‘’Strategies freelance translators need to develop in order to perform their

craft in a local market place in the legal field‘’

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CHAPTER 1

1. Origin of translations Commented [1]: necesita referencias

In the beginning, communication was through symbols and signs. With the passage Commented [2]: _Marcado como resuelto_
Commented [3]: _Reabierto_
of time, it has evolved so that sounds can be represented graphically with what we
now know as the alphabet. However, the languages emerged and these were
produced in such a way that communication between people who spoke different
languages became somewhat complicated. It is in this way that translators and
interpreters become part of the solution.

When the translation began to be exercised, a document needed to be translated by

hand. The process required more than one individual who had developed bilingual
abilities. They spent a lot of time, even years, trying to translate the document word by
word into the language they needed. U. (2016, April 15).

1.1 Evolution

In the eastern world, translation dates back to over a thousand years BC. Jia
Gongyan is credited with a famous quote during the Zhou dynasty,
“translation is to replace one written language with another without changing
the meaning for mutual understanding.”It clearly shows that even more than
2,000 years ago it was necessary to understand the importance of an effective
translation. (2016, April 15). Commented [4]: esto puede estar sujeto al parrafo
anterior
Commented [5]: _Marcado como resuelto_
In the beginning, translation was mostly necessary to reach commercial agreements Commented [6]: _Reabierto_
between peoples and nations. Over time, the translation went from being a legal and
financial issue, to be necessary for the cultural, artistic and religious field; and became
an important part of the big cities. Even the monasteries became famous for the quality
of their translations. Commented [7]: esto puede estar sujeto al parrafo
anterior

1.1.1 Translation progress Commented [8]: _Marcado como resuelto_

Commented [9]: _Reabierto_
With the advance of computer science and the considerable increase of the
information, the translation becomes much more impressive. There are many
advances around the world in different fields that can be notice in all the existing
languages. What happens when the information translated into different languages is
conflicting with each other? The answer lies in a concept called the Semantic Web. Commented [10]: quizas el titulo puede ser "progress
in translation technology" o algo parecido. tambien
(2016, April 15). puede optar por eliminar esta seccion

The semantic web works with the instantaneous translation of multilingual web content
and retrieval of information no matter what the source language is. The important fact
here is that there are more than 6,000 languages around the word and many use
different scripts.

There is also the idea that web pages will be interactive not just with text but voice.
The pages would automatically adjust their texts to the language of the speaker. If you
want to acquire a product online you will find an automated voice as part of the
costumer service. If you answered the greeting in French the web page would
automatically change to a French-scripted page. And like this, there will be several
advances in terms of translation and technology that will amaze us but one thing is
certain. In this global world, there will never be a shortage of requirements for quality
translations. Commented [11]: quizas el titulo puede ser "progress
in translation technology" o algo parecido. tambien
puede optar por eliminar esta seccion

CHAPTER 2

2. What is a translator? Commented [12]: la informacion esta bien pero me

parece un poco escueta. tal vez puede profundizar en
como el proceso de traduccion y el traductor como
Being a translator is changing the written words from one language to a different one. parte activa.

It may sound obvious, however, we must go deeper into it. To begin with, even with
the help of computers, the professional work of a translator is done by a person, a
human being, not a machine. To continue, the translator works with written texts and
the interpreter works with spoken language. It is very important to keep this difference
in mind to avoid contradicting ourselves by saying "speak through a translator".

We know that a translator has the ability to translate texts in more than one language;
these are known as source languages and target languages, this one, in general, is
the native language of the translator. For example: a translator who is an English
native speaker and learned French and Spanish, would mostly translate from French
and Spanish to English. However, it may happen the other way around, that the
language learned as a second language become the target language.

