Blogging Translator

One giant leap….

When I tell colleagues and friends that I am leaving my ’safe’ staff translation job the first thing they ask me is always “So what are you going to do?”. When I tell them that actually, I will be becoming a self-employed translator, a (whisper it) freelancer, I am invariably greeted with a mixture of confusion, wry amusement, panic and horror. I get the impression that for many people their definition of the term ‘freelance’ is ‘housewife’, so over the past few months I have come to vary my choice of words; generally ’setting up my own translation business’ gets a better reaction.

Fortunately, I have a very supportive husband who understands (either that or he’s terrified to disagree!) that there are just some careers that lend themselves to freelance working and is keen for me to make the transition from the open-plan office to home office. So, I was very amused to read this article by Mary Beth Ellis over at freelanceswitch.com called Mixed Marriages: When One Spouse Goes Freelance. The author discusses aspects of how her freelance career is perceived by others and how she has learned to get over the ‘guilt’ of being fortunate enough to escape the rat race for home-based working.