TOP 10 HIGHEST PAID LANGUAGES (Freelance Translator)
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For this video, I compiled a list with the highest paying languages in the translation industry (to be taken with a grain of salt). Check it out now!
Video by *Adrian Probst*
Spanish subtitles by Facundo Obregón
Brazilian Portuguese by Bianca Anaia
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I have a BA in translation and I was trained to translate from English to Arabic and vice versa, in college I used to take as many classes as I could, I have some experience in almost every field. My question is, how can I stand out? I work as a translator at a university full time but the pay isn’t that much and I have a lot of free time, can you give me some tips to start out?
Hi Dana, thanks so much for being here and subscribing to the channel, greatly appreciated 🙂 Yes, the beginning is very hard. I have many videos on starting out, maybe check out previous videos on my channel, they should help a lot. Most important part is network building. Get involved with other translators on LinkedIn and Proz. Build a portfolio through voluntary work (and your previous work experience) and then go from there. Standing out is tricky especially with Arabic and English. The key here is finding your niche. Think of a very specific specialization that you are a pro in. Saying that you have experience in almost every field is great, but a client will find that not interesting, because it looks like you are not a specialist in anything. So really go for one specific thing (maybe higher education/academia if you already work for a uni?)
Dana, the FBI is looking for Arabic & English Translators and Interpreters. They pay top dollars
Fantastic video, Adrian! But I have a few questions, though.
1. What are the rates that are shown on Proz? Are they the rates agencies are paying?
2. Spanish is my strongest language since I was raised in Spain, originally from Bulgaria, though. What language would be more lucrative for me to learn first, Russian or German? Learning any of them would be easy, since I enjoy learning languages and have a pretty good memory. Bulgarian and Russian are 60% mutually intelligible, and I could have an extremely high passive proficiency in Russian in a few months. And I believe it is easier to find an astronaut than it is to find a native Spanish speaker, fluent in any Slavic language.
3. When I check the rates on Proz, for translating into Spanish, I see that some languages that are the same (Bulgarian/Macedonian or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian/Montenegrin) have different rates. The standard for Bulgarian and Serbian into Spanish is 0.09 euros, and for Macedonian, Bosnian and Croatian is 0.10 euros. How comes? If some Balkan nationalist is going to comment the similarities and differences of these languages, please, do restrain yourself! This is not about politics.
Many thanks 🙂
Great questions Stoyan, thank you! I will address them in detail later this week when I have more time. Thanks for watching!
@Freelanceverse – Adrian Probst Hi Adrian, if you don’t have time to respond, could you please respond them in the next Q&A video?
Thanks
So sorry, Stoyan! I completely forgot that. Yes, I will probably include it in the Q&A as it’s great questions, but I still want to answer you now also.
1. The rates you see on proz are averages that translators reported that they are getting paid. It’s probably mostly agencies, but it also contains direct clients. It’s an average for the language combination.
2. Russian-Spanish is definitely a super interesting language combination, especially in today’s climate. So if you say that you’re basically halfway there with your Bulgarian, I would go for Russian. It’s probably gonna take you too long to get to a working knowledge of German.
3. Don’t worry too much about the rates on Proz, as I said, it’s an indication based on user reports from the site. They are just that, an indication. You don’t need to charge 10 cents if that’s what it says there. Try to use it as a “minimum”, try to charge more and don’t go under the average, that’s what I do at least 🙂
And yes, correct, nothing about politics here 😀 everyone is free to express themselves.
Take care!
Adrian
4 of my languages are in this list and 2 or 3 that I want to learn!
What I’m really struggling with is to find what type of markets are in need of translations into English from French, Spanish and Italian.
Oh wow, that’s quite the combinations you got there, Laura 🏆 specialization and markets I wouldn’t worry too much about what’s in more demand. There it is more important that you pick one you’re passionate about and can work in for many years without getting bored.
Thank you so much for information..there is not much of information on this subject so it’s great that you have helped us 👍 I am a certified interpreter and my (certified) languages are Finnish, Arabic and Turkish. I have graduated from a Finnish university with both languages and I currently study physiotherapy in Swedish university 🤓🤓. I dream of working from home especially now that I become a mother.
Hope it works out for you! And congrats on becoming a Mom!! 🙂
i may ask how much are you paid?😅😅
Write me on Linkedin or email and Im happy to share privately 🙂
Hi! I’m currently in my last year of high school and have applied today for early entry doing a bachelors degree in languages (Japanese). I am thinking of becoming a translator or subtitler but am not sure. Is doing a bachelors degree in languages a good way to start my journey and career as a translator?
Hi Brooke, it’s definitely a good start, yes. Even better would be a degree in applied languages or translation studies. But with a general language degree you should also be fine. Maybe you will have to say that you did some translation courses within that degree.
Hi, I always enjoy your videos. You could literally profit from writing an ebook with all the real tips you provide in your videos.
I have an emergency question haha Is it proper to write your name (like give yourself credit) at the end of a translation? I know not all translations but for example I’m translating a magazine right now. I’ve seen people credited at the end of books and such. Do you have a recommendation? I feel super weird turning it in and have them see I wrote my name to give myself credit Lol
Hi Lily, thanks so much! I am indeed writing a book throughout this year! 🙂 so stay tuned! Oh when it comes to credits, you have to ask back with your clients. It’s not custom to do it for normal translations, but as you said for magazines it’s different. Best is to quickly ask them how this is handled.
