What do you really need, to be a successful freelance translator and work remotely? Will translation skills suffice, or are there other skill sets that can complement what you already know in order to have a successful career? This blog informs you how to become a freelance translator in the UK.

Here are our 3 top tips to improve your freelance translation skills and learn freelance instantly.

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Translation skills are the foundation for every freelance translator and are a prerequisite for success in your career path.

Translating well is an art. The reason being you need a deep understanding of both your source and target languages, understanding of terminology and a strong ability to emphasise and transfer ideas from one tongue to the other.

The in-depth learnings of languages are the baseline for courses and translation degrees the world over.

Translation skills require much focus; however, they are not the only competencies that professional freelance translators need.

There are two other crucial areas that need to be looked at in detail to determine a freelance translator’s success or failure in the freelance marketplace. These are as follows:

Translators should be focused on mastering their target language whilst possessing an exceptionally strong sense of writing style and being careful not to get distracted.

Standard practice for freelance translation is to translate from a foreign language into their native language.

Here are some of the most famous translators in history for some inspiration.

Most freelance translators will find it far easier to express themselves in their native tongue rather than in a foreign language, no matter how long they have studied its technicalities.

Another side to freelance translating is "written translation." Even though some degrees and certifications include courses in writing, many do not.

It’s imperative that you can articulate in written form to show your level of professionalism, and for your students to receive quality lessons.

The third and final skill that a translator must acquire is subject matter skills. Translators need to understand the meaning behind the text.

If the meaning of the subject text is not understood, translation of the target language will become less convincing.

Subject matter may seem a little obvious. However, it’s quite astonishing how often it is overlooked.

Translators with limited or no understanding of professional services such as law, engineering, medicine or business are tasked with translating in-depth information on subjects such as these to be made readily available online or in print.

Being an expert freelance translator is no easy feat. It will consist of being able to articulate yourself in one of the major language pairs and have a high level of expertise in either your chosen field or more specialist areas.

This understanding is built through a professional qualification or experience in the field.

To produce quality texts to meet the required standards for publication, translators need to have a highly developed translation, written and subject matter skills.

These three core competencies will boost your freelance translation career. Here is some more information regarding translation skills.

Skills that are based around business and technology where demand is high can help positively kickstart your career.

Having these first professional skills form part of the basic building block that every translator needs to succeed.

If you are interested in getting your freelance translation career off to a great start join Skillbox.

We are an online freelance marketplace that is entirely free to use. Skillbox is unique because you can offer your translation services online and in-person, all under one account. If you have flexible work and wish to hire a freelancer for your translation project simply post a job for free.