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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…
Linguist in the Spotlight: An Interview with Corinne McKay
This fourth installment of our “Linguist in the Spotlight” interview series features Corinne McKay, French-to-English translator and current president of the American Translators Association (ATA). If Corinne’s name is familiar, it may be thanks not only to her visible role in the ATA, but to the fact that she is a regular contributor to The Savvy Newcomer and also the…
Dear Savvy: I Want to Work in Culinary Translation
Recently, our inbox has seen a number of thoughtful questions from readers. In lieu of shipping off worthy advice to lone recipients, we decided these exchanges could benefit a broader audience. Without further ado, we are pleased to inaugurate our new question-and-answer series à la “Dear Abby,” titled “Dear Savvy” (get it?). Our first reader question is on how to…
Transitioning from Student to Freelance Translator
Reblogged from the SDL Trados blog, incl. the image, with permission from the author In November this year at ATA’s 57th Annual Conference in San Francisco, Meghan McCallum and Sarah Puchner, both French to English translators, co-presented a session on “Transitioning from Student to Translator: Strategies for Success.” After the conference we reached out to Meghan to discuss this topic…
Year-one Chronicle: My First Twelve Months as a Professional Translator
A few days before Christmas I got a thick, imposing envelope in the mail from the Washington State Department of Revenue. “ACTION REQUIRED: Business Tax Return due January 31” it shouted in bold, red font across the front. Yikes! What have I gotten myself into? Inauspicious beginnings Two years ago, I didn’t even know that document translation was a real…
ATA’s First Virtual Conference Has Arrived
Did you miss out on ATA’s 58th Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.? Or maybe you attended but weren’t able to make it to as many sessions you would have liked. Don’t fear! The ATA Virtual Conference is here. What is the Virtual Conference? The Virtual Conference is a collection of 49 sessions given at ATA58 in Washington, D.C. There are…
Linguist in the Spotlight: An Interview with Frieda Ruppaner-Lind
English-to-German and German-to-English translator Frieda Ruppaner-Lind is among those intrepid linguists who count their experience not in years, but decades: in her case, three of them. Indeed, translation has existed for at least as long as the Rosetta Stone, but few would disagree that the act of translating itself has never changed more than it has over the past few…
The Greatest Challenge Facing Translators
Reblogged from Academic Language Experts blog, with permission from the author A friend, wishing to polish his translation skills, recently asked me the following question: “if you had to give one tip to a new translator, what would it be?” Without hesitation I answered “avoid literalisms.” As editor of Academic Language Experts this is the most frequent issue I encounter…
Email Best Practices: How Not to End Up in the Recycle Bin
It’s bound to happen sooner or later in our careers. That moment when someone thinks you have enough seniority and may be interested in subcontracting. Or your email address somehow ends up on a mass-distribution list. Or you just become the target of scammers. Whatever the case may be, a message like the one below pops up in your inbox: Complete…
New Directory of Translation/Interpreting Studies
Reposting with permission from ATA HQ The future of our profession lies in the education we provide today. ATA has partnered with The Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) to develop an online international database of education and training programs. The Directory will be an invaluable resource to students searching for programs in translation, CAT tools, interpreting, localization, project management, computational…
Tablets for Interpreters: The Device You Didn’t Know You Wanted
Reblogged from The ATA Chronicle with permission by the authors (incl. the images) Just as increases in laptop storage and processing capacity led to the replacement of desktop computers, advances in tablet technology make it possible for users to streamline even more. The latest tablets offer a host of streamlined tools for interpreters, even in high-stakes settings like court and conference interpreting.…