How to Collect Payments from Non-Paying Clients

collecting-payments

image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Freelance translators depend on their customers’ cash-flow to receive their payments. Some customers pay right on time while others can be quite reluctant to let their money go. They request duplicate invoices to be sent, claim that they will pay us on the following week or give us a thousand and one excuses to explain to us why we haven’t been paid yet.

Dealing with these clients is not only stressing and annoying but also time consuming. You can easily find yourself devoting two or three hours per day to chase these late-payers instead of translating new documents or outreaching potential clients. Fortunately, there are different strategies you can put into practice in order to manage these difficult clients correctly.

Contact the Client Immediately

One of the biggest mistakes that freelance translators do when a client misses a payment deadline is not following up with them right away. Of course, it is true that nobody wants to seem desperate about money but it is not false either that the longer you wait to collect a missed payment, the fewer chances you have of being paid.

You should call your client immediately after he misses a payment deadline and you should leave a message daily reminding him that he owes you money. If you are able to reach your client, make sure you’re informed of the reasons why he hasn’t paid you yet and, if possible, make arrangements for the payment to be made. Be polite but strong at all times.

Don’t Take Broken Promises Lightly

If the new due date arrives and your check is nowhere to be found, then your client is not trustworthy. In that case, keep hold of any pending job you have for him and do not do anything further until the payment is made. Many a time this is the best strategy to finally get the payment: if the client needs your services and/or the translated documents you have, he will eventually send you the money sooner or later.

This may be the best time to switch to more formal means of communication. Sending an email to your client expressing your concern that the payment has not been made yet despite your efforts to arrange a second due date usually works, especially if you keep sending the same email each week.

You should also consider sending a formal letter compelling the client to pay what he owes you. You can find different options of these letters here to get you inspired.

Broaden your Payment Options

Let your non-paying client know all your payment options. For instance, you can tell him that he can pay you over the phone with his debit or credit card or that they can immediately credit your money to your personal bank account.

Threaten to Hire a Debt Collection Agency

This should be used as a last resort. Requesting the services of a debt collection agency is many times the best and only way to put an end to this problem. A debt collector will harass your client constantly on the phone compelling him to make the payment. And they can be quite rude!

Tell Other Translators About a Non-Paying Client

There are some sites where you can leave feedback on translation clients and agencies. They are good places to spread the word so that other colleagues are aware of those bad clients.

 

Upcoming Translation Events in September

September will definitely be an interesting and busy month for translators. Look at all the translation related events that will take place everywhere in the world this month!

2nd-6th

Machine Translation Summit

Organized by the European Association for Machine Translation.
Nice, France

10th

PROZ Virtual Conference on Industry Innovation and Technology Best Practices  [Online Event]

13th-15th

11th Annual Conference “Forging a Path Towards Specialization!”

Organized by the Tennessee Association of Professional Interpreters and Translator.

Memphis, TN, USA

18th

Translating Contracts to and from French [Webinar]

Organized by the American Translators Association

20th

Nida Research Symposium: Cultural Translation

Organized by the Nida School of Translation Studies.
New York, New York USA

21st

10th Annual Conference

Organized by the Midwest Association of Interpreters and Translators

Chicago, Illinois, USA

26th-27th

ATC Annual Conference

Organized by the Association of Translation Companies.
London, UK

27th

6th PROZ Congress

Biarritz, France

30th- October 4th

2013 Proz Virtual Event Series

Organized by PROZ to celebrate International Translation Day. Events included: 2013 Freelance translator virtual conference, Translator Boot Camp, CAT Tool & Software Day, 2013 Recruitment Virtual Event, PROZ.com Networking Marathon

Foreign Languages in the US: Spanish on the Rise

According to information collected during the last US Census, it is definitely a good idea for schools, libraries, clubs, public offices and business organizations to make sure they share information with their public and clients not only in English but also in a foreign language, especially in Spanish and Chinese.

The number of US residents who speak Spanish at home has experienced a stunning increase: it jumped from 11 million in 1980 to nearly 38 million in 2011. In other words, almost two-thirds of the nearly 61 million who speak a language other than English at home are Spanish speakers.

Surprisingly enough, analysts state the proficiency in English is not in danger. Over the last eight years, more Spanish speakers say that they speak English “less than very well”, which is not only a sign of confidence but an indicator that their speaking a foreign language at home does not interfere with their command of the English language.

A state where the bilingual speaking community is noticeable is definitely California: 54% of the over 18 million people aged 5 or more living in metropolitan Los Angeles speak other language (mainly Spanish) besides English.

With such a high number of Spanish speaking people, the US ranks fifth amongst the Spanish speaking countries of the world. It is behind Mexico (117 million), Spain (47.2 million), Colombia (47 million) and Argentina (41 million).

