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… 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 of most administrative issues for them and keep looking to the future. I wanted to have work and clients after this was over. As freelancers, our clients disappear when we disappear. How did I keep clients through these crises? Years…
5 Truths About Court Interpreting
This post was originally published on the Translation Times blog. It is reposted with permission from the author. Both our interpreting students and beginning court interpreters colleagues pursing certification regularly ask us about what it’s really like to be a working court interpreter. As Judy is a federally certified Spanish court interpreter, she is going to (partially, of course) answer this…
Machine Translation and the Savvy Translator
Using machine translation is easy; using it critically requires some thought. Tick tock! As translators, we’re all too familiar with the experience of working under pressure to meet tight deadlines. We may have various tools that can help us to work more quickly, such as translation memory systems, terminology management tools, and online concordancers. Sometimes, we may even find it…
What Freelancers Can Learn from Entrepreneurs
This post was originally published on the Freelancers Union blog. It is reposted with permission from the author. Get paid for doing what I love, doing it wherever I want, whenever I want, and however I want. No more bosses demanding unconvincing protocols or mandatory smiles (I’ll never forget those six years at a burger joint where “smiles were a part…
Promoting the Craftsmanship of our Profession
1944. Wartime France. No fabric. The norm had been 100. They were down to an index of 26. There was not even enough material to make socks! Paris, the world’s fashion capital, had lost hope of reviving its precious haute couture. American photojournalist Lee Miller came to France as a war correspondent. She connected with Edmonde Charles-Rouxe, a French war…
Glossaries for Translators: Why You Need Them
Photo Credit: Alex Read via Unsplash This post was originally published on the Ben Translates blog. It is reposted with permission from the author. If you are a translator and you haven’t made your own translation glossaries yet, you need to create one right now. You are not just missing out; you are doing yourself a disservice. The benefits of creating…
The Monterey Institute: A Translator’s Tale
The purpose of this post is to help you answer the question: Is it worth it for me to get a degree in translation? By degree, I mean a formal, one- or two-year academic program that teaches the theory and practice of translation. Clearly, the answer to the question will depend on the individual and their circumstances. To help you…
Translation or Transcreation?
This post was originally published on the Gaucha Translations blog. It is reposted with permission from the author. Whether we provide a translation or a transcreation, at Gaucha Translations we always keep the end users of the translation in mind. Will this document be useful to them? Will it be useful to the people they interact with? Will it cause…
A Must-Attend ATA Conference Event: Buddies Welcome Newbies
Whether it’s your first conference or your fortieth, all attendees to the 60th Annual American Translators Association Conference in Palm Springs, CA are invited to attend “Buddies Welcome Newbies,” a time for first-timers and veterans alike to mix and mingle, breaking the ice and getting to know a familiar face before conference sessions get under way. Why should I attend?…
Networking 101 for Freelancers
Every freelance professional knows the drill. You enter a door to some event space and there’s a desk with name tags on it. “Hi! My name is ________.” You take a black marker and write your name on the small blank canvas. You peel off the nametag and stick it to your shirt. And yes, it will fall off several…
International Translation Day 2019 – A Day in the Life of a Translator or Interpreter
Have you heard? ATA is encouraging translators and interpreters to celebrate International Translation Day (ITD) in a BIG way this year! A United Nations resolution passed in 2017 recognizes ITD as the day to pay tribute to the work of language professionals, and to celebrate this huge step for our profession, ATA is celebrating big time on September 30, 2019.…