Are you a freelance translator? Sometimes you might feel like you are drowning in competition. It can be hard to distinguish yourself, while justifying your rates to budget-conscious clients.
But this is actually a really exciting time to be a linguist! More and more businesses are expanding into new markets—meaning they need more than just translations. They need multilingual SEO, app localization, multilingual content, multilingual software testing, and more.
Here is a list of skills you can market to new clients, so that you can stand out from the crowds while raising your rates.
1. Proofreading
Many translators offer proofreading services, but if you market this specialization correctly you can win a lot more business.
Inexperienced proofreaders can sometimes end up creating more work for their clients. Knowing how to efficiently check and markup a document can go a long way.
If you signal to a project manager that you are proficient with tracked changes, commenting, and other best practices, you’re more likely to win the business (and to be able to charge higher rates).
Check out this blog post to learn more about how to be a successful proofreader.
2. SEO + Keyword Research
Websites are the new storefronts, and search engine rankings can make or break a business. But when a company creates a website in a new language, they’re often at a loss at how to improve that website’s SEO.
As a multilingual expert, you can offer your expertise for keyword research and other related SEO services.
You can find affordable online SEO courses that can be completed in the course of a week or a month, depending on how thorough you want to be. Given the importance of SEO, you’re likely to see a good return on your investment.
If you are looking for a skill that takes less time to learn, you can study up on how to offer keyword research translation services. Keyword research translation does not require as much of a time investment: while it is a valuable PART of an SEO strategy, you don’t necessarily need to be an expert in SEO to offer it.
To learn how to offer keyword research, you can take our self-paced online course, which takes roughly an hour:
Meridian Courses (~1 hour): How To Translate Keywords (~1 hour)
For a more holistic multilingual SEO course (10-20 hours):
Yoast: Courses on multilingual SEO here.
3. Content Creation
One of the most important marketing strategies a company can employ is content marketing: but they usually can’t just translate their existing content.
As a multilingual freelancer, you can offer natural and engaging blog posts, social media posts, or even videos about the company’s product or services, while communicating seamlessly with the client. A very valuable service!
4. Software and game testing
Apps and games must be tested before they launch in new markets. Most importantly, they must be tested by users who are familiar with the target market and target language.
Having extra coding skills definitely helps, but is not always necessary to serve as a tester.
5. Machine Translation and Post-Editing
You’re probably already getting lots of requests for machine translation post-editing. Why not get to know the existing MT engines, and offer your services as an MTPE expert?
Most clients don’t even know where to start with MTPE. They don’t know which engines work best for which language, how to purchase them, and how to hire efficient post-editors.
Do some research into the MT used for your language pair, and maybe even consider investing in an MT subscription or software purchase. If you can offer your client MTPE as a discounted service, you’re more likely to win high-volume contracts and distinguish yourself as a technology-forward freelancer.
6. Copywriting/Transcreation
Websites and product labels need enticing, natural copy that should be cohesive with the global brand.
Multilingual language specialists are the best candidates to offer this service, since they can provide an authentically local voice for the content, while being able to communicate seamlessly with the client.
7. Transcription
Have you tried your hand at transcription? As media turns towards away from text and towards audio and video, there is more and more demand for transcription to be repurposed as subtitles, as closed captions for the hearing impaired, and more.
Transcription is most efficiently carried out by native speakers of the target language.
If you think you might offer large volumes of transcription services, it might even be worth looking into automatic transcription services like Dragon Naturally Speaking to do a first pass, which you can then edit for accuracy.
8. IPA transcription
Do you know the International Phonetic Alphabet? Or are you willing to learn it?
More and more companies are turning to voice recognition as an important input system and they need teams of linguists to help them train their software. If you know IPA you can offer a much more niche and specialized service that most of your colleagues don’t even know about!
Meridian Linguistics receives several high-volume requests per year for this service, so once you acquire this skill, please be sure to reach out to us and let us know about your new abilities.
Here is an online course to learn IPA.
Here is more information on how phonetic IPA transcription works.
9. Voiceover
Companies turn to voiceovers for many reasons: to make affordable multilingual marketing videos, to use on a device as spoken instructions, and many other services. This means the demand for voiceover is quickly rising.
To offer voiceover services you will need to invest in a few pieces of equipment, including a microphone, and possibly sound insulation.
You can learn more about how to get started as a voiceover artist with this course.
10. Localization services
Localization goes beyond translation to ensure that the whole of a given technology product (for example an app or a game) is ready to function in a new language or market.
In addition to translation ability, it requires facility with certain technologies. It also requires an understanding of the process and the challenges involved during the workflow.
This is a service that not many freelance translators are offering yet, despite the fact that it is in high demand. You can major in Localization at the Middlebury Institute, or if you are looking for an online course, check out The Localization Institute. There are also several courses available on Udemy.
11. Subtitling
Ok, fine, here is a bonus! Subtitling and subtitle translation is another service that is rapidly growing in demand. Not just for films and TV shows any more, companies are relying on subtitles for ads, for content marketing, and more.
To learn how to subtitle, you’ll need to choose a subtitling program to master, and don’t worry, these aren’t too complicated. Check out Aegisub or Subtitle Edit.
12. Translation Project Management
And one more bonus: as a freelancer, have you ever wondered what it is like on the other side of the e-mail? Translation project managers get to see the full life-cycle of the translation workflow, meaning they get to know the client side and the translator side of the translation project. They also get to learn more about all kinds of languages, subject matters, and industry verticals…without having to do the painstaking research that the translators do.
Interested in more information about translation project management?
Check out our blog post on How to Work as a Translation Project Manager
Or, go straight to our online course on How to Work as a Translation Project Manager
We hope this blog post can help you upskill and supplement your translation services. When you add a new capability, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with your updated CV!