Editing translations?

by **malongo** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 7:26 pm

Hey all,

I'm an American moving to Finland in a month without a job and no work permit but I should be getting temporary residency through marriage. I'm trying to think of any way to make a few contacts and maybe even a little money while I learn some Finnish.

On to my point... Can anyone help me gauge the market for an editor of English translations? Does this role exist in the Finnish-English translating industry? Is it reserved for senior translators, or would a monolingual, recent graduate be considered for the job?

Any help would be appreciated.

**Sponsor:**

by **Hank W.** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 7:38 pm

I think the position you are referring to is called proofreader/copy editor maybe also copy writer/technical writer depending on the company. Theres ads every now and then at MOL.

Now if you have some claim to be have blackboard-pointer-smacked by penguins to minding your p's and q's as well as have a Masters in English Language and claim to sleep the Chicago Manual of Style under your pillow, you might be able to convince them... if you switch CMS to Fowler's Modern English Usage

by **enk** » Sat Mar 25, 2006 11:22 pm

The best thing to do would be to learn Finnish pronto, because
there are about 10 proofreaders in Finland that are native English
speakers *and* know Finnish. They command top prices.

-enk

by **Cory** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:54 am

enk wrote:The best thing to do would be to learn Finnish pronto, because
there are about 10 proofreaders in Finland that are native English
speakers *and* know Finnish. They command top prices.

'

Out of curiosity, what do these proofers demand?

by **tampereblue** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:31 am

I do exactly the job to which Hank refers, editor and proof reader. I set up a toiminimi (sole trader business) about a year ago and work in the Tampere region. After about 6 months of almost exclusively relying on work from the UK I now have several clients in Finland.

My approach was through many many translation agencies and I was lucky to pick one who happened to do a lot of work for major Finnish corporations such as Metso, Polar, etc. Its taken a while to establish myself but they call me for work now rather than the other way round, which is a great position to be in. Enk is right in saying that not speaking Finnish is a disadvantage, and that those who are Englsih natives who check translations do command top price, but I seem to have found a niche that works for me. I am not treading on freelance translators' toes as I don't offer that service, and many of the companies I get work for actually produce their stuff in English first anyway - especially technical documentation and instruction manuals which are shipped abroad.

by **Rosamunda** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 3:15 pm

Well done

it's nice to get a "success" story on the forum once in a while.

by **tampereblue** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 6:48 pm

Cheers, its very satisfying actually. It does get a bit doom and gloom on here sometimes doesn't it

by **malongo** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 9:49 pm

Congratulations, Charlie. I don't feel nearly as hopeless now! It seems an ex-pat needs to be pretty creative to land a good job out there. After noticing a fair amount of grammatical errors on the English-versions of Finno-corporate websites I thought that perhaps a kid with a decent grasp of written English could make a few euros minding other people's p's and q's.

But still, from the feedback I've been getting - most of it resembling Hank's reply (thank you, by the way) - it looks as though I don't have much of a shot.

-I don't know Finnish (although I plan on spending most of my free time learning, since it seems to be the most consistently important factor in gaining employment)
-I have no experience in proofreading/copyediting (although I write pretty good, me thinks!)
-I don't have a work permit (although I am marrying a Finn and gaining all of the immediate benefits that come along with her; e.g. residency)

So that's a lot of bad news, but also a lot of althoughs, meaning that I could conceivably work my way up to proofreading - but only after gaining extensive knowledge of Finnish which would take quite some time, and time is the issue here. The main reason I was testing the waters here on copyediting is that I'm looking for work as quickly as possible, and I thought I should aim a little higher than flipping Hessburgers while I have the chance.

Oh well. I thought it was a good idea at the time...

Until my next epiphany of opportunity. Best of luck!

by **Hank W.** » Mon Mar 27, 2006 10:39 pm

malongo wrote:-I don't know Finnish (although I plan on spending most of my free time learning, since it seems to be the most consistently important factor in gaining employment)

that *is* the key issue.

I have no experience in proofreading/copyediting (although I write pretty good, me thinks!)

