Better Than A Purchase Order Or An Invoice Is A Statement Of Service For Professional Translators And Interpreters

Translators and Interpreters Statement of Service

As a professional freelance translator and/or interpreter you are free to set your own terms, conditions and payment policies.  

A Statement of Service (agreement or contract) is an easy way to establish, define your terms, conditions and to inform the client about your profession, ethics, standards, expectations, quality, limits, skills, and so much more.

Be sure to remember that before accepting any job and presenting your client with a contract, ask questions, examine all the job details and materials.

As the professional that you are, only accept work within your expertise which you can handle professionally and guarantee quality work.

First, you should clearly define the deadline for your client’s job.  Be sure to pad your deadline. However long you think the job will take you, add on extra time; ideally you should try in finishing early, but life always gets in the way and will slow you down.  

Your agreement can also serve as a way to let clients know your process.  You can clearly identify the different parts of your process along with estimated completion date. 

Here are a few terms that are commonly used in service contracts.  Some of your terms may include research, checkpoints, writing, final draft, due date, etc. 

• SERVICE DESCRIPTION

(Detailed description of services to client.)

• DISCOVERY

(Detailed description of material(s) that the client should provide you before work begins.)  

• DELIVERABLES & CHANGES OF SCOPE

(Description of what the service includes and not include.  A revision policy.  If any changes in scope of service, additions or changes not agreed upon before work begins, may require an adjustment to the timeline and additional fees.)

• DELIVERY

(Completion date) 

• SCHEDULE OF PAYMENT

(Description of a payment plan or advanced payment system)

• COMMUNICATION

(Description of client communication requirements to the professional and vise versa)

• TERMINATION

(Description of cancellation policy by client and by professional)

• PROFESSIONAL SERVICES DEFINED

(Description of methods, quality control procedures, etc.)

• TRANSLATION WARRANTY

(Description of warranty of service) 

• CODE OF ETHICS & CONFIDENTIALITY

(Description of code of ethics and confidential assurance) 

• ABOUT THE PROFESSIONAL

(Description about your background) 

• SERVICE FEE

• PAYMENT OPTIONS

These are just a few of the most common terms of a statement of service.

It’s important to define what your terms are, what will come out of your pocket and what will cost your client extra money. You can do this however you want, what is important is that you have one and that your client is clear on it.

However you decide to do it, getting everything in writing will save you and the client headaches later.

There’s nothing that will cause you more pain than not properly agreeing on terms right from the start. 

A statement of service (contract/agreement) will help you be crystal clear about your expectations of the client and what the client can expect of you every step of the way.

As always, thank you for reading and sharing my posts. Please if any of my blogs inspire you, give credit where credit is due.  Let's be fair, honest and professional. Let's help each other be great and stay great!

 Feel free to connect or email me, Carmen Arismendy.  I'm a professional Spanish interpreter-translator and founder of eLingual.Net.  I started the eLingual Network because I could not find a fair, no middleman, no job bidding, ethical, and transparent meeting place for translators, interpreters and clients online.  The website is in beta phase and by no means perfect but it's a step in the right direction.

eLingual.Net's mission is to spread happiness worldwide through happy translators, interpreters, and clients.

For the professional translator and interpreter, this means no middleman, no job bidding, the freedom of setting their own fees, having control over their services, and who they choose to work with.

For the clients, this means working directly with ethical and professional translators and interpreters committed to quality and value.

Join our happy community, let's work together!

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Updated 11.11.16