What Red Flags Should I Watch Out for When Evaluating Translators?

Finding a good translator to trust with your book isn't an easy task! I encourage you to do as much research as possible to find the best possible fit. Here are a few things to watch out for.

1. The translator promises to deliver the translation at a rate of more than 4,000 words a day. So if your book is 90,000 words and a translator says they can deliver it in less than 23 days, this is a red flag.

Why? The professional standard for translation is 2,000-2,500 words per day. Not words per day per project, but words per day, period. If your book is extremely simple and the translator is very familiar with the subject matter, up to 4,000 words per day may be doable. 

Frankly, even to do a 90,000-word book in 23 days means that they would be devoted solely to your book, 7 days a week (no weekends!), without a break. This would also leave them little to no time for any final editing.

Translating your book any faster would require the translator to rely very heavily on automatic translation. If you're not convinced that this is a problem, please check out this cautionary tale and my ongoing series of concrete examples.

2. The translator offers a rate for your book that amounts to €0.02 a word or less. For example, if you're quoted €1,800 or less for a 90,000-word book, this is a red flag.

Why? At the professional standard of 2,000-2,500 words per day, this would mean that your translator is working at a rate of €6.25 per hour, or €999 per month/€11,988 per year. Unless your translator lives in a country where this is a livable wage, or they are independently wealthy and don't need to work for money, they're cutting corners to fit in more translation jobs, thus exceeding the maximum a professional can translate at a quality level.

An exception to this is if a translator is new to the industry. A new translator may decide to offer lower rates as they build their portfolio. Using someone untested may also be risky, of course, but you may get lucky!

Don't forget: if you find someone who will translate your book for you for €0.02 or less, you're eligible to try my "Is It Too Good to Be True?" Challenge!

3. It's not clear who exactly will be translating your book and/or if the same translator will be translating your entire book.

Translation agencies are good for translating large volumes of documents because they often have many translators available. They are not good, however, for translating books. Despite what they may tell you, an agency simply cannot guarantee that the same translator will translate your entire book. 

Translators working with agencies are often coming and going, new projects come up, and things get moved around. The consistency and coherence of your book will inevitably suffer.

Unfortunately, this is something you need to be aware of even on gig platforms like Fiverr. Many gigs posted by freelancers actually have multiple people behind them. You should always ask in advance how many people will be working on your book. Just be aware that you may not get an honest answer. It's a good idea to look at the frequency with which their reviews and delivered orders come in. If you're seeing more reviews or deliveries than seem to meet the professional standard as outlined above, you can be pretty sure you're actually dealing with a group of people.

4. A translator offers translations from both Italian to English AND from English to Italian. This may sound odd if you've never worked with translators. After all, if we know both languages well, shouldn't we be able to translate in either direction? 

The truth is that, yes, "technically" we can. But the reality is that no matter how good we are in our second language, even if we don't make a single mistake, our phrasing may often sound unnatural or confusing to native speakers. There are subtleties and nuances that we may not convey as well in our second language. 

5. This leads to the next red flag. Most true professional translators, as a matter of personal and professional ethics, will only translate into their native language. This is to ensure the highest possible quality. Therefore, a non-native English speaker who offers to translate your Italian book into English is a red flag. There are occasionally a few exceptions, such as someone who has grown up in a truly bilingual environment, but these exceptions are rare.

6. The translator does not have much of an internet or social media presence. Of course, there are exceptions to this one as well, but be aware that there are many people out there who claim to be translators simply because they know two languages. They may be testing the waters to see if they can earn a little money on the side and create a profile somewhere like Fiverr and/or Upwork.

Ideally, you want to find someone who has a proven track record and online presence as a translator: someone who would have a lot to lose by delivering a bad translation and couldn't just easily disappear on you.

See the next article: When You Hire the Wrong Translator: A Cautionary Tale