Pages in topic:   < [1 2 3] >
Rates for telephone interpreting
Thread poster: Giuseppina Gatta, MA (Hons)
Interpreter246
Interpreter246
Local time: 17:03
Yeah 25 sounds like a huge rip-off Jan 7, 2011

Thank you for you replies,

"I think the government is actually charged a flat rate and the ratio between scheduled interpreters on standby and some pay-per-minute interpreters is carefully managed by supervisors of the call centre itself."
Could you please explain the above statement in easier terms-sorry, I have never worked as a phone interpreter so not familiar at all with the procedure. If you are not too busy of course.
Apart from that I am not sure whether to be
... See more
Thank you for you replies,

"I think the government is actually charged a flat rate and the ratio between scheduled interpreters on standby and some pay-per-minute interpreters is carefully managed by supervisors of the call centre itself."
Could you please explain the above statement in easier terms-sorry, I have never worked as a phone interpreter so not familiar at all with the procedure. If you are not too busy of course.
Apart from that I am not sure whether to believe what this friend of mine was saying, 25 GBP a minute sounds a bit unrealistic, or maybe they apply this rate while locating and coordinating the interpreter to take the call.
Collapse


 
Interpreter246
Interpreter246
Local time: 17:03
Hi Atarget Jan 7, 2011

Hi,
I'm also a Polish interpreter. It would be very interesting to know what the industry and work volume for Polish interpreters in USA is.
Have you got the same issues with the agencies?
Regards,
Aleksandra.


 
atarget (X)
atarget (X)
Local time: 13:03
Polish to English
Aleksandra Jan 7, 2011

Interpreter246 wrote:

Hi,
I'm also a Polish interpreter. It would be very interesting to know what the industry and work volume for Polish interpreters in USA is.
Have you got the same issues with the agencies?
Regards,
Aleksandra.

There's plenty of work volume available for OPI with POL/ENG pair in the US. Language Line Services is in perpetual search for Polish interpreters. I believe they give priority to applicants willing to work as full time employees. If you prefer to be an independent contractor, there are many other agencies who will sign a contract with you. I personally used to work for LLS for few years. Currently I'm an IC with different agency and I specialize in medical OPI. Call volume fits my needs , they pay decent rate and they treat me fairly.
Cheers. Krzysztof

[Edited at 2011-01-07 20:57 GMT]

[Edited at 2011-01-07 20:57 GMT]


 
Interpreter246
Interpreter246
Local time: 17:03
Hey Krzysztof Jan 8, 2011

Thank you for your reply,

I think I will move to US in that case.

I've never worked as a telephone interpreter, just face-to-face. I just thought about it as it would suit me as I am waiting to be called for face-to-face jobs. I specialise in legal interpreting.

There seem to be lots of issues with the UK interpreting agencies, there is only few of them who pay interpreters decent rates as r
... See more
Thank you for your reply,

I think I will move to US in that case.

I've never worked as a telephone interpreter, just face-to-face. I just thought about it as it would suit me as I am waiting to be called for face-to-face jobs. I specialise in legal interpreting.

There seem to be lots of issues with the UK interpreting agencies, there is only few of them who pay interpreters decent rates as recommended by CPS. Every week I get "lucrative" assignments' offers from them eg. to attend a court assignment with 6 hour travel , with the travel payment of 15 GBP, apparently they can only pay 3 hours travel maximum, for some reason at the rate of 5 GBP an hour. Just to compare if the court called me directly they would pay 90 GBP for 6 hours' travel.
Th
Collapse


 
Interpreter246
Interpreter246
Local time: 17:03
Hey Krzysztof Jan 8, 2011

The problem is-they will find people ( qualified or just amateurs) to do this job for the money they are offering and obviously never use the ones who demand any decent pay. That is the problem with the industry here.
The agencies are charging up to 70% commission if you can believe that.


 
Parrot
Parrot  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 18:03
Spanish to English
+ ...
It simply means Jan 8, 2011

Interpreter246 wrote:

"I think the government is actually charged a flat rate and the ratio between scheduled interpreters on standby and some pay-per-minute interpreters is carefully managed by supervisors of the call centre itself."
Could you please explain the above statement in easier terms-sorry, I have never worked as a phone interpreter so not familiar at all with the procedure. If you are not too busy of course.


... there is a likelihood of the agency having won the/an overall contract through bidding. Such contracts are tendered on the basis of a flat per-unit-time rate, and may apply nationwide or to the region involved (this depends on government structure). Where the rate is reasonable and the agency is not so greedy, it poses no problem. But where they offer peanuts, there is a chance "interpreters" do not even have police clearance, as has already occurred here.

