> Second, should I go ahead and buy translation tools such
        > as technical dictionaries and name dictionaries before I
        > find work?
        When I did my first job, I didn't even have Nelson's (though I did have a Rose-Innes... long story). However, I did have easy access to a well-stocked university library. It wouldn't hurt to get started on a core library, if you're really serious about translation. Depending on what field you want to work in, you can probably get started with just three or four good dictionaries (probably the big Kenkyusha's J-E, a good kan-wa, a good English dictionary, and one or two technical dictionaries for whatever your field of specialty is), and then add more as you get some income.
        > And third, does anyone know of any translation agency that
        > will give a newcomer a chance to do freelance work?
        Watch this list for announcements of available jobs that pop up occasionally. That's a good place to start. Keep contacting agencies. Try to sell yourself on the basis of your skill rather than on your resume. Offer to do a test translation (most agencies probably have standard test translations that they can have you do). Use your "kone" from school and other associations. And good luck!
        David Luke
        ________________________________________
        In addition to all the good advice that has been heard on getting started as a freelance translator (or any kind of translator, for that matter), I have this advice:
        Learn about something other than the Japanese language, the English language, and how to translate between them isolated from subject matter.
        Any translation that is worth paying for is about something--subject matter, the field you need to know to (1) understand the original and (2) write convincingly in the source language. There are people who say they do "general" translations only. I don't believe that. I think they perhaps do what they call general translation out of modesty because they think (perhaps correctly) that they do not know enough about the fields they are translating in.
        For many translators who come out of a language-learning situation isolated from real-world subject matter, getting good at translation will require study in fields that are (at least in the beginning, and perhaps forever) extremely boring to the translator. I suspect that situation results in some translators leaving translation for things that are more interesting to them.
        Bill Lise
        ________________________________________
        Although my target was technical translation, I was desperate for any kind of hands-on experience in the US.There are two steps, initial step and current strategy, that were totally successful. The initial step was looking for volunteer opportunties. The next step was creating a WWW home page.
        For the first step, what I did was looking for some Japanese language related organizations -- one I soon found was a student organization publishing an information magazine for Japanese students at the University of Oregon. These people had some articles written by English speakers, so they needed them to be translated but free or almost. Great, let me do that...
        Then, what happened was that actually this organization brought other threads as well. Clients who put ads on this "Japanese" magazine are by nature interested in Japan and the Japanese market to some degree. Right on. I offered my work almost for free, and instead I earned credits enough to fill my resume or enough to make myself feel confident.
        However my real target was technical/science translation. Next step which is my current strategy is to create a home page (ad) on the WWW. It's very much like fishing. Silent for awhile, and one day, a big fish may come. Actually a big fish came to me soon after (like three days after I registered my home page with most major search engines.
        Because they found me through WWW, this client was computer literate, which meant exchanging files and all other conversational issues were all done by electrically. Also, when clients (including this big fish<g>) contacted me by Email, they had already known my expertise and weaknesses which were provided in my home page. No client through the WWW has asked me for sample work, although I sent a sample that best matches their needs anyway: They seem very happy seeing actual work related to their interest to a certain degree.

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