The Entrepreneurial Linguist: The Business-School Approach to Freelance Translation

I’m considering going into freelance translation after several years away from the language. This book has helped give me confidence that this is an achievable goal, and that in spite of my weakness in the area of business management, by just getting a few practical things in place, I can avoid being scammed and make decent money.I think this book is great for anyone offering a service in their business, whether it’s editing, translation, custom artwork, or similar things that require one to negotiate and find new clients. There are many relevant things that cross professions here. Thanks, Judy and Dagmar, for being generous in sharing your experience!

As someone who recently started out in the translation business, I had a million questions: how will I market myself as a translator, how should I set my rates, how will I get new clients...This book answered many of my questions in a time of uncertainty and made this new career option seem attainable to me. The book is written by Judy and Dagmar Jenner, twins who are experienced translators with a background in business. It is not a book on translation theory, rather it will guide readers into running a successful business, and as the authors point out translators are businesses!I found the tips and advice in the book to be very useful and will recommend this book to anyone starting a new business (not just linguists). I liked the layout and found it very easy to read.

The authors loosely interchange the terms linguist and translator--as someone with a doctorate in linguistics, I simply feel embarrassed for these authors; linguistics is the science of language, and whereas a real linguist has a knowledge base from which to launch into a career as a translator, a translator by education or design has no knowledge base by which to consider herself a linguist. I don't feel I need someone to lecture me about my exercise regimen in a book about starting a business either. Also, is it necessary to explain what facebook is in such detail in 2010 (year of publication)? I feel the authors should have begun this book with a statement such as, "While there are many approaches to starting and maintaining a translation business, we would like to share our approach"; in the absence of such a qualifying statement, the perspective seems one-dimensional. In many ways I regret I read this book, because I think that much of the advice is bad. If they had published a booklet on marketing for about 7 dollars, they probably would have more happy readers, but at $25, I feel like I was ripped off.

Judy and Dagmar's book offers a plethora of advice for new and experienced translators and/or interpreters who want to hone their entrepreneurial skills. Finding helpful information on how to run a translation/interpreting business in such a competitive, constantly evolving field is very difficult, but the Jenners put together the answers to many aspects of real-life situations a freelance linguist may encounter. It includes a lot of details on marketing, social media, customer service, and business management that many times can only be learned through trial and error (very few translation and interpreting curricula include courses on these topics). I would recommend this book to those interested in venturing into the T&I field.

Very down to earth, very easy to read and a gold mine for practitioners who want to know more about business skills, marketing and finding direct clients. Based on real life, on "learning by doing". As T&I practitioners, we usually are not trained as business persons and becoming one will require a lot of personal hard work: 'The Entrepreneurial Linguist' provides heaps of pragmatic information and guidance, then it is up to us to take it one step further for ourselves. Discover also the authors' blog "Translation Times".

I recently started my translation/interpretation business and this book was extremely helpful. Very detailed and made points I never would have thought of, or would have taken years to discover on my own. I now have a more concrete set of plans and I don't feel so lost. Highly recommended!

Exactly what I was looking for. I already knew some things (especially the ones about social media and other software tools.) But there's very good insight from the twin sisters who have been in business for many years. Great book for anybody who is just starting in the translation industry and wants to become a freelancer or most especially a business owner.

The book generally is ok and introduces fundamental business concepts. However, I did not find the insights I was hoping for in the web2.0 section. I believe web 2.0 can do more than passive blogging. I am hoping one day translators can work and interact with the team and the clients in some interactive ways, both realtime and offline.

This is an easy to read, clear introduction to becoming a profitable freelance translator. The structure of the book is well set out and easy to follow and it is the ideal read for someone considering a career in freelance translation. It is more an overview than and in depth guide but is a great starting point to help identify areas you want to focus on.I'm definitely glad to have purchased this book and it answered a lot of the initial questions I had about starting my own translation business.

Fantastic, no-nonsense content is inspiring and uplifting. Discusses many of the pros and cons and has given me new energy to refocus my business and make adjustments to improve my work-life balance and productivity. Bullet-points, table of contents and layout in general makes it easy to dip into, to get straight to what you are looking for. I've recommended to many students considering freelance translation.

excellent book, definitely useful for whoever works in the trade. It would be nice to have more information for those who want to work for agencies as well but overall it is excellent.

I bought this book having decided to go freelance after working as an in-house translator for a few years. While I was already familiar with some of the topics discussed, what I found particularly useful were the sections on networking and setting up a website. I might have ended up spending lots of money on a website unnecessarily if I hadn't consulted this book.

This book has a very practical approach in what concerns the linguistic business. As a translator is very important to have a clear perspective on how the market works, and we usually don't find alot of information on it. I found this book a very good tool to improve my skills in this business.