You know that funny feeling you get when the phone rings and even before you see that the caller ID reads "Anonymous," you're already sensing that it's a telemarketer from some worthy non-profit organization. Should you pick up???
Don't get me wrong, I want to feed hungry children with cancer as much as anyone. Yet there is just something about the medium of telemarketing that makes me so uncomfortable.
Having worked extensively writing and translating for non-profits I have much to say on the matter, but this is not the forum for that discussion. We're here for some Translation R&R, and I want to propose that the best way that you can help your favorite worthy cause is to perform translations for them on a volunteer basis. It can be very beneficial for your career too...
We all know not all the money we donate to NPOs actually reaches the people they are trying to help (and with telemarketers its a fraction of that fraction). So if you want to help an organization in a direct and meaningful fashion, save your pennies to pay your bills and donate in kind. By producing well-written, readable fundraising and informational materials for them in your target language, you could well be helping to stimulate donations worth tens of thousands of dollars.
You will also be saving them from the dread clutches of the HCCTs ("Have Computer, Can't Tranzlate" - our new in-house term for "them"). These folks will charge them low rates to produce agonizing, embarrassing translations that make prospective donors either squirm or guffaw, potentially costing the worthy NPO tens of thousands dollars.
Volunteering for NPOs can be good for your career, as well as your soul. Certainly for a beginner, it will generate valuable experience and genuine content for their portfolio.
In addition, volunteer work frequently leads to paid work, though not always in the way you might expect. The cash-strapped NPO you're volunteering for may never be able to hire you, but the director may well recommend you to his friends or just the fact that your name is out there as a translator can lead to opportunities.
Volunteer translation, or should I say pro-bono translations (we're professional, right?), are a good investment for all translators, not just rookies looking to make their name. As I said, it's a donation that probably worth much more than you can afford monetarily. It establishes you as a professional whose interest in translation is not purely mercenary.
Everybody wins.
Except the telemarketers...
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