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A New Chapter Begins After completing the Spanish-English Translation Certificate Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, I felt proud of my progress but uncertain about my next step. I worked as an in-house medical interpreter and translator at a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital in Boston for nine years. My work taught me to listen closely, think quickly, and communicate with compassion. However, I wanted to build on that experience through medical translation. Soon after graduation, I was selected as one of five recipients of the American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation’s (AFTI) First-Time ATA Conference Attendee Scholarship. The award allowed…
I may be wrong, but scam activities seem to be inversely proportional to the economic cycle. Whenever there is the threat of an economic downturn, there seems to be an uptick in scam activities. At least that’s what I have noticed in my own business and in my capacity as webmaster of the Northern California Translators Association (NCTA). Therefore, I…
This post was originally published on The Translation Guy. It is reposted with permission. Got a Client Who Didn’t Pay You and Now They Won’t Answer Your Emails? What Are Your Options? A few years ago, I was a freelance translator translating mainly from English and Spanish into Portuguese. I quite enjoyed the freedom of working from home (pyjamas) and…
This post is a reblog, originally published on Productivity Stacks. It is republished with permission from the author. Do you often feel like your business is running you instead of the other way around? Do you wonder why you constantly feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day? This is your chance to figure out where your time is…
Odds are you’ve heard the hype around the futuristic artificial intelligence-based tool currently taking the world by storm. But what is it and what can it really do for translators? The answers may surprise you. What is ChatGPT? ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) designed and developed by OpenAI to generate human-like responses to prompts. LLMs are a type…
Title explanation: If a landscape is the land around you, your friendscape is what you see when you look out at your friends, and your clientscape is what you see, as a freelancer, when you look at the array of your clients. Remember, the way we see ourselves is in the mirror of the people around us… if you don’t…
This post was originally published on LION Translation Academy. It is reposted with permission. If you want to break into the premium market, a quality email signature can go a long way (provided that you’re also a terrific translator, of course!). Yet so many translators opt for a generic Hotmail address and an email signature containing nothing more than their…
The Savvy Newcomer team has been taking stock of the past year and finding that one key priority for many freelance translators and interpreters has been diversification. Offering multiple services in different sectors or to different clients can help steady us when storms come. Diversification can help us hedge against hard times. With this in mind, we’ve invited a series…
This post was originally published on Gabriela Kouahla’s LinkedIn timeline. It is reposted with permission. The client reference list of a freelance translator is very important when it comes to potential clients (direct/companies) or job application for a new translation agency. It allows you to provide (another) proof of your experience and also to ensure a potential client or company/agency…
Here are some lesser-known industry conferences with the potential to boost your networking and marketing efforts! Fall: It’s Time for Flagship Industry Events While summer temperatures are still hanging around in many areas of the country, the fall conference season is now in full swing. If you’re like me, the crisp autumnal air and colorful leaves are harbingers for the…
This post is a reblog, originally published in the Tool Box Journal on September 16, 2022. It is republished with permission from the author. Large work projects can be a boon and a bane for a freelance business. It’s exciting to have a large chunk of income to look forward to, but accommodating parallel work volumes from other clients can…