Translation as a Profession (Benjamins Translation Library)

Chapter 8. Of time and money 209Specialisation varies very much according to each translator’s personal circumstances:every translator specialises sooner or later. Once a certain type oftranslation (in terms of domain, type of material, category of beneficiaries orusers, tools or techniques used) comes to represent around 50% or more of totalworkload, it makes sense to specialise along those lines.Once the translator has begun to earn a reasonable and steady income fromtranslation, the surest way to increase turnover is by concentrating on a selectportfolio of ‘profitable’ clients and/or on a more profitable market segment.This would also apply, on a different scale and in different ways, to translationcompanies. All that remains to be done then is to step up the ‘hunt’ for contractsin the chosen specialised skills or areas.Note: It is usually advisable to develop specialised skills rather than to specialisein one specific area. It is also good practise to select two or three technicalareas, rather than just one highly specialised field, just in case the market in thatparticular area suddenly collapses. This happened, for instance, in the telecommunicationsindustry after 2001, which confirmed that a number of differentspecialisms are always better than just one.In the case of salaried translators, pay rises are linked to promotion, whichin turn is related to skills and specialisation. This usually means taking onnew responsibilities, i.e. becoming project manager, reviser, product manager ortranslation manager.3.2 Increasing productivityGreater specialisation inevitably leads to increased productivity. By specialising,the translator gains a better knowledge of the specialised fields or subject areas,and this naturally leads to gains in both speed and quality of translation.3.2.1 ‘Normal’ productivityFor the work provider or the employer, productivity should by definition be ‘ashigh as possible’. The salaried translator will consider that productivity should be:“reasonable; but quality is what counts”. From the freelance translator’s point ofview, productivity has to be: “high enough to ensure the survival of the businessunit” (the translator himself or herself) or “highenoughtoguaranteeareasonableincome”, which can, of course, mean different things to different people.From a purely economic point of view, the productivity of an ‘in-house’translator must be such that his translations cost no more than ‘outsourced’translations, once all other costs (overheads and running costs) have been takeninto account. Calculating translator productivity is in fact rather straightforward,whether it be for a salaried translator (left-hand column), or for a freelancetranslator (right-hand column).