Translation Process

When a translator is in front of the text he or she is about to start the translation process
which involves to begin with a pre-review of the document, it means to check on the
detail about length, style, terminology , type of the text and content. With this over
review they decide if there is something that has to be done prior starting the actual
translation. To continue, it is important to start working with small pieces of information
to translate accordingly to the relation the text has by itself throughout the document.
Then, to compare the main text with the translated one and check that nothing was
lost and misinterpreted. After working for so long on the document the translator will
need some time to clear his mind and be able to start the review all over again and
make sure that the translation was done accurately. To conclude, the translator edits
the document to polish every detail needed. P. (n.d.).

2.1 Differences between in house and freelance translators|

2.1.1 In house translators

No worries about new clients:

There is no need that you are good at customer relation management. You keep focus
on you main job, all you have to do is to accomplish the requirements of a professional
translation for pre-existing customers.

● No worries about equipment:

Pc and software needed for job is usually provided for the employer. Which is an
advantage because having the latest software technology is not cheap.

● Stability:
An in house translator has constant source of income, leave and insurance. Compare
with freelancer, this is a great advantage because even though they are able to work
whenever they want, finding time for a vacation may be a big struggle.
 ● You can be promoted:
It gives you the opportunity to aspire to a higher position at the company you work for.

● Focused expertise:
In the majority of the cases an in house translator works with documents related to an
specific subject. This expertise allows the translator to work faster and efficiently,
delivering a good translation. On the other hand the majority of freelancers have no
choice other than accepting all type of texts.

● Your main focus is the translation:

Different than freelancers you don’t have to take care of other tasks such as billings,
project management, advertisement and other similar activities.

2.1.2 Freelance translators

- Organize time as you want:

You schedule the time available for your translation job. It depends on you the job you
do overnight or on weekends. The biggest advantage is that a freelancer does not get
stuck on the daily routine that an average employee has to go trough.

- Different areas to develop skills:

You can work for different companies, whenever you want, this will be an advantage
for you because it will allow you to develop more knowledge that you can apply in
future projects.

- You can choose your clients and refuse any job you don't like:
It's on the freelancer's hands the project they would like it take or not. They are free to
use the “I'm working on another project at the moment” excuse to avoid accepting a
project that for them can seem too difficult or not worth it. This may not sound so good,
but the freelancer is free to denied translating documents for clients who are not
responsible with payments or with whom it's difficult to get to a fair agreement.
2.2 Who do translators work for?

2.2.1 Working for translation agencies

A challenge for an independent translator is to find appropriate clients and also retain
these clients. Working as a freelance for agencies can offer you peace of mind, with
this I mean that your only work would be to translate, since the agency would do the
whole process of generating the project and interacting with the client.

Working for a translation agency could bring you some benefits. One of them is that
you should not relate to the client directly since the project manager will do it for you
as well as the promotion of the services, the search for clients and everything related
with marketing and in this way you just have to focus on the pure translation.

A disadvantage of this work would be that an agency pays you less than if you worked
with a direct client, this is because the agency do part of the work for you, with this I
mean the promotion, the search for clients and solve any other problem that appears,
at the end the agency would charge and discount all this and will pay you a percentage
for the part you do.

2.2.2 Working for direct clients Commented [13]: faltan las referencias

On the other hand we have the option of working with a direct client, this means not
having anyone else in the middle and negotiating directly with the person who wants
to hire your services. Contrary to working with an agency, this type of work generates
much more profit since all the percentage that is charged for the project is completely
yours, you can have more control over the prices, besides this in this case you can
decide if you want to request an advance for your service which in the previous case,
work for an agency, it isn’t possible. This type of relationship, with a direct client, could
last a long time since it has a direct contact and allows to develop in a work
environment without problems because there aren’t more people involved, this helps
you save time and focus on your work. C. M. (n.d.). How to succeed as a freelance
translator.

As in any case, here there are also disadvantages, when you work for a company or
agency, you should not deal with certain problems such as what to do if the client
doesn’t pay for the service, in this case if you work directly with the client there is no
way to rely on someone to get your money, you would have to solve the problem on
your own; problems like agreeing date for the delivery of the project, or simply explain
in detail the entire process of translation to the client, let's put the case of a project
related to something legal, these issues are very complicated and could take you much
longer explaining to the client the whole process than complete the translation of this.

