Looking for jobs on freelancer.com and Upwork Thread poster: Peter Schaefermeier
|
|---|
Actually, I am thinking about offering my services as a translator on freelancer.com and Upwork. Do you know an interesting blog posts or articles of translators about that subject? They should deal with issues like: What should one pay attention to? What's the best way to market yourself there? Thanks for your hints.
| | | | Samuel Murray 
Netherlands
Local time: 00:36
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
| Also interested | Jan 10, 2023 |
Peter Schaefermeier wrote:
Actually, I am thinking about offering my services as a translator on freelancer.com and Upwork.
I'm also interested in this. However, I can tell you that most translators here do not consider Freelancer.com or Upwork to be worth their time, because of reasons like (a) most of your clients will be private individuals who will have unrealistic expectations and (b) even if you get business clients, they are likely to be once-off clients that you can't cultivate a long-term relationship with.
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 01:36
Member
English to Turkish
| Bottom feeders galore | Jan 10, 2023 |
I had a brief experience with Upwork, and saw that it was next to impossible to land any jobs there. As detested as it is, you'll likely find more rewarding collaboration opportunities on the Proz job board than those nasty places.
Then again language pair is everything, and my opinion might be pointless for you. I'd put this question to the German translators on the German forum.
| | | |
As Baran says, these sites seem to be full of translators offering astoundingly low rates (e.g. 1000 words for £15).
If you manage to get decent rates by this approach I'd love to hear about it, but I'm not optimistic.
| | |
|
|
|
At least freelancer.com is full of scammers, as the site fails to vet companies properly. UpWork is full of bottom feeders, and the rates on offer are a joke. I don't consider these sites a serious option for a professional translator. You'd probably just waste your time or be scammed or both.
| | | | Ian Saldanha
Australia
Local time: 08:36
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Take your risks | Jan 11, 2023 |
I will be very honest, If I were you I would sign up and see how it all works, in theory those websites sounds good, in practice, I can share that I felt the same experience as the others here: low ball offers, tight deadlines, low quality jobs, and simply impossible to find a decent offer and long-term collaboration. Jobs 'closely' related might be something you could pursue, but for translation and interpretation I would not get my hopes up.
As it was also an exhausting process, I quit ... See more I will be very honest, If I were you I would sign up and see how it all works, in theory those websites sounds good, in practice, I can share that I felt the same experience as the others here: low ball offers, tight deadlines, low quality jobs, and simply impossible to find a decent offer and long-term collaboration. Jobs 'closely' related might be something you could pursue, but for translation and interpretation I would not get my hopes up.
As it was also an exhausting process, I quit them except for this one. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Tried in 2015 | Jan 11, 2023 |
Before they merged into Upwork, I briefly tried Elance and oDesk in 2015. It was like searching for water in the desert, with crowds of bottom feeders hunting ridiculous rates, as already mentioned. At least one of the sites had some linguistic quizzes they claimed could boost one's rankings. One of them tested knowledge about the differences between UK and US English, and you were supposed to pick 'humourous' as the correct UK English spelling. This wasn't the only error. So you got points for ... See more Before they merged into Upwork, I briefly tried Elance and oDesk in 2015. It was like searching for water in the desert, with crowds of bottom feeders hunting ridiculous rates, as already mentioned. At least one of the sites had some linguistic quizzes they claimed could boost one's rankings. One of them tested knowledge about the differences between UK and US English, and you were supposed to pick 'humourous' as the correct UK English spelling. This wasn't the only error. So you got points for giving the wrong answers and was penalised for giving the right ones. Duh. As amateurish as it gets. I didn't find any interest for a linguistic professional in there. I quickly left. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Upwork is full of scams | Jan 11, 2023 |
I have recently tried upwork, nothing gained and lost 4 dollars purchasing their contact coins. Full of scam companies that try to fool you.
| | |
|
|
|
Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 01:36
Member
English to Turkish
| Translation agencies | Jan 11, 2023 |
There are also translation agencies using Upwork to avail themselves of cheap labour. I distinctly remember one US agency (as it had a memorable name, something about 'doctors' I believe) that outsourced a 3k job for 1 cent per word, and the bottom feeders were falling over themselves to get that job.
I just looked that agency up on Blueboard, and it's full of 5 star reviews from US and Italian translators, as expected...
I also once knew an American Project Manager (who was 21 at th... See more There are also translation agencies using Upwork to avail themselves of cheap labour. I distinctly remember one US agency (as it had a memorable name, something about 'doctors' I believe) that outsourced a 3k job for 1 cent per word, and the bottom feeders were falling over themselves to get that job.
I just looked that agency up on Blueboard, and it's full of 5 star reviews from US and Italian translators, as expected...
I also once knew an American Project Manager (who was 21 at the time) who would find translators from Upwork, paying them 2 to 3 cents per word, while pocketing the rest of the money (the agency's budget for that language pair) for himself and boasting about the fact (the little bastard grew up in Turkey, despite being born to US parents, so no surprises there). He got found out in the end and got fired and sued by the agency. I don't know what happened to him afterwards, but I heard that he formed his own agency, which has a notorious reputation on the Blueboard. I think it was global locs or global bollocks or something like that.. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 00:36
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
| A huge scam for the desperate | Jan 12, 2023 |
Thomas T. Frost wrote:
Before they merged into Upwork, I briefly tried Elance and oDesk in 2015. It was like searching for water in the desert, with crowds of bottom feeders hunting ridiculous rates, as already mentioned. At least one of the sites had some linguistic quizzes they claimed could boost one's rankings. One of them tested knowledge about the differences between UK and US English, and you were supposed to pick 'humourous' as the correct UK English spelling. This wasn't the only error. So you got points for giving the wrong answers and was penalised for giving the right ones. Duh. As amateurish as it gets. I didn't find any interest for a linguistic professional in there. I quickly left.
Like Thomas, I tried both agencies, though I don't remember which year that was. (I tend to quickly forget unpleasant experiences.)
The jobs they offered where - IMO - machine produced projects, and for some reason they seemed to be expecting the same type of output. Admittedly, when I started as a freelancer my rates were rather moderate, but I never went below 0.05 cents in the first year when I discovered that I was selling myself, my services short.
Shortly after I had shown some interest in their agencies, I discovered the type the actually were and refused all future communication. It took both Elance and oDesk a few months of unanswered emails to finally "give up" on me. 'Good for them, better for me.
[Edited at 2023-01-13 08:07 GMT]
| | | |
Peter Schaefermeier wrote:
Actually, I am thinking about offering my services as a translator on freelancer.com and Upwork. Do you know an interesting blog posts or articles of translators about that subject? They should deal with issues like: What should one pay attention to? What's the best way to market yourself there? Thanks for your hints.
Hello,
Upwork community offers a great deal of articles with advice on how to market yourself on the platform. You don't need to have an account to read them.
While I agree with others that most job offers are ridiculous (but so is the case on Proz.com and many other freelancing platforms), there are some good clients out there. Finding them takes time and I would recommend checking the website very often as the best jobs don't stay open very long.
| | | | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Looking for jobs on freelancer.com and Upwork | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
| | Trados Studio 2022 Freelance | The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.
Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop
and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
Translation news
