Forming Your Own
Spanish Translation Agencies

I would say that probably about a third of the questions I am emailed have to deal with questions on how to translate something, be it a name, a phrase, a slang term, or even a translation job... you get the picture. Another third of the questions deal with people interested in how to become a certified translator, or how to even start out as a beginning translator.

The remaining questions are the ones I'm going to talk about now, all about Spanish translation agencies, and they usually they go something like this...

I am a translator of XYZ language and am interested in doing translation work. Please let me know if you have any translation/interpretation openings.

I always find these types of emails interesting for a variety of reasons. First of all, I'm pretty sure I make it clear on this website that I am a freelance Spanish translator. For the most part, I work alone (although sometimes with Spanish translation agencies). Because I'm a freelancer, I don't usually work with others on translation projects. Second of all, my language of choice is Spanish and because I am a Spanish translator, I don't work with XYZ languages, and potential clients don't email asking me if I can provide those languages because I've made it clear that I work with Spanish and English.

I've often wondered why it is that translators of other languages will email be this question about looking for work and whether or not other translators receive these kinds of solicitations as well.

I think that at least one of the reasons I get these requests is because freelance translators are trying every avenue possible to get work, including emailing freelance translators that have nothing to do with the language in question.

In addition, I think that at least part of the reason is that there must be some translators out there that think that I am not a freelance translator but rather one of a number of Spanish translation agencies looking to work with translators of other languages.

And that got me thinking...

What does it take for a freelance translator to become more than a freelancer, and instead make the jump to joining the list of Spanish translation agencies out in the market. I've never ran Spanish translation agencies, and likewise I've never even worked full-time in a Spanish translation agency so I'm not sure I know everything involved in being a translation agency. Is a translation agency just a manager of various translators? If this is the case, how hard would it be for a freelance translator to make the jump? Granted, I imagine it's a lot harder to manage other translators than it is to just do it yourself, and managing is where most translation agencies make their money, and is not something that most translators are probably even good at.

So what would it take for a freelance translator to make the transition from a freelancer to an owner of Spanish translation agencies?

Hiring a Translator

First of all, I think that if a translator were interested in expanding, the best way to do it would be at a fairly slow rate. That is, if a translator gets multiple requests for translations in a language other than the one they provide, it would be ideal to find a competent translator that could translate in that language. How does one go about finding a competent translator? This is probably the hardest part, and is one of the reasons why freelance translator applications for translation agencies are so long and involved. Spanish translation agencies want to make sure they get translators that can actually do the jobs sent to them. The one thing any agency wants to avoid is contracting out to a translator that does a horrible job and ruins the trust a client has.

So hiring the right person is the first step in expanding your translation business. There are many places to look online, like freelance job sites such as eLance and others, but you never know if the person you choose really has the credentials they say they do. One way to vet a person and his/her abilities is to come up with a sample document that you can give to the person as a test translation. You can then either check the translation yourself if it's in your native language, or have a friend who is competent in that language proofread the translation to make sure it is up to par.

Unfortunately, language skills aren't the only skills that you want your potential colleague to have. A person can be the best translator on the planet but if they are not punctual, or don't deal with timelines very well, you're going to have a lot of frustrations ahead of you. If it takes a long time for a potential translator to get the test translation back to you, that's a sign that you might want to look to hire someone else.

Communication Between Translators

Once you choose a person to help you expand your translation business, the next step is to figure out how you're going to communicate with your colleague. Whenever I've done a project with another translator, I've always found that email is a decent communication tool. The reason I like email so much is that differing timezones often prevent me from communicating with that person when he or she is on the other side of the world. Also, I've found that using email has helped me be more concise and to-the-point because a lot of time can be wasted getting information back and forth if there are ambiguities or misunderstandings.

If you are relatively close timewise with the person you will be working with, other tools are even handier, such as Skype if you like to talk over the phone, or instant messaging. I like Gmail because it allows me to do both of these straight from my laptop without having to worry about anything else. This saves me headaches and keeps everything right there on one screen, which is something that is very important to me as I work.

Figuring Out Payment

Finally, you'll want to figure out and agree on the payment terms you will offer your new translator. Presumably the reason the translator wants to work with you is because they need additional sources for translations which is what you will be providing. As such, the money you will earn from the transaction is payment for finding a translation job and passing it on. The new translator, however, will still be the one doing the translation and deserves the bulk of the payment. As the Spanish translation agencies manager, you'll want to make sure that you pay the translator a good rate because they will have earned that. Don't think that just because you are the manager you deserve the bulk of the payment.

What portion or percentage of the payment should you give the translator? This is a question that ranks right up there with how much you should charge for your own work, and is something that you will have to figure out based on the various circumstances surrounding each individual situation.

This can maybe best be explained by an example:

A while ago I was swamped in both my professional and personal life and didn't really have time to take on any new work or new clients. However, someone emailed me with a job assignment for a translation from English to Spanish. I didn't feel comfortable translating this particular document into Spanish, and because of that and the fact that I didn't have much time to work on it on my own, I decided to contract out to a colleague I had in my translation network.

In order to figure out how much to pay my translator, I first looked at the source text and figured out how much per word I would charge for the job. I usually charge between $0.08 and $0.10 a word and I determined that if I were to do the job I would charge $0.08 a word. I then informed my colleague that I had a translation for her to do and would pay her $0.06 a word to do the translation. Because that is more than she usually makes on her own doing translation work or when working for a translation agency, she was very willing to do it. I kept $0.02 for myself and when I received payment from the client I sent the payment to her. She received what was a good amount for her work, I got some compensation for facilitating the work, and the client got a quality translation.

So have you as a freelance translator ever entertained the idea of moving your career in a different direction and setting up Spanish translation agencies? If so, let us know why, and some of the things that were hard about doing so. Likewise, if you've steered clear of the idea, let us know what kept you away.

Thanks!

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