What about other foreign languages?

After Spanish, Chinese followed by a very distant margin: it is spoken by almost 3 million people. Other languages whose use at home has increased significantly are: Vietnamese, Persian, Russian, Korean, Armenian and Tagalog.

Interactive Map Showing Languages Spoken in US

 

 

 

Invoice your Translation Clients the Smart Way

Not everything is exciting in the life of a freelance translator. And managing the finances of the business is definitely one of those chores that most translators find boring, overwhelming… almost herculean, especially if accountancy has nothing to do with their background. However, every translator knows that it doesn’t matter how efficient and professional he is; if he doesn’t get paid he won’t be able to keep the business going. Fortunately, there are some simple tips you can put into practice to invoice your clients the smart way. And what is even more attractive about these ideas? That they will keep your clients happy too!

image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Keep your clients well informed of your policies

Not all clients will be respectful and pay you right away after you send them the translation. Some of them will pay you half the amount and then disappear while others will keep you waiting for ages. Since being paid is important for you, it is necessary for you to establish a set of policies regarding your payment terms and to keep your clients notified about them. When coming up with your policies, there are certain key aspects you shouldn’t forget to include:

  • The payment method you prefer
  • How much should be paid as a down payment.
  • Is a down payment required for you to start working?
  • When is the invoice due?
  • Will there be any penalties for late-payers?
  • Will the client receive the final work before or after all payments are made?

Needless to say, there will be times when you will need to be flexible with these policies in order to meet your client’s particular requirements, but they will definitely serve you as a guideline.

It is also important that you keep your client informed about your hourly rates if applicable, any pending payment or whatever you deem appropriate so that he doesn’t find anything unusual in the invoice you send him.

Stick to your policies

Just as you don’t like surprises, neither do clients. Make sure they are well aware of your policies and that you promptly let your clients know about any change or update. Trust is essential in a freelance relationship and, when money is concerned, this is particularly true. If the client has no doubts about your invoicing policy then he will be more open to sending you more documents to translate and recommending your services. And that only means more clients, more money and a more flourishing business.

Charge professionally

Although it can be tempting to set lower translation rates than average in order to attract a larger number of clients, you should really avoid undercharging. Doing so will only bounce back on you by bringing to you only clients that are lazy-payers. Make sure your rates are in line with those of other colleagues; there’s always room left to offer a special client a discount or bonus in order to get a really attractive translation job.

Are your invoices clear and complete?

It is definitely a good exercise for freelance translators to check the invoices they send to their clients in order to make sure everything is clearly stated. In other words, if you can’t understand your own invoice or what you are charging for, how do you expect clients to feel otherwise?

Your invoice to your translation client should include this information:

  • Your contact details.
  • Detail of services rendered (translation, proofreading, edition, language pair, etc).
  • How much you charge for each rendered service.
  • Any down payment done and the amount still to be paid or a single invoice including the terms (e.g. 50% down payment – 50% upon delivery).
  • Accepted payment methods.
  • When the payments are due.

Additional tips

As you manage more and more clients, the amount of invoices you will have to send and monitor will increase. It’s a good idea to number them so that you can keep a record of what’s still pending and what’s been paid and to keep separate invoicing files for your different clients.

Test Translation Fraud Leads To Driving Licenses Removal

If learning to drive can be hard for anybody, passing a theoretical and practical driving test in a language that is not your mother tongue can be even tougher. Aware of this situation, the UK’s Driving Safety Agency (DSA) allows non-English speaker candidates to be accompanied by an interpreter during the tests. But everything seems to indicate that this advantage will be turned down soon as it has been proved that an interpreter has committed fraud against the agency.

Authorities from the DSA and staff from various driving schools have commented on the suspicious attitude of some interpreters during the driving tests. Some of them use lengthy sentences to translate simple instructions such us: turn right, turn left or stop at the next corner. And using lengthy sentences when it is not necessary may be a sign of the interpreter providing more information to the pupil, telling him how to drive or providing him with the correct answer for the theoretical exam.

Authorities from the DSA also question how safe it is for other drivers to have a fellow driver in the road that perhaps does not understand the road signs properly.

So far, one interpreter is under suspicion since her number of clients has significantly increased over a short period of time.

For more information about this test translation fraud please go to the BBC News.

Lunfardo: What does “bondi” mean?

Argentine Spanish is strewn with words and colorful phrases from Lunfardo, a rich vocabulary born on the streets of Buenos Aires in the second half of the 19th century. Now considered a fixture of the Spanish language in Argentina (especially in and around Buenos Aires) and Uruguay, linguists cite the use of Lunfardo as a defining characteristic of the Rioplatense dialect.

