You better boost your ProZ.com profile!

Vladimir, I’m glad to hear Proz worked so well for you! You are right, the industry is diverse,and there could be different solutions for different people. For example, the Chamber of Commerce has been great for me, and others have not found that it worked for them. So, congratulations! However, I suspect those high hourly rates you quote… are rather rare. You do say “sometimes” and “managed”, so I am thinking that’s not exactly the average rate.

It’s just a question of trying a bit of everything, and remembering to accept things we feel comfortable with. Thanks for a good observation!

I beg to differ on this one.

While most of the jobs posted on ProZ are indeed at the low end of the market, last year alone I acquired two direct clients by submitting my quotes in response to job postings that looked promising enough. One of the posters represented an insurance company, while the other was from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In late March 2014 I signed my first contract with them on an independent contractor basis… By now, I have become an approved vendor on the translator roster accessible to three UN system agencies. Twice a year I translate pre-session documents (approx. 50,000-60,000 words) prior to their Executive Committee meetings held twice a year. Interesting assignments… and well-paid at that.

Generally, I am very thankful to ProZ and its staff, because it was where I secured my first overseas client back in 2003, and 90% of my existing clients come to me as a result of running a search in the ProZ’s translator directory.

In sincere appreciation of the many different ways in which ProZ has been changing my professional and personal life between 1999 and now, I decided in 2013 to pay my membership fees (I switched to corporate membership in March 2015) for ten years ahead, up to 2023.

The translation industry is very diverse, there are different translators and different translation agencies. There are opposite opinions on may controversial issues.

As you are well aware, many fellow translators would not offer discounts for fuzzy matches and repetitions. Again, my attitude to this is quite different. For instance, with one of the clients, and with the agreed rate for repetitions standing at 20% of my regular rate, I sometimes managed to earn US$150.00-200.00 per hour while translating owner manuals and service manuals that came with notebooks, desktops and servers manufactured by a well-known US-based corporation.

Honestly, I have always been quite happy with the Trados fuzzy match scheme agreed with that particular client… 🙂