Glossary

Freelance community

A freelance community is a network of independent professionals who collaborate with an organization to deliver specialized services on a flexible basis. In the localization and content industry, this typically includes linguists, translators, editors, transcreators and Subject-matter experts (SMEs) who work remotely across global markets.

Description

Freelance communities form the backbone of large-scale localization and translation operations. They bring together expert linguists and domain specialists who contribute language, cultural and technical knowledge to ensure quality and relevance in every project.

For global organizations, managing a freelance community effectively requires robust communication, technology platforms and fair partnership models. It enables businesses to scale resources dynamically – matching the right expertise to each client, content type or industry.

RWS perspective

At RWS, our freelance community includes thousands of professional linguists and specialists worldwide. Supported by advanced tools like Trados and Language Weaver, they combine local insight with technical precision to deliver high-quality multilingual content at scale. This collaborative model exemplifies RWS’s Human + Technology approach – connecting global talent with intelligent systems to achieve consistency, speed and impact.