Jianjun's Blog

I have been working as a freelance translator for more than eight years. 5.5 years working for the domestic market (China), and 2.5 years international. Now I still work for my old clients in China, all of whom are direct ones. Since their assignments only consitute about 2-3% of my annual workload, I keep on putting more emphasis expanding in the international market. Some friends ask me why I don’t explore the domestic market instead. There are several considerations, but two most important ones are:

• Quality vs. Price
• Code of Business Conduct

To be frank, I believe domestic translation market is running in a wrong business mode. First, it seems everybody who learned some years of English consider themselves translators. The “competition” is horrible. Quality gives away to low prices and fake documents (overseas degrees, overseas working experience, PhDs, Award-winning translator from China, etc.); decent code of business is a rarity.

It is common to see “non-paying” translation agencies being cursed using the strongest verbal terms in many big translation job board forums. Yesterday I even saw a username: “日今日公司”, which literally means “FXXX Today Translation” (redboxed below).

As a translator, my goal is to improve myself professionally. Translation is my job. Yes. But it is also my profession and career, not just a way to get some money so I won’t get starved. However, the domestic market probably can’t provide me a good working environment that helps to achieve such a goal.

My direct clients in China never go to another translator or translation agency in China for translation needs, although my prices are several times higher. Because they know how I do business and how I can guarantee a better quality and they believe better services are worth the money they pay.

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