TransTip: On Translating for Friends
You know that awkward moment when you’re torn between charging a fair rate for a very difficult translation job or not charging at all because the client happens to be a friend of yours and you’re doing them a favor? Yes, I think we’ve all been there at one point.
One thing to keep in mind is this: BUSINESS IS BUSINESS. Either charge a fair rate, or politely say no. You can also refer a colleague if you don’t want to deal with such a situation.
Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? How did you handle it? Do you have other tips in this regard? Please share them with us in the comments below!
Enrique Woll Battistini
I have been faced with this quandary in the past and very recently, and in the first case I did give my client-friend a very attractive rate, and a subsequent lower rate for the tail end of the job; collecting nearly cost us our friendship. In the latest case with the same person, I offered an extremely low rate, in the face of an unacceptable compensation offer over time, but was ignored, with a deaf insistence on that I do the work, so I just disconnected from the job.