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From Middle Manager To Freelancer
Free at Last!! 　Where's the paycheck???

By John ZIMET

Starting all over
Salaryman Background
Salaryman-as-Translator /Interpreter Background
Prehistory
Challenges
Advantages: the other side of challenges
Lessons learned, relearned, forgotten, revised
Client management

Starting all over

1999: During a business trip from England, the head of personnel in the Wakayama company I worked for called me in to his office and using his very politest Japanese gave me two months' notice.

So, what does a 52-year old ex-manager, salaryman for over 18 years, do for a living? Why not translate freelance?

Salaryman Background

My job was to cover Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, and Israel, later North America and Europe. I taught engineers, negotiated with agents, installed machines, trained customers, sold machines. After four years in Japan I went to the UK to set up a subsidiary and prepare it for a Japanese person to move in, then after a few years hand it over and return to Japan. Five years later the Japanese came, but I decided to stay in the UK.

My job focus shifted to computer graphics systems and I was managing all of Europe (pronounced sales, service, training, translating, interpreting). Then we were sued by an English company for patent infringement and I was responsible for the case. The company let me stay on condition that the Japanese be Managing Director and I the Director in charge of CG. Perfect.

A few years later the company again ordered me to return to Japan, but I managed to stay. The patent case was settled out of court. The company, which had 500 employees when I joined, had gone to 1500 and post-bubble dropped to fewer than 1000. Someone realized there was only one gaijin on the books, one who refused the personnel director's written order to return to the home office. That's when the personnel director gave me my two months' notice.

Salaryman-as-Translator/Interpreter Background

It's translating, but not as we know it. For over 18 years I did countless translations and interpreted extensively. Most of the manuals and documents I translated were about computers or machines that I already knew inside out. And I knew the audience—my customers. Many of the documents were replies to questions from customers, and I was the author of the original questions. Interpreting was much the same. I not only knew the subject, I intimately knew the people on both sides of the table.

Prehistory

I first came to Japan in the mid 70s and taught English in 浜松 for two years. Then a friend who happened to be the export manager of a company in Wakayama introduced me to the President. The company was just beginning to export a new computerized machine and they needed a lot of help—almost no one spoke English. One day my friend told the President all sorts of great things about me, mentioning an elusive IBM connection. The great man turned to me and said: 'Ah, IBM'. To which I replied, 'Ah, IBM'. And I got the job.

From even before work began I was interpreting. The R&D director was in the process of making a computer graphics work station and bought in a graphics unit from the US. I was the interpreter. Later I translated manuals and interpreted for whoever needed it, even traveling around the world with the President.

Challenges

• Technology.
  I had a laptop computer, but after a year of that I bought a real computer and have never looked back. I still use the laptop when necessary, like on this trip.
• Finding agencies and direct customers, then working with them.
  This was nothing new since it was my previous job, but there was one large difference. In my salaryman life, when I mentioned the name of the company agencies around the world would react much the same as the crowds in 水戸黄門. To a new translator responses were slightly less reverent. Work did come in very slowly to begin with.
• Finding the right answer.
  Not having the luxury of always translating within a very narrow specialty I do get stuck. Unlike my in-house days it is impossible to walk across the room and try out the machine or ask the person who wrote the program. Thanks to the Internet it is possible to get answers but they are not as immediate. Also-and for me this is very important—the Internet is not a human being. I enjoy talking to people. We all know that mailing lists are a poor substitute for face-to-face meetings.
• Working at home requires more discipline than working in an office.
  Especially with a baby in the house. Of course there is also the blessing of working at home, but it does impinge on productivity. I know of one translator who increased output by 30% by moving to an office.
• No paycheck!!!
  You have slack days and very busy days in a company, but the paycheck is always there. Freelance, it is what you make over the year that is important; I understand this, but often still don't feel it.
• Taxes, etc.
  In the company, thanks to some dedicated secretaries all the paperwork would appear like magic, and they even calculated my tax. Now the invoicing, customer tracking, tax calculation is done by me. I finally gave in and got a professional to do the taxes for me.
• No influence.
  In my prior existence I not only interpreted but also gave a lot of advice to both sides. This doesn't happen so much any more (at least when translating. This is why I enjoy interpreting). I miss being part of the discussion.

