Hmm… this is becoming like monthly blog.
When things happen, they happen. Since I got the current job, including the period when I worked as a temporary contractor, I often get email and phone calls about jobs. All of them are, unfortunately, translation or Japanese-related jobs. It usually happens only once in a while, but in last couple of weeks, it happened more than a few times. It is rare. I declined full-time (40h per week temporary) jobs because the current job is not good but better than translation. The other few ware freelance translation jobs, and I accepted only one. What’s the criteria?? Trust.
One was directly from a client who I worked for when I was a freelance translator. When a freelancer and a client negotiate, one of the first things to talk about is price. That’s the rule. But he did not. I had a bad feeling, and told him how much I would charge. Then he did not reply. I’m almost sure that he expected me to do it for free. Another one was from a translation agency who has never given me a job. When I was a freelancer, I even missed chances to get translation jobs because of them because they often said they would ask me to translate a big amount of text, so I declined other offers, but they actually did not. I know their strategy; they always contact multiple freelancers for one translation job, and only hire one translator. The others are “spares”. It’s cruel. But sadly, most translation agencies do their business in this way. Can I trust them? No way! Some of them honestly tell that they contact several freelancers, but there is no trust anyway.
The other one was a Japanese translation agency, and they are exceptionally trustworthy. Unlike others, they ask my availability beforehand and wait for my reply. I accepted the offer, and submitted the translation in time a few days ago. I even wonder what is their strategy. They are not as “smart” as the cruel ones. But they may sustain their business by maintaining good relationship with freelance translators. In the long term, it could be even smarter way of doing business than the cruel ones.
As I repeatedly wrote, life is uncontrollable. In the future, I may need to choose a strategy to survive. I hope I will choose a sound one then.