I have worked under these terms, sticking firm with my normal rate, which the agency respected (after all, under free trade we have that prerogative). The problem after awhile was, that I was evidently being called last-minute, after everybody else had turned down some specific job, so availability was always iffy. (This was for on-site interpreting). Then, the telephone system was introduced and they wanted to hook into my cell phone. I had to say no, as I cannot guarantee I will be 100% precise and accurate while simultaneously interpreting and, say, paying my bus fare or driving along the motorway -- which, on top of everything, is quite illegal (so I never had a chance to negotiate a phone rate).

The system leaves a lot to be desired.


 
Interpreter246
Interpreter246
Local time: 17:03
Thank you for the explanation Jan 8, 2011

I'm having very similar situation with on-site. I had decided to stick to half decent rate at the expense of work volume. I of course wouldn't like to undercut other interpreters or work for peanuts either. Like you I always get called last minute as the last instance after presumably calling people who would bring bigger agency profits.
But then we can't influence what other interpreters do.
I am curious what the situation in other countries is and if they have stronger regulati
... See more
I'm having very similar situation with on-site. I had decided to stick to half decent rate at the expense of work volume. I of course wouldn't like to undercut other interpreters or work for peanuts either. Like you I always get called last minute as the last instance after presumably calling people who would bring bigger agency profits.
But then we can't influence what other interpreters do.
I am curious what the situation in other countries is and if they have stronger regulations on this issue.

Regards,
Aleksandra.
Collapse


 
atarget (X)
atarget (X)
Local time: 13:03
Polish to English
Oh, well... Jan 8, 2011

Interpreter246 wrote:

The problem is-they will find people ( qualified or just amateurs) to do this job for the money they are offering and obviously never use the ones who demand any decent pay. That is the problem with the industry here.
The agencies are charging up to 70% commission if you can believe that.


I believe that agencies take 70% cut. One I contract with is not that bad then. I just figured they "only" take 43% cut. And they employ bunch of csrs, operators et.c. for almost nothing there is done automatically (e.g. over phone prompt system or via internet). So, their overhead is quite high. Possibly the folks who run the thing do it for fun not for money
As for unqualified ( = low paid) OPIs. Tell me about it.... 60% of my calls are about correcting what others screwed up or about "continuation" after previous interpreter ( who most likely simply hang up on a client). I still earn my dollar but very often I have to listen to clients complaining how incompetent other OPIs in my language pair are.
There's also an interesting regularity in schedules : the lowest coverage happens during summertime ( between say May and August - when universities have no classes), and the very lowest coverage occurs during the famous American Spring Break ( when college kids travel to some tropical places for drinking binges). All of it points at college students - often foreign ones with limited work privileges in the US as "professionally trained and experienced OPIs". Additionally, there's a bunch of folks who can only interpret during weekends or at night ( graveyard shift) because they have their full time day jobs. It makes me happy, though because , as a rule , I do not work weekends, nights or national holidays and my agency never even asked me to log in during those periods of time - because they always have good coverage for it, I assume.

[Edited at 2011-01-09 13:49 GMT]


 
atarget (X)
atarget (X)
Local time: 13:03
Polish to English
Aleksandra Jan 8, 2011

Interpreter246 wrote:

I'm having very similar situation with on-site. I had decided to stick to half decent rate at the expense of work volume. I of course wouldn't like to undercut other interpreters or work for peanuts either. Like you I always get called last minute as the last instance after presumably calling people who would bring bigger agency profits.
But then we can't influence what other interpreters do.
I am curious what the situation in other countries is and if they have stronger regulations on this issue.

Regards,
Aleksandra.


Because of globalization of profiteering ( or profiteers going global) things are similar all over the world. You simply need to optimize between rate you call for ( or "negotiate") and the volume of traffic agency is willing to direct to you. "Working for peanuts" certainly will get you continuous ( or almost continuous) ringing but in the end of the day you will realize that you start to hate what you do simply because you are stressed out and tired. Calling for extortionate rates will surely give you only few - if any - calls...
In my particular case there's an "annual income cap" . Me and wife should not make more, than $ 29,140 per annum ( gross) or else we will have to pay a lot for medical care.(You need to live in America for a while in order to fully understand...). Having our house "free & clear" definitely helps to maintain that kind of fiscal regimen and quite often I plainly need to "call the day" - especially during last months of fiscal year in order to "balance out" our budget.

