Greater than 1 minutes
Translator’s Guide to Contacting Translation Agencies by Email Best Practices, Things to Avoid, Advanced Techniques & Example Translator Resumes
Although Affinity Translation’s agency is a relatively small one, each day we receive numerous emails from translators interested in working with us. On an average day we receive in the range of 15-20 emails of this nature from translators worldwide. It’s reasonable to speculate that larger translation agencies receive proportionately even greater numbers of similar emails.
When we began our translation business in 2007 we saved every emailed resume we received. Over time we’ve become more selective. Email is a wonderful tool and without it our business model would be much different, probably much less efficient. After all email is not only a means of communication, it’s one of the ways we deliver translations (our “products”).
It makes perfect sense for translators to use email to contact agencies in the course of seeking project work. Advantages of using email to contact translation agencies include:
- Email can be sent any time of day, no matter the time zone of origination. This is especially important considering the global nature of the translation business and worldwide geographic distribution of translators.
- A permanent, written record is available for archiving and long term reference by the agency
- Email is less disruptive (and therefore more favorably received by agencies) compared to other electronic communication means such as telephone calls and faxing.
Despite email’s advantages, we regularly see ineffective use of email from translators. These types of emails have less chance of succeeding in establishing a relationship between translators and agencies.
This document has been prepared as a guide to help translators use email more effectively in the course of contacting translation agencies by email to seek project work.
To Download The Entire Guide in PDF Format Click Here
See also: Translator’s Guide to Blogging
Tea Dietterich 
Maeva Cifuentes 
Olesya Zaytseva 
Hey Ron, thank you so much for sharing! These are some handy tips indeed, especially for those who are just starting out in this profession. I’d appreciate it if you could go easy on self-advertisement in your next post, since this is not allowed by our site rules (Section 1, Item 9 here: link to theopenmic.co) and some of our members might find it a bit irritating.
Do you always use CVs you have on file when selecting translators for a new project or do you use other means of finding translators like social networks, online communities for translators, Google, etc.?
Dmitry, I’m glad the tips are helpful. If there’s any self-promotion in my post I’m unaware of it. We use a variety of indicators (CVs, social, online presence) to learn about prospective translator partners. Best, Ron
I wonder what do you mean by online presence? Can you give examples when online presence influenced your hiring decision?
Dmitry, by ‘online presence’ I mean the collective digital footprint of a prospective translator partner. This might include a website, blog, social media, participation in online communities (like this one), and others. In the flat world business model of language services, agencies are most often working with translators we’ve never met face-to-face, and likely never will. The more established online presence translators have, the more confidence we have in beginning an association. We essentially ‘live online’ and we work best with translators who do too.
Interesting approach, Ron. And it makes total sense too. Based on your experience, do you think solid online presence is a good indicator of great translation skills too? I ask because these days it’s fairly easy to build nice-looking website, jump into online communities and be active. But does this activity really a reflection of one’s skill and level of professionalism? What do you think?
It’s an indicator Dmitry, but only one indicator. A translator can be a world-class linguist, but if they’re behind the curve in some of the other categories we look at, they’re probably not a good fit for working with us. We’re ideally looking for a complete ‘package’.
Really interesting, Ron!
I think that the complete guide should be a compulsory read for beginners 😉
Best,
Luis Daniel
Thanks for your comment Luis. Best of luck to you! Ron