The Savvy Linguist serves a worldwide community of translators and interpreters who are looking for practical solutions to everyday problems, ideas for growing their business, and support as they achieve their career goals. With high-quality, peer-reviewed content, you will find the answers to the questions you face as an innovative language professional.
We have published the ATA Savvy Newcomer since 2013 and ATA Next Level since 2021. Each blog has made unique and helpful contributions to our members. Savvy Newcomer was founded to help translators avoid the “school of hard knocks” that many of us went through. It has been helpful to new and experienced translators alike as we published articles on a variety of topics. Over the years, the blog team found that newcomers to the profession, our intended audience, were not necessarily a large majority of our readers. We were reaching a worldwide community of translators and interpreters who were…
Eight Unusual Tips for Newcomers
By Steven Marzuola & The Savvy Newcomer As you might already know, online groups are an excellent source for discussing the everyday challenges we face as professionals. One such group in LinkedIn recently sparked a great conversation, and one of its contributors, Steven Marzuola, offered excellent – and often unspoken – tips for aspiring translators and interpreters. In today’s post…
Tips for an Interpreter-Friendly Presentation
By Ewandro Magalhães Featured article from The ATA Chronicle, originally published in August 2012 As much as we hate to admit it, interpreters make mistakes. Yet, holding interpreters solely responsible for successful communication and betting on their infallibility is a utopian dream. Ultimately, speakers should be equally accountable for the clarity and translatability of the ideas and words that make…
Helen’s summer reading topic: Spanish linguistics
By Helen Eby I plan to teach a class on the formal aspects of Spanish for Hispanics who speak Spanish well and have a solid level of literacy in English and Spanish. I started thinking of this when I taught my first Medical Interpreter training program here in Oregon starting in January of this year. There is a significant number…
University of Massachusetts Amherst: A Day in the Life
By Jocelyn Langer The simple New England elegance of Amherst and the plain grey concrete walls of Herter Hall do not at first glance hint at the diversity of language and culture represented within the Translation program at the University of Massachusetts. A scientific look at the geology of the Connecticut River Valley, however, shows traces of its graceful mountains’…
Ten Things You Must Never Do to Your Colleagues
By Maria Cristina de la Vega Reblogged from the NAJIT Blog with permission Do not give advice freely, even if you think it would be helpful, unless you are specifically asked for it. It is far better to just lend an ear. Most people just need a sounding board to express their thoughts and come to a decision about events in their…
From ATA’s Divisions: The German Language Division
By Arnold Winter As a German-to-English translator, it was a “no brainer” for me to join the ATA’s German Language Division at the start of my career in translation almost ten years ago. While joining the ATA and putting up my profile online resulted in being contacted out of the blue by my first paying client, the GLD is where…
What direct clients want: From a Marketing Director’s perspective
By Daniela Guanipa A lot has been said about the complexities of setting up shop as freelancers and whether to work with agencies or direct clients. If you have set out to find direct clients, you have probably invested a lot of time and effort specializing in a certain niche and researching your potential clients. Most likely, you have focused on…
Century College Translating and Interpreting Certificate/AA: A Day in the Life
By Kristen Mages If you fall into the vast majority of the population, you may never have heard of Century College in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. I hadn’t either until I recently moved back to the Twin Cities and was looking into options for studying interpretation as a career. That’s when I stumbled upon Century College’s Translating and Interpreting (TRIN)…
Technology Considerations for Beginning Translators
By Tommy Tomolonis Translators are expected to fulfill many roles in today’s market. In addition to being linguistic experts, translators are also expected to be experts in business, marketing, and, of course, technology, just to name a few. This can be a daunting task, but below are some technology tips and considerations for newcomers to the translation field. The first…
Direct clients… the freelancer’s dream
By Helen Eby We all want to work with direct clients… or say we do. Why? I have heard many translators wish they could connect with direct clients in a “the grass is always greener” kind of way. I like working with direct clients, and such work comes with its own set of joys and challenges. However, it is a…