A number of  companies need documentation translated for international partners and hire freelance translators through companies like Welocalize.com  Telelanguage.com Accurapid.com Sdl.com.

Most companies require applicants to take a written test and sign a non-disclosure agreement. Precision and accuracy is a must. Companies who hire freelance translators prefer candidates who are native speakers of the target language, have experience with professional documents, software or multimedia translations, and are members of a professional translation association.

The most in-demand services include translation from English to: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Italian and Chinese. If you are able to find one, a major corporate client can keep you busy full-time and smaller businesses would likely offer project work here and there. Occationally you could be asked to translate at a client's office but most of the time you would be working from home.