Working as a translator in Australia

Thanks for joining us on the blog and for taking some time to answer our questions.

As there’s not much information out there about being a translator in the Southern hemisphere, we thought of asking you some questions to better understand how life is down there and what working as freelance translator entails in Australia.

Let’s start!

Could you please give us a brief intro about yourself?

I’m Katie and I translate from Spanish and Portuguese into English. I completed my BA in Hispanic Studies from Nottingham University in 2014 and after a year of working as a Teaching Assistant, I decided to continue working with my languages by undertaking a Masters in Applied Translation Studies from the University of Leeds. I studied the course part-time over two years and worked alongside my studies and a lot of this work was supporting young people on the Autism Spectrum. I am continuing this work now as there is a high demand for it and I find it extremely rewarding. As I will explain later, I am now based in Melbourne, Australia and setting up as a freelance translator is not as easy as it may seem! I love sports and a lot of the translation work I have done has been directly related to sports, and I have also translated marketing and promotional materials.

Where are you based now?

I live in the South-Eastern suburbs of Melbourne (Dromana).

Why did you decide to move and make this life change?

I made this move because my partner is Australian and for visa reasons, it was easier for me to move to Australia than for him to move to the UK. Plus, post-Brexit, Australia seemed like a great option!

Did you need any sort of visa?

Yes, I needed a Working Holiday visa. Australia’s visa rules are constantly changing and they have a long list of “skilled occupations” for which they have a shortage of workers. The easiest way to get into Australia (if you’re intending to stay for a while) is to get a Skilled Migrant visa and for this, among other things, you need to possess one of the “skilled occupations”. The year I decided to move to Melbourne, they removed “Translator” from their list meaning that my only real option was to go on a Working Holiday Visa. This is a temporary visa and initially lasts for one year, however I have extended it by undertaking three months of farm-work, granting me a second year. After this, I will apply for a Partner Visa and this will give me Permanent Residency.

What are the most requested languages down under? Are they different from Europe, given that it is closer to other continents?

Yes,I’ve found that Indonesian is one of the more highly sought after languages along with Chinese. There is a large Chinese population in Australia and also trade agreements between the two countries.

Is your client base mainly Australian? Do you have any clients from Europe or the UK?

My client base is mainly European/UK-based because Australian companies require freelance translators to be NAATI accredited (see below).

If you have clients from Europe and UK do you find the different time zone to be a problem or an advantage? Would you like to share any other details on this?

The time zone issue does cause problems sometimes, mostly in terms of communication; it can seem as though you’re waiting a long time between emails as we tend to reply at different ends of the day. In terms of the actual work and time zones, it is fine so long as you are organised. For example, I worked on a project during the FIFA World Cup in Russia for a UK-based company. Wrapping my head around three different time zones was tricky but it is doable.

In case you have Australian clients, do they work in a different way from the UK? Do you need any sort of certification? (NAATI?) What’s required to do it?

Yes, to work in Australia you have to be NAATI accredited (National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters). It is a pretty complex system and there are numerous different pathways to obtain NAATI, and a number of different types of certification to get as well. If you have a MA in Translation or Interpreting, you can apply to be a Certified Advanced Translator. If you have graduated within three years of applying for accreditation, you have to sit two exams (one LOTE into English and the other English into LOTE). Each test has three tasks; two translations of 400-word texts from different domains, and one revision of 400-word text. Once you have NAATI, you have to re-test every three years and prove that you are undertaking 10,000 words+ per year professionally, and a certain amount of hours of CPD a year.

Are you planning on getting it?

I do not plan on getting it just yet as it costs a few thousand dollars and I am currently saving for a partner visa (approx. AUD 7000). I’m not yet in a financial position to embark fully on my translating career in Australia.

Given that the cost of living in Australia is slightly higher than in the UK, do you think this is reflected in the translation rates?

Although I do not know exactly the current rates in the Australian Dollar (my work has been in EUR or GBP), I would expect it to be slightly higher than in the UK due to the cost of living. Wages across all sectors and fields are higher than in the UK so I would expect the same for translation.

Finally, the question we ask all our interviewees – what is your favourite word/phrase in each of your languages and why?

One of my favourite Portuguese phrases is a quote from Saramago: “E como tudo na vida, dê tempo ao tempo e ele encarregar-se hà de resolver os problemas”. (And as with everything in life, give time to time and it will solve your problems for you). I like this quote because it reminds me to slow down and just let things happen – there’s only so much ground-work you can do and I think it’s hard in today’s fast-paced world to allow yourself to step back and do nothing.

Thanks a lot for sharing your experience on working in another continent; we really appreciate it!