3 Lines a Successful Translator will Never Cross

Professional translators come from a vast range of backgrounds and each individual brings their own unique set of skills and experience to the role.

Despite these differences, translators who are particularly successful do have certain commonalities. In that vein, we here look at three lines a successful translator will never cross. 

Poor quality of work

Perhaps the most important line that a successful translator will not cross is producing poor quality work. Their pride in their work and unwillingness to compromise when it comes to quality, allows successful translators to build up a loyal following of clients with whom they have a well-developed, trusting business relationship. 

Translators who do cross this line and provide their customers with inferior, sloppily translated text tend to find themselves spending more time chasing new customers and less translating, while those who maintained their quality standards sit back and get on with the job at hand. 

In addition to maintaining existing customers, focusing on quality also means that successful translators have to work less hard than others to find new work, as their reputation will proceed them. From referrals to positive testimonials published online, refusing to cross the line when it comes to quality of work reaps big benefits. 

Pitifully low prices

Price is another area where similarities can be seen across a broad spectrum of successful professional translators. A good translator knows his or her worth and will not deign to slash prices in order to undercut their competitors if doing so means working for less money that they feel their time commitment commands. 

This is true both for general translators and for those with a specialism, such as medical or marketing translation. While many successful translators may choose to provide offers from time to time, such as the first 100 words of any translation will be free, these offers are designed to increase levels of work and thus revenue, not to undermine the competition. 

Lack of communication

A third area where successful translators refuse to compromise is their communication levels. Most successful translators are quick to respond to their customers’ emails and phone messages, reassuring the customer that they are entrusting their translation work to an efficient and organised individual. 

Successful translators set clear goals for themselves and deliver on the goals within the timescales that they have promised to the customer.

Open communication throughout the process will keep customers feeling informed and in control, which (along with the quality of the translation and the price) is what will keep they coming back to the same translator time and again. 

Keep it successful 

By refusing to cross these three lines, translators around the globe are ensuring that they deliver high quality work, at a decent price and as part of an established and efficient client relationship. These features help to assure the success of translators from every country. Are you one of them?

What other lines will a successful translator not cost? Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment in the box.