Being a Babelverse Interpreter
Being an interpreter on Babelverse is a new, amazing and exciting thing. Every day Babelverse is doing the impossible, making interpretation available and affordable to more people around the world, while creating a new lifestyle for its members everywhere.
Babelverse relies on people to preserve the quality, context, cultural relevance, tone and emotion of the spoken word. Better than any algorithm!
As a professional interpreter or a skilled multilingual, you can help people all over the world communicate with each other, while in return making a good living for yourself.
You can be part of a movement to harness the power of language and human communication to bring the world closer together. Babelverse is a brand new project with huge potential and vision – be part of something that can change the world!
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Who can participate? from helping
out informally to a new kind of workBabelverse needs thousands if not millions of people in order to become the truly 'universal translator', so if you have the skills in the right column, please sign-up and become part of one of these 3 main groups of interpreters: the professionals, the experienced multilinguals and the trainees.
- Trainee Enthusiasts: As an enthusiastic multilingual, you start by practicing on our training platform and consecutively interpreting some casual conversations for free (but the person making the request can choose to give you a monetary tip after you help them overcome their language barrier). You are also rated by users and can be vouched for by experienced members.
- Skilled Enthusiasts: Once you have proven yourself as a Trainee, you become available for more demanding interpreting gigs and start earning per–minute income for every interpretation request you accept.
- Professionals: If you are a professional interpreter (with specialised training, accreditation and/or field experience) you can make yourself available on Babelverse at a premium rate.
Besides a passion for helping people communicate, here are some of the skills needed to make a good interpreter:
- Need to thoroughly know at least one language other than of your native one.
- Should be able to understand, memorise, analyse and reproduce a message in real-time.
- A capacity to transform idioms, expressions and other culturally–specific references into equivalent statements the listener will understand.
- Communication skills and the ability to manage stress—you need to articulate well and have no problem with public–speaking.
- Flexibility but also professionalism, passion but also neutrality and a respect for privacy.
- Curiosity—an interest in the world around you and broad general knowledge (i.e. you easily spend hours browsing Wikipedia).
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Choose when & where you work
On Babelverse you work remotely, from home or anywhere really–as long as quiet environment which has stable internet. You thus gain access to a global market and are in total control over your schedule. Now you don’t have to spend time at home waiting for your next gig, only to spend more time and money in transportation and accommodation to get to it.
We have made it easy for you to manage your time. You can update your general availability on our platform (weekly & daily time-slots) at any time. We will then send you interpretation requests that match your language pairs & topics of expertise during those periods.
You remain independent (i.e. not employees of Babelverse) and work remotely regardless of location. You now have the whole world at your feet!
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One platform, many uses
Babelverse is a platform of talented polyglots, and there are many different things that this awesome group of people can do.
Consecutive & informal interpreting
We’ll soon be launching a mobile app which will allow people around the world to access an “interpreter in their pocket” on–the–spot. As an interpreter, you’ll also be alerted of interpretation requests on your smartphone and be able to instantly take the call.
You’ll be helping people with consecutive interpretation, over the phone or via the internet, during their everyday conversations, when travelling, doing business, or any situation where they find themselves needing to communicate in a different language. There will also be opportunities to volunteer for causes such as crisis response and non–profits.
Simultaneous interpreting of conferences & videos
If you're experienced in simultaneous interpreting, you can now provide without having to be on–site, and we also make your interpretation available to remote viewers watching the live video online. You can help conferences around the world be accessible to people who would be unable to attend, let alone understand.
We have created a remote “virtual booth” system for this.
All you need is a headset with a microphone plugged into a computer with a good internet connection, where you’ll watch the live video of the conference, and interpret in a similar way as you would in a traditional conference booth. A remote booth–mate can even support you with notes, feedback, etc, directly on the same screen and you can easily switch–over with them at any time.
Awesome tools
In every case, we want to provide you with easy-to-use, beautiful, and useful tools from which you can work in new and innovative ways. We’re working on new things such as a training platform, shared glossaries, video chat for sign-language interpretation, and more!
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Receive a fair income
The rates of interpretation are set by Babelverse for each language pair. They are calculated according to several parameters such as cost of living in countries around the world, to find the sweet spot between being affordable to as many people as possible, while being a fair source of income. They are standardised to preserve the overall quality of service on Babelverse, by avoiding a bid to the bottom, both in terms of pricing and quality. Our rates are still a work-in-progress and will soon be published on the website.
As an interpreter, you will see the relevant rate when you receive a request, and after each job the total will be credited to your Babelverse account (representing 70% of the interpreting fee paid by the user).
When the credit on your account adds up to a set threshold, you will be alerted and be able to withdraw your earnings to your PayPal account. We may add more payment methods such as direct deposit in the future.