Find 'stratovarius'
änt äsk mii ten vai ai tink hii niits tö löörn moor hau tu riid än rait ät skuul?

-I don't have a work permit (although I am marrying a Finn and gaining all of the immediate benefits that come along with her; e.g. residency)

Revelation time honeypooches. Finland has it all into one. You do not need a separate work permit, you have an A5 (IIRC) "resident permit" that enables you to work when you're abusing your spouse in that manner. The only time you need to apply for a "labour opinion" is if you come in on your own merits... but then again you get a "residence permit", and that means work, pay taxes, queue in ALKO..
think you're one of us,
just like a slob
like one of us,
and yeah, yeah,
you're one of us

by **clearwater** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 6:41 am

Malongo,

You do a little proof reading and a little translating. Not nearly enough to keep the wolf from the door, so you get a gig teaching rock-climbing or whatever your hobby is and sometimes work for an adventure company too. Guess what, all your rock-climbing gear is now tax deductible...As is some of your phone, electricity and rent bill. You have an occasional gig showing American tourists around the city. You call all the English language schools in town and end up working for Berlitz for a pittance, but its money and experience and you get to meet people. You start studying a trade, plumber, electrician, whatever, and in the meantime work two days a week delivering newspapers, and drive your mates truck/taxi on Saturdays. Pretty soon you qualify in your chosen field, and drop the more mind numbing jobs, but keep up the rock-climbing, and continue teaching English, but through your own company, cutting out the middle man. A year goes by and you have a thriving little business. It can be done...Only the names and jobs have been changed to protect the guilty.

When I arrived in Helsinki and needed work, I made the mistake of going to the pub looking for work. Someone was bound to have a mate who's brother-in-law needed a welder's mate or whose uncle Phil needed someone to drive his truck on weekends. Doesn't work like that here. You can either go to the Finnish Job Centre or get busy and create your own job/business.

Don't give up, and if you have to do some !"#¤% jobs just for the money, then you have to do them. It won't be forever.

by **tampereblue** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:32 am

malongo wrote:-I have no experience in proofreading/copyediting (although I write pretty good, me thinks!)

The main reason I was testing the waters here on copyediting is that I'm looking for work as quickly as possible, and I thought I should aim a little higher than flipping Hessburgers while I have the chance.

Well, to flip Hesburgers and proof read you'll need to spell Hesburger right first, otherwise you're losing on both counts :wink:

On your first point though, I did have some years experience in the field before I came here and this did help me get the freelance gigs with Finnish companies. I have not targeted big Finn Corps with massive international presence, eg Nokia - if they want something doing in English it is simply a click of a mouse to send it to London and get a native to do the work. There are, however, many Finn Corps who are internationally known for their products/services but don't have many offices abroad.

Best of luck, just don't start nicking my customers eh :wink:

by **albisatya** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:23 pm

I know this thread is old, but it may be worth adding that it's still possible to break into this space. It does take time until the calls start coming in, but there is definitely demand. Word of mouth is the best advertisement, I've found.

by **zetorpilot** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 2:24 pm

This thread brings back horrible memories. I'd rather shove wooden splinters under my fingernails than proof-read and correct finglish documents again. The absolute nadir was an MBA thesis that I had to translate from a meaningless Pollock-esque spatter of Finnish and English words into something more gramatically correct, without inadvertantly introducing any actual meaning into the text.

by **Rosamunda** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:34 pm

Know what you mean. It can be surreal.

I just spent two days proofreadinging phonetic spellings, in full-on IPA :shock:

Now, when I shut my eyes, I see schwas...

Boom! boom!

by **tampereblue** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 4:41 pm

How did this thread rear its ugly head after 7 years? Suddenly seeing a note in my inbox about a new post made me curious. As albisatya says though, it can happen and the demand is there - just be prepared to wade through a lot of crap before you even think about being able to pick and choose what to work on. I put in the time and worked on some god-awful material. And I'm still here after all this time, though thankfully am no longer proofreading manuals on sewage systems and mechanical meat production machinery.