In 2011, I applied for an online translating job - I guess that was one of those days that I think I need extra job to gain money. But I never did receive any reply from the person who put up the ad online.
So last month, someone from China replied to my 2011's email like she just received it the day before and offered me a translation task (Eng > BM). I was asked to translate 2701 words in 24 hours and the rate was $0.03 USD per word. The total would be $81.03 USD. So I thought why not?
I translated those paragraphs of text about chemical components and how to handle it. It was one of the most oddest freelance job I had ever done. I had to read several formal writings that were already shared online to know certain medical/scientific words and those weird chemical components' name in Bahasa. It took me a day to write the first draft and I had to reread it many times. It felt like being in school again.
The client didn't really explain to me what the writing was about because she can hardly speak in English *so I'm guessing from her email that she's the local from China and she was using Google Translate to communicate with me. Ha. But it was something about how to handle the chemical component.
The draft got approved and I finally got my first payment from a translation job : $81.03 USD - and because our Ringgit has fallen, I'm getting around RM 335 for the job. Good enough for a one day job, kan? :D
New things I learned :
- Translating write-ups isn't as simple as it sounds.
- I need to use a dictionary to find proper words.
- I need to read and reread and reread and do more reading from other available write-ups.
- I'm guessing translating fiction might be much more exciting than formal documents.
- I want to do this again.
Maybe I'll improve my Bahasa and translation skill.
:D
That job sounds interesting, besides RM335 is quite a lot for a day,hehe :D
ReplyDeleteYes it is :D
DeleteI'm surely accepting new ones if they need any more translation work.
Haha, that is pretty cool. Random freelance work is random. You can get certification from ITNM I think, and do more translations~ My mum takes jobs sometimes, but it does get quite difficult depending on the writing!
ReplyDeleteReally? I never know that. You mean ITBM, right?
DeleteI should definitely try that, been wanting to explore my writing skill for ages now.
:)
Oh diorang tukar nama! Used to be called ITNM: http://www.moe.gov.my/v/profil-jabatan?div=70
Delete