Comments on: Freelance translator income

By: Versioso

Versioso — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:17:39 +0000

Yes, I fully agree to the author. I am among the freelancers who are in the bottom line. Among such problems as lack of clients and experience ther is another one – where you are living, I suppose.

By: Ryan Ginstrom

Ryan Ginstrom — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 06:11:20 +0000

@MT

It’s certainly true that the same take-home income is worth more when you’re in-house. I think the main benefit is that your employer’s paying half of your social security tax (7.5% of your income) — do American employers really shell out for things like health insurance these days?

On the flip side, working in-house you’ve got a commute, higher clothing expenses, etc. Plus when a freelancer is only working 15 days of the month, she’s doing something else for those other 15 days; the in-house person has to actually park it in the office for 22 days, even if she’s only doing 10 days’ worth or so of work; so the per-hour earnings of the freelancer are higher.

By: MT

MT — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:14:16 +0000

Another thing to keep in mind generally when considering incomes is that these are gross incomes. As self-employed people (in the United States), the benefits you would get from an employer (health insurance, paid vacation, retirement benefits, 401 matching, etc.) as a rule of thumb are worth about $20,000 per year. Thus, a freelancer translator earning $65,000 gross can be said to be earning the equivalent of an employee translator at a firm with a salary of $45,000 + benefits.

Nice post! The car metaphor is very helpful, I think.

-MT

By: Ryan Ginstrom

Ryan Ginstrom — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:40:41 +0000

@Jill

That’s a very good point. The ATA’s figures are for full-time freelancers, but the Honyaku list survey was for anybody. That’s another possible explanation for the “fat bottom” of the earnings spectrum!

By: Jill Sommer

Jill Sommer — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:23:03 +0000

Ryan, you also shouldn’t discount the fact that a lot of translators only do this part-time. I know a lot of translators who are stay-at-home moms or retirees who translate to supplement their income. They don’t want or unable to work full-time for a large number of reasons. This is most likely the reason behind the majority of translators indicating their income is lower than the mean.