Getting Started as a Freelance Translator
A Brief Guide
Skills and Personality Traits Required for Working from Home as a Freelance Translator
These are some of the skills and personality traits I have found useful in my working life as a freelance translator (Skills Personality Traits to be a text translator). The list is by no means exhaustive:
Skills Personality Traits Required to be a Text Translator
- Marketing skills
- How are you going to advertise your services?
- Management skills
- Most freelance translators work from home. Can you run an office, keep records, negotiate with customers, handle queries and cope with the tax man?
- Computer literacy
- How well do you type?
- Which software have you worked with?
- Are you experienced in searching the Internet?
- Drive
- How many rejections can you handle? To what lengths will you go to succeed?
- Self-discipline
- Are you disciplined enough to make yourself do all that is required to become successful?
- Self-reliance
- Do you stand on your own feet or do you need someone to tell you what to do?
- Independence
- Do you enjoy working by yourself, for yourself, day after day, month after month, year after year, having very little contact with other people other than through online networking?