If you have native or expert level fluency spoken and written fluency in English or any foreign language, you could most likely be sitting on a mini fortune, without realizing so.
That’s because you could use these skills to earn a lot of money working as an online translator from home.
Online translation jobs are extremely in demand these days due to the very own fact that they are high paying and not everyone can do it.
Reasons for Online Translation Jobs
As companies from America and other parts of the world expand, there’s a huge demand for all kinds of documents and literature in different languages.
Furthermore, companies and individuals require very sophisticated legal documents for various purposes.
As learning goes online, countless textbooks are being translated to foreign languages for the benefit of learners around the world.
In fact, various government organizations also need online and accurate translations due to trade and political ties with different countries.
Median Pay for Online Translators
Online translators in USA earn median $78,593 per year, says ZipRecruiter, one of the most respected job boards in the world. At the same time, online translators can expect an hourly pay of $26.06, according to Indeed.com, another top job portal.
Payscale.com pegs the median pay for an online translations fresher at $19.80 per hour while Salary.com says beginners usually start off at $15 per hour for basic and general translations.
Regardless of whether you work on fulltime or hourly basis, these figures from trusted websites clearly indicate that online translation job is a highly profitable business.
Types of Online Translation Jobs
Online translations is a profitable business regardless whether you’re doing it fulltime, part-time, freelance or even as short term side gigs.
There’re various types of online translation jobs that’re available from some of the top organizations in America. These include:
A: Live Online Translations: where you translate a live speech or talk.
B: Online Video Subtitling: meaning you give subtitles in different languages to a video or movie.
C: Legal Translations: As the term implies, it involves translating complex legal documents.
D: Transcription & Translations: One of the highest paying online work, you’ll transcribe and translate information from raw, audio, video or text data.
E: General Translations: The simplest form of translations where you would simply translate any document to another language.
30+ Top Online Translation Jobs Websites
If you qualify as online translator in any of the five categories I mentioned above, here’s a list of top 30 online translator jobs that you can try. They’re all legit and large companies that pay well too.
1. ProZ.com
ProZ.com doesn’t directly hire translators. However, the company provides excellent resources for budding translators to find placements.
ProZ.com also has a section where members of its community can help find translator jobs with various companies and translation agencies. They charge a membership fee to provide resources that translators can use.
2. Translate.com
You might have the Translate app on your smartphone or may have used it sometime or the other. Translate.com is an app that provides translations between almost every language in the world.
While all their translations are done by Artificial Intelligence, the company also hires lots of manpower to translate and improve the quality of their services. They hire professional translators only.
3. One Hour Translation
One Hour Translation operates from China, USA, Ukraine, Israel and Romania. They claim to have over 25,000 translators and localization experts worldwide.
OHT’s portfolio also includes some of the topmost companies in the world including Oriflame, Coca Cola, Subway, IBM, Payoneer, Microsoft and IKEA to name a few.
If you’re a resident of US, Ukraine, Romania and Israel, apply for online translation jobs with this company. OHT says that over 60 percent of companies on the Fortune list approach them for translations.
4. Rev.com
Rev is a company known to offer various services such as transcriptions and translations. They’re one of the largest companies in business and provide services to all sorts of industries.
Rev also welcomes fresher translators, provided you’ve expert to native-level fluency in English and a foreign language. Like all other online translations companies, you’ll have to take a skills test to qualify.
5. Language Line
Language Line claims to have 100 percent on-time delivery of translations in various languages.
They handle over 40 million interactions every year. Language Line has been around since 1982. The company delivers 99 percent accuracy in translations.
They hire online work from home translators. Language Line operates in the US and Canada only but provide services worldwide.
6. Languages Unlimited
Sign language translations, website translations, on-site translations as well as document translations are some of the services that Languages Unlimited offers.
The company website says they hire translators on a regular basis. To apply, you need to complete and submit an online form providing relevant details, through their website.
7. SDL Translation Services
SDL Translation Services says it deals with 90 of the top 100 companies of the world. Additionally, they have over 1,500 linguists on their translations team.
The company translates over 1.4 billion words every year into different languages and have so far translated more than 400 billion words for its clients. SDL Translation Services has a Careers section where you can apply for jobs as online translator.
