Establishing a business in an international city comes with an equal amount of benefits and challenges. One of the hardest hurdles to overcome is making sure that your business’ website and public materials are written in multiple languages for all residents of the city to understand. Unless you or someone on your team is a polyglot, you’re likely in need of a translation service or an individual who performs freelance translation with good rates per word.
Similarly, being a polyglot in an international city opens the door for you to perform translation services for secondary income. Businesses are always in need of translators and skilled individuals, giving you plenty of opportunities to use your proficiencies to make extra money. That said, your freelance translation rates per word need to be competitive to get more business.
Invest in Translation Services
As the owner of a new business, you are always conscious of your spending. Capital expenses need to be reserved for revenue-generating activities or for brand building. Often, some marketing efforts are left on the chopping block because they are not wholly necessary for the growth of the business. Translations should not fall into that category.
By having your content and materials translated into multiple languages, you will instantly expand your consumer base. In most Asian countries, businesses will certainly have their content and materials written in the local language, yet after that, it is surprising how few continue to translate into other languages.
Even a simple translation into English will expand your potential customer base to all expatriates and tourists who visit. But beyond that, you should consider other regional languages as well. Middle Eastern-based businesses would benefit from adding Arabic if that is not the local language, and East Asian businesses would be wise to translate content into Chinese.
Finding the Best Rates
Finding a translator or service is not overly difficult in an international city. That said, it is easy to overpay for shoddy work. It may take some trial and error, but you’ll need to shop around to find the best freelance translation rates on a per-word basis.
Freelance translation rates per word vary on a few main factors. First is the desired language. Common languages like English or the local and regional languages may have lower rates per word for freelance translators, but more unique languages like Armenian, Basque, or Finnish may be more expensive.
If you are a native or proficient speaker of a non-common language, you can price your rates competitively to attract more business opportunities. Try contacting the local embassy for the languages you speak and see if there are any business catalogs you can browse through to find potential customers.
Just make sure that your freelance translation rates per word are fair to the company. That way, they will be happy to share your information with other businesses they know and help you earn more money.
