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ATA’s 67th Annual Conference takes place October 28-31, 2026, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco, and those four days will fly by. The attendees who get the most out of the conference are rarely the ones with the best luck; they’re the ones who did a little homework before boarding the plane. Here are nine things you can do ahead of time so you arrive ready to learn, connect, and enjoy yourself. 1. Order paper business cards now Yes, still. Paper cards remain the fastest way to close a conversation gracefully in a noisy hallway. Order them early enough so…
Here at The Savvy Newcomer we understand that it can be intimidating to talk about money. It’s often a sticky subject, but we feel it’s the first order of business for small business owners. One major component of succeeding as a freelance translator or interpreter is managing your finances well. If you don’t master your money, your translation career won’t…
EIDL and PPP2: 2021 Edition, Part I
Disclaimer: This article does not constitute professional financial, tax, or legal advice, and neither the author nor the American Translators Association (ATA) assumes any warranty, implied or expressed, for the accuracy or applicability of any information contained therein. It should not be relied on to make financial or other decisions affecting your business or personal situation. Before taking any financial,…
This post originally appeared on the Freelancers Union blog and it is republished with permission. Before COVID-19, I had the opportunity to switch my environment every time I needed to boost my creativity. Cozy cafes and beach bars were my go-to place of work. This helped me set clear boundaries between work time and personal time, which consequently helped me balance…
Never Split the Difference is a book by former police officer and FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss that offers “a new, field-tested approach to high-stakes negotiations—whether in the boardroom or at home.” Well, it may be your home office, but the book has some helpful ideas and skills of great use to freelance translators and interpreters. These tactics are not…
Purchase Orders Revisited
This post originally appeared on the blog My Words for a Change and it is republished with permission. Way back in 2015, I asked my blog readers whether the purchase order I’d produced was merely a pipe dream or a document I could actually use with my clients. The general consensus was that my overly long PO would prove daunting for…
Language associations are a great way to connect with people of different backgrounds who share a similar appreciation for learning foreign languages. By joining a language association, you have the opportunity to engage with speakers at various levels of proficiency and practice your language skills with native speakers. You’re probably already familiar with the American Translators Association since this blog…
This post originally appeared on Capital Translations and it is republished with permission. Unless you have studied Law, it is rather tricky to know how to specialise in legal translation, let alone find relevant high-calibre training. Fortunately, Roehampton University’s symposium on Friday 9th January 2015 on becoming a legal translator addressed many of the issues concerning the best ways to acquire…
In this article, I will define influencers as those who make change happen, who are catalysts of the developments they seek. In translation and interpreting, that is up to the professionals in the field. This is true of any other profession, since the professionals understand their field best. According to the authors of The General Theory of the Translation Company,…
This post originally appeared on the blog The translation business and it is republished with permission. Sometimes, how we translators run our professional lives and operate our businesses seem to be under threat. Human translators, although usually skeptical, cannot avoid observing the growing influence of machine translation and perhaps wondering how long will it be before a piece of software will…
One of the biggest problems for people entering the translation profession is a lack of hands-on, street level business experience. Many don’t understand the value of their time, and they may have no clue how to price their work — in fact, many beginners feel embarrassed and greedy when they ask to be paid respectably for what they do. Negotiating…