Business Survival as a Translator:Successful Survivor Candidates Will ...The use of AI by agencies has raised the bar for NES translators in Japan, and here are some tips regarding what type of translators will survive.
by William Lise (January 1, 2024)
The ongoing migration of translation agencies from use of human translators to an MTPE (machine translation plus post-editing) business model is presenting serious survival challenges for agency-dependent native-English speaking JA-EN translators.
Because acquisition of direct clients is going to be an important survival strategy, JA-to-EN translators in Japan will need a skill set that most never expected to be required. Faced with a direct client expert in their subject matter of interest, translators are not going to be able to Google their way out of a tight spot in a meeting.
I have outlined here some of the characteristics of translators who will survive the MTPE storm without surrendering to low-paid post-editing work. Some are fundamentally different from what is normally required to succeed as an agency-dependent translator; others are rather trivial and are already satisfied or are easily satisfied by many freelancers.
Although the intended audience for this article is native English-speaking JA-EN translators living in Japan and wanting to acquire direct clients as a survival strategy, there are also suggestions applicable to translators anywhere.
Fundamentally Different Requirements
Successful survivors will:have or be able to develop networks of specific people who can provide work or introductions to people who can. Difficulty: 7-10 Importance: 10
Having a life—especially a non-translation life—before or during your translation career can be very helpful. Because this is perhaps the most difficult hurdle for many translators who have become accustomed to sitting at home and working in front of their computer, with client (agency) contact mostly limited to email, I will deal with this aspect of moving up in a separate article.
Successful survivors will:be fully functional in sales-ready spoken Japanese that convinces a Japanese client of their ability. Difficulty: 9 to 10 Importance: 10
Why? In trying to acquire Japanese clients in Japan, you are competing with sales people who speak native Japanese and have been speaking "sales" Japanese throughout their careers. You need to up your game in this area.
But can't we just aim for anglophone clients? Yes, you could, but in Japan they are much less numerous than Japanese prospects and—more seriously—they will be earlier adopters of AI than Japanese entities.
From years of hanging out with NES translators here in Japan, my estimate is that about 10% of them might have that level of spoken Japanese without extra effort. A small additional number might make it with some serious effort. This is a potentially painful topic, but is something that needs careful thought before believing that it is a slam dunk because you function in everyday life using Japanese. That level of Japanese is insufficient in sales situations.
My experience tells me that NES translators who have been in Japan for over 10 or 15 years and still haven't achieved sales-ready spoken Japanese are unlikely to ever make a go of it.
Successful survivors will:have a deep understanding of the target client's subject matter and be able to discuss it in spoken Japanese. Difficulty: 5-10 Importance: 10
Agencies—particularly the larger ones—commonly lie about the qualifications of the translators they "have," although most "have" no translators but know that they can get away with that lie because they don't allow their clients access to the translators from which they purchase translations. They commonly claim to have thousands of expert translators (or, even more stupidly, expert linguists).
But can't I just do research when I translate? Since you will need to meet Japanese clients face-to-face (this is Japan, remember), they will find you out very quickly if you are not knowledgeable in their field of interest. Stated differently, you need to be just one of the expert translators that the agencies lie about having thousands of. You won't get away with lying, and Google won't help you in a meeting with a prospective client.
Successful survivors will:be willing to live or frequently travel to urban areas of Japan. Difficulty: 1-10 Importance: 9-10
You will need to be near enough to potential clients to interact with them directly, including attending events where they might hang out. Few of those opportunities are found in rural areas of Japan.
The reason the difficulty index for this ranges from 1 to 10 is because wildly diverse personal circumstances come into play. For example, a translator owning a house or living in a spousal town or even in a spouse's home removed from urban centers might have a very difficult time moving to a city.
Trivially Easy Items
Successful survivors will:not use free email services. Difficulty: 1 Importance: 10
This is a no-brainer. Use of an email service such as Gmail screams "not serious" to a prospective client. And, for security reasons, some clients will even forbid the use of such web-based free email services. The solution is to have your own domain and use email addresses hosted by the email server of that domain.
When you establish your unique domain-linked email addresses, you should be careful never to place any of them in cyberspace as text or in any other form that can be automatically harvested by spammers. I suggest using graphics of your addresses.
Successful survivors will:acquire an Internet domain, build a website, and undertake not to abandon the website. Difficulty: 1-5 Importance: 10
Although very few Japanese direct clients will be searching the Internet for translation services, having a website is expected for anyone in business and, as a translator looking for direct clients, you are in business, so you should act like it.
Although a website is unlikely to attract Japanese clients, you should avoid making the commonly seen typical cookie-cutter translator website that looks like a CV and a plea for work. Such a site will just serve reveal you to be an individual, not serious enough to create any content. Most translator websites appear to be just that and are essentially abandoned, once-made, and forever-forgotten events, rather than serving as a growing source of content.
You should have more content than a CV or your basic company information on your website. In fact, you should not even have a CV, which makes you look more like an individual. Companies do not have CVs, although the owner might have a profile. It is best not to make your profile look like a CV.
One reason that many websites are static (i.e., abandoned) is that the website owner cannot easily change or add content. I highly recommend avoiding this problem from the outset. Some translators have gotten themselves stuck with static sites because they would need to ask somebody or some company to edit their site. Learning to build your own website is not that difficult, and one solution is to use something like Wordpress, thereby eliminating the need to learn HTML, although I am personally adverse to relying on proprietary software, preferring to write my own HTML files.
Successful survivors will:disclose their physical address. Difficulty: 1-2 Importance: 10
Entities purporting to be in business but not willing to disclose a physical address are raising a red flag about their stability and trustworthiness. And a virtual office address might look good, but will be outed in a matter of seconds by web searches.
Successful survivors will:abandon reverse-auction platforms. Difficulty: 1 Importance: 10
This item should not even need to be included, but it is here for completeness. Direct clients in Japan are not going to be found on reverse auction platforms, which are populated by translators sought after by mostly low-paying agencies and by translators willing to work for such agencies.
Successful survivors will:have a dedicated business telephone line. Difficulty: 1 Importance: 10
This is also a no-brainer. When you or someone else answers your phone, they should answer with your company name.
All the people who might answer the company phone should be able to speak on behalf of the company, and the telephone should be picked up during normal business hours. After hours, you might have calls directed to a different telephone number that you do not need to (and, in fact, should not) disclose to clients. But clients are best not allowed to think that you are available for phone calls at any time of the day. You are in business and should have business hours.
Successful survivors will:register a company in Japan. Difficulty: 2-3 Importance: 10
This is another no-brainer. If you are a JA-EN translator, you should not have any problem establishing a registered company yourself, without relying on any outside help. Books telling you how to do that are everywhere.
But just talking the talk of having a company does not mean you are actually or automatically "in business." You need to walk the walk as well. I have met numerous freelance translators who have companies but continue to take work from agencies. Most of them are not really operating a business. As work from agencies dries up, however, they are probably going to need to learn to walk the walk.