The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2022 - 33

ENTREPRENEURIAL LINGUIST By Judy Jenner
Creating Interpreting Price
Quotes for the New Normal
There's no doubt that 2021 was a difficult year-a difficult almost two
years, actually. Every profession has been affected by the pandemic
in a significant way, and interpreting is no exception. We're lucky, in
a way, that technology has allowed us to continue our work as legal,
conference, court, and community interpreters. I say lucky because I'm
painfully aware that many other professions were not in the relatively
privileged position to shift work online and simply disappeared or
were decimated. So, while technology isn't always what we want
it to be, it certainly has been a lifesaver for interpreters as courts,
conferences, and everything in between shut down for in-person
events and moved online.
he transition was
relatively easy for some
and more challenging
for others, mostly depending
on technology skills and
perhaps interest and age. It
made me very happy to once
again see our worldwide
community of interpreters
T
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come together to teach each
other about new technologies
and share tips and tricks.
In fact, I learned most of
what I know about remote
simultaneous interpreting
on Zoom from my colleagues
Ernest Niño-Murcia, Aimee
Benavides, and Tamber Hilton
of TEA Solutions, with whom
I did a group training session
early on in the pandemic.
Now that our interpreting
work is-and might
continue to be-online, we
need to take a look at the
fee structure agreements,
or price quotes, or contracts
for services (there are many
terms that are used) that
we issue to potential clients
to make sure we account
for this new work situation.
As a profession, we don't
have all the answers yet, but
we're learning along the way
and sharing tips and best
practices, which I'm happy
to do here. In October 2021,
I had the pleasure of giving
a session about this very
topic at ATA's 62nd Annual
Conference in Minneapolis,
and we had plenty of
colleagues in attendance
both in person and online.
This column is based on that
session and I hope you find
it helpful.
Why Do You Need
a Price Quote in the
First Place?
First things first. I'm not
a lawyer, even though I'm
married to one, so none of
what follows is legal advice.
Now that I've got this out of
the way, let's go back to why
price quotes are so important,
especially for new clients.
Simply put, in my 20 years
in the profession, I would
anecdotally say that the
most frequent complaint I've
heard from colleagues is that
a client hasn't paid them,
which is both disappointing
and infuriating. When I ask
whether they had this client
sign a price quote (which
becomes a contract once
American Translators Association 33
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The ATA Chronicle - January/February 2022

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