8. Wordlingo.com
Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, Worldlingo.com has been around since 1998. They provide translations using Artificial Intelligence as well as a team of translators in different languages.
You’ll require a university degree, a certificate as a qualified translator and membership of a translators association in your country. Additionally, Wordlingo.com also asks for minimum five years of experience as a translator.
9. Unbabel.com
Unbabel.com says it represents 25 languages from 40 countries. The company has a team of over 160 translators and other staff spread across four offices- three in the US and one in Portugal.
Unbabel.com offers two types of online work in the field of translations. The first is working as an editor to improve translated copies.
The other is by joining their online community of language experts to translate videos, audios and text. You can also apply for permanent posts through their Careers link.
10. Translators Café
Translators Café also isn’t a website that hires people. Instead, it’s a freelancing marketplace of sorts where translators can meet prospective buyers.
It allows companies and individuals to post a translator job. And translators can in turn search for suitable jobs depending upon their skills.
They provide a link between translation companies and translators. You might find this website quite useful.
11. Translation Directory
Translation Directory is not a place that hires online translators. It’s a directory or Yellow Pages especially for the translation industry. You can connect with over 7,200 translation agencies around the world using their free online resources.
Translation Director has over 50,000 registered users. You can apply for their free membership online as freelance translator.
12. The Open Mic
Toronto-based The Open Mic is a growing community of freelance online translators that’re looking for work. This website too doesn’t really hire online translators.
However, you can create a free profile and post on The Open Mic for companies and individuals looking for online translations to find and buy your services.
13. One Sky
One Sky is a large online translations company that has a community of over 1,000 translators. They provide translations in more than 50 languages of the world.
One Sky has helped companies including Airbnb, Sony, Microsoft, HubSpot, Tencent and others. The company specializes in translating and localizing apps, game content and websites, among other things.
14. Text Master
Text Master allows novices and fresher to join their ever expanding community of online translators. They help you find online translation jobs in your native tongue.
Text Master provides translations in more than 50 languages. And they have an impressive portfolio of over 1,000 customers, including some of the largest companies of the world.
They also offer content creation services in different languages. You can make an account on their website for free.
15. Appen.com
Appen.com provides various and customized services for their clients worldwide. One of them is translation services, primarily for business and legal organizations.
If you’re an expert in business or law and have bilingual or multilingual skills, send your Resume to Appen.com. You could also look for online translation work on their website and apply. However, most of their jobs are for experts who hold at least a college degree.
16. Babbel.com
Babbel.com ranks among the top language learning websites in the world. They require a lot of online translators to create superb lessons for their online students.
Babbel.com offers superb opportunities for women and men holding university degrees in Linguistics. As a matter of fact, they offer only fulltime placements to online translators and the pay is superb. You can also find some freelance assignments for online translations occasionally.
17. Gengo.com
Gengo.com provides online translation services to customers around the world. They offer translation services in as many as 40 different languages.
And the company is always on the lookout for qualified persons who know other languages that currently don’t exist on their portfolios. It was founded way back in 2008 and is rapidly emerging as the world’s largest marketplace for online translations.
18. Lionbridge
One of the oldest companies in the online translation business, Lionbridge was founded in the year 1996. This company always has vacancies for skilled and qualified online translators.
They hire on both fulltime and part time basis. You can apply for their vacancies through the Lionbridge website directly. As one of the largest translation services providers, they look for the best talent in the job market.
19. Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone’s a superb place to learn foreign languages. It’s an online language learning academy where millions of people enroll for acquiring advanced level skills in a foreign language.
Rosetta Stone recruits fulltime and part time online translators for translating its various text books and lessons as well as interactions with learners around the world. This is one of the biggest language learning websites in the world too.
20. Acclaro.com
A very specialized translation services provider, Acclaro.com caters primarily to business clients who wish to enter a foreign market or companies from abroad that want to enter the US.
In any case, they hire lots of online translators because Acclaro.com has volumes of work for its clients. You can apply directly through their website if you have adequate experience and expertise as online translator.
