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As language professionals, we have a duty to keep up with training and education in our languages and specializations; with technology, legislation, and other developments important to our field; and with other people, both colleagues and clients. Attending a professional conference is a great way to manage all of these obligations. But conferences, by their very nature, can be big, overwhelming, and difficult to navigate. Simply showing up and hoping for the best is a recipe for exhaustion, failure, and wasting all the money we invested to be there. To really make the most of the conference experience, it helps…
This post was originally published on Polka Dot Translations. It is reposted with permission. Last Friday marked one year since I was in a serious bicycle accident. That evening, I left home to go for a Zumba class only to return nine days later, with a massive, painful wound on my belly and a piece of small intestine missing. Dangerous…
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…