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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…
Buddies Welcome Newbies at ATA57
by Jamie Hartz If you’re a newbie to the American Translators Association, or to translation or interpreting in general, and you’re thinking of attending the ATA conference in San Francisco this November, then this post is for you – so read on! The Savvy Newcomer Team would like to tell you about an event that was a huge success its…
How to Have a Super First Year in the ATA: Go to Your First ATA Conference
Welcome to the fourth and final article in the series How to Have a Super First Year in the ATA. This time, I’ll be talking about why you should attend your first ATA conference this year, what you can expect and some tips for success. This year’s annual conference, ATA57, will be held in San Francisco, California from November 2-5,…
Quoting a Large Translation Project
By May Fung Danis and Steven Marzuola May Fung Danis and Steven Marzuola each responded to a question about writing a proposal for a large translation project recently on the ATA Business Practices discussion group. We’ve combined our remarks for The Savvy Newcomer blog. First, take a look at the following resources from the ATA: Model translation job contract A…
Anatomy of an ATA Conference
By Jennifer Guernsey Reblogged from the ATA Chronicle (February 2015) with permission from the author After hearing colleagues raise interesting questions regarding ATA’s Annual Conference, I decided it might be helpful to gather and publish information regarding how decisions are made concerning the selection of the conference venue and sessions. David Rumsey, ATA president-elect and conference organizer, kindly agreed…
6 Ways to Foster a Strong Relationship with your Project Manager and Earn More Work
As a freelance translator, some of your projects will come from language service providers (LSPs) as opposed to direct clients. If you attend the ATA Conference, you’ll meet almost as many LSP representatives as fellow translators, looking to hire their next batch of vendors. Many of those representatives will be project managers (PMs). PMs often decide whom to hire for…
German Immersion Strategies for Expatriates and Other Deutsch-Fans
By Marion Rhodes Being aware of linguistic trends is crucial for translators. To avoid language atrophy, those of us who have traded our native home country for a foreign country home need to find ways to continually immerse ourselves in our mother tongue. A German expatriate myself, I have to make a conscious effort to keep up with the evolution…
What is a Certified Translation?
By Caitilin Walsh Reblogged from The ATA Compass blog with permission from the author In the United States a certified translation consists of the following three parts: 1) The source-language (original) text 2) The target-language (translated) text 3) A statement signed by the translator or translation company representative, with his or her signature notarized by a Notary Public, attesting that the…
A Slammin’ Good Time at #ata57
For all our camaraderie, we translators rarely have the opportunity to get a glimpse of each other’s work. But at this year’s ATA conference, two translators will display their efforts for all the world to see. Watch French-to-English translators Jenn Mercer and Andie Ho go head-to-head in a Translation Slam at the American Translators Conference in San Francisco on Saturday,…
5 Pitfalls to Avoid in Your Freelance Translator Web Copy
by David Friedman Imagine you are your own ideal client and you stumble across your translation website. Would you be able to find out everything you need to know from the website quickly and easily? Are the benefits clear enough to answer questions like, “What’s in it for me?” or, “What makes this translator different from all the other translators…
Death by a Thousand Cuts
By Juan Lizama Reblogged from the Oregon Society of Translators and Interpreters blog with permission from the author It is not the complex syntax, long sentences or technical passages that dash the hopes of most candidates seeking to pass the American Translators Association (ATA) certification exam. According to ATA exam graders Holly Mikkelson and Paul Coltrin, it is the many…