Translation hiring

[8417aece]

I am looking to hire a translator but I'm not sure of what I'm allowed to do during the hiring process. The project is fiction and over 65,000 words. I would like to have potential hires translate a small portion, 500 words, of the material so that I can evaluate the work. Do I have to pay for this sample or can I expect this as a normal part of the interview process?

[prestonhunter]

Upwork does not allow clients to ask freelancers to work for free.

A typical thing for a client to do is to hire multiple freelancers to do the same small task. Evaluate their work. Then continue working only with the best.

You may throw out the work done which doesn't meet your standards.

Even if Upwork allowed you to ask for free work, you wouldn't want to do that, because you wouldn't be getting a truly representative example of work. And the best freelancers wouldn't go along with that.