Semos Language Services Limited – freelance language consultant application – notes and guidance.


© Semos Language Services Limited 2006


1. We occasionally use text messaging, so please provide at least one mobile phone number if possible.

2. If the address at which you wish to be contacted is different to your business address, please provide both addresses. If you are a full time student, living in halls of residence, your business and contact addresses will normally be different. The two addresses do not need to be in the same county (indeed the addresses will normally be in different countries for international students). Please note that your business address must be in a county where you are entitled to be self-employed.

3. We strongly encourage our language consultants to join Skype, an internet telephony and instant messaging system. The program is free to download (visit www.skype.com) and allows unlimited free calls between users, instant messaging and and file transfer (in addition to pretty cheap calls to landlines and mobile phones worldwide). Although we do not insist on membership (indeed we recognize that some people can only access the internet using corporate or university networks, which may prohibit software downloads), we are more likely to give work to someone who can respond within a few seconds than to someone who is completely incommunicado.

The Semos Language Services Skype user ID is semoslanguageservices .

4. Our work divides into the following broad categories: writing, proofreading, editing, translation, and editorial consultancy. We begin by asking you about the languages you know. Please remember to include English (or native language).

Please list all the languages you know (including dead ones and significant dialects), indicating the level of proficiency (native, fluent). We are not interested in any languages you may know at a lower level. If you feel that there are specialist areas in which you are strong (legal, scientific, engineering, medical, journalistic, philosophical, theological, literary, culinary, etc), please list these under “specialisms”. Familiarity with specialist fields could be derived from academic/professional background, reading, hobbies, etc.

Please supply your rate for each service (please leave the cell blank for any service you do not propose to offer). You will also be asked whether you would be prepared to negotiate over your stated rates. Please see the guidance on this further down.

Writing: By “writing”, we mean articulating clients' ideas accurately, fluently and effectively. You would not normally be expected to carry out any research.

Translation: You will normally be able to translate into your “native” language(s) and out of both “native” and “fluent” languages.

Proofreading: The proofreader is often the last person to check the text before it is returned to the client, and needs to ensure that it is free from spelling, punctuation and typographical errors.

Editing: This involves substantive engagement with the text. Some texts will have been written by native speakers in the language in which they are presented to you for editing. Many, though, will have been translated by non-native speakers. In such cases, the translated text will often retain the idiomatic, structural and stylistic characteristics of the source language. It can sometimes be useful, therefore, if the editor has some sense of how the source language works.

Editorial Consultancy: Linguistic complexity and a lack of familiarity with the subject-matter and issues raised within any given text can both make the role of the translator unenviable. We therefore like to provide our translators with two types of editorial consultant:

Subject-matter consultants

These consultants are subject specialists and advise the translator on what certain sections of the source text “actually mean”. They all combine high levels of literacy in the source language with a developed understanding of specialist terminology and an ability to define key terms and concepts to non-specialist translators. These concepts will often not exist in the target language (or indeed the culture in which it is spoken), and will have to be paraphrased by the translator (e.g. Welfare entitlements and structures in Tamil or Somali or Common Law principles in Russian).

Linguistic consultants

We believe that texts should only be translated by native speakers of the target language; but translations of highly idiosyncratic, idiomatic, or stylized texts should only be carried out in consultation with experts (i.e. natives) in the source language – people with a developed sense of nuance and ambiguity in that language. These linguistic consultants will often have a knowledge of the target language as well.

Translators would normally refer to editorial consultants at some point over the course of the translation (usually soon after the start or towards the end of the process). Editorial consultants will need to be on standby to be consulted (e.g. “from 4pm on Tuesday, for between two and three hours”).

Rates

We believe that you should be able to set your own rates. This arrangement promotes an open, flexible relationship between you and Semos. We settle all invoices within thirty days of the end of the month in which they are received. Our preferred payment method is by Bank Transfer in the case of individuals with UK bank accounts, and by either PayPal (see www.paypal.com) or International Bank Transfer to individuals without UK bank accounts.

When setting your rates, you should bear the following considerations in mind:

a) Semos is a business: we need to make a profit in order to grow. How much we can afford to pay you depends on how much we charge the client. If we feel we can’t afford your rate, then we might negotiate. Please indicate on the form whether you would be prepared to negotiate.

b) For translation, writing, editing and proofreading, you will be paid per word, but you should give your price per 1,000 words. It may help you to think in terms of how long 1,000 words would take to complete in each category. On that basis, you should be able to work out how much your hourly rate would be.

c) In the case of editorial consultancy, you will be paid per minute, but should give your price per hour.

d) In the case of proofreading, editing and translation, the “number of words” is the number of words in the original text (the “source” word-count). In the case of writing, the “number of words” will be decided by Semos at the outset. If you are asked for 1,500 words, then you will be paid for 1,500 words, and not the number of words actually written.

You are entitled to set a minimum charge per job. Please supply this information on the form.



5. IT and Project Management skills

IT skills: Please give you level of proficiency (basic, intermediate, advanced, proficient)

Project Management: In the case of very substantial translation projects (of more than around 50,000 words in length), we like to be able to appoint a single proofreader/project manager. This individual's email address would be given to all the translators working on the project – translators would thus be able to send their work to the proofreader for proofreading and consolidation. The individual would need to be able to carry out any necessary merging and reformatting and would thus need to have good IT skills. Semos remains in overall control throughout the process – the proofreader/project manager would not be responsible for resolving any serious problems.



6. Who recommended Semos to you?

We operate a linguist referral incentive scheme. Please give the name of the Semos linguist who recommended us to you, if applicable.


Finally, please ensure that you have read and understood the terms and conditions set out in the form. You will need to agree to these in order to register.