To sum up, it is very important to consider and evaluate all these aspects before
deciding whether to work for an agency or company or work with direct clients. To
create a variety of experiences, it could be very good to make a combination of both
options, since in the future you could benefit from all this experience of being a
freelance and opening your own agency or company, why not?

CHAPTER 3

3. Development of strategies to become a good freelance translator Commented [14]: para que son las estrategias?

When you start a freelance, it is very important to look for ways to advertise your job Commented [15]: _Marcado como resuelto_
Commented [16]: _Reabierto_
to get potential clients.This will help you to excel in this field of work. Remember that
you can ask yourself some questions like: What do I have to offer to clients that other
freelance translator don’t have? In which areas of the translation are you most
focused? What benefits will the client have when contracting your services? to be
focused on what we want to give to our clients and to be clear about our services. This
way our main objective will be to be professional by performing the best strategies
when looking for new clients who need translations.

3.1 How to start working as a translator

Regardless of the way you decide to find your first clients and publicize your business,
it is important to take into account these tips that most freelance translators go through
when they start on this path.

❖ Promote yourself through internet enthusiastically.

Your approach and attitude towards your work can make a big difference in your
career. Focus on finding clients and making a good strategy on how to maintain them.
Moving your contacts and getting noticed on social networks can make a big difference
between working or being without work for a long time.

For people who are starting with their independent business it is much easier to have
visibility through the Internet, either by creating websites or social profiles to publicize
their work. In my opinion, taking into account that today many people have access to
this, the internet can definitely be a very useful tool to offer your services.
This is an excellent idea to promote yourself. Marketing skills are very essential and
important for freelancer. By performing a good marketing campaign you can have
many customers and this means more and better income. One advantage of this is
that you can get in touch with other people who exercise their same trade by not
leaving behind their clients. Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram are a very good option
to promote your professional services.

❖ Choose websites in the most popular places.

This is a good option to increase your work online. Since in these places the
professional opportunities for your business would appear, therefore it is very
important to be updated the content in these sites and to choose valuable information
that makes your site unique from others.

This method is a great idea to be able to interact with people who have your own trade
and of course with people who want to hire your services. This idea is very modern
and innovated to show your online presence and that others visualize your connectivity
with your profession and with people.

❖ When selling your work, be precise and conscious.

You must offer your services so that the client doesn’t hesitate to hire you, for this you
must write the appropriate information, that is, what the client wants to know, some of
these things could be: The rates, the areas or specialties you focus on, the languages
that you manage and don’t forget to mention the place where you work, if you have a
company or if you belong to an institution.
The content of the information you provide to your future clients should be short but
effectively and appropriately. You may question that build a good image online isn’t
something that can be achieved in the blink of an eye but the effort and perseverance
will be reflected in greater opportunities and recognition of your work. Thanks to the
internet, marketing yourself has become more accessible and easier, and taking
advantage of these marketing strategies will undoubtedly improve your efforts in
working as a freelance translator in this growing industry. C. M. (n.d.). How to succeed
as a freelance translator.

In addition, you should make yourself known in any place that you have the opportunity
to go, by this I mean that when you have the opportunity to talk about what your
business is about and what it does,do it, and if possible give them your contact number
or e-mail because when they require your services you will be the first that comes to
their mind and the one they will call.

Don’t focus only on sending information about your work to your future clients, be more
aware of them, communicate regularly and let them know that you are interested in
being hired, in addition to that, tell them about the projects you have worked on or the
ones you are working so that they take into account that you are at your disposal to
do their work.

❖ Appearance of new technologies

This seems very interesting to me because with so much technological progress

emerging daily we can take advantage and take advantage of it in the best way,
therefore we must stay alert to new technologies, learn to use new tools and
applications so that your work can be done a lot. easier. The most interesting and good
thing about this is that you should not only be working from the comfort of your home
but you can work from anywhere.