Advantages: the other side of all the challenges

• Starting all over.
  Everything changes. A new life begins.
• Finding agencies and direct customers and then working with them.
  Although they were my contacts when I worked in the company, this time they are 100% my contacts. I can deal with them exactly as I like and not according to a company policy (other than my own).
• Immediacy, intimacy
  Hmmm. Better not go there.
• Working at home requires more discipline than working in an office.
  It allows for much more flexible working hours. There is a sense of extended family in a company that cannot really be matched by mailing lists. More time with the personal family. Time to develop relationships. No more travelling 4 to 6 months a year. Except that is for 2 years of 単身赴任。
• No paycheck!!!
  When money really does come in, thereﾕs a feeling of accomplishment.
• No influence.
  My better customers ask for advice on and increasingly wide range of subjects. Interestingly enough, a significant proportion of the people who ask advice are the same ones who used to criticise my work.

Lessons I have learned, relearned, forgotten, revised

• How to translate
  I hope I am getting better. I am certainly getting faster. I have to pace myself. Before, I would set the deadline. If important meetings came up I had complete freedom to shift it. Not so any more.
• How to interpret
  I certainly had to practise restraint to begin with. Now I tend to butt in less.
• Talking with customers is important.
  Some have suggested that we all make the rounds and pick up customers. Although this can bear fruit, especially if your customers are small businesses, I find mail, email and telephone extremely useful, especially when clients are scattered over a wide area. It is critical to be approachable. All clients have a choice of who to hire and they do not always select on mathematical principle. If it is a choice between two translators who are similar in everything else, the call will go to the one the customer feels more at home with.
• Everyone can improve.
  All translators should be putting in constant effort to improve source and target language skills. Written target language skills are critical. (I know a translator in England who is reputed to be an excellent Japanese/English chemical patent translator. He cannot speak Japanese. He does however have a doctorate in chemistry and was a research chemist for many years.)
• Source Life
  Those living in the source language country do have an advantage when it comes to honing source skills, but have a real disadvantage (even with satellite TV, internet, etc) when it comes to target language skills.
• Target Life
  The same can be said for those who live in the country of their target language. Target language skills are easier to come by but source skills are not. Regardless of where you are living you must put in a concerted effort to improve source and target skills. As my junior high school teacher told me when she caught me sleeping with my head on the book in class: learning does not come by osmosis (浸透).

Client Management

Are translators or interpreters important? Should they be represented?

Last week at a Tokyo JAT meeting many complained that translators and interpreters were not given the respect they deserved. People wanted some formal method of improving their status. Organizations may be able to help but I feel very strongly that it is up to the individual translator to assert him/herself . To demonstrate to the client that respect is deserved. Establish yourself as the language expert. Show by your demeanour that you are an expert. If challenged, reply sympathetically, but affirmatively. Respect is a two-way street. If you are going to demand it you must give it too. The only problems I have had in this area were from Japanese agencies that had "English experts" (all of whom were Japanese) that questioned certain nuances. I always responded in a way that showed that I appreciated their views and then stated why I had chosen my translation. This approach takes time, but I am after long-term relationships. In most cases these people have subsequently asked me for advice on other people's translations.

Be prepared to walk away. I have had a few occasions, especially dealing with Japanese agencies, when poor quality copy was presented, a deadline I could not meet was demanded, a glossary I couldn't agree with was imposed. The agency was almost always adamant that these were engraved in stone. It is amazing how many times all problems disappear (digital text mysteriously appears, glossaries turn out to be mere suggestions, etc) when you politely refuse the work saying you would love to do it but... This is not so easy with a first-time client.

Customers are not always right and are not God, but they do pay the bills.

Form a good working relationship; give them your best; make sure they know you are giving them your best; make sure they know you appreciate them and their business.

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