If you are fluent in English and at least one other language, and have experience with translating, we may have work for you. Here is some information to help you decide if Speechpad is right for you.

What Does the Job Entail?

You’ll need to listen to audio files or watch videos, and translate whatever is spoken into another language. So, you’ll essentially be doing transcription and translation all in one pass.

If you’re used to translating documents, this work might be a bit more challenging, since you might have to contend with poor quality audio, local dialects and accents, distracting background noise, or multiple speakers talking over each other. These things make it more difficult to understand what’s being said. You may have to replay a section of the audio several times before you understand exactly what was said. This requires patience and persistence.

If you are an interpreter, you’ll find that this work presents a different type of challenge. Since interpretation happens live, the standards for exact translation are generally more forgiving. With Speechpad’s jobs of translating prerecorded audio, you’re expected to take a little more time to get the translation as a written translation would be.

You’ll need to research certain words or phrases on the web to make sure you understand exactly what is being said, and get the spellings and presentation correct in the target language. This part of the job might seem tedious to people who are not used to written translation.

On the other hand, translation work can be very rewarding. It is lucrative work that still affords you the flexibility to work whenever you want, wherever you want, and as much or as little as you want.

What Skills and Experience Do I Need?

You must be fluent in both the source and target languages. In other words, you need to understand, speak, read, and write in both the source and target languages at the level of an educated native speaker. However, fluency alone is not sufficient for translation. You’ll also need formal training, certification, and plenty of experience in written or oral translation.

You’ll need to be fluent in English as well as one or more of the following languages: Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, or Welsh.

In addition:

• You should be generally knowledgeable in the subject areas you will translate, and/or comfortable doing the necessary research.
• You should be familiar with the cultures of both the source and target languages.
• You must be able to articulate complex thoughts and concepts in both languages.
• You need solid grammar and punctuation skills in both languages.
• You should be conversationally competent with diverse dialects, vernaculars, figures of speech, and jargon.
• You should have a typing speed of at least 40 words per minute, with 100% accuracy.
• You should have a quiet environment to work with no distractions.

Do I Need Any Special Equipment or Software?

You only need a computer, internet connection, and headphones. If you are using a Windows-based computer, we suggest getting a foot pedal. We recommend the Infiniti Foot Control – IN-USB-2. The Infiniti Foot Control – IN-USB-1 and the Start-Stop® UNIVERSAL Transcription System will both work as well. Once you have the foot pedal, you can download Speechpad’s Foot Control software to allow you to use the foot pedal with our transcription and captioning consoles.

While all of the translation jobs can be completed inside of our transcription console, you are free to use your own tools, such as Express Scribe and computer-assisted translation tools.

Please keep in mind your use of any tools must comply with Speechpad’s Worker Confidentiality Agreement. For example, you are not allowed to use any online tools other than our worker website. None of the tools you use should require or even allow media or text to be uploaded to a third party website. Any local copies of customer media and/or your work product must be completely erased from your computer after you submit the work.