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spainfrance1
Community Member

I'm getting next to no work.

I joined Upwork last year having graduated from university and have applied for every job in my field of expertise that has appeared. Of the 300+ projects that I have applied for, I have been awarded a mere seven. Even though I have the qualifications and the expertise to prove it, I keep getting ignored. Why is this happening?

17 REPLIES 17
prestonhunter
Community Member

re: "I'm getting next to no work"

 

Well, you are an "English - French/Spanish translator and proofreader"

 

What do you expect?

 

How many people really need things translated into French/Spanish?


Preston H wrote:

re: "I'm getting next to no work"

 

Well, you are an "English - French/Spanish translator and proofreader"

 

What do you expect?

 

How many people really need things translated into French/Spanish?


I can't figure out if you're joking or not. Over 500 million people in the world speak Spanish, and over 200 million speak French. There's a ton of work available. I personally have three friends who work full-time just as either French or Spanish translators (not both), and they make **bleep** good money, too.


Christine A wrote:


I can't figure out if you're joking or not. Over 500 million people in the world speak Spanish, and over 200 million speak French. There's a ton of work available. I personally have three friends who work full-time just as either French or Spanish translators (not both), and they make **bleep** good money, too.


OT - sorry for responding to my own post, but I just realised that Upwork bleeped me for using a harmless four-letter word beginning with the word "d". Seriously, Upwork? Even my own elderly, religious mother doesn't count that as a swear word.



Christine A wrote:

Christine A wrote:


I can't figure out if you're joking or not. Over 500 million people in the world speak Spanish, and over 200 million speak French. There's a ton of work available. I personally have three friends who work full-time just as either French or Spanish translators (not both), and they make **bleep** good money, too.


OT - sorry for responding to my own post, but I just realised that Upwork bleeped me for using a harmless four-letter word beginning with the word "d". Seriously, Upwork? Even my own elderly, religious mother doesn't count that as a swear word.


Is that new? Instead of writing "nonsense" I used the s-alternative and got edited.


Jennifer R wrote:


Christine A wrote:

Christine A wrote:


I can't figure out if you're joking or not. Over 500 million people in the world speak Spanish, and over 200 million speak French. There's a ton of work available. I personally have three friends who work full-time just as either French or Spanish translators (not both), and they make **bleep** good money, too.


OT - sorry for responding to my own post, but I just realised that Upwork bleeped me for using a harmless four-letter word beginning with the word "d". Seriously, Upwork? Even my own elderly, religious mother doesn't count that as a swear word.


Is that new? Instead of writing "nonsense" I used the s-alternative and got edited.


I guess Upwork must have gotten some complaints, or the censoring wouldn't have been implemented, but it's at the extreme end of prudery not to allow s--t or d--m. Is there a list of prohibited words somewhere? I was a bit shocked when I was "bleeped" like that, and I'd hate for anyone to think that I said something really extreme or rude, when I didn't!

 


Christine A wrote:

Jennifer R wrote:


Christine A wrote:

Christine A wrote:


I can't figure out if you're joking or not. Over 500 million people in the world speak Spanish, and over 200 million speak French. There's a ton of work available. I personally have three friends who work full-time just as either French or Spanish translators (not both), and they make **bleep** good money, too.


OT - sorry for responding to my own post, but I just realised that Upwork bleeped me for using a harmless four-letter word beginning with the word "d". Seriously, Upwork? Even my own elderly, religious mother doesn't count that as a swear word.


Is that new? Instead of writing "nonsense" I used the s-alternative and got edited.


I guess Upwork must have gotten some complaints, or the censoring wouldn't have been implemented, but it's at the extreme end of prudery not to allow s--t or d--m. Is there a list of prohibited words somewhere? I was a bit shocked when I was "bleeped" like that, and I'd hate for anyone to think that I said something really extreme or rude, when I didn't!

 


__________________________

I think Upwork has always bleeped denmad offenders. It works backwards mostly. 


Jennifer R wrote:

Is that new? Instead of writing "nonsense" I used the s-alternative and got edited.


Can't say n.i.p it in the bud either 😄


Jennifer M wrote:

Jennifer R wrote:

Is that new? Instead of writing "nonsense" I used the s-alternative and got edited.


