Poll: Are freelance translators also entrepreneurs?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Dec 26, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Are freelance translators also entrepreneurs?".

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Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:41
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Yes Dec 26, 2017

Of course they are running their own business.

Merry Christmas...if the 26th is still a holiday in your country.


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 12:41
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Thanks, Thayenga Dec 26, 2017

Thayenga wrote:

Of course they are running their own business.

Merry Christmas...if the 26th is still a holiday in your country.


... but there's no boxing day in Portugal!


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 12:41
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes, but I don't like the word Dec 26, 2017

I don’t know why but “entrepreneur” reminds me of those snobbish men’s-only clubs.

 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 13:41
Spanish to English
+ ...
Yes, but I don't like the word... Dec 26, 2017

Nor do I think of myself as "running a business".
I'm a person. I work. Nuff said.


 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 13:41
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
Not necessarily Dec 26, 2017

but I felt like that when I first started out

 
Justin Peterson
Justin Peterson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 13:41
Member (2007)
Spanish to English
Self-employed, yes Dec 26, 2017

Self-employed, yes. Entrepreneur? Theoretically. But to me the word suggests the foundation of a business that involves some type of innovation ... but perhaps that's because I'm from California.

[Edited at 2017-12-26 15:57 GMT]


 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:41
English to Spanish
+ ...
Time to retire the word and its ilk Dec 26, 2017

Happy holidays!

Now, to the business at hand: I am not an entrepreneur nor a freelance translator. I am a professional and independent translator who works full-time or part-time, depending on the week or the month.

Among the ugliest aspects of English is its penchant for creating the stupidest portmanteaus. The word “entrepreneur” is just an imported word, but “mompreneur” and “solopreneur”? Gimme a break, s'il vous plaît !


 
Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:41
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Or in Germany Dec 26, 2017

Teresa Borges wrote:

Thayenga wrote:

Of course they are running their own business.

Merry Christmas...if the 26th is still a holiday in your country.


... but there's no boxing day in Portugal!


I believe that the boxing day is a local custom/holiday only in England. Here in Germany it's a regular second day of Christmas holiday.


 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 13:41
Member (2006)
German to English
Cough Cough! Dec 26, 2017

Thayenga wrote:

Teresa Borges wrote:

Thayenga wrote:

Of course they are running their own business.

Merry Christmas...if the 26th is still a holiday in your country.


... but there's no boxing day in Portugal!


I believe that the boxing day is a local custom/holiday only in England. Here in Germany it's a regular second day of Christmas holiday.


England?

Great Britain or the United Kingdom - Oh the Germans☺


 
Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canada
Local time: 06:41
Dutch to English
+ ...
No Dec 26, 2017

Not unless they run an agency and/or have paid employees. Are doctors entrepreneurs? Lawyers? I don't think so. We are professionals offering a service, that's all.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 12:41
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Call it what you want... Dec 26, 2017

Thayenga wrote:

Teresa Borges wrote:

Thayenga wrote:

Of course they are running their own business.

Merry Christmas...if the 26th is still a holiday in your country.


... but there's no boxing day in Portugal!


I believe that the boxing day is a local custom/holiday only in England. Here in Germany it's a regular second day of Christmas holiday.


Call it what you want - Boxing Day, Wren's Day, Zweite Feiertag, St. Stephen’s Day, le Jour de Saint Étienne, Día de San Esteban or whatever – what I meant to say was that in Portugal it’s not a holiday, it’s a regular day of work…


 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 08:41
English to Spanish
+ ...
O Canada Dec 27, 2017

Thayenga wrote:

Teresa Borges wrote:

Thayenga wrote:

Of course they are running their own business.

Merry Christmas...if the 26th is still a holiday in your country.


... but there's no boxing day in Portugal!


I believe that the boxing day is a local custom/holiday only in England. Here in Germany it's a regular second day of Christmas holiday.


Canada celebrates Boxing Day. I promise I won't tell them.



 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 13:41
French to English
portmanteaux Dec 27, 2017

Mario Chavez wrote:

Among the ugliest aspects of English is its penchant for creating the stupidest portmanteaus. The word “entrepreneur” is just an imported word, but “mompreneur” and “solopreneur”? Gimme a break, s'il vous plaît !


I would say that this is a cause to celebrate. English is a living, nay thriving language, changing along with society.

I prefer to define myself as a freelance translator personally. The business side is the most boring side of it and I don't think entrepreneurial is an adjective that fits me.


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 09:41
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Not at all Dec 27, 2017

I know many freelancers believe they are entrepreneurs. But that's simply because they have never been entrepreneurs before.
I had my own partnership for 11 years, a beverage distributor for a large brewery, with exclusive distribution for 11 municipalities. We were three partners, each taking care of one branch in one town.
Believe me, the work we develop as freelancers is very, very far from an enterprise. Having a formal legal entity (company) is only 1% of being an entrepreneur
... See more
I know many freelancers believe they are entrepreneurs. But that's simply because they have never been entrepreneurs before.
I had my own partnership for 11 years, a beverage distributor for a large brewery, with exclusive distribution for 11 municipalities. We were three partners, each taking care of one branch in one town.
Believe me, the work we develop as freelancers is very, very far from an enterprise. Having a formal legal entity (company) is only 1% of being an entrepreneur.
I have never met a freelancer who could call themselves and entrepreneur, and very few translation agency owners would be entitled to that category also.
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Poll: Are freelance translators also entrepreneurs?






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