[Edited at 2011-01-08 22:08 GMT]

[Edited at 2011-01-09 00:31 GMT]


 
Interpreter246
Interpreter246
Local time: 17:03
Thank you all for your replies Jan 13, 2011

Thank you very much all for your advice and thoughts.
Really helpful information - I will take this on board in dealing with agencies and negotiating my rates. I have decided to try telephone interpreting - on site alone unfortunately will not be enough to pay my bills at all. Im having a landline installed soon.
I realise I might be going slightly off topic here, the threads in the "telephone interpreting equipment"
... See more
Thank you very much all for your advice and thoughts.
Really helpful information - I will take this on board in dealing with agencies and negotiating my rates. I have decided to try telephone interpreting - on site alone unfortunately will not be enough to pay my bills at all. Im having a landline installed soon.
I realise I might be going slightly off topic here, the threads in the "telephone interpreting equipment" are a bit old but if anyone could advise me on what type of equipment I need to get for this work I would be super grateful.
Does it have to be corded phone, headsets, affordable brands, equipment that you guys use?
Thank you very much!
Aleksandra
Collapse


 
liz askew
liz askew  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 17:03
Member (2007)
French to English
+ ...
As a telephone interpreter in the UK Jan 14, 2011

Hello everyone!

Well, I very occasionally work for a large company as a telephone interpreter. I haven't done much work at all in the last couple of months as:

1. It is underpaid - about £12.80 per hour, so very poor indeed at 0.21p per minute!!! if my maths is correct. About 2 years ago it was about £14.00 per hour.

2. I have plenty of translation work to do and find it more rewarding from a financial and "intellectual" point of view as the work is m
... See more
Hello everyone!

Well, I very occasionally work for a large company as a telephone interpreter. I haven't done much work at all in the last couple of months as:

1. It is underpaid - about £12.80 per hour, so very poor indeed at 0.21p per minute!!! if my maths is correct. About 2 years ago it was about £14.00 per hour.

2. I have plenty of translation work to do and find it more rewarding from a financial and "intellectual" point of view as the work is much more varied and challenging and I learn much more doing translations.

3. After a couple of hours telephone interpreting I am brain-dead and tired and found it a hard way to earn money.

4. That being said, when I really need to earn some money I will probably do telephone interpreting again.

5. Telephone intepreters are very isolated and have very little power to change much at all regarding the rates we earn.

p.s.

I forgot to say that my language combinations French/Spanish into English are not at the top of the list re telephone interpreting, I can have a call for ten minutes, then wait 15 minutes, or longer, for another one! And remember that telephone interpreters only get paid for each minute they actually interpret on the phone. So you could be available for 2 hours, but only get 45 mins worth of calls! I tried ironing at the same time as waiting around...now I have more translation work I don't worry too much.

Liz Askew



[Edited at 2011-01-14 20:15 GMT]

[Edited at 2011-01-14 20:16 GMT]

[Edited at 2011-01-14 20:24 GMT]
Collapse


 
atarget (X)
atarget (X)
Local time: 13:03
Polish to English
Lives of OPIs in America Jan 14, 2011

liz askew wrote:



I forgot to say that my language combinations French/Spanish into English are not at the top of the list re telephone interpreting, I can have a call for ten minutes, then wait 15 minutes, or longer, for another one! And remember that telephone interpreters only get paid for each minute they actually interpret on the phone. So you could be available for 2 hours, but only get 45 mins worth of calls! I tried ironing at the same time as waiting around...now I have more translation work I don't worry too much.

Liz Askew



[Edited at 2011-01-14 20:15 GMT]

[Edited at 2011-01-14 20:16 GMT]

[Edited at 2011-01-14 20:24 GMT]


Hello, Liz

45 minutes worth of calls in 2 hour period gives you whooping 38% "occupancy rate".
I normally log in 8 hours a day ( 9 am - 5 pm) on weekdays and my average occupancy rate is 25%. I'm paid 60 cents ( US) per minute. It gives me monthly gross earnings of approx. $ 1,500, which in fact is more, than I need. My wife works as part time reference librarian in a public library so her earnings are "fixed" . None of us have any medical coverage: in the US "part timers" usually get none, and because I'm self-employed I would need to buy my coverage for cash, which we can not afford. There's no universal health coverage in USA fol all citizens like NHS in the UK and Americans usually rely on employers' handout benefits. Thing is that increasing number of employers are starting to 'restructure' their workforce pool by e.g. splitting one full time position into two part time positions. Two years ago, when that process was still is stage of blueprint number of uninsured Americans was about 42 million. It is growing now at exponential rate and various sources estimate it in range of 44 - 50 million. With US government taking inactive stance the situation may cause massive closings of privately operated hospitals and emergency rooms. There's some residual "charity care" available from doctors and hospitals for low income individuals. The thing is that those who qualify do not really care about maintaining good health. They are either illiterate "trailer" dwellers or substance addicts ( or both) so they're not "smart" enough to navigate the system (as they are even unable to 'navigate' their everyday lives). For family of two without dependents - just like myself and my wife - there's a cap of income above which no charity care is available. We can only make up to $ 29,140.00 per annum in order to qualify. That's why I wrote in the beginning that even $ 1,500 a month is too much for me