Can't say n.i.p it in the bud either 😄


Instead of the often used "That's nonsense" I wrote "That's stup*d"

That kind of censorship is all automated, based on a word list. Witness what the robots do when you mention the name of the comedian and actor who had a popular eponymous sitcom in the 60s, played opposite Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins, and had further success with a long-running dramatic show in which he played a lawyer: Dick Van Dyke Van Dick Van Dyke Van Dyke.

 

edited to add: How weird, the robot seems to be going out of its way to prove me wrong.

Christine:

French is a language.

Spanish is a language.

 

But "French/Spanish" is not a langauge that Upwork clients are hiring freelancers to translate into or from.

 

Experienced translation clients hire specialized translators. I believe the original poster is doing himself no favors by presenting himself as somebody who translates bidirectionally with 3 different languages.

 

My post was based on the original poster's self-identification as a "English - French/Spanish translator and proofreader," which strikes me as problematic for clients. It was not intended as a critique of the French or Spanish languages.


Preston H wrote:

Christine:

French is a language.

Spanish is a language.

 

But "French/Spanish" is not a langauge that Upwork clients are hiring freelancers to translate into or from.

 


Still not following you. Surely it's obvious that the OP means he can translate from French OR Spanish, not that he's doing some sort of weird hybrid of the two? I might need a translator to understand what you mean by this.


wrote:

 

How many people really need things translated into French/Spanish?


Are you trying to be funny?

If so: epic fail.

 


Preston wrote:

 

How many people really need things translated into French/Spanish?


Plenty of people need their stuff translated into French and / or Spanish.

Those who have any sense won't hire a Brit who has some 2nd / 3rd language knowledge of French and Spanish.

 

I can't work translating things into Spanish??

 

OH NO!! 😱😱😱

 

nicolas_arbelaez
Community Member

Frank. In your profile, you say that you can translate "to or from English." Unless you have native-like proficiency in Spanish and French, I would advise against this and instead you should focus only on Spanish and French to English translation—I also see you have only been hired to translate things to English, so that kind of proves my point.

 

I know the languages you work with have a lot of demand (English is the world's current lingua franca, so many people do need to translate things from or to English). Make your profile stick out by taking a few tests and adding some translation samples to your portfolio (make sure you have your clients' approval first in case you add translations you were paid for).

 

Finally, have you tried searching for job posts written in Spanish and French? Maybe people who need things translated to English don't speak the language, so try using keywords like "traducción" to find these clients. Competition is wild in this field, but you have already landed some projects, so don't give up!

feed_my_eyes
Community Member


Frank D wrote:

I joined Upwork last year having graduated from university and have applied for every job in my field of expertise that has appeared. Of the 300+ projects that I have applied for, I have been awarded a mere seven. Even though I have the qualifications and the expertise to prove it, I keep getting ignored. Why is this happening?


Frank, if you only joined late last year then you're actually doing pretty well. Even the most successful freelancers only win a small percentage of the projects that they bid on. But your JSS score is below 90%, so that's probably hurting you. You need to look at the feedback that you've been given from your past clients, and try to improve in any weak areas.

 

It also would probably help to specialize in certain types of translations. Beyond your language abilities, what are your skills and past work experience? Your profile seems to imply that you'll take on any kind of translating work, but nobody is equally good at translating absolutely every type of document there is. 

jr-translation
Community Member


Frank D wrote:

I joined Upwork last year having graduated from university and have applied for every job in my field of expertise that has appeared. Of the 300+ projects that I have applied for, I have been awarded a mere seven. Even though I have the qualifications and the expertise to prove it, I keep getting ignored. Why is this happening?


According to your profile you only speak 1 (one) language. That is not enough for translating. I would also not rely on someone making a point of having been to some countries several times but does not start off mentioning his degree. Your JSS is another issue you have to work on.

Stick to "French to English" only and not the other way around, at least for now. You have already done some French to English jobs so stick with that one. Having some jobs will reinforce that choice. Trying to cover several fields (in this case several "from... to" and languages) usually works against you so be careful with that. Translation gurus always say a translator must translate text into his/her mother language only, and it makes sense. Clients look for specialists so "French to English" will be enough. Later on you can add "Spanish to English".

 

And if you speak French and Spanish why didn't you add them to your right column?