Appropriate hourly rate for a Lead Linguist विषय पोस्ट करनेवाला व्यक्ति: El Topo
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El Topo
जर्मनी
अंग्रेजी से जर्मन
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Hi,
I'm a newbie translator and have been in the business for almost a year and a half. I have been translating for the account of a major IT (middleware) company at a big 3 translation agency for some months. Apparently the PMs and QA managers are very content with my work and want me to become a lead linguist so I can coach and review the rest of the Germans, communicate with the client and raise the overall quality of our output.
They did not offer a pay rise from th... See more Hi,
I'm a newbie translator and have been in the business for almost a year and a half. I have been translating for the account of a major IT (middleware) company at a big 3 translation agency for some months. Apparently the PMs and QA managers are very content with my work and want me to become a lead linguist so I can coach and review the rest of the Germans, communicate with the client and raise the overall quality of our output.
They did not offer a pay rise from the 20€/h i was charging before. I asked for 28 and they agreed immediately. Should I have asked for more? Keep in mind I am inexperienced and they will have to train me.
I think I have some pretty good arguments for re-negotiating the rate, but I'd only do that if I knew the 28 are too little.
[Edited at 2019-02-16 22:24 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lincoln Hui 
हांगकांग
Local time: 10:15
सदस्य
चीनी से अंग्रेजी
+ ...
The window for negotiation has likely passed, at least for now. You could maybe revisit the issue after a few months and cite the actual work as justification, but if your reason to negotiate is because they accepted your rate without question, that's shaky ethical ground to say the least.
Keep in mind that this kind of job is, shall we say, not for everyone. If you like doing it, all power to you, but I'll just pull a number from my hindsides and say that at least half the people a... See more The window for negotiation has likely passed, at least for now. You could maybe revisit the issue after a few months and cite the actual work as justification, but if your reason to negotiate is because they accepted your rate without question, that's shaky ethical ground to say the least.
Keep in mind that this kind of job is, shall we say, not for everyone. If you like doing it, all power to you, but I'll just pull a number from my hindsides and say that at least half the people around here are not suited for this kind of work. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Thayenga
जर्मनी
Local time: 04:15
सदस्य (2009)
अंग्रेजी से जर्मन
+ ...
| Re-negotiation | Feb 17, 2019 |
For the time being, let the matter rest. First you need to see - and show them - how you like this type of work, if you can handle it, whether you can indeed raise and improve the overall output.
If all goes well and they're happy with you and you with them and your work, then you have something to base your request for a rate increase. Well, actually it would be requesting a pay/salary increase.
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- Don't forget that you're not employed. The company won't pay you anything more than your fee (holiday, health insurance, equipment, working space, pension, office expenses, etc.)
- Translation companies like freelancers: overall they cost less than employees, while taking responsibility, being good, reliable, efficient and never on sick leave, and willing to waive the payment of any hour that is not dedicated to full production.
- With German as a central skill, you likely don't c... See more - Don't forget that you're not employed. The company won't pay you anything more than your fee (holiday, health insurance, equipment, working space, pension, office expenses, etc.)
- Translation companies like freelancers: overall they cost less than employees, while taking responsibility, being good, reliable, efficient and never on sick leave, and willing to waive the payment of any hour that is not dedicated to full production.
- With German as a central skill, you likely don't compete with many people from emerging countries.
- Employee training is usually performed during work hours. It's not a favour they do to you, it is a requirement for freelancers to fit in their company workflow processes.
But I agree with opinions above that :
1) you can't reasonably ask more just after they offered you the opportunity to do so.
2) you consider this rate as temporary, to see how you will perform in such a position, before either giving it up or becoming the ultimate go-to guy that nobody in the company can live without, and price yourself accordingly after this "bait rate". A try-before-you-buy strategy is nothing to be ashamed of in business, but it should be stated as such (fee review in x months after seeing what it actually involves).
