Guide on setting up your own business as a translator and/or interpreter
(available in German language only)
- What does self-employment entail?
- What do I need to register or apply for, when and where?
- Who can help me and where can I get reliable information?
Anyone wishing to set up a business as a self-employed interpreter and/or translator has hundreds of questions. At university or in professional life, you learn about the everyday “tools of your trade” but not about the details of managing your working life as a self-employed professional. This book offers information, to newcomers and to “old hands” alike, on all those aspects of professional activity as an interpreter or translator that are not directly related to one’s particular area of specialisation. Based on the questions and answers that were compiled by the ADÜ Nord’s Working Group for Newcomers, this book uses a readily accessible format to summarise all the necessary aspects on the following subject areas:
- Marketing
- Bookkeeping and taxes
- Office management and technical equipment
- Projection of costs for equipping your office
- Translation memory systems
- Pricing
- Legal basis
- Networking and specialisation
- Insurance cover
- Conference interpreting
- Becoming a sworn translator or interpreter
This is supplemented by reports on experience gained by translators and interpreters already practising their respective profession as well as by information about standards, fees, Internet research, opportunities for state funding, professional associations and much more besides. The current, second edition has been expanded and completely updated – it is an absolute must for new entrants to the profession.
”When I was straight out of college as a graduate of the Specialist Communication course at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, playing with the idea of setting myself up in self-employment, a thousand questions were going through my head. Fortunately, at an early stage I became aware of ‘Green Light’, a publication ‘hot off the press’ at that time. It was my first investment as a self-employed professional and one of the most important – it was also, as the section on Bookkeeping and Taxes made clear to me, the first investment that I was able to offset as a professional expense!” (Lea Bodora)