You should always be interested and prepared to continue learning. You have to keep
in mind that in language always different words, concepts and definitions arise and
you must be updated with each of these appearances to keep up with the new trends.

❖ Be organized
The fact that you will not have a very strict job can be very striking, but you must have
your time very organized to be able to complete the projects in the time that you have
established to finish the project. This doesn’t have to be only with the work, talking
about projects, but also in the financial area, you must be aware and organize what
you should receive and what you should pay.

➔ Be realistic.

If you are starting freelance translator business you should look for projects in which
you can perform in an impressive way and doing a good job, by this I mean, that you
should start taking small projects and with the passage of time take much more
demanding projects . Keep in mind that regardless of the specializations you have and
the languages you speak, this work will take time to build a regular customer base.

➔ Be persistent

Freelance translators who are still starting this business often make mistakes like
admitting that they will be working immediately when they start this journey or that they
will be working full time. At first, this freelance business will be a bit stressful because
the opportunities will not come quickly, you must be persistent and open many fields
in the industry, either sending your CVs to different companies, this if you want to
develop in this area, or getting to know with the people around him.

Also you can join some associations, this will help you a lot to meet people who do the
same work as you, this could also be a very good advantage since these colleagues
could refer you to a job or even better be willing to hire you to do some work that they
can not cover.

3.2 How do translators set their rates?

Many translators charge per word and establish price combinations according to the
languages to which the translation is required, generally the combinations that are not
widely used can be more expensive, for example a translation from Spanish to French
could be more expensive than a translation of the English to Spanish.
There are many factors that can increase the price of a translation, either by the
specialization of the text, if it is a sworn translation, the urgency of delivery of the
document, format of the document, intelligibility of the text or could be the changes in
the document.

CHAPTER 4

4. Legal translation Commented [17]: los capitulos anteriores pueden

reducirse y luego profundizar mas en esta seccion

"Legal translations consist not only in translation, but in an in-depth

understanding of legal documentation, whether public or private, both of origin
and of exit; to transfer the content of the document to another language as
faithfully and accurately as possible, "says the Lawlinguists site. L. (March 29).

Legal translation is a specialized type of translation, it has a wide variety of sources of

information and will depend on the context of legal procedures. This type of translation
is usually done by people who have specialized knowledge in this area, because not
everyone can make this type of translation because this must be very accurate, this
has very important data and if a bad translation is made it can have legal and financial
consequences. That is why the person who is looking to hire a legal translator should
be sure that they have a very good legal understanding and that their experience with
the languages involved is excellent so that they don’t have any of this problems.

4.1 The importance of a quality legal translation

This specialization is very complex due to the fact that the translator must know not
only the right of their language of origin and obviously the right of the target language.
For example, a French translator of the English must know how the law works in
France and the United States. Laws are very different and vary from one country to
another; Sometimes it is the case that the legal figure doesn’t exist in a certain country
and this forces the translator to explain it as a jurist. To avoid misunderstandings, the
translator must take all this into account.
Usually these documents are written by professionals who exercise the practice of
law. It is for the reason that they have many legal terms that usually aren’t used in day
to day, that is why the importance of translating these terms or concepts and not just
the words of that text, the translator must, in some way, try to explain exactly what
he/she refers to in the target language that means in the original language, it must be
borne in mind that the linguistic structures will not be the same in both languages
because they undergo some modifications and the translator must know how to reflect
this.

In addition, in some of the cases, when making these types of documents the translator
could attend a court and even exercise a legal status. It is for this and other reasons,
that the translation of these documents must be of very good quality and can’t admit
errors, the final product must be faithful to the original. This type of specialization has
a wide variety of texts, among which could be: financial documents, official reports,
identity documents, transcripts, precedents, witness statements, besides documents
of migration, wills, trusts among many others. It’s worth say that not all professional
translators can do texts of this nature.