[Edited at 2011-01-14 23:39 GMT]


 
Parrot
Parrot  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 18:03
Spanish to English
+ ...
Reality check Jan 15, 2011

Liz is right that it makes no sense to spend the day attempting to be available for a brain-draining job like interpreting if it pays more per hour to translate. I calculate, for instance, that to make telephone interpreting competitive with translation, I should be charging 70 euro cents or 59 p. per minute. I don't know what UK agencies charge their government, but what the Spanish government pays for the services it put up for bidding was made public a few years ago -- some 75% of what it use... See more
Liz is right that it makes no sense to spend the day attempting to be available for a brain-draining job like interpreting if it pays more per hour to translate. I calculate, for instance, that to make telephone interpreting competitive with translation, I should be charging 70 euro cents or 59 p. per minute. I don't know what UK agencies charge their government, but what the Spanish government pays for the services it put up for bidding was made public a few years ago -- some 75% of what it used to pay when it was using its own pool of interpreters. Now, that was quite below what I was making as an interpreter, so when I decided to stick to my guns, I knew I was hitting the agency for more than what it was being paid, and that they'd consequently have to take it out from the profits they were making from the others. OR (I hoped) they'd revise their pricing policy later. Consider, for instance, that it takes some 10000 euro (on the cheap side) to get proper-quality interpreter training. They'd practically have to recruit off the streets (and it did seem like that at one point).

But business shot up too fast to keep up the crusade. After so many last-minute jobs, I had to quit.
Collapse


 
Interpreter246
Interpreter246
Local time: 17:03
Sorry to hear you had to quit Jan 18, 2011

I'm now beginning to understand better how this industry works. So basically agencies win contracts on the basis of the lowest quotes etc. Quality is of course not that important to them. There I was thinking that agencies actually charge clients more then if interpreters were contacted by a client directly. And obviously agencies have they own costs hence ridiculous interpreting rates. Just a paradox-interpreters complain of declined work volume and agencies are "urgently looking for interprete... See more
I'm now beginning to understand better how this industry works. So basically agencies win contracts on the basis of the lowest quotes etc. Quality is of course not that important to them. There I was thinking that agencies actually charge clients more then if interpreters were contacted by a client directly. And obviously agencies have they own costs hence ridiculous interpreting rates. Just a paradox-interpreters complain of declined work volume and agencies are "urgently looking for interpreters".
From time to time I try to sign up with agencies only to discover that not only they are "unable to pay travel time" but also "travel costs are included in the first hour rate". That's quite comical as many of these assignments are only one hour long, with applied one hour minimum payment.
Again sorry to hear about you having to quit interpreting but I completely understand the reasons.
Just looking for my next career move myself.
Collapse


 
Interpreter246
Interpreter246
Local time: 17:03
Phone line provider for interpreting Jan 18, 2011

I was wondering if anyone can advise me on the telephone providers contract for a landline. I am considering having a landline installed to try telephone interpreting. The provider I signed the contract promised the wrong install date, 4 weeks difference I shouldn't complain really.;).
My issue is -he claims I should not have signed up for a contract for private landline use for interpreting purposes but should have informed it's for business use. I disagree as I am not even sure I wil
... See more
I was wondering if anyone can advise me on the telephone providers contract for a landline. I am considering having a landline installed to try telephone interpreting. The provider I signed the contract promised the wrong install date, 4 weeks difference I shouldn't complain really.;).
My issue is -he claims I should not have signed up for a contract for private landline use for interpreting purposes but should have informed it's for business use. I disagree as I am not even sure I will be doing phone interpreting at all so in this case the landline would be for my private use.
What's more, I've read somewhere that sole proprietors like myself are treated as private users by phone companies.
Can anyone tell me if I have broken any law, which I never heard of to report that I might use my landline for work from home? Or is this phone company just bluffing trying to get out of his won obligations?
Has


S
Collapse


 
Pages in topic:   < [1 2 3] >


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Rates for telephone interpreting







Protemos translation business management system
Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!

The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.

More info »
Trados Studio 2022 Freelance
The leading translation software used by over 270,000 translators.

Designed with your feedback in mind, Trados Studio 2022 delivers an unrivalled, powerful desktop and cloud solution, empowering you to work in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

More info »