Market research on translation and assistance services - free translation offered!

[CL]

Bonjour!

I'm doing some market research before setting up a translation/assistance service and I need to find out the views of English-speakers living in or considering moving to France.

I'm offering a free translation to people willing to fill in my short online questionnaire.

Please e-mail me for the link - the questionnaire takes less than 5 mins.

Many, many thanks for your help,

Kind regards,
CLL

[CL]

It would be really great if anyone could help - I need to know your opinions, positive or negative!

Thanks very much

CL

[AnOther]

For my tuppence worth several seem to have tried this with different levels of success, or failure.

One which was once quite prominent but seems to have disappeared, or at least it's web site no longer works, is, or was, www.ouicanhelp.com

Whilst preparing our move I did look into using this sort of service but decided it didn't represent particularly good value for money and subsequently we have managed to struggle through most things under our own steam with the help of places like this forum and friends we have made since the move of course. Doing it ourselves also helps to both improve our understanding of how things and our language skills.

I would say that if you're looking for something like this as a viable business to sustain you in France think very hard on it [;-)]

Good luck

[5-element]

A younger French friend and I did try setting up something like that - in the end we gave up when we found how complicated it all was, and how we were expected to start with doing some "proper market research" before be could qualify for any help... so we just continued doing what we both do (and which had given us the idea in the first place) - provide free assistance for those British expats who need it. Somehow, we found that very few were prepared to pay for such services...

Perhaps the name we had for our business was too much of a mouthful too: "Franglorama"....

Best of luck, I do hope it works out for you, but you need persistence, and some capital.

[cooperlola]

I think there's a fundamental problem about any market research done on fora like these, because anybody who's found it, pretty much knows there's somebody on here who has the answers (and a lot who think they have/think you're a tw*t for asking/don't have a clue but will pontificate anyway) so in general, I don't think they'd pay much for such a service so the response on here may be more negative than elsewhere.

My own feeling is that there is tons of help out there already in so many forms that it's difficult to survive.  I'd also be careful in the current marketplace where the strength of the Euro, the difficulty in selling UK property, the changes in healthcare rules for European citizens in France, are shrinking the target audience daily.  Have a look at the magazine circulation figures for publications like the one that runs this forum and see if you can see a pattern because if they are suffering then so would you.

You also need to be very careful about the legal implications of giving advice and what happens if it turns out to be wrong, although I'm sure you've thought about this anyway.

Translation services can be useful, but there do seem to be quite a few about already as far as I can see.  Have a good look at the competition and if companies in similar businesses publish figures, study them too.  Moving into an already crowded and shrinking marketplace seems dodgy to me at the mo' but I could be wrong.  If you don't expect too much though, you may not be disappointed but I dont think it will make you a millionaire myself.

[YCCMB]

I'd agree with what others have said and just add something which is a personal gripe of mine, although it doesn't affect me personally in any real way.

I recently noticed on another forum, someone asking for help with translating/interpreting at a site meeting with a builder. This person was lookng for assistance from someone who could come along to the site meeting and explain in French what he required from his builder. However, the post ended with the phrase "happy to pay petrol costs". I thought long and hard before replying, but as other people had also commented, I felt less bad about pointing out that if the poster had said to his builder "pop along and do this building work for me, I'm happy to pay your petrol money" he might have found himself on the receiving end of a bit of an earful.

I'm only bothering to say this because whilst you may get a few answers to your market research survey from people who'd quite like some translation help, they are probably most attracted by the word "free".

Whilst this, and most other similar forums, are often packed with posts debating/ criticising /extolling the virtues of learning/not learning/trying to/not bothering to learn the French language, it seems that two points shine out:

1) If you haven't learned French before you move to France, it's hard to do so, takes a long time, and puts you at a disadvantage in your daily life

2) If you have learned French (or are French and have learned English) then it's considered, often, by people who haven't, as a skill with limited or absolutely no value. In other words, they'll happily make use of your skills to sort out their linguistic shortcomings, but if you expect to be paid anything like a decent sum for this, forget it.

 

 

[Anton Redman]

Just a thought along the same lines as 'Ouicanhelp'

http://www.charentegranny.com/charente_granny_home.htm

I was wondering what became of the granny network. Charante site is still up but link to main site does not work.  When ever people mention B & B to me I always suggest talking to people who are running one far enough away that you will not be viewed as competition but close enough to give you an idea.

Agree most of 2 above the two people for whom I sorted out problems with EDF and the Tax Office bith more than paid me back in kind rather than cash.

[cooperlola]

This is my experience, Anton.  The people I've helped with the French stuff are good at lending a hand when we need more on deck, but payment would be quite another thing as many live on shoestring budgets (contrary to popular opinion.)

[Val_2]

My french/british dual nationality but born in France friend set up her own transation agency and was bogged down with work from the major broadcasting companies and big outlets here BUT at the end of the day, social charges outweighed her incomings so she stopped trading. Check on what you will be paying in charges and taxes before going down the same route. Many of us on here have children who are fluent in french too, so when something complicated or legal comes along they can translate free of charge or the neighbours can.

[sueb]

Hi,

Please send me the link for the questionnaire as we have found the services of  the local translation/assistance services available here locally to be invaluable in helping us with our move, intergration and settling into the country here with the formal procedures that needed to be undertaken.

Many thnanks