A bondi in Buenos Aires, early 40s

“This bondi can’t take longer!” “This bondi leaves me three blocks away from my house”, “The frequency of this bondi is disastrous!” These and other similar phrases in Spanish are frequently heard in Argentina, especially in the city of Buenos Aires. Any tourist can hear them in everyday conversations but, what does bondi mean? What are all these people talking about?

Bondi is the lunfardo term for the city bus or “colectivo” and it is still widely used in the River Plate area. Let’s explore its etymological origin.

Bondi and its Brazilian Origin

According to many language experts, bondi is a derivation from a Brazilian word born in the city of Sao Paulo at the beginning of the 20th Century. At that time, the tramways of the city were owned by English companies and, therefore, the price of the ticket was preceded by the word bond. Brazilians understood that the term bond meant tramway and extended its meaning to all the public transport. In Portuguese, many words that end with a consonant add the sound “i”, in this case represented by the adding the letter “e” at the end of the word. Italian immigrants took the word bonde to Montevideo and Buenos Aires, where the word was adopted as bondi.

Bondi and the Shape of the Bus

There is another theory that states that the word bondi is, in fact, a diminutive of the word albóndiga (meat ball), after which the urban buses in Buenos Aires were named because they were much smaller than what they are nowadays and roundish in shape.

 

Defining Project Specifications: What Should be Included in a Quote

Lots have been said about the importance of providing clients with quality translations. One of the main aspects that translators should take into consideration is that the final document should comply with the client’s requirements and expectations and, of course, these vary from client to client and from document to document. So, how can the translator decide which quality standards every translation should meet?

Not all clients are familiar with this kind of projects and may not know what type of information the translator needs in order to be able to deliver what is expected.

Another key aspect of a quality translation is the quote that the translator sends to the client. It needs to include all the necessary information so that there are no misunderstandings later on.

Delivering quality translations is a team work. If both the professional translator and the client do their part of the job correctly, then the chances of mutual satisfaction (and the possibility of more incoming projects) increase.

image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 Defining the Project Specifications

  • Target Audience:

Who will read the text? Which audience should the translator have in mind when translating the document: specialists or non-experts, young people or adults? Believe it or not, this is an essential piece of information as it has a huge impact on the tone of the translated text and in the words chosen. For instance, Spanish has an informal and formal way of addressing people (tú vs. usted).

  • Use:

Is it going to be used for internal communication, for clients, for publication? The reason why you need this document translated is an information that can help the translator.

  • Deadline:

Knowing when the text needs to be delivered is a useful piece of information for the translator as it allows him to organize his schedule and work accordingly and ensure that your document is ready right on time. It is highly advisable that the translator express the deadline in business days and not just days as it may lead to confusion (unless he works on weekends).

  • Price:

Whether the project will be paid per source word or per target word, that is to say, according to the volume of the original text or to the volume of the translated text, this should be clearly expressed to avoid possible misunderstandings. Clients should also state when the payment will be made (upon delivery, upfront, etc) and how (PayPal, bank transfer, Western Union, etc).

  • Subject Area and Type of Text:

One of the clearest and easiest ways of dealing with these specifications is to send the whole text (preferably) or a sample to the translator to analyze. Clients should also specify the kind of text the translator is going to receive: a letter, a training video, an advertising brochure, a sales agreement, a contract. Even though most translators are comfortable working with almost any type of text/audio, some of them have certain preferences or just do not translate videos.

  • Source Language and Regional Variation

Is it written in Brazilian or European Portuguese? Spanish from Venezuela, Argentina or Mexico? Is the document in Canadian or South African English? There may be significant regional differences that interfere with translator’s understanding and decision making.

  • Format

This includes informing the translator in which format the translation will be received and in which format the target text should be delivered. Is it a text in Word or Excel format? Is it a JPEG? Or is it a PDF?

  • Volume

Ideally, for written texts, the word count (and not the number of pages) is what translators prefer to take into consideration as the length may vary if the text is written in two columns, and also depending on the font size or the spacing between lines.

  • Target Language and Regional Variation

In which language and regional variation should the translation be delivered? This is, of course, closely related to the target audience. Brazilian and Portuguese people do not use the same expressions and Argentines and Mexicans do not either.

  • Delivery Method:

Even though most of the translations are nowadays delivered by email, it is better to specify it, especially if the client wants the document to be delivered by fax or snail mail.

The Translator’s Job: Sending the Quote

Once the document for translation has been received and analyzed, the translator is expected to send a quote to the client. Pay attention to what information should be included:

  • Source and target language
  • Name of document/s
  • Number of words or pages
  • Delivery format
  • Price per word (source or target), pages or price per hour
  • Deadline
  • Payment terms
  • Any other term: how do you handle revisions after the translation is delivered?, etc.