Poll: Is translation a full-time or a side job for you?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Jul 3, 2022

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Is translation a full-time or a side job for you?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 13:01
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Full-time Jul 3, 2022

I've been a full-time translator since 1986 (20 years in-house, freelancer since 2006) after a few years translating as a side job.

P.L.F. Persio
 
Patricia Prevost
Patricia Prevost  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 14:01
English to Spanish
+ ...
I'm a full-time freelance translator Jul 3, 2022

For about three years I had another job and wasn't translating full-time but I've become a freelancer again and loving it. And although I'm not fully booked yet, I know I'll get there.

Barbara Cochran, MFA
 
Wolfgang Schoene
Wolfgang Schoene  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:01
Member (2007)
English to German
+ ...
Full time since ever Jul 3, 2022

[quote]ProZ.com Staff wrote:

That is, 1978

[Edited at 2022-07-03 14:06 GMT]


 
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Barbara Cochran, MFA  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:01
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Jul 3, 2022

Certainly not a side job to supplement another full- or part-time job. But when I am offered and decide to accept a book translation, the time spent on it amounts to a 6-hours-a-day, 6-days a week proposition, over just a few or several months, or several years. In any event, the experience is always very intensive, both mentally and physically. But it's always worth it, for more than one reason.

[Edited at 2022-07-03 15:54 GMT]


 
Metin Demirel
Metin Demirel  Identity Verified
Türkiye
Local time: 15:01
Member (2018)
Italian to Turkish
+ ...
Other? Jul 3, 2022

What does the option "Other" mean in this poll?

expressisverbis
Angie Garbarino
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 14:01
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
Other... Jul 3, 2022

...may mean that translation still serves as a source of income occasionally although you have turned over to another main source of income or striving for another main source of income because your earlier clients succeeded in looking for cheaper resources for their income.

Metin Demirel
Christel Zipfel
 
Philip Lees
Philip Lees  Identity Verified
Greece
Local time: 15:01
Greek to English
Other Jul 4, 2022

My work is divided between translation and editing, the latter involves English texts written in most cases by non-native English speakers. At the moment, I'm doing more editing than translation, but that can change.

As for "full-time", these days I usually average something like 3-4 hours per day, 7 days per week. Does that count?

[Edited to remove duplicate word]

[Edited at 2022-07-04 04:51 GMT]


 
Guofei_LIN
Guofei_LIN  Identity Verified
Australia
Local time: 22:01
Chinese
No Uber driver or Airbnb host here? Jul 4, 2022

No Uber driver or Airbnb host here? as a side job?

 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 14:01
Member (2003)
French to Italian
+ ...
Me Jul 4, 2022

Guofei_LIN wrote:

No Uber driver or Airbnb host here? as a side job?


I am an Airbnb host, (legally registered in Spain) but only for July and Agust, so very low income from that. I do not consider it a side job.


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 14:01
French to English
. Jul 4, 2022

I'm not sure that I actually put in full-time hours, because I don't get much done in the mornings and I rarely work after 6. But it is my main source of income.
I have had various side jobs but nothing I have actually depended on for the money. Teaching was so badly paid, and chaotic (Jan 2020 was not the right moment to start teaching!) it really wasn't worth my while, even though I really enjoyed working with the students.


Christopher Schröder
 


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Poll: Is translation a full-time or a side job for you?






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