Freelance Translators vs. Permanently Employed Translators
A professional translator always faced the dilemma of either being a self-employed provider of language services and performing translations and/or editing at home or being a full-time member of a team of translators in a company.
Below, we try to reflect on freelance translator's work and set forth our arguments supporting the idea that although full-time translators working in translators’ teams of companies may feel themselves more secure, freelance translators are better positioned even in the mid- or long term.
Firstly, and this is most important, freelance translators enjoy freedom and are able to organize their translation process in their own manner. Nowadays, most translators use modern technologies in their day-to-day work and therefore they no longer depend on working hours as translators' groups and departments in companies do. So, freelance translators can work even at night without problems for their customers.
Secondly, freelance translators may choose translation jobs in subjects they prefer. For example, some translators may specialize in fiction and would be happy to receive an order to translate the latest Harry Potter or John Grisham novel into their native language, while others would prefer to flavor the taste of Japanese haiku lyrics and translate them.
Of course, the bulk of translation jobs ordered are technical, and freelance translators have to specialize not only in pairs of languages for translation, but also in special areas, such as accounting and finance, law, and the automotive or fashion industry. Typically, freelance translators tend to be in command of one or two areas and do not take translation jobs in unfamiliar subjects.
And finally, freelance translators may earn much more than permanently employed translators. If a freelance translator is skilled and capable to work hard enough his/her earnings may be two or even three times bigger than those of a permanent translator
Marco Bellini
Translator
The Italian Translators Association