21. Translate.com
You might have the Translate app on your smartphone or may have used it sometime or the other. Translate.com is an app that provides translations between almost every language in the world.
While all their translations are done by Artificial Intelligence, the company also hires lots of manpower to translate and improve the quality of their services. They hire professional translators only.
22. Verbal Ink
Known as a top destination for American companies to outsource translation services, you can find superb online translator jobs on Verbal Ink. The company also offers transcription services in various sectors.
Therefore, you can also translate own transcriptions to earn a lot of money. Due to the specialized scope of their work, Verbal Ink hires professionals with some experience that pass their skills test. They also provide subtitling services in different languages.
23. Ubiqus.com
Ubiqus.com calls itself a global languages company. And rightly so. They have services such as online translations, transcriptions, live and recorded translations online and several other such facilities for clients.
They also hire professionals though some considerations are also made for people who have native to expert level fluency in two or more languages. Ubiqus.com always has vacancies for skilled online translators.
24. Cyracom.com
Cyracom Language Services offers live video and telephonic translations too for companies around the world, hosting videoconferencing and seminars.
And they also offer regular translation services for common documents. As a result, everyone from fresher to experienced translators can find online jobs with this company. It is one of the biggest language service providers in America.
25. Smartling.com
Smartling.com specializes in providing subtitles and dubbing videos in various languages of the world. This is a wonderful company to work for if you love watching ads, movies and documentaries from different countries.
And they pay more than $25 per hour for professional subtitling and dubbing of videos. Apply directly from their website if this kind of online translation job interests you.
26. LinkedIn
As we all know, LinkedIn isn’t really a specialized portal that offers online translation jobs. However, in recent years, LinkedIn has grown as the single largest place for top notch recruiters to hire best talent in any industry.
Since this is a networking website for all sorts of professionals, you’ll definitely find an online translations job here. Create a superb profile as a professional translator, showcase your skills and provide references to get online translation jobs here.
27. Facebook Marketplace
Who could imagine that Facebook Marketplace is also somewhere you can find online translator jobs?
Actually, there’re countless vacancies for freelance and part time online translators from student groups and small business that’re cropping up over Facebook Marketplace during the Covid-19 pandemic.
These jobs are generally within your locality and you can expect a median pay of $15 per hour. Most of these are short term or single assignment contracts.
28. Upwork.com
Superb, high-paying online translation jobs on freelance assignment basis are available for various professionals on Upwork.com.
This is one of the largest freelance websites of the world and has a global presence. I’ve found that freelance online translation work that’s in great demand on Upwork includes legal and technical translations.
This is a superb website if you’re a law graduate or engineer who knows a foreign language and can do the work during spare hours.
29. Glassdoor.com
And finally, the top job sites in USA- Glassdoor.com. They have dozens of posts for online translators for various companies from the US and abroad. These are fulltime online translation jobs and most of them are with some of the largest employers in the world.
Therefore, apply only if you’re a professional online translator. Most of the jobs I’ve seen for online translators on Glassdoor.com, come with a host of perks. This makes it even more attractive for a professional.
30. USAJobs.gov
USAJobs.gov is the US government’s recruitment portal. The Federal and state government requires lots of fulltime online translators to translate notices, public awareness campaigns and other stuff to various languages because the US is home to millions of expatriates and migrants from all over the world.
31. Central Intelligence Agency
The very mention of Central Intelligence Agency or CIA might bring to your mind that picture of spies lurking around the corner in foreign countries.
While the CIA does have operatives in almost every country, the intelligence agency also requires online translators to listen to radio and Internet chatter in different languages and translate them to English for military and security purposes.
32. Department of Homeland Security
Department of Homeland Security, as you would know, was constituted following the 9-11 terror attacks on the US by Islamic terrorists owing allegiance to the Al Qaeda terror network.
Since inception, DHS also monitors radio and Internet chatter and lots of other stuff to detect and prevent terror attacks on American people and the US territory. These are fulltime online translation jobs and available generally to US citizens only.
In Conclusion
The websites I list above are the best to find work as online translator. You could also find a few language services locally who hire freelance and part-time online translators whenever they have an assignment. Study about online translations and what it takes to work as one, before applying.
