The ATA Chronicle - May/June 2021 - 29

BUSINESS PRACTICES

By Nikki Graham

find difficult, you can ask a
legal translator to do it for
you instead of struggling
yourself.
Sharing work with another
translator also means you
can produce a higher volume.
Instead of refusing a large
project, you can split it with
one or more trusted partners.
Dividing a translation
can also help you meet
tight deadlines when it's
impossible to negotiate extra
time. If you work as a team,
you can complete the entire
project (i.e., translation,
editing, and proofreading)
instead of focusing on just
one phase.
Now let's think about
some of the disadvantages.

Cons

Teamwork:

Although deadlines are
meant to be sacred in our

The Pros and Cons of Being a
Lone Wolf or a Pack Animal

business, you might come
across some timing issues
if you work in a team. Some
colleagues are not team
players and don't do what

From the outside looking in, most translators probably seem like lone

they've agreed. Instead, they

wolves, happily working at their desks all day with hardly any social

let you down by sending you
their work at the last minute

contact. In fact, many freelancers highlight being their own boss and
making all the decisions as one of the main reasons they pursued a selfemployed career.

or late. Waiting for others
to complete their part could
have an impact on when you
complete the next phase in a

B

project and ultimately delay
ut the reality can be
quite different, even
if you don't work in

an agency's office. That's
because translators are
increasingly realizing the
benefits of working together
on projects and sharing

their knowledge.
In a Group Translation

delivery to the client.

teamwork and how and when

might have slipped through

we can work better together.

despite your checks, but they

And while having a

also make suggestions to

sparring partner to bounce

some of the advantages.

turn a good translation into

ideas off is an advantage,

a great one. And a polished

differences of opinion on

Pros

final text of printable quality

methods and terminology

First, it's great to have a

will keep clients coming back

can quickly spoil a

for more.

relationship. A colleague

Let's start by highlighting

sparring partner you can
have discussions and even

You can also combine your

can look like a great choice

expertise with specialized

on paper, but if how they

colleagues. For example,

approach the work doesn't

Chats (GTC)1 session on

disagreements with as this

Zoom in January, hosted

helps clarify your ideas. In a

if your technical project

suit you, teaming up will

by Ellen Singer, we talked

revision relationship, revisers

contains a few paragraphs

not be satisfactory. For

about the pros and cons of

not only spot errors that

or pages of legal content you

example, they could use

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