Working as a freelance translator for a language translation agency can be a rewarding career opportunity. The trick is finding these translation agencies and figuring out which ones you can trust and which ones you should avoid.
Just like in everything else, not all language translation agencies are created equal.
It's important that a freelance translator feels comfortable with the language translation agency and the people he/she deals with there. A freelancer will undoubtedly run into questions and issues that need to be resolved, and if communication is bad at the language translation end, it can cause a lot of headaches for the translator.
Another thing a freelance translator needs to make sure of is that the language translation agency will pay its translators. This can be hard to figure out if you've never had any dealings with them before, but you can ask around and talk to other translators and see if they've had any experience or have heard anything about a specific language translation agency. Sometimes you won't know until you actually do work for an agency and you'll just have to take that chance.
When researching possible language translation agencies, one possible indication of professionalism is the agency's website. A lot of agencies and freelance translators I know have pretty poorly designed websites. Usually, though, if a company is serious about finding translators, they will have a good website set up and provide an easy way for freelance translators to add their information to the agency database.
Finally, a good translator will rely on his/her instincts to help determine whether a language translation agency is responsible or not. These instincts will get better and better over time and while a translator might encounter some bad eggs out there, most of the translation agencies are pretty good.
Clint Tustison is a translator interested in helping other translators improve their businesses. Check out his free monthly newsletter, Translator Techniques with tips and techniques for translators, as well as his new guide for freelancers, The Freelance Translator's Ultimate List of Translation Agencies.
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