Thanks for your reply, that’s exactly what I’m feeling, like I should ask. Even though it feels a bit awkward to ask, ugh ☺️
Oh, that’s great about your book. Blessings to you.
Hello Adrian, I’ve sent you an email with a french translation of your video about imposter syndrome last week. Have you received it?
Thank you for your inspiring videos!
Hi Wafa, thank you! I currently have zero time to look after this email, I hope I will find some time later on this week, stay tuned!
I am definitely finding the interesting issue that you mentioned with Arabic. I am a native English speaker who studied Arabic as an undergraduate and then translation in graduate school. It seems like there isn’t much content being translated from Arabic into English (or if there is I’m not seeing it), and there are also a lot of Arabic native speakers translating into English. It’s been very difficult for me to find jobs!
Hi Cierra, absolutely, Arabic is a difficult market. I don’t envy anyone working in this language. However, if you make it to the top, it is one of the most rewarding languages (exactly the point of the video, right). If I was an Arabic native, I’d probably also offer translations into EN just due to the shear amount of demand.
Hey Cierra, do you have an email I can contact you through? because I have few questions in regards to English/Arabic translation ( as a career ), thank you
I am a native egyption and the Arabic is my native language so if I wanna translate from Arabic to English how I can make this and get payment
Hi Cierra, your comment has attracted me. I understand your difficulty in the Arabic markt. I know someone who has long experience in teaching Arabic for non native speaker. He has a great Arabic content. Me to I’m doing to work as translatorin the coming days. What do you think about sharing our knowledge any maybe we come up with a startup!
i have the exact same interest. It’s sad that there is no interest or crossover.
Hi! thank you very much for the information, I am an aspiring translator, just starting, a pure, thorough and true beginner of any sort. I was just wondering about the Portuguese language, since I speak fluently Portuguese, I was wondering if the market for this language was at par with Spanish due to the amount of population that, of course, allows for very high competition, but still does it not really be sought after?
Hi Mafalda, Portuguese is indeed a good market. There is definitely demand for that. Really specialize on one specific local though, don’t just offer general Portuguese.
@Freelanceverse – Adrian Probst Thank you very much! I will!
Hii sir.. I’m from india . To be honest i really not understood all your information which was given in this video. But i understand all the language by learning this we can make carrier . I’m thinking to learn German language actually now i am learning english .so after three month i will join the German language institute .this is really helpful video thanks😊
Good luck, Manisha!
I also want to become a German Translator after my graduation done
Great video! Thank you for your valuable information! I am fluent in Chinese,but now I started to learn German!
Great, Seva! Good luck!
Good luck with German!
Hello, first of thank you for this video, it was actually super informative and I’ve become intrigued by maybe starting doing translation jobs. I speak 7 languages, however only 4 of them are in the list you mentioned and the remaining 3 are probably less likely to have many jobs.
But I can speak French, German, English and Spanish at a native level except for spanish, which I do speak at a C1 level. So technically, I could translate from either into any other. Would you say that I could make this worthwhile and that there would be a lot of projects for me?
Hi there, absolutely you could, why not 🙂 it will take a lot of time and energy, so don’t think you can make this work as a sidegig. You need to be very passionate and determined, but it is definitely possible to earn a lot as a freelance language service provider.
Hi Adrian, I work as a Translation Project Coordinator and will give you some info here. The highest paid languages are: EN-US to:
ZH-CN,
ZH-TW,
SV,
NO,
DA,
JA,
KO,
NL,
ES,
DE,
FR-EU.
So glad to hear that I already speak two of the top 4 (one natively and the second to a B2+ level, possibly) I just got to improve them and should be good to go, thanks so much for the video !!
Wow amazing!
Based on my experience as an employee, freelancer and employer of fellow translators, my top 10 excluding English because it’s usually the target or source language (before I watch the video) : 1. Chinese 2. Japanese 3. Korean 4. Arabic 5. Spanish 6. French 7. Portuguese 8. German 9. Russian 10. Indonesian
Wow nice guess! 🙂
I have a question. Why do most companies or translation agencies don’t quite need Arabic translators? I am just wondering, because frankly, I’m frustrated and afraid I will not find an occupation/ profession.
Brazilian Portuguese would you say?
hi, friend, sorry for the late comment, but you mentioned the nordic languages. How much would a translator earn per word if he or she was translating English works into icelandic? sorry if I did this question before, but it seems to be a less talked about subject.
Thank you for this informative video. I already speak English, German and Urdu. I wish to work at the UN or other such international organisations. However, I can not decide if I should pursue Mandarin or French as my next language. Which one do you think would be better in terms of jobs?
Obviously you should go for Mandarin.
Hi Sidra, both Mandarin and French are great options. It depends a bit what part of the world you want to focus on. With Mandarin, you open yourself to much more exposure in terms of possible workload, with French, the market rates are generally more stable and if you wish to go into international organisations like the UN, you will have greater chances. Whatever you go for, both are great options to add to your repertoire.
I translate from Portuguese to English and vice versa, and what I find is similar to what you said, build a network and niche down, do a great job and the money will come. Don’t learn a new language to translate in just because it supposedly pays better. Thanks for the video!
Thanks a lot for your insights 🙂
Interesting video, but if anyone is waiting to get to the list, it’s at 4:37
Also I speak English natively and want to learn German because Im moving to Germany and would love to work in translation
Great video! I’m starting on my education certification now for languages. Languages I have a background in are French, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and English. This helps me put into perspective future career opportunities.