Translation as a Work from Home Job Opportunity
Document translation or oral translation is certainly a good work from home job opportunity as an independent contractor for people in certain areas of the country. Of course the vast majority of work from home job opportunities in the translating field are going to be dealing with written translation. One real exception to this is if you happen to be doing translation from transcription tapes.
Translation as a work from home job opportunity is obviously is not a job that is going to be available just anywhere. This particular job is likely only going to be available in major metropolitan areas, border regions near Mexico and Quebec or other areas of the country where there are a significant number of recent immigrants. It is the influx of large numbers of immigrants that makes this a valuable service. Then of course you must possess a knowledge of the particular language which happens to be in demand in your area. For example, knowing Spanish is tremendous if you live in a border state or one of many major metropolitan areas with large Hispanic communities, just as knowing French is helpful in areas bordering Quebec.
However neither French nor Spanish is going to be of much value when the immigrants for whom the translation needs to be done are Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Korean or Hungarian, etc. In such cases those specific language capabilities are what are needed if the work is to be translated. That does not by any means preclude you from subcontracting out such jobs on an individual basis to other people you may have recruited to help out in your work from home translation business.
As an independent contractor running your translation as a work from home job opportunity you must realize that the majority of the work available would normally be emanating from governmental agencies. While most work would originate from government agencies there could also, depending on the size of the immigrant community concentrated in your vicinity, be a reasonable amount of translation called for by the business community providing brochures and advertising in the target language. In most cases if you want to maintain this as a strictly work from home job opportunity, this will likely produce a nominal amount of income. But that might be all you require depending on your personal needs.
If you want to take this work to a higher level it will likely require becoming an actual government employee, thus, removing it from the work form home job opportunity category. Still proving yourself first from your work from home job may provide the opportunity to help you get a government job down the line if you decide that is what you want.