The standard rates apply per minute of "on-mic time", where you are actively interpreting. For other types of situations, the rates are as follows.
- 60% of standard rate: for acting as a remote booth-mate, where you actively listen to the speaker and aid the active interpreter with notes and such
- 30% of standard rate: if you are asked to passively stand by (time for facebook or reading an actual book)
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Have fun!
The Babelverse team is a fun-loving bunch, and travel is one of our biggest passions (that is why we want to be able to communicate with everyone!) We are glomads, and while it is all part of our tireless efforts to become a successful global company, in today’s world of near-ubiquitous WiFi and 3G, we count ourselves very lucky to be able to work from anywhere, and choose to do so from the most awesome places (see #todaysoffice).
Life and work don’t have to be at odds, and we’ll be very happy if we can allow you to choose the same lifestyle for yourself. Babelverse is a global (scratch that, universal) project. We already collaborate with people in 100+ countries, and hope you will join us!
Here's what interpreters are saying...
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"Babelverse is revolutionising the translation industry by bringing interpreters from around the world into a single cyberspace. It's amazing to be sitting in Canada, translating a conference from the USA, to an audience in France...the feeling of being part of a global community is amazing! As a professional interpreter, I thought it ingenious and really of this era. It is a pleasure to work with Babelverse."
Madeline Guérin, Canada
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"What I love most about Babelverse is that it puts high quality interpretation at the reach of everybody around the globe. As an interpreter, Babelverse is for me the perfect tool to open and expand my client network. Babelverse is definitely a better alternative to machine translation because it is powered by real interpreters! It's rewarding to know my linguistic skills can help anyone in the world to break language barriers!"
Yolanda, USA
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"This is an industry that desperately needs more innovation to help humans respond to the ever-growing demand for their services. These companies are worth watching, as they bring a developer-centric, Silicon Valley approach to the language industry [...] with their passion, tech know-how, and their correct assertion that this is an industry that is ripe for change" [read more]
Nataly Kelly, industry expert
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"When I first came across Babelverse I found their idea to be amazingly revolutionary and I was immediately curious about it. Now that I’ve done some interpretations with them, I confirm that this project is possible and incredibly promising. This new way of interpreting is not only disrupting and renewing traditional interpretation and its limitations, but it will also play a role in the increasing intercultural exchange between people and will contribute to our vital and enriching human dialog. Isn’t this a project that’s worth being a part of?"
Eze Kolodens, Argentina
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"Babelverse is at the forefront of an inevitable turning point in the history of our profession as technology is stretching the limits of industries worldwide. The possibilities are endless as Babelverse takes communication to unprecedented levels bringing us closer together in our quest for meaning. Great to be a part of it all!"
Katrina, Canada
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"When I first saw the website and the conference, I thought this is something new in the industry that I need to try. And I immediately understood where the Babelverse team was coming from."
Ken J Shimizu, Japan
"Babelverse is revolutionising the translation industry by bringing interpreters from around the world into a single cyberspace. It's amazing to be sitting in Canada, translating a conference from the USA, to an audience in France...the feeling of being part of a global community is amazing! As a professional interpreter, I thought it ingenious and really of this era. It is a pleasure to work with Babelverse."
Madeline Guérin, Canada
"What I love most about Babelverse is that it puts high quality interpretation at the reach of everybody around the globe. As an interpreter, Babelverse is for me the perfect tool to open and expand my client network. Babelverse is definitely a better alternative to machine translation because it is powered by real interpreters! It's rewarding to know my linguistic skills can help anyone in the world to break language barriers!"
Yolanda, USA
"This is an industry that desperately needs more innovation to help humans respond to the ever-growing demand for their services. These companies are worth watching, as they bring a developer-centric, Silicon Valley approach to the language industry [...] with their passion, tech know-how, and their correct assertion that this is an industry that is ripe for change" [read more]
Nataly Kelly, industry expert
"When I first came across Babelverse I found their idea to be amazingly revolutionary and I was immediately curious about it. Now that I’ve done some interpretations with them, I confirm that this project is possible and incredibly promising. This new way of interpreting is not only disrupting and renewing traditional interpretation and its limitations, but it will also play a role in the increasing intercultural exchange between people and will contribute to our vital and enriching human dialog. Isn’t this a project that’s worth being a part of?"
Eze Kolodens, Argentina
"Babelverse is at the forefront of an inevitable turning point in the history of our profession as technology is stretching the limits of industries worldwide. The possibilities are endless as Babelverse takes communication to unprecedented levels bringing us closer together in our quest for meaning. Great to be a part of it all!"
Katrina, Canada
"When I first saw the website and the conference, I thought this is something new in the industry that I need to try. And I immediately understood where the Babelverse team was coming from."
Ken J Shimizu, Japan