Make N25000 Day with Online Translation » Voice of Nigeria

Introduction to Online Translation Jobs

Do you have a talent for languages and want to earn money from home? Online translation jobs are a great option for you! You can work remotely and make a living with your language skills.

Finding Online Translation Jobs

Platforms like Gengo and Upwork are great places to find online translation jobs. You can proactively approach clients and advertise your translation services to them.

Types of Online Translation Assignments

There are many types of assignments available for online translators in Nigeria. You can translate websites, contracts, travel guides, books, and more.

How Much Money Can You Make?

The pay you receive as an online translator in Nigeria depends on your expertise, language proficiency, and job type. You can earn a decent income with online translation jobs.

Tips for a Successful Career as an Online Translator

To make a successful career as an online translator in Nigeria in 2023, you need to have excellent language skills, be familiar with translation software, and market yourself effectively. You should also be responsive and deliver high-quality work on time.

How much money can you make with online translation?

You can translate several things online. Think of translating a manuscript for a book, web texts, blogs, articles, e-mails or even a business plan.

To put a price tag on working as an online translator is not that difficult. Most online translators charge a rate per word plus the start-up costs.

Discounts are often given when it comes to recurring assignments such as articles on a website that are constantly updated (< correct spelling?). In any case, you will have to translate qualitatively, otherwise you will soon be out.

A translator earns between $0.08 and $0.12 cents per word (36 to 54 Naira). That may not seem like much, but that of course depends entirely on the assignment. With a blog it will be about 100 dollar (45,000 Nigerian Naira). But when you can translate an entire book, we are talking about several thousand dollars. After all, the average novel is 55,000 words, which is quite a job!

An online translator thus earns about 50 dollars (22,000 Naira) per hour. Although you can of course also ask for more based on your quality and experience. But before that, you will first have to find assignments and that is sometimes a ‘hell of a job’ in itself.

How do you get jobs as an online translator?

Earning money with online translation starts with finding clients. You will have to look for companies that want to have books, web texts and articles translated. Or you have to make sure those people find you . But the latter probably only happens when you’ve been around for a while and have some customers left and right spreading your name.

Before starting your career as an online translator, you will therefore have to focus in particular on actively recruiting customers or promoting yourself on a platform. Below I discuss some ways to do this.

1. Platform Gengo for online translation assignments

One of the platforms to find clients for online translation is Gengo. You will be paid per translation you make. You must first be approved. It is important to them that your translations are of high quality so that they know that they are of value to the company. Interestingly, certain languages ​​on this platform are much more profitable than others. For example, Chinese, Japanese, English and French are the highest paid. Most assignments can also be found for those who master two of those languages.

2. Platform Upwork for online translation jobs

In principle, Upwork is a much broader platform for freelancers where you can find much more than just translation jobs. Many jobs are posted on the platform. So you will occasionally see a translation assignment that you can respond to. Keep in mind that a translation portfolio can help you a lot. Often several parties respond to an assignment and then you have to stand out a bit. The useful thing about Upwork is that you can see in advance what a translation job will yield for you.

3. Approach companies yourself for assignments in online translation

If you prefer to decide for yourself who you translate for and want to earn more money with online translation, it can be a good idea to approach companies yourself. That way you can calculate your own rates.

For example, think of a website that you came to but that was full of spelling errors or wrong translations. Then approach that company with an acquisition email and explain how you can help. You won’t be the first to get customers this way ;).

4. Be visible and approach your network

For almost all services that I offer myself, I always check my network first, and this also applies to online translation assignments.

So make sure it is visible that you translate online by creating a website with your portfolio on it. Think of it as your online profile. Tell it to people you meet and before you know it the ball will start rolling. The more people know, the more likely someone will think of you when they come across a translation job. Network = gold.

5. Teach online

Of course you don’t necessarily have to translate texts if you have a knack for languages. You could also choose to teach English to people who want to learn this language. There are many digital nomads who earn their money that way. They teach online to students in Nigeria and China.

6. Find translation jobs on one of the many websites

Actually, there are countless websites where you can find translation jobs. That’s why I thought, you might find it useful if I list them for you. Hereby ;). Translation jobs can be found here: Appen, Language Line, Verbalizelt, TextMaster, Cyracom, Language Service Associates, Lionbridge, Transparent Language, World Lingo, Pacific Interpreters, Verbal Ink, Rev and Pactera. Many of these websites offer more than just translation jobs. So sometimes it takes a while to find a suitable assignment.

The big disadvantage of translating via the internet

With the rise of artificial intelligence (Chat GPT etc.) and its development in 2023, the future of online translation is somewhat uncertain. The correct translation of texts is becoming increasingly possible for computers. This process is very fast, especially with the more widely spoken languages.

As an online translator you will therefore have to deliver quality work to make the difference with the translation from a computer and make that difference clear to your customers. For those who do their job well, it is one of the ways to earn money independently of location. But that is not for everyone.

Related