| Pages sur ce sujet: [1 2] > |
Poll: Have you ever considered starting your own translation agency? Auteur du fil: ProZ.com Staff
|
|---|
| |
Mary Worby 
Royaume-Uni
Local time: 13:13
allemand vers anglais
+ ...
| I've considered it ... | Jul 15, 2013 |
... and rejected the idea.
Running an agency is so wholly different from actual translation and requires completely different skills. I'm happy doing the actual translation work and letting someone else to the client management and administration.
| | | |
Evans (X)
Local time: 13:13
espagnol vers anglais
+ ...
| A valuable experience | Jul 15, 2013 |
I voted other because I went the other way. After a couple of years struggling to make myself known as a freelancer, I set up a translation agency in the form of a translators' cooperative. This was the early 80s and the translation world was very different to what it is now (no email, no internet, work mainly locally sourced). After thirteen years I moved away and became freelance again. The agency is still thriving some 18 years since I left it. And I am thriving too. But it was excellent expe... See more I voted other because I went the other way. After a couple of years struggling to make myself known as a freelancer, I set up a translation agency in the form of a translators' cooperative. This was the early 80s and the translation world was very different to what it is now (no email, no internet, work mainly locally sourced). After thirteen years I moved away and became freelance again. The agency is still thriving some 18 years since I left it. And I am thriving too. But it was excellent experience for me in my early years as a translator, having to project manage other people's work and run the business. ▲ Collapse
| | | |
William Murphy
Italie
Local time: 14:13
Membre (2009)
italien vers anglais
+ ...
Mary Worby wrote:
... and rejected the idea.
Running an agency is so wholly different from actual translation and requires completely different skills. I'm happy doing the actual translation work and letting someone else to the client management and administration.
| | |
|
|
|
| That's what I did in 1985... | Jul 15, 2013 |
Gilla Evans wrote:
I voted other because I went the other way. After a couple of years struggling to make myself known as a freelancer, I set up a translation agency in the form of a translators' cooperative. This was the early 80s and the translation world was very different to what it is now (no email, no internet, work mainly locally sourced). After thirteen years I moved away and became freelance again. The agency is still thriving some 18 years since I left it. And I am thriving too. But it was excellent experience for me in my early years as a translator, having to project manage other people's work and run the business.
... with a very small group of associates (5 altogether) and we are still going strong (with the inevitable ups and downs)!
| | | |
SafeTex
France
Local time: 14:13
français vers anglais
+ ...
| What is an agency? | Jul 15, 2013 |
Hello
I think that the difficulty with this question is what is meant by agency
Some 'translators' occasionally have to give out work as they can't do it themselves for whatever reason.
They then mistakenly in my opinion consider themselves to be an 'agency', do nothing useful but think they should take 50% nevertheless.
Other agencies are really agencies and provide a service to the end client and the translator and charge 'accordingly'
... See more Hello
I think that the difficulty with this question is what is meant by agency
Some 'translators' occasionally have to give out work as they can't do it themselves for whatever reason.
They then mistakenly in my opinion consider themselves to be an 'agency', do nothing useful but think they should take 50% nevertheless.
Other agencies are really agencies and provide a service to the end client and the translator and charge 'accordingly'
I have given out work but never let it go to my head and started to think of myself as an agency ▲ Collapse
| | | |
| Agency/Cooperative | Jul 15, 2013 |
In a cooperative set up, I would understand members to be working together on an equal footing. The agency relationship requires a principal and an agent, a major and a minor, and the parties are not on an equal footing.
| | | |
Tim Drayton
Chypre
Local time: 15:13
turc vers anglais
+ ...
| Yes, I already have | Jul 15, 2013 |
I did that for a couple of years, but prefer nowadays just to market my own labour as a freelancer. I know that I can rely on myself.
| | |
|
|
|
Vibeke Degn-P
Norvège
Local time: 14:13
Membre (2010)
anglais vers norvégien
+ ...
| Yes, already have | Jul 15, 2013 |
I did last year, and love every minute of it. I like the variety it gives to my working day. A bit of my own translating, a bit of marketing, a little contact with "my" translators and a phone call or two to accounting. Sometimes, of course, the world turns against me and give me horrible customers, but they are few and far apart. Most of the time it's the good life.
Vibeke
| | | |
neilmac
Espagne
Local time: 14:13
espagnol vers anglais
+ ...
And I'll save all my "humorous" thoughts and other comments about the question for those who'll appreciate them.
| | | |
neilmac
Espagne
Local time: 14:13
espagnol vers anglais
+ ...
| In a nutshell | Jul 15, 2013 |
Tim Drayton wrote:
I know that I can rely on myself.
That's one of my main reasons too.
| | | |
Rita Utt
France
Local time: 14:13
anglais vers allemand
+ ...
| Networking and cooperatives | Jul 15, 2013 |
rather than a classical agency which is an intermediary.
Question of philosophy ...
| | |
|
|
|
Evans (X)
Local time: 13:13
espagnol vers anglais
+ ...
| cooperatives and agencies, not mutually exclusive | Jul 15, 2013 |
Just to clarify, the cooperative we set up acted as an agency. The 7 original members all worked in the office part of the time, doing the project management on a cooperative basis, and each worked on projects in our own language pairs as translators. But we contracted many other translators to work for us as well, so that the agency provided a truly multilingual service. Because of our cooperative ethos, I think we treated our translators rather better than some agencies do, and we certainly to... See more Just to clarify, the cooperative we set up acted as an agency. The 7 original members all worked in the office part of the time, doing the project management on a cooperative basis, and each worked on projects in our own language pairs as translators. But we contracted many other translators to work for us as well, so that the agency provided a truly multilingual service. Because of our cooperative ethos, I think we treated our translators rather better than some agencies do, and we certainly took a smaller margin to cover our administrative costs. Some of the original members left because they did not get enough work in their language pairs, and the business was run for many years by three or four of us. After I left, the remaining members changed the legal structure of the business from a cooperative to a standard limited company. It continues to be one of the nicest agencies to work for, run by and for translators. ▲ Collapse
| | | |
Rita Utt wrote:
rather than a classical agency which is an intermediary.
Question of philosophy ...
Itou.
| | | |
Helen Hagon
Local time: 13:13
Membre (2011)
russe vers anglais
+ ...
Running an agency requires a different set of skills which I don't really have. I am much better at managing documents than people.
| | | |
| Pages sur ce sujet: [1 2] > |
Login to reply/comment 
