Translation business practices report

September 7, 2004

Back from holiday and sifting through a very full inbox, I found a link provided by Dyran from the business practices discussion group to a translation business practices report written by the World Bank. It is based on a survey filled in by 51 international governmental organisations, non governmental organisations, translation agencies and private sector companies. It is very interesting, although the rates section made me raise an eyebrow. One thing that surprised me is the ultra-dominance of Trados as a translation tool and the other was that "most respondents indicated that the best way to recruit freelance translators is through translators' networks, followed by screening of unsolicited CVs and referrals from universities." The practice of sending unsolicited emails is widely criticised in the profession, but this seems to suggest that it is not such a waste of time after all.