| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] | Welcome to the forum for translation in Canada. Thread poster: Henry Dotterer
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Hi everyone
Good to see there is a Canadian forum. Did all colleagues in Canada get informed about this? Maybe it ended up in my spam box.
I am Marinus, a Dutch native, my German wife and I immigrated last year. We had a wonderful holiday on Vancouver Island in 2004 and decided that this is the place. Life still feels like a holiday on many days, especially the sunny ones. Great to be here. Thank you, Canada and all you tolerant Canadians!
At the time I had... See more Hi everyone
Good to see there is a Canadian forum. Did all colleagues in Canada get informed about this? Maybe it ended up in my spam box.
I am Marinus, a Dutch native, my German wife and I immigrated last year. We had a wonderful holiday on Vancouver Island in 2004 and decided that this is the place. Life still feels like a holiday on many days, especially the sunny ones. Great to be here. Thank you, Canada and all you tolerant Canadians!
At the time I had no official certification at all; the profession of translation is not 'title protected' in Germany (yet), but I had to present proof of skill to be able to immigrate as a Skilled Worker into Canada. Luckily, Germany provides for a program whereby you can partake in the oral and written tests for translators if you can prove you have worked as a translator for several years and have at least enjoyed a reasonable level of general education. I thought I'd play it safe and go for both the German-Dutch and the German-English tests, so I'd get one at least, but lo and behold, I passed them both. When the first results were in we immediately applied for immigration and about 18 months later we had become Permanent Residents.
Not long after arriving I thought I'd be getting my STIBC membership and perhaps even the certification, but after just having gone through all the procedures back in Germany, the STIBC requirements appeared discouragingly complicated and tedious, so I gave up. We kept a lot of our European clientele, so we've made a living so far, but I'm gradually starting to feel there could be more interesting opportunities here, if I only got my act together, so I've made up my mind: STIBC membership will be the next thing to tackle.
Thanks, Johanna, for your comments about the title protection status situation in BC, it gave me the final prod.
Johanna Timm, PhD wrote:
... I am very grateful to the folks at STIBC who pushed for this title protection; the annual membership fee to keep my status pays for itself with one small translation job.
johanna
Life is good, the climate mild, the people friendly, the wildlife impressive and housing hopelessly expensive, but we're doing ok, thanks among other things to the Internet and this wonderful contraption called a laptop. FREEDOM! Last summer I often worked on my sailboat, can you believe it?
I also hope this forum will become a good place for networking and goodwill, although I'm surprised about the depth of the linguistic and racial divides in Canada. Where does all that anger come from?
My idol is Kurt Vonnegut, who regrettably passed away last year, although he himself didn't seem too worried about it. Any Vonnegut fans around?
Looking forward to meeting some or all of you at a possible future powwow or other event.
- Marinus
*What are we here for? We are here to fart around. Don't let anyone tell you any different!* - Kurt Vonnegut
*Don't believe everything you see. Don't even believe everything you think. Especially don't believe everything you think you believe.* ▲ Collapse
| | | | | J'ai une drôle de question... | Jan 29, 2008 |
Ça fait longtemps que j'hésite à la poser.
Je travaille comme pigiste depuis deux ans et demi et j'ai offert mes services à de nombreuses agences de relations publiques, de publicité et de communication québécoises et ontariennes et seulement deux d'entre elles m'ont offert des contrats jusqu'à présent.
J'ai pourtant une formation complète ainsi que huit années d'expérience bien concrètes dans ce domaine. Par ailleurs, mes compétences de traductrice ne p... See more Ça fait longtemps que j'hésite à la poser.
Je travaille comme pigiste depuis deux ans et demi et j'ai offert mes services à de nombreuses agences de relations publiques, de publicité et de communication québécoises et ontariennes et seulement deux d'entre elles m'ont offert des contrats jusqu'à présent.
J'ai pourtant une formation complète ainsi que huit années d'expérience bien concrètes dans ce domaine. Par ailleurs, mes compétences de traductrice ne peuvent aucunement être en questionnées puisque personne de ce milieu n'a fait appel à mes services.
Je me demande donc quoi et comment faire pour percer ce milieu. Autrement dit, je me demande quel est le secret pour obtenir des contrats de traduction de la part de ces agences. Quelqu'un d'entre vous a des conseils à me donner? Ces agences font-elles affaire elles aussi avec des agences de traduction? Mystère et boule de gomme. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Warmer pastures | Jan 31, 2008 |
Debbie Tacium Ladry wrote:
Hi Michael - did you leave the belle province for warmer pastures?
