Charlie Bavington - C Bavington Ltd

French to English Translation Services

Meeting translation needs since 2003

Musings, ramblings, and thoughts on this and that

Never knowingly short of an opinion, and rarely unwilling to express it, I am now the proud owner of a blog

I should add I feel no obligation on my part, whether self-imposed or forced upon me by an adoring public, to make anything like regular contributions, which I believe is the norm with conventional blogs. I sometimes go for entire calendar months with narry an original opinion, thought or observation so much as waiting in the wings to flit across my befuddled mind.

Meanwhile, often finding myself repeating the same or similar remarks fairly regularly, I have decided to keep those opinions all in one place. Here, in fact. Some of these articles (which makes them sound rather grand but I call them that merely for want of a better word) are of considerable length, longer than yer average blog posting.

You can berate me for being a mutton-headed buffoon or shower me with fullsome praise for some pearl of wisdom here, or direct at cbavington at gmail dot com. Or indeed someplace on the blog - over the course of time, blog posts will link to the articles (and thence vice versa, allowing you to loop endlessly, like some of my programs used to).

Articles Contents

1. The Business and my views thereupon. Primarily gathered here for ease of reference when comment is required, or seems to be.

Prices and rates

My first ever effort, on who sets translation prices (Dec. 2008, overhauled Mar. 2010), specifically why agencies often feel they are in a position to decide the price, and what to do about it. Now linked to from this blog post (Nov. 2010) where you can leave comments.

Some thoughts about the prices beginners charge (Feb. 2009), and why they shouldn't intrinsically be lower than the "going rate" (vague though that notion is). This article is now replicated in this blog post (Jun 2011) where you can leave comments.

More stuff on filthy lucre and my approach to acquiring same (Oct. 2009), being mainly about varying the rate-per-word for different jobs.

Is it a good idea to drop prices? (June 2009). While inspired, if that is the word, by the economic downturn, this is a 5,000 word epic about the translation economy, looking specifically at demand for translation and prices. Now linked to from this blog post (Jan 2012) where you can leave comments.

Other business issues

Firstly, some short points on the background in which freelancers operate (May 2009), and how much I dislike comparisons that don't apply. Which is most of them, frankly.

Freelancers and understanding payment terms (Apr. 2009), and B2B expectations.

The pros and cons of free testing (Apr. 2009). This article (edited slightly) is now replicated in this blog post where you can leave comments.

Side effects of saying no (Jan. 2009), mainly being about the side effect of losing the client.

2. Other stuff

Some remarks on the world's most popular website (Dec. 2009)

Thanks to www.free-animations.co.uk for the free animations.