4.2 What is a sworn translator?

Among all the types of translations we want to highlight the sworn translation, which
refers to translations that have to be certified by a sworn translator, but we will talk
about it later in the text.

The sworn translators have to make sure that their translation matches with the original
one and that is stamped and signed appropriately. Most of the documents that are
requested to sworn translators, are documents that have to be presented/given to
official bodies who will accept it only if it’s signed or done by a accredited translator.
For example, contracts, marriage certificates, birth and death certificates, passports,
wills, grades certificates and more. For this reason, we emphasize that it is an
obligation for a sworn translator to get the authorization to work and sign on documents
that are going to be valid before the public administration.

Therefore, the sworn translator should be recognized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
so the document being translated can be valid in the country we want to do the
translation for. For instance, a student who finished his career in the United States
wants to go back to Costa Rica and apply for a government job requires his academic
record to be translated into Spanish, in this case each of the translated pages should
contain the signature and seal of the translator who swears and original documents
must be presented. U. (2017, May 12).

It is a must that the sworn translator provides a hard copy of the translation to the client
since it always has to be stamped and signed. Different from the non- sworn translator
who can just send the translation in any form such as email, fax or any other way that
doesn't require any hard material.

4.3 Characteristics of legal translation

A freelance legal translator who wants to participate in the market field should consider
the following characteristics:

A) The nature of legal discourse

Sarcevic (1997: 11) divides legal documents into prescriptive and descriptive texts,
plus hybrid texts which contain both functions (e.g. judicial decisions, appeals,
petitions). Texts with a primarily expressive function are excluded from this definition.

In focusing on prescriptive documents, it is important not to overlook the expressive or

persuasive function. The objective is not to describe or prescribe but to convince.
explaining what's important, something common in the professional communication.
Prescriptive documents are the following: international law, commercial code,
contractual clauses, civil code, constitution and many others. This texts intend to
regulate the behavior of the individuals indicating what is prohibited and what is
allowed, these do not describe but influence and condition through incentives and
punishments, advising by the expected consequences of obeying or not the mandates
.

B) System linked

It is important to take into account the different contexts and different legal systems,
since contrary to the descriptive laws, the prescriptive laws don’t have universal
operative referents. That is, prescriptive laws are related to each other and each one
in its own country or context can vary in terms of concepts, procedures, institutions
and people (Weston 1991, Harvey 2000). It is impossible to separate one law from
another even from areas historically related to it (for example, religion and political
science), since it is important to take into account the origin and context, in order to
apply them in a practical way to the current time.

C) Accuracy

The debate over fidelity to the “letter” or the “spirit” in legal translation is a longstanding
one, dating back to the days of the Roman empire when it was decreed that formal
correspondence between source and target text was essential to preserve the
meaning of both Biblical11 and legal documents (Gémar 1995a: 26-30, Sarcevic 1997:
23-48).

It is important to maintain the fidelity and accuracy of the text either if it is to the text
itself or to the function or purpose. Specialist in legal translation define fidelity as
achieving the same impact that the original translation has int the main reader (The
reader in the source language), as in the final reader (the reader in the target
language). Others, who have been influenced by the theories of Vermeer Skopos, say
that fidelity is in relation to the function of the text. that is to say, not to the structure of
the text itself but to the objective or purpose that the text wishes to fulfill in the final
reading.

D) Discrepancy and misunderstanding

Usually the interpretation of the message task is done by an official body in this case
a court who is incharge of gathering the information from both parts to compose the
most accurate text within the legal frame. However, translators should avoid ambiguity.
Many times a translator does some interpretation of the text which is allowed however
translator should first and foremost be train to interpret texts. Perhaps lawyers need
to be persuaded that interpretation is part of being a creative translator. Because
interpretation helps to identify ambiguity and narrows the options to reach the final and
most accurate meaning for the translation in process. As a conclusion this is a
proactive role that is not set apart from the translation.