Well, that was one of many reasons.
I bought a house in West Vancouver overlooking the city, at 1,200 feet elevation.
The temperature here is always a few degrees colder than at sea level. Since the winter temperature is often in the 1-3 degree Centigrade range, it is common for me to wake up with 1 foot of snow on the driveway, and after shoveling it all off to get to work, I find not one flake of snow at the base of the mountain. All is green. Fortunately, our nanny is from the Philippines and for her, the snow is a great novelty; she loves to shovel it. Now I always let her do it, as a reward. 
Michael
| | | | chigusa
Local time: 05:15
English to Japanese
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Hi all,
I just found out the existence of this forum and wanted to say hi. I immigrated from Japan some years ago and currently live in Calgary, Alberta (frozen solid at the moment).
Majority of my work come from Japan and the U.S., so I'm still not familiar with the Canadian translation market. This new forum has given me a ton of information already, so thank you and I hope I can contribute something valuable to this network in the future.
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| So many good points! | Feb 1, 2008 |
I don't even know where to start, and I just thought I'd check out the forum before starting my work day, but now it's going to get me behind my deadline!
Quickly about me, I translate mostly FR>EN, and some SP>EN and have worked both in-house for an agency and now freelancing full-time for 6 years. Like many of you, the bulk of my freelance works comes from agencies, but I do have some direct end clients. I'll deal with some of Damon's points here, and reply to other posts directly... See more I don't even know where to start, and I just thought I'd check out the forum before starting my work day, but now it's going to get me behind my deadline!
Quickly about me, I translate mostly FR>EN, and some SP>EN and have worked both in-house for an agency and now freelancing full-time for 6 years. Like many of you, the bulk of my freelance works comes from agencies, but I do have some direct end clients. I'll deal with some of Damon's points here, and reply to other posts directly.
Damon Loomer wrote:
First of all, let's not panic people! If ever there was a scarcely regulated profession, that has to be it, for good and for bad. At the ProZ conference, all the lady from the Translation Bureau was saying (to my understanding, anyway) was that the TB itself may soon be considering only translators with degrees and/or provincial certification as its suppliers.
But I ask you, how many of you get work regularly from the Translation Bureau? Any work at all? I think a big LOL is in order here, judging by my conversations with other freelancers. I can't see their policies affecting many of us freelancers much at all. In-house government jobs, maybe, but that's about it.
Actually, it seems at least 50% if not more of my work is from the Translation Bureau, albeit indirectly through an agency. And I have some colleagues who do have contracts directly with the TB. From what I know, they already require certified translators when selecting suppliers for their contracts. It's written right in the bid requirements. I myself am not certified for reasons I'll leave for another posting, but since the agency lands the contract, they can include several translators on the bid working at various stages of the process, some certified, some not, and the agency itself has some sort of certification. This is why I have not been bidding on these TB contracts myself because I am not certified.
I have no problem with becoming certified and I'm all for it, as long as certification does not depend on a translation degree (it could be one of the ways to become certified, but should not be a non-negotiable requirement) and in that case should be government regulated. I agree with an earlier comment about certain professional associations having very low standards for "certification" perhaps in a bid to have large memberships and charging what I consider to be exorbitant yearly fees to maintain this certification. The very few certificates I get asked to translate per year would hardly compensate for these yearly fees, so I have seen no reason to go this route yet. A trip to my local notary solves this problem for me...
This, in turn, brings me directly to the question of rates. As you can tell, I like working for agencies. Why? Because they offer me high volume, a steady relationship, low stress because we know what to expect of each other and I know I'm going to be paid. They hassle with the end clients and I do my job. So do I work for five cents a word? No. Ten? Not any more, thank goodness. Fifteen? Great! Twenty? Fat city! I'd only charge twenty (or 25) to a new, end client who I thought would probably never be back. And the fact is, it's more profitable for me to settle into a 20k job @ $0.13/word (=$2,600) than to do a set of birth certificates or emails @0.26/word and sit on my thumbs and fret for the rest of the week, waiting for another high-rate job. I can generally do 2-3 thousand words in a day and the days that I don't have that volume lined up I do start to fret, believe me. For me, a big part of success is being able to book my time several days ahead. I negotiate deadlines much more often than rates. I know how much I need to make in a month to live, and cents-per-word is only one ball in that juggling act.
