Undertaking a language course can be immensely fulfilling on a personal level. It can also open up a whole range of new career options. We’ll explore three of these below – translation (we’ll focus on Italian, for the sake of this example), online teaching and transcription – along with some tips to get your career off the ground the easy way.
How can I translate Italian documents to English?
It’s up to you how you provide your Italian translation services. You can translate Italian documents to English by setting up your own freelance service or by working with a translation agency to translate Italian documents for their clients. Your career, your choice.
There are pros to working on your own – you can be selective about your clients, you get to keep the whole fee (less the tax man’s share) and you can decide your own rates. There are also pros to working with an agency – the agency does all the legwork in terms of finding clients, they have systems for dealing with obscure file formats, you’ll have a project manager and other team members to support you and so on.
You can apply to multiple agencies, join freelancing platforms and market your translation services directly to businesses – whatever feels right to you. By approaching the provision of your Italian translation services in this way, you’ll be able to generate multiple income streams. Just be careful not to take on too many different jobs from different sources and find yourself unable to deliver.
How can I turn my language course into an online teaching career?
The online language learning market is growing rapidly. With a compound annual growth rate of 18.7% expected from 2020 to 2027, the market should be worth $21.2 billion by 2027.
If you want to be part of the online teaching industry, you’ll need to ensure you have an online presence that details your skills, experience, rates and availability. Make everything as clear as possible so that it’s easy for potential students to discover what they need.
You’ll need to have some lesson plans ready too and put thought into how you’re going to deliver your teaching. You can either go it alone or join an agency that will provide you with materials and support you to build up your student base.
In equipment terms, you’ll need to ensure you have a decent internet connection and a reliable video conferencing app.
How do I move from completing a course to establishing a transcription career?
For transcription, too, you’ll need the right tools. A foot pedal that stops and starts your audio is essential, along with decent speakers or headphones so that you can listen to the recording clearly.
To establish a transcription career, you can choose to freelance or work with a transcription company, much as you can for translation – the tips provided above apply equally to both.
Fast typing speed is particularly important for transcription, as it will impact how quickly you can deliver your work. So if you don’t touch-type already, it’s time to learn.
How to find other language-related jobs
If you’re looking for inspiration about other work that you can do with your newly acquired language skills, why not hop onto freelancing platform Upwork and type in what you want to do? Whether it’s providing English to Italian translation services, picking up German interpretation jobs, recording French voiceovers or anything else, the search results will bring up matches and similar suggestions, which can help to broaden your ideas about the kind of work you could do.
Actionable tips for building up your career
By taking these tips on board as you launch your fledgling language career, you can maximise your chances of engaging clients and retaining them.
#1 Build up your experience
If you’re looking to land a fulltime role, your CV will need to be in top shape. That means showing off not just your qualifications but also relevant skills and experience. If you don’t have anything to put yet, don’t worry. Why not take on some voluntary work or complete a couple of freelance jobs to begin building up your experience? Think about transferrable skills and soft skills too – there are likely to be non-language skills that will still help you to fulfil a role successfully, so be sure to list those.
#2 Find your first clients
Networking is a key part of establishing your freelance career, so if you plan to work for yourself it’s time to reach out and make new contacts. Let your existing professional contacts know that you’re available to provide your chosen language-related service, reach out online to businesses that use language services and consider attending events, from relevant conferences to local business networking breakfasts. The more you reach out, the greater your chances of building up a solid, long-term client base.
#3 Make life easy for your clients
If you’re freelancing, think carefully about what your clients need. Translating Italian documents to English, for example, means making it simple for the client to send you their document, in whatever format is easiest for them. It also means providing a fast and competitive quotation for the work. Once you’ve won the job, you’ll need to deliver the Italian to English translation – or the English to Italian translation, if they want it the other way around – in line with the client’s timescale. And you will, of course, need to ensure that the translation is of extremely high quality.
Likewise, if you’re providing either online teaching, transcription services or any other freelance role, you need to make it simple for your clients to find you and easy for them to understand your costs. The easier you can make it for clients to access your services, the better.
#4 Set up a website
If you’re launching your own career after completing a language course, take the time to set up a quick website. It doesn’t have to be anything expensive of fancy – just a basic, brochure-style site that shows clients what you offer, what it will cost them and how they can contact you. Having a slick, professional site speaks volumes when clients look you up online while considering whether or not to use your services.
#5 A word on pricing
How much does it cost to translate a document? What do you charge for your online lessons? What will your transcription services cost me? Your clients will want to know what you are going to cost them from an early stage in your discussions.
If you’re offering translation services, that means including clear pricing on your website, including your basic translation fee and the cost of any additional services, such as rush translation or certified translation, that the client can buy. By showing the client what it costs to translate a document from the outset, neither you nor them will waste any time if your pricing expectations don’t match.
If it’s teaching services that you’re providing, clearly show your hourly rate, along with any discounts or offers for clients who book multiple sessions at once.
And if you’re providing transcription services, ensure you’re clear on whether you’re charging per word, per audio hour or however else you choose to structure your payments. The more certainty you can give on price, the faster you can rule out potential clients with insufficient budgets.
Of course, if you’re aiming for a fulltime role with a single employer, then the pricing element will be out of your hands, as the role will be offered with a set salary. Just be sure to do your sums in advance to ensure it’s enough to cover your expenses and live on.
Mike
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