Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters


Corinne McKay

Beyond the Basics of Freelancing: starts August 22

The next session of my online course Beyond the Basics of Freelancing starts August 22 and is filling up. This is a four-week, fully online course for experienced translators who want to earn more money, work with high-quality agencies and direct clients, develop better marketing materials and enjoy their work more. A past student in this class commented:

I took a four-week online course called Beyond the Basics of Freelancing, developed and taught by Corinne. Though I was more or less satisfied with my business, it had plateaued and I wasn’t sure how to up my game. Corinne’s class was exactly what I needed. She asked questions that forced me to focus on the most important aspects of my business and acted as a sounding board for marketing ideas. I especially appreciated that the class included ample opportunity to ask specific questions about nearly anything. I learned a great deal from Corinne and from the other students and came away from the class with a concrete plan and timeline for the next 6-12 months to take my business to the next level.

Registration is $355 ($340 for ATA members) and includes 12 video lessons, eight live question and answer sessions, 20 daily tasks, individual feedback from me on four assignments, and a private Google Group for participants in the class. If you’d like to join the August session, visit my website to fill out the application form.


Corinne McKay

Involuntary Windows 10 upgrade: survivable but aggravating

My primary work computer (a Lenovo ThinkPad T440 that I bought about two years ago) has been running Windows 8.1 since I purchased it. Like everyone else running Windows 7 or 8, I’ve been receiving periodic and increasingly frequent popups to “schedule my free Windows 10 upgrade.” I declined those notifications, simply because my plan was to budget for a new computer in 2017, purchase it with Windows 10 installed, and then upgrade several other pieces of software at the same time. Specifically, I still use Office 2010, and I was concerned that the Windows 10 upgrade might not work well with it. However, as far as I could tell, there was no “don’t show me this again” option on the Windows 10 upgrade popup, so I just closed each one as it came up.

Flash forward to Monday (two days ago); I was talking on Skype while turned away from my computer and looking out the window. So I can’t say what happened at the critical moment, but my Skype call suddenly dropped, which of course prompted me to look at the computer screen. And…the Windows 10 upgrade had begun. So I’m not sure if I hit the trackpad with my elbow, or if the upgrade actually launched on its own, or something else; but the point being, there it went, and as far as I could tell, there was no way to cancel or pause it.

After spending a minute or two freaking out (I also had a large translation due Monday night and still needed to finish it), I decided to just run some errands, make some phone calls and get some coffee and try to stop freaking out. In the end, the upgrade took about an hour and a half, but the outcome has been largely fine (other than being up until 11:30 proofreading the translation mentioned above…). All of my software and settings transferred normally to Windows 10, and as far as I can tell, the only blips are:

  • The preview function doesn’t work in Office 2010; so for example when you’re attaching a file to an e-mail, you can’t preview it in the file selection pane
  • You have to reassign the preferred application for some functions (i.e. always open PDF attachments with Adobe Reader, make Firefox my default browser, etc.)

Aside from that, everything seems OK; I have Trados Studio 2014 SP2, and it’s working fine. A few thoughts on this