Best to all,
Damon
I wholeheartedly am with you on this one Damon. I am just wrapping up two rather large projects for direct end clients in which I had to take on people to help me. While the per word rate is about double what I get from my agencies, after doing these projects I'm not sure it's worth it! I love my agency clients. I have been with most of them for years. We have a great relationship, they pay regularly every month and all I have to focus on is my translating. The volume keeps me as busy as I want to be. You know, I have some interpreter colleagues who ocasionally get documents for translation from Legal Aid, which pays $0.20/word, and they always scoff at me when they ask how much agencies pay (avg. for me $0.12 for my old clients, new ones get charged more). But I just laugh on the inside because these same people fight for interpreting shifts and these occasional certificate translations and are just scraping by, while I am happy to say that I often have to turn away work and make what I consider to be a good living. Like you Damon, I put out about 3000 words/day. Even at a "measly" $0.12, that's a $360 day. How many people can say they make $360 a day?
But we definitely have to value ourselves and remember that without us, these agencies would have nothing. So, don't accept less than you think you deserve. IMHO $0.10 is OK for a new translator just starting out who is learning and whose work may have to be carefully checked and maybe heavily edited, but having been on the inside, I know that for most agencies $0.24 is the bottom end of their rate schedule and I've always believed that as a MINIMUM half of the rate should go to the translator.
Looking forward to continued debates and discussions...
Laura ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jean Bisping 
Canada
Local time: 07:15
English to French
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| Hello, Bonjour! | Feb 1, 2008 |
Hello everyone,
Nice to have a local thread going. I work as a simultaneous interpreter on staff in Montreal, while accepting some freelance contracts on the side in high season, i.e., Spring and Fall. Missed the Montreal conference, even if it was in my own backyard. Oh well.
Happy New Year to one and all!
Bonjour à tous,
Agréable, d'avoir un forum local. Je travaille comme interprète simultané permanent ici à Montréal, tout en acc... See more Hello everyone,
Nice to have a local thread going. I work as a simultaneous interpreter on staff in Montreal, while accepting some freelance contracts on the side in high season, i.e., Spring and Fall. Missed the Montreal conference, even if it was in my own backyard. Oh well.
Happy New Year to one and all!
Bonjour à tous,
Agréable, d'avoir un forum local. Je travaille comme interprète simultané permanent ici à Montréal, tout en acceptant des contrats à la pige au plus fort de la "saison", à savoir à l'automne et au printemps. Je n'ai pu participer à la conférence... de Montréal, hélas, malgré sa proximité. C'est la vie. Bonne année à tous!
Josée : tu te demandes comment percer... Es-tu allée cogner à des portes? As-tu rencontré des donneurs de contrats en personne? Il me semble qu'il te faut t'afficher de façon très concrète. N'oublie pas que beaucoup d'agences ont déjà leur fournisseurs attitrés, il te faut donc faire preuve de persévérance et de patience... bonne chance! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | English to Portuguse/Portuguse to English | Feb 2, 2008 |
Hello Everyone !
Just found out about this forum today.
I am native Brazilian and have been living in Ottawa for the past 10 years.
My major is Translation and after awhile away from it I am back and loving it !!!
Daniele
| | | | Colleen Atterbury (X)
Canada
Local time: 04:15
English
| Greetings from Armstrong, BC. | Feb 3, 2008 |
Maybe my umpteenth posting update will hide my typos. Anyway - my thanks also go to Henry for giving birth to the "Tim Hortons of translations" forums...
I enjoyed seeing the first response from Samuel Murray (South Africa), since I emigrated from South Africa to Canada in the late 90's. At first, I landed in Edmonton. Then I moved to Calgary. Finally, I was able to escape to British Columbia. While in Calgary, I formally become a Canadian citizen and later married a sweet local l... See more Maybe my umpteenth posting update will hide my typos. Anyway - my thanks also go to Henry for giving birth to the "Tim Hortons of translations" forums...
I enjoyed seeing the first response from Samuel Murray (South Africa), since I emigrated from South Africa to Canada in the late 90's. At first, I landed in Edmonton. Then I moved to Calgary. Finally, I was able to escape to British Columbia. While in Calgary, I formally become a Canadian citizen and later married a sweet local lady.
Okay, before I get carried away any further! My Canadian experience has been confined to the Western part of Canada, thus I’ve had very little interaction with French speaking people overall. I always chuckle when I remember an incident from my initial research in the mid 90's, when I was getting ready to move to Canada. At the time, I had posted a question on an immigration forum. It was a time when I was asking many questions, about many things I had no idea about.
