The Savvy Linguist serves a worldwide community of translators and interpreters who are looking for practical solutions to everyday problems, ideas for growing their business, and support as they achieve their career goals. With high-quality, peer-reviewed content, you will find the answers to the questions you face as an innovative language professional.
We have published the ATA Savvy Newcomer since 2013 and ATA Next Level since 2021. Each blog has made unique and helpful contributions to our members. Savvy Newcomer was founded to help translators avoid the “school of hard knocks” that many of us went through. It has been helpful to new and experienced translators alike as we published articles on a variety of topics. Over the years, the blog team found that newcomers to the profession, our intended audience, were not necessarily a large majority of our readers. We were reaching a worldwide community of translators and interpreters who were…
… in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes Ben Franklin, in a letter written in 1789 How can we prepare to get through the storms of life? My mother-in-law, my husband and my mom died in the last six years. While I was deeply saddened by this, I still had to take care…
I admit to feeling a bit queasy the first time Hannah and I met. Not because of Hannah – she’s friendly, approachable, and altogether a delightful person. Rather, I worried I wouldn’t meet her expectations. What had I gotten myself into when I volunteered to serve as her mentor? Would I actually be of any help to her? It was…
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform industries, many translators and interpreters are asking themselves: Is there still a place for me? The answer is a resounding yes, but it comes with an important caveat. The future of translation and interpretation belongs to those who can do what machines cannot, that is, bring cultural competence, empathy, and context to language.…
This post is a reblog, originally published on Olivia Caputo’s blog. It has been republished with permission from the author. I’m looking forward to my first ATA conference in Boston this year. And not just because there are lots of people I’m excited to meet in person, but also because Boston was the first place I lived after college. I…
From the Next Level team: This is the first of two articles to help our colleagues attending the ATA 66th Annual Conference in Boston, MA. This week we cover some of the educational content at the conference, and next week we’ll republish a post by Oliva Caputo on local attractions in Boston. The American Translators Association Annual Conference is just…
Starting your career as a freelance translator or interpreter is exciting, but it can also feel overwhelming. Beyond your linguistic skills, you’re stepping into the world of independent contracting: contracts, marketing, professional development, taxes, technology, and more. It’s not always intuitive at first, but the good news is that you can build a successful business with a strong foundation. Here’s…
This was the topic of a Deep Dive Networking session hosted in June 2025 by ATA’s Business Practices Education Committee. The participants were given a set of loose questions as a starting point. The following is a summary of these discussions. This article focuses on retirement in the United States, although some attendees also talked about retirement abroad, which has…
What people are looking for in a career is undergoing a massive shift in our culture. Younger professionals tend to prioritize mental health and often want the ability to arrange their schedule to make time for life commitments outside of their professional endeavors—such as pursuing other jobs or embracing family responsibilities. In fact, according to Upwork, “Gen Z is abandoning…
Many of you may know Russian-into-English translator Lucy Gunderson from her leadership with the ATA Divisions Committee and the Slavic Languages Division. I had the pleasure of speaking with Lucy last month, and hearing about how she has navigated her career among shifting geopolitics was very moving. The challenges she has experienced in her business are relatable, and she has…
Many language professionals start out doing their work “on the side” of whatever else they are doing in life. When people find out you are bilingual, you may be asked to do some volunteer interpreting to help out a friend, family member, or someone in need, or you may agree or be expected to do the occasional translation—and maybe even…