If you are fluent in another language and would like to do some translation work from home, you may be interested to learn about MyGengo. It’s a big site with many small scale translation jobs available. After you sign up and get accepted, you can just browse through the jobs, pick out ones you want to start, begin work, and then get paid!
How much does MyGengo pay?
Here is what the MyGengo site says about pay:
You will be paid via PayPal in US dollars ($ USD) according to the character or word count of the source language. We are only able to make payments in USD. Here’s the breakdown:
- Standard: $.03 per word/$.018 per character (e.g. Japanese, Chinese)
- Pro: $.08 per word/$.048 per character
- Proofread/Ultra: $.04 per word/$.024 per character
How and when is payment made?
You can get paid twice a month through Paypal, on the 10th and 25th of the month. You do have to request payout before the payment dates to ensure you get your money. They also charge a flat $1.50 fee when you request your payout — according to MyGengo, this is to cover Paypal fees and other transaction costs.
What are “Standard,” “Pro,” and “Proofread?”
These are different levels you can achieve depending on how you do on translation tests you take. There are different projects available for each level and the pay is also different for each level.
What languages can you sign up to translate?
Languages include Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. Please note that if you do English to Spanish translation, there may or may not be work available. I was reading through their FAQ and I saw where someone mentioned that that language pair was not available and they said they had temporarily turned off testing for English-Spanish because they already had enough translators in that department.
What kinds of texts do you translate?
A lot of the texts are very short — emails, short articles, blog posts, stuff on Twitter, etc., but there are occasionally longer texts to translate.
What if your work gets rejected?
MyGengo claims to have a very low one percent rejection rate from their clients, so in most cases your work won’t be rejected. But if it is, MyGengo’s quality control team will look over your work and make a decision as to whether or not the rejection was deserved. If they think it wasn’t, they will ask the client to either allow you to make some corrections or approve the translation as is.
Do you have to be from the United States to work from MyGengo?
No, you can be located anywhere. They have translators located in every part of the world. If you are not a U.S. citizen, you will have to fill out a W8-BEN tax form.
What is the application process like?
You have to create an account at MyGengo and then take their translation tests. Your results will be reviewed and if your translation skills are up to par, you can log in and begin work. If you fail the test, you can retest. They will let you take the test up to three times.
What do other people say about translating for MyGengo?
Here is a great review I found online with detailed information on working for MyGengo.
Do you want to sign up?
Go here to register at MyGengo.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I took the Spanish-English test a few months ago and didn’t pass it (these tests are very hard to pass) however, I re-took it recently and did pass it. There are some jobs in this language pairs and it is not hard for me to make $20 a day working for a couple of hours. How much you make per hour depends on how fast you are translating.
A few months ago when I signed up at MyGengo they asked my for my SSN so I’m pretty sure this job is only for people who are US citizens or have a US working permit. You can work from any part of the world though (I’m a US citizen but I live in Mexico).
Stephanie recently posted..Selling Digital Goods at Tradebit
Thanks Stephanie. The FAQ said their translators work all over the world, so I assumed it was open worldwide. I will send them an email and ask if they can clarify and then update my info if need be.
Yes, I’m not sure either. I just assumed it because they asked for the SSN.
Stephanie recently posted..Selling Digital Goods at Tradebit
They did finally reply to my email. This is what they said regarding not being a U.S. citizen and working for MyGengo:
“Thanks for writing in and we apologize for not getting back to you sooner.
In regards to your inquiry, yes, we do have freelance translators working for us outside
of the US who are not US citizens.
In these cases our translators are required to fill out a W8-BEN tax form. “
hey anna !
i really did apply for them , and finished their exam , but they will let me know IF i’m accepted or not after 14-30 days ! this is so long time .
so please if you know other translating websites tell us about , and BTW thank you so much for your great website .