The Savvy Newcomer aims to serve newcomers to the translation and interpreting professions by publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed content on a weekly basis. We strive to provide you with the answers to the many questions you face as a new or aspiring translator or interpreter.
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform industries, many translators and interpreters are asking themselves: Is there still a place for me? The answer is a resounding yes, but it comes with an important caveat. The future of translation and interpretation belongs to those who can do what machines cannot, that is, bring cultural competence, empathy, and context to language. At least, thus far. Cultural competence has always been at the heart of effective communication. It enables professionals to interpret meaning beyond words, including humor, idioms, tone, and intention within specific cultural frameworks. While AI can process vast amounts of…
Finding good translators
By Kevin Lossner Partly reblogged from Translation Tribulations with permission from the author Over the past decade I’ve spent many hundreds of hours helping clients and colleagues find suitable translators to collaborate on their projects, mostly involving German and English, but occasionally venturing into other languages such as French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese or even Vietnamese and Sinhalese. Unfortunately, it can be…
People Do Business with People They Know, Like, and Trust
by Jamie Hartz One of my more menial but surprisingly rewarding jobs during college was working at a Chick-fil-A. This came in handy recently when I had to translate a 20,000-word catalog of industrial kitchen equipment, most of which I would have never laid eyes on had it not been for the many hours I spent chatting in the “back…
How (Not) to Be a Professional Translator and 6 Tips to Help You Become One
By Alina Cincan Reblogged from Inbox Translation blog with permission from the author A professional translator’s job is not as easy as it looks. A bilingual dictionary, the internet and a working knowledge of the source and target languages are not sufficient to become a self-styled professional. Depending on the speciality area, an aspiring translator needs several hundred hours of practice, subsequent certification…
Don’t Just Sit and Pitch: What I’ve Learned as a Translator-Turned-Salesman
Over the past few months I’ve learned more about translations, the people who need them, and good customer service than I ever thought I would—all without translating a single word. In May, I joined Multilingual Connections, a translation and transcription company based near Chicago, as their customer relations manager. In the office, we have debates over what words really mean…
Following up after the ATA conference—How to ensure your efforts and expenses don’t go to waste!
by Jamie Hartz Follow up and follow through Within two weeks Review your notes from the conference sessions and networking events. Make a to-do list of people to follow up with, and save all the business cards you collected. You can upload them to an electronic contact file, but be sure to save the business cards too in case you…
How to Get the Most Out of the Buddies Welcome Newbies Program at the ATA Conference
by Helen Eby This post contains some of the information we provide in a presentation for the Buddies Welcome Newbies program we hold the day before the conference (Wednesday). Our goal is to help you think about how to prepare for the conference. We hope these tips will serve you well at other networking events too. Why did we start…
How to prepare for the ATA conference
What sessions should I go to? What should I do to prepare? How can I find what I’m looking for? What should I even be looking for? A few days ago, one of my newbies sent me a list of great questions about preparing for the ATA conference. After writing down my answers, I started to wonder if these thoughts…
3 Ways to Enhance Your Medical Interpreter Training Experience
By Erin Rosales Reblogged from Connecting Cultures with permission from the author (incl. the image) You finally did it! After months of consideration and endless prodding from family, friends, and even that guy at the supermarket, you finally enrolled in an interpreter training program. Woo hoo! Your course work will prepare you to interpret in the medical field, but there will…
The Savvy Social Media User—Twitter Handle & Sharing Frequency
By Catherine Christaki and David Friedman Here at The Savvy Newcomer, we often get questions from our blog readers about social media and blogging. We would like to share some answers and advice concerning some of these questions below and also to encourage you to email us your questions anytime. Our topic of discussion today is social media, and more…
Collaborating with Other Translators
Lund Translation Team by David Friedman I wanted to find a way to collaborate closely with other translators ever since the early days of my translation career, because I thought it would open up more opportunities and would be more fun than going it alone. This is the reason I have experimented with different forms of collaboration, strategies, methods and…