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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…
Reading the small print
By Jo Rourke Reblogged from Silver Tongue Translations blog with permission from the author (including the images) I’m not entirely sure what happened. I’m usually pretty pernickety on details so I don’t know how it all got past me. Nevertheless, I am now the proud owner of an almost entirely redundant freephone business number, along with a phone and internet bill which will, over…
The ATA Mentoring Program through the eyes of a mentor-mentee pair
With the deadline to apply for the ATA Mentoring Program for 2015 fast approaching this week—March 7, to be more precise—we thought this would be a great opportunity to showcase this hidden gem available to ATA members. But instead of providing a scholarly piece singing the wonders of this program, we found a mentor-mentee pair who was willing to share…
The Ins and Outs of Term Validation
By Patricia Brenes Reblogged from In My Own Terms with permission from the author (including the images) Every step in term processing during the preparation of glossaries or updating of termbases is important, but probably the one that will save you the most time is term validation. How and when it’s done is key to achieve cost-effective/efficient validation. What is term validation?…
Universitat Pompeu Fabra: A Day in the Life
By Carmen Salomón Hernández I finished my high school degree, including the International Baccalaureate Diploma in 2011 and decided to study Translation and Interpreting (T&I) because I love languages and reading, and through Latin and Greek, I learned to love translation itself. The lessons consisted mostly of epics and poetry texts. These two subjects taught me to be patient and…
Do you know your ideal customer? Creating a customer avatar for your freelance translation business
By Tess Whitty Reblogged from Marketing Tips for Translators with permission from the author (including the image) The other week I interviewed Alessandra Martelli on creating a marketing personas or customer avatars, and I wanted to write a bit more about it here, since it is very important to know as much as possible about your ideal client. When you think about…
Go National or Stay Local?
by Giovanna Lester in collaboration with The Savvy Newcomer Team Full disclosure: I am one of the co-founders and currently the president of the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Florida (ATIF), an ATA Chapter. I am also a teacher, a mother and a grandmother. I am starting to see a pattern… Joining a professional organization is an investment in…
Social Media Strategies
By Catherine Christaki Reblogged from Carol’s Adventures in Translation with permission from the authors In order to get the most out of social media, you must develop an ever-expanding network. How do you do that? Who should you follow on Twitter and connect with on LinkedIn? The people I follow and connect with on a daily basis on Twitter and LinkedIn are…
How to Make the Most of Your Last Year at University? 7 Essential Steps for Translation Students
By Marta Stelmaszak My last year at university as a translation student was a blast. I was thrilled to see how the quality of my translations has improved over the years, my head was full of translation theory knowledge and I was excited to be thinking about developing my future career. But I was also a bit, just a bit anxious…
MIIS: A Day in the Life
By Erin Teske My first glimpse of what it would be like to be a student at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, formerly the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), came when I received the results of my Early Diagnostic Test (EDT), which is an essential part of the application process. The Spanish program coordinator suggested that I…
A tour of celebrations around the world through different time zones!
By The Savvy Newcomer Team and Friends The Savvy Newcomer is read in many countries, by translators and interpreters who work in many languages. As we consider Christmas and New Year around the world, we decided to explore some of those cultures by asking some of our translator and interpreter colleagues to take us on a selected world tour and…