I did not realize I was stepping on a Quebecer’s toes, but apparently my questions gave her the impression that I was not interested in living in Quebec. I explained that I had no realistic chance of being allowed to settle there, so all my research was directed to feasible destinations only. Anyway, our linguistic misunderstanding had given rise to her "defensive attack", and my subsequent "back peddling".
Overall, I absolutely love my life in Canada, and have altogether lived here for more than 10 years now. It is absolutely the best place in the World for me!
[Edited at 2008-02-04 01:11] ▲ Collapse
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arte
Local time: 04:15
English to German
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| Hello everybody | Feb 5, 2008 |
Hi!
I'm a freelance translator (English-German/German-English) with an emphasis on art, history and (yup) art history. I live in Vancouver when I'm not back home in Europe. Nice to meet everybody!
Sabine Bartel
| | | | PRen (X)
Canada
Local time: 08:15
French to English
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| Regarding Damon's earlier post... | Feb 6, 2008 |
...cited above by Laura asking how many translators actually get work from the TB - I do! And I have been freelancing almost exclusively for them for several years. There may not be many of us posting on Proz, but we're out there in big numbers. I prefer the work I get from the government, and their rates are excellent, much higher than agency rates. So don't count us out just yet.
Greetings from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, home of the Bluenose II!
[Edited at 2008-02-06 12:33]
| | | | | glad to hear it | Feb 6, 2008 |
[quote]PRen wrote:
...cited above by Laura asking how many translators actually get work from the TB - I do! And I have been freelancing almost exclusively for them for several years. There may not be many of us posting on Proz, but we're out there in big numbers. I prefer the work I get from the government, and their rates are excellent, much higher than agency rates. So don't count us out just yet.
I really am glad to hear it. Would you like to share the secret of how to approach the TB?
| | | | PRen (X)
Canada
Local time: 08:15
French to English
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| There's no secret | Feb 6, 2008 |
You apply to be included in their inventory - all the instructions are on their site.
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| En relations publiques, il faut savoir se vendre... | Feb 12, 2008 |
Josée Desbiens wrote:
Ça fait longtemps que j'hésite à la poser.
Je travaille comme pigiste depuis deux ans et demi et j'ai offert mes services à de nombreuses agences de relations publiques, de publicité et de communication québécoises et ontariennes et seulement deux d'entre elles m'ont offert des contrats jusqu'à présent.
J'ai pourtant une formation complète ainsi que huit années d'expérience bien concrètes dans ce domaine. Par ailleurs, mes compétences de traductrice ne peuvent aucunement être en questionnées puisque personne de ce milieu n'a fait appel à mes services.
Je me demande donc quoi et comment faire pour percer ce milieu. Autrement dit, je me demande quel est le secret pour obtenir des contrats de traduction de la part de ces agences. Quelqu'un d'entre vous a des conseils à me donner? Ces agences font-elles affaire elles aussi avec des agences de traduction? Mystère et boule de gomme.
Josée, si tu ne fais qu'envoyer ton cévé aux entreprises, elles ne te rappelleront pas. Surtout dans le domaine des communications. Il faut les impressionner dès le départ, ce qui est de plus en plus difficile, et surtout, il ne faut pas lâcher prise, quitte à passer pour une tache.
Je ne suis qu'un petit étudiant, n'empêche, j'ai réussi à me trouver quelques clients en attendant de passer « aux choses plus sérieuses ». Certains, grâce à des contacts lors de congrès et conférences (il FAUT être visible), d'autres grâce à mon front de boeuf.
Un de mes enseignants nous a donné son truc le plus efficace : il trouve ses clients en magasinant en ligne, en fouillant dans les catalogues, etc. Il voit les erreurs ridicules qu'on y trouve parfois, les montre et il leur dit : « Je peux faire le travail correctement, du premier coup. Voici un exemple d'erreur que je ne ferai pas et qui ne vous fera pas perdre de client. On peut se parler si vous désirez en savoir plus. » S'il n'a pas de nouvelles, il n'hésite pas à leur écrire ou à les appeler de nouveau. Crois-moi, il ne manque pas de travail et il ne lève pas le petit doigt en bas de 0,20 $ du mot.
Surveille les fils de presse (je pense surtout à Canada News Wire), où tu verras des tonnes de communiqués passer. Ils sont souvent dans les deux langues : cible ceux qui sont mal écrits/traduits. Montre aux auteurs/clients qu'ils ont avantage à passer par toi s'ils ne veulent pas faire rire d'eux (je pense à certains communiqués de l'ADQ qui sont bourrés de fautes d'orthographe... un peu gênant dans un communiqué qui parle de la fin du monde en éducation, non?).
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