies the chance to further push down your prices.

I wouldn't even venture into the field of Italian > English and Chinese > Italian if I were you. The IT-EN market is pretty saturated as is. Additionally, I feel that the more language pairs you list, sometimes it might work against you, in the sense that people think you are boasting more than you can actually offer. (That was one of the feedback I got from a client of mine. Surely it is only ONE piece of opinion, but interesting food for thought nonetheless). Plus, you really should only translate into your strongest language (presumably, your native language in your case). You have much more of an edge with Chinese in comparison to those thousands of other IT-EN translators.

And, one more note, and I am sorry for being nasty, but you really need to beef up your profile. The style in which you wrote "I am Chinese, I am Living in Germany, I have studied in England and I have worked in Italy" immediately brought me to the insinuation (conclusion? hopefully not) of your language capabilities (native Chinese speaker, has some knowledge in German. non-native English but good knowledge thereof, some Italian). This does NOT bode well to someone's potential impression of your actual abilities as a translator. Focus on what makes your work stand above the crowd- Italian into Chinese, with strong knowledge in English.

Best of luck!

[Edited at 2013-03-13 02:05 GMT]

ysun wrote:


从意大利文翻中文，竞争相对会少些。有位 native speaker of Italian，她的意译中价格是 0.25 - 0.30 EUR per word，但她English < > Italian 的价格却只有0.10 - 0.12 EUR per word。可见物以稀为贵。 根据你的情况，我觉得也可以同时做英译中。不能光靠意翻中，毕竟项目有限。

尤其是，不要把全部或大部分希望都寄托在 ProZ.com上。据我观察，来ProZ.com找中文翻译的客户，给的价通常都很低，除非少数急活、难活。你的标价0.05 - 0.07 EUR per word 并不高，但即使是这个价格，恐怕这里能接受的客户也不多。

建议你与意大利和德国乃至全欧洲的翻译社直接联系，到他们的网站去注册。也许这是个笨办法，一时没有回音，但只要你坚持下去，迟早会有效果的。一旦有客户找你，你就要全力以赴，以优质的服务和翻译质量，保住客户。时间久了，客户就会越来越多。不少人天天在找活干，就是因为他们像狗熊掰棒子一样，掰一个，丢一个。一开始定价不要太低。如果定低了，以后再想让老客户提价就很难。

xiaodan sun wrote:




没什么好羡慕我的，我也是居无定所，漂泊的心很累啊，一个人的精力有限，我这样东奔西走的都没有好好钻研一个专业，才疏学浅希望不要给翻译行业抹黑就好。

xiaodan sun wrote:

哇，那位同仁的意译中价格好高啊,目前我的经验不丰富，这个价格已经有公司闻我能不能再便宜些了。
谢谢前辈的鼓励，不瞒您说，昨晚有一个公司发了我一份小文章几百字的翻译，是付费测试，今天我很认真地做了，希望能让客户满意。

xiaodan sun wrote:

很细心的看完了前辈的评论，谢谢！对前辈的英文很羡慕啊！没错，我的英文还停留在中式英文的阶段，汗颜。确实不太明智地选择了Italian > English and Chinese > Italian ，就像前辈说的，我也是想多推销一点，但适得其反，我会尽快把profil改一下，其实在申请翻译时，我当然没敢挑战Italian > English and Chinese > Italian 这些翻译，只是把IT翻译中文而已。觉得前辈指出的这几点很有道理，再次感谢！
至于收费，可能我收的低点，因为来这个网站是一个澳大利亚朋友介绍的，她在这里两年了，翻译德语到英文，收费是0.08cent per word，我考虑自己是新人，就要的比她低些，没想到造成恶习竞争，真不是我本意阿。其次，意大利经济很差，找我的两个公司都要求我降点价格，所以真没敢提太高，觉得自己也不是科班出身，要太多都不好意思。
总之，前辈的建议我很高兴的接受，谢谢

Rita Pang wrote:




Not at all, I am so not a 前辈! I just hate to see people undersell themselves. I perfectly understand why you would set your prices this way, because you are new to this. Maybe, if you really want to improve your profile, you can consider doing some volunteer translations (obviously not for everybody, maybe more so organizations which you feel are worth your while). Anyway, your friend's rate (0.08 cents) is very low as well, unless you are referring to euros.

As ysun and several others have said, do not rely on Proz.com as your main source. Search for translation companies and apply directly. If you want to make sure that these are reputable companies to work with, check Proz's blueboard (you'll need to be a member). I am not a full Proz member myself, only a partial jobs member. I find that membership serves my needs and the annual fees are cheaper.

As the others have suggested, Italian>Chinese is what you should focus on. How many translators are truly 科班出身? Here in Canada, translation programs or degree programs are very few; there are many offered but the majority are for French-English, so even if I wanted to pursue a degree in it I'd have next to no choice. Or I could study online.

I also recommend LinkedIn, I have my profile set up there and some of my clients have come to me through that venue.

Good luck

xiaodan sun wrote:


呵呵，我确实说的是0.08欧元，因为我现居德国，除非客户要求给美元或人民币，还是默认收欧元的。所以价格也不是那么低吧，呵呵。
谢谢你的鼓励和建议，真的很高兴那么多人都和我分享了经验。对了，有一个和我联系的意大利公司了，他们说有个工作给我，但还没收到，查看了blueboard，发现评分为4.5，希望是个可靠的公司。他们的付费规定是完工后3个月内，这是不是正常的付款时间呢。
同时祝你工作顺利