FAQ

I'm not getting any work from MLC, what should I do?

Refer to the Workflow section of this document.

What rates does MLC pay?

Refer to the Invoicing and Payment section of this document.

I feel like punching the wall, what should I do?

Calm down, reach out to your project manager if you foresee not meeting a deadline or need further guidance.

I'm going on vacation, do I need to notify you guys?

The best way to let us know you are taking time for yourself is via the Holidays tab in your XTRF vendor portal. You can also email your favorite project manager if you want.

How can I let the team know about other/new services I offer?

We’re always excited to learn about other services our vendors offer, be they different language pairs, specializations, desktop publishing (DTP) or the ability to provide voiceovers or create subtitles. 

Within your XTRF account, you have the option to edit your profile: Click on the “Profile” icon in the left hand toolbar to view your Price Profile. Within the Price Profile, click on the “Edit” button in the upper right corner of the page. The following message will appear: “Every change you make on this tab must be approved.” 

When you’re ready, press the “Send change request” button, which will send your suggested changes to the Vendor Manager. No confirmation message will appear on the page, but any new services you added will be tagged as a “new service”. The Vendor Manager will review your changes and you will receive an email confirming that your changes were either accepted or rejected.

How much will I be paid for my work?

When you register with Multilingual Connections, you’re required to provide rates for all the services you offer. In turn, the rates you submit will determine which jobs we’re able to offer you. Project managers will send out job offers with set rates compatible with the rates in your price profile. Therefore,  acceptance of a job offer implies acceptance of the rate provided with it.

We understand that compensation is commensurate with a linguist’s education, training, experience and any relevant expertise (such as specializations, use of CAT tools, etc.).  Payment for individual assignments may vary slightly depending on factors including the difficulty of the work, the turnaround time and contractual obligations we have with certain clients. Your project manager can answer questions about compensation for specific jobs. 

As is standard, compensation for translation is usually per (source) word; for transcription, it’s usually per audio minute; for subtitle translation, it can be per source word or per video minute; for DTP, per hour or per source page.

When may I invoice?

You can invoice a job starting three days after you submit the completed job. You must submit an invoice within 60 days of project completion. Invoices are paid within 30 days of submission. (Please note that we do not accept invoices submitted outside of XTRF.)

If after 3 days the total amount shown for the completed job is still at $0, OR if the amount does not reflect the 

amount agreed upon, please contact your Project Manager to update the job. 

How do I submit an invoice? 

Vendors submit invoices directly through our project management system, XTRF. (It’s helpful to bookmark this page for future reference - please note that if you Google XTRF later, you’ll likely be taken to another page and your login info won’t work.)

You can create a new invoice by visiting the Jobs module and selecting “Not Invoiced” jobs from the drop-down menu in the “Completed Jobs” section, then click the “Add New Invoice” button. This will take you to the “New Invoice” page within the Invoices module.

If you have any other questions about invoicing, please check out the Invoices Section of the  XTRF Knowledge Base, located here.

How will I be paid?

We offer several different payment methods. Please note that vendors are responsible for any and all fees associated with receiving payment.

Our standard method of payment for US-based vendors is ACH/direct deposit (no additional fee), but PayPal is an option as well (fees vary). For vendors outside of the US, our standard method of payment is PayPal (fees vary). If PayPal is not an option in your country, we can also pay by Western Union (fees vary) or wire transfer ($50 fee). If you opt to be paid by wire, we can hold your payments until the total due reaches an agreed amount or until the end of the quarter, whichever comes first.

When will I be paid?

Invoices are paid within 30 days of submission.

I have not received payment, who do I contact?

Refer to the Invoicing and Payment section of this document.

I have a question about my invoice/payment. 

Please send your question(s) to our Vendor Managers at vm@mlconnections.com. 

I need to improve my grammar, can you help?

As a translator, you should already possess excellent grammar skills. A great translator is also a great writer, one who intuitively knows and correctly employs the rules of grammar and syntax of their native language and of the language they are translating into. Having said this, of course a translator won't know all the rules of grammar, since we are not machines! You can find some grammar resources in our Ditionaries, Glossaries and More Resources page.

