| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Justifying Years of Experience for Online Freelance Translators Thread poster: Jean Fulbert Hervé Eboumeyeng
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John Fossey 
Canada
Local time: 17:57
Member (2008)
French to English
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| Translating vs. being in business as a translator | Feb 25, 2016 |
You can't "prove" that you have been translating full time for X years, unless as an employee.
What you can prove is that you have been in business for X years as a freelance translator, by producing evidence such as invoices (with private information redacted) and business records such as your annual financial statements. If your annual financial statements, backed by invoices, show you have been making an income reasonable for a full time work over that period, that's the best pr... See more You can't "prove" that you have been translating full time for X years, unless as an employee.
What you can prove is that you have been in business for X years as a freelance translator, by producing evidence such as invoices (with private information redacted) and business records such as your annual financial statements. If your annual financial statements, backed by invoices, show you have been making an income reasonable for a full time work over that period, that's the best proof you can come up with. That's acceptable to third-parties such as government agencies, associations, etc. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Definitely a good answer | Feb 25, 2016 |
John Fossey wrote:
You can't "prove" that you have been translating full time for X years, unless as an employee.
What you can prove is that you have been in business for X years as a freelance translator, by producing evidence such as invoices (with private information redacted) and business records such as your annual financial statements. If your annual financial statements, backed by invoices, show you have been making an income reasonable for a full time work over that period, that's the best proof you can come up with. That's acceptable to third-parties such as government agencies, associations, etc.
This is the best answer to my question. Thank you very much!
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 22:57
Member (2007)
English
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| Well done, John ;) | Feb 25, 2016 |
jeanherv wrote: John Fossey wrote:
You can't "prove" that you have been translating full time for X years, unless as an employee.
What you can prove is that you have been in business for X years as a freelance translator, by producing evidence such as invoices (with private information redacted) and business records such as your annual financial statements. If your annual financial statements, backed by invoices, show you have been making an income reasonable for a full time work over that period, that's the best proof you can come up with. That's acceptable to third-parties such as government agencies, associations, etc. This is the best answer to my question. Thank you very much!
Brownie points to you; dunce's hats to the rest of us .
| | | | | Membership of a professional association | Feb 25, 2016 |
If I redacted the confidential information from my invoices and scanned them, they would be just about worthless - anyone could fake them, and there are an awful lot of them...
I was lucky enough to start my career in-house, and my employer kindly gave me a very nice reference when he had to downsize and let all his translators go (except that it was in Danish, and I had to translate it myself  ).
I used t... See more If I redacted the confidential information from my invoices and scanned them, they would be just about worthless - anyone could fake them, and there are an awful lot of them...
I was lucky enough to start my career in-house, and my employer kindly gave me a very nice reference when he had to downsize and let all his translators go (except that it was in Danish, and I had to translate it myself ).
I used that for a year or two.
Since then I have used my diploma certificates and my membership of the CIoL - the Institute vets its members, and clients are much happier about giving a reference to and association like that than to potential competitors. ▲ Collapse
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| All answers have been useful | Feb 25, 2016 |
Sheila Wilson wrote: jeanherv wrote: John Fossey wrote:
You can't "prove" that you have been translating full time for X years, unless as an employee.
What you can prove is that you have been in business for X years as a freelance translator, by producing evidence such as invoices (with private information redacted) and business records such as your annual financial statements. If your annual financial statements, backed by invoices, show you have been making an income reasonable for a full time work over that period, that's the best proof you can come up with. That's acceptable to third-parties such as government agencies, associations, etc. This is the best answer to my question. Thank you very much! Brownie points to you; dunce's hats to the rest of us .
All answers have been useful and I thank you all for your time!
| | | | | It would depend on the country | Feb 25, 2016 |
It would depend on the country, but tax returns could perhaps provide evidence, if you kept them that long. Or even a letter from the tax office stating that you paid taxes for......years as a freelancer.
| | | | | Getting a visa | Feb 25, 2016 |
Mirko Mainardi wrote: jeanherv wrote:
The point is: sharing experience with colleagues ... and, as you say, it's not about proving your experience to authorities or clients, then I actually don't see the problem... I'd simply say "I have been translating for X years and translated roughly Y million words". But I guess I'm missing something here...
I was supposed to prove my profession when I went to renew my visa. I had compiled a simple Word document, listing different projects and stuff. Also handed in a year's worth of invoices and last year`s tax statement.
That didn't fly with the immigration office... they asked me to get them a simple letter/email from a random translation company stating "Yep, she works with us on a regular basis". That was enough for them (while the tax statement which included the same company's name and the amount I made through them last year wasn't)... go figure.
| | | | | Which country? | Feb 25, 2016 |
Mirja Maletzki wrote: Mirko Mainardi wrote: jeanherv wrote:
The point is: sharing experience with colleagues ... and, as you say, it's not about proving your experience to authorities or clients, then I actually don't see the problem... I'd simply say "I have been translating for X years and translated roughly Y million words". But I guess I'm missing something here... I was supposed to prove my profession when I went to renew my visa. I had compiled a simple Word document, listing different projects and stuff. Also handed in a year's worth of invoices and last year`s tax statement. That didn't fly with the immigration office... they asked me to get them a simple letter/email from a random translation company stating "Yep, she works with us on a regular basis". That was enough for them (while the tax statement which included the same company's name and the amount I made through them last year wasn't)... go figure.
May I know which country it was? Getting a visa as a freelance translator is another issue and I wonder why translation associations do not fight for us to have the "freelance translator" visa category in their respective countries. I think it's a good thing for governments to have some foreigners who work online for foreign companies and who are able to support themselves and consume without necessarily having a big capital to invest and without "stealing" local jobs. But unfortunately, very few countries have this type of visa.
[Edited at 2016-02-25 21:53 GMT]
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| Not a freelancer visa | Feb 26, 2016 |
Yeah, mine wasn't a freelancer visa either. It was a regular visa and I just had to prove that I can provide for myself.
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 17:57
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| I'm pasting soemone's response to a topic in another forum | Feb 26, 2016 |
Quote: "I think you just have to use common sense".
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