I also know that some European agencies sell 25 euros/hour for highly qualified freelance work as a really good rate. With almost 20 years of full-time translation experience, I am also worth that much. But I am not overly worried that they go bankrupt for my turning down such offers, because they do find freelance translators from Europe who are happy to charge that.
Philippe ▲ Collapse
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El Topo
जर्मनी
अंग्रेजी से जर्मन
+ ...
विषय आरंभकर्ता | Thanks for the input! | Feb 17, 2019 |
Lincoln Hui wrote:
You could maybe revisit the issue after a few months and cite the actual work as justification.
Yes, that's what I was talking about: Re-negotiating the rate once I'm settled in and having a demonstrable positive impact. Asking for more now would be incredibly awkward.
I am really confident I can fill this role well. There are a number of turnkey improvements that could significantly streamline communications for zero effort. They're hiring me as a linguist, but I can also code a bit. A hundred lines of code here or there could save days on the month and mitigate frustration. I am not entirely new to leadership either. I know how to be a go-to guy, but I'm not sure how ultimate I can get.
Now, I don't know how things will play out and what pitfalls are in store for me and I certainly have weak points as well. I don't know much about the internal workings of agencies, but it will be fun to find out. It's really crazy how we freelancers are just little cogs in this giant translation machine and largely unaware of anything beyond the cogs next to us.
According to the averages provided by proz, 28€ is just above the minimum hourly rate for En -> De translations in this field, with the standard rate being a whopping 36€. So maybe that's what I should be aiming for in the medium term, i.e. in another year or two? Does anybody have experience there? I could imagine the margin is much larger, as the work consists in amplifying the work of others and has a stronger potential impact than the output of a single translator.
Keep in mind that this kind of job is, shall we say, not for everyone. If you like doing it, all power to you, but I'll just pull a number from my hindsides and say that at least half the people around here are not suited for this kind of work.
Interesting. Is there any particular reason you think so? Is it because of typical translator personality traits or the overall challenge and stress? What would be the main turn-offs of this job?
Philippe, thank you so much for your insightful words. However, while training is serving the agency's interests and isn't a favor, it still benefits me for the rest of my life and therefor more than them. I will be trained by someone whose time is more valuable than mine. Plus, access to interesting and useful insider knowledge benefits me in more ways than just enabling me to work for the agency. So I'm not too unhappy with my 28€ as long as I'm still in training. But if I understand your advice correctly, there is still ample room for improvement which I should pursue sooner rather than later.
[Edited at 2019-02-17 13:49 GMT]
| | | | | Wait 6 months | Feb 17, 2019 |
Congratulations on this progress in your translation career. I agree with just about every thing people have said here.Just one thing to add: don't beat yourself up because you didn't negotiate a better price. Negotiations can be tough as there are many unknowns, and you said you're relatively new in the field. In terms of a timeline to ask about another increase, I'd suggest 6 months -- not too short and not too long. Meanwhile, make sure to keep documentation of all the positive appraisals of ... See more Congratulations on this progress in your translation career. I agree with just about every thing people have said here.Just one thing to add: don't beat yourself up because you didn't negotiate a better price. Negotiations can be tough as there are many unknowns, and you said you're relatively new in the field. In terms of a timeline to ask about another increase, I'd suggest 6 months -- not too short and not too long. Meanwhile, make sure to keep documentation of all the positive appraisals of your work for this company -- even if it's just an email with a short message like "Great job!" or "Wonderful." Then you can just pull this out when you try to negotiate a raise.
Slightly off topic, but I took note of this part of one of the answers to your question:
[quote]Philippe Etienne wrote:
- "With German as a central skill, you likely don't compete with many people from emerging countries."
In the US, for a very long time Spanish (for obvious reasons) has been the No 1 language for people to study in high school and college/university. However, I recently read that this is not what is being recommended nowadays, as there are so many English-Spanish bilingual people. I read one article stating that in terms of a foreign language to study in college/high school, German is one of the top languages now being recommended here. It's a strong market in terms of multinational corporations with $ + rates can be higher because of the home countries of translators to & from German (as pointed out). ▲ Collapse
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