What is MemoQ?

MemoQ is the CAT tool used by Multilingual Connections and its linguists. You can find more about this tool in our MemoQ Guide.

Can I use my own CAT tool?

Preferably no. If you are familiar with other CAT tools, the learning curve for MemoQ is really short. If you were to use a different CAT tool, when your translation gets re-imported into MemoQ, there might be formatting issues because of compatibility. Please consult with the project manager if you intend to use a different CAT tool so that they can advice you on how to mitigate these issues.

Can I just translate on my Word processor?

Only in special circumstances, for example if the source document is a scanned document. In fact, you will translate most personal records using a Word processor, given that the vast majority of source documents in that domain are scanned documents (see our guide for translating personal records). All other translations will be performed in MemoQ, unless the project manager indicates otherwise. The instructions you receive will include a link to the MemoQ project. 

What is XTRF?

It's a translation management system. MLC project managers use XTRF to assign and track translation jobs. As a translator, you will use XTRF to access jobs and upload them when complete, as well as to receive instructions. You can find more information about XTRF here.

Access XTRF via the vendor portal. 

How much work can I expect? 

The volume of work we handle depends entirely on our clients’ needs. For certain language pairs we receive more frequent requests, but we cannot guarantee any number of jobs per week or month, nor can we specify how soon a vendor will receive a job offer after registering with Multilingual Connections.

Once you do complete a job for us, the quality of your work will influence the likelihood of our team sending you additional projects, as project managers want to know that they can trust their linguists to deliver high-quality translations and/or transcripts. 

Do I get to choose the jobs I work on?

In most cases, you will receive an email with an offer for a specific job. (The email will contain a link you can click on to either accept or reject the job offer.) Occasionally one of our project managers will contact you directly to assess your interest in a specific job before sending you an offer or assigning the job to you. (Make sure you follow these easy steps to whitelist our domain name, @mlconnections.com, so emails from project managers don’t accidentally get sent to your Spam folder.) 

As an independent contractor, you’re always free to accept or decline a job based on your schedule, personal commitments, preferences and interests, etc. That said, a vendor’s availability and willingness to accept jobs will certainly impact the likelihood of our team sending him/her jobs in the future.

How large are the jobs I’ll be assigned?

The length of the text files we handle depends entirely on the materials we receive from our clients. However, when a translator starts working with us, we normally assign shorter texts to help the vendor become comfortable with our processes and standards.

How long do I have to complete the work I’ve been assigned?

Timelines vary from project to project. Sometimes we handle rush projects that must be completed within 24 hours; others might be high-volume projects jobs with rolling deadlines over the course of a month. Every job offer you receive will include an estimated or exact deadline (the deadline will be shown in XTRF as per your local time), and your project manager will notify you of any changes to the timeline.

Can I see an excerpt of the source text before accepting a job?

Our ability to share excerpts of source material depends on the nature of the project. If you receive a job offer via XTRF (i.e. the email includes a link you can click through to accept or decline the job), you will have access to the source files. If a project manager reaches out to you individually by email about a potential job, we may or may not have access to the source files at that time; it will depend on whether the client has made them available or not yet. Of course, we always try to provide as much information as possible when discussing a potential job with a vendor.

Who will edit my work?

Please note that we expect all linguists to fully edit and proofread their original translations and/or transcripts before submitting them to us. The next step requires an experienced freelance or in-house editor/proofreader with expertise in your language pair, and familiarity with the field to which your job pertains, to review your translation and/or transcript.

Do you provide feedback to translators, how often and what does it look like?

All jobs are reviewed by editors and they provide feedback to the project manager when they submit the job. If the quality of a translation is concerning, a quality audit may be performed using a scorecard and feedback will be provided to you.

What should I do if I can’t complete a project I’ve accepted?

Inform your project manager immediately. As soon as a vendor knows they cannot deliver a project on time, they must let us know as soon as possible so we can either reassign the project or request an extension from our client.