Best websites to work as a translator
Mayank Sharma
- 8 Min To Read
- February 23, 2021
If you want to earn online and are bilingual, or know more than two languages, then online translation jobs are a pretty good option. In this article, we will share with you the best websites for online translation jobs, where you can work as a translator from the comfort of your own home and make money online.
While we cover such sites, we will keep a special eye on the sites that offer jobs to Hindi translators, and experts of other Indian vernacular languages.
You need not be a super experienced expert or a language teacher, but you should have a pretty good hold over both the languages - the language you are translation from, and the language you are translating into.
Table of Contents- What is the role of a translator?
- Best websites for translation work
What is the role of a translator?
A translator needs to bridge the gap between the two languages and help people understand something that was not initially written or spoken in their language.
A translator should not just mechanically translate the sentences. He must have some awareness of the context. Different synonyms having the same meaning may give different meanings in different contexts. This is why human touch is necessary in translation work. Even the best AI and software of the world cannot replace a human, when it comes to translation. At least, not yet!
With world getting more globalized and connected, the roles of translators have seen tremendous growth. Translators are needed in government and private sectors alike. Or you may work as a freelancer too.
Best websites for translation work
Now, let’s see the best websites out there that offer the most lucrative translation gigs for freelancers.
While many of these websites offer translation jobs for languages like French, Spanish etc., not all of them offer Hindi translation work. We have mentioned it explicitly, if they do offer Hindi translation opportunities.
OneHourTranslation (OHT)
This platform is geared more towards professional translators. So, here you will get translation projects from various industries like legal, software, blockchain etc. One really good thing regarding this site is that they have a very wide variety of languages to choose from. Not only they have Hindi on their palette, but some Indian vernacular languages like Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Assamese, Gujrati, Tamil too.
The registration process is a bit lengthy and complex. You need to give an online exam. Thereafter, your profile will get reviewed by their staff. If you pass these stages, then you will also be given a certificate. Thereafter, you can start working for them.
Here, you can choose the project you like. Payment for each project can be seen on its page. As per them, the average pay that you can expect for a one-hour long project is $12.
If you can translate 10,000 (ten thousand) words or more per week for them, then you can join their ‘Elite translators program’. You will be given better projects on priority basis and may even get better pay rates.
They provide many options by which you can get paid, including PayPal.
They also offer transcription, voice-over and other such services, just in case you are interested.
Rev
Many of you probably already know about Rev. Apart from translation jobs, they also provide transcription and caption freelancing jobs. It is a go-to service for caption creation of YouTube videos. There are many caption-translation tasks on this website.
Registration on this site is easy. You don’t need any certification. Just create your profile and start choosing your tasks.
You will get rated, and if you are doing good work then probably you will get better earnings. This is how most translation websites work.
As per them you can earn on an average of about $950 per month. You can earn even more if you dedicate more of your time and effort.
Appen
Appen is not a translation platform. Rather it’s a company that works in the field of auto-translation using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). That is, they create software to automatically translate from one language to another.
So, obviously they need people who have command over multiple languages. People who can either create model translations for their AI or evaluate/verify the translation done by AI.
There are no requirements as such - no exams, no certificates required. You just need to be over 18 years of age and have a phone number. Once you create your profile, they will send you an SMS just to verify your identity.
After signing in, you can pick micro-tasks that have been uploaded by different clients and fulfil them. As far as payment is concerned, it’s easy. You will get paid via PayPal, pretty much when you want or on a weekly basis.
Lionbridge
Just like Appen, Lionbridge is specialized in the development of speech recognition and translation models, that can automatically translate from one language to another.
To register and start working with Lionbridge is a little bit more complex than it was with Appen, because here some extra steps are involved.
After registration, you will need to go through a screening process, wherein your language and translation skills will be evaluated.
After this evaluation phase, you will receive projects/tasks that fit your level of expertise. This is in contrast to what happens on Appen, where you go and select the jobs yourself.
But payment is super easy. We have PayPal option too.
Gengo
Gengo is geared more towards professional translation, i.e. they provide translation services for E-commerce, Technology, Finance etc.
Language services they offer range from Chinese, Polish to Thai. However, Hindi is not on the list. After signing up, you will need to give a couple of tests. But they do provide resources to prepare for these tests.
Here you will also find a vibrant community of translators.
Here, you will be able to pick the projects and tasks of your choice, i.e. tasks are not pre-assigned to you by them.
Moreover, they have a technology-rich platform. You need not have a computer to work with them. You can work with them even if you have just a tablet or a mobile phone.
Worldlingo
Their website is not that professional looking. But they seem to offer jobs to professional translators only.
They offer jobs only to translators having 5 years continuous translation experience and a membership of the professional translation association of one’s country. For specialist translators they have even more stringent conditions, e.g. a university degree in one’s area of specialty. You will also need to go through a pretty tough evaluation process.
Moreover, they will hire you for translation into your native tongue only and for projects that are targeted for the country in which you reside.
So, the conditions are stringent. But it means that many translators might not be working for them. So, you will have a higher chance to get projects here, if you get on board with them.
Another upside is that, they have a lot of languages to choose from, including Hindi.
TextMaster
TextMaster is a European company, that hires freelances from across Europe. They qualify the professionals they work with, into Semi-Professionals and Professionals.
Only translators with experience and certificate can work as Professionals. If you are not, then sign-up as Semi-Professional.
Unbabel
This platform falls in the same category as Appen and Lionbridge, as it also provides a machine learning solution to its clients to get their translation work done.
However, they need Editors to proofread and improve the translations done by their AI. That’s where you come in. As an Editor, you will validate and rate translations that have already been done by their AI. After signing-up, you will need to pass a test that will check your comprehension skills. Thereafter, you will be required to complete some demo tasks as a part of your training. This will give you a pretty good idea of what you need to do.
They offer translations in a lot of languages, including Hindi. You can see all the languages offered by them in a dropdown, when you register for their Waitlist.
You may receive payments via PayPal or Payoneer per week.
Apart from these websites, you may explore these websites too:
Translation directory - Here you will get a list of the translation jobs of the language-pair of your choice. You may checkout their listed English-to-Hindi jobs here.
ProZ – It is a pretty popular site for language professionals from around the world. Similar to Translation directory, people post their translation work gigs here. You may choose the work that interests you and contact the concerned client.
Guru – Just like Translation directory and ProZ, you will get a lot of translation jobs listed here. But there are other types of jobs listed too, like article writing, SEO etc.
General sites for Freelance work – Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer, Truelancer etc.
Social Media sites – LinkedIn, Facebook Translator groups etc.
Job boards – Naukri.com, Indeed, Monster India, Shine etc.
Winding Up
If you are a polyglot, then you have immense job opportunities in 21st century. Different cultures are coming together and the hunger to know each other is growing. You, as a translator, can make that happen.
21st century will witness a knowledge-driven economy. The demand of content is ever-growing. Everyone wants content – be it marketers, website owners, education industries etc., and they often need it in multiple languages. Businessmen want to take their message and products to a wider range of customers residing in different countries and regions.
You can imagine the demand translators may be in. If you are a skilful and proficient translator, then sky is the limit.
This is true not only for translators that know some exotic language like Spanish, Hindi and Mandarin, but also for translators that are proficient in vernacular languages like Kannada and Tamil.
Just explore the various sites mentioned above, and soon you will land yourself up in a dream work-from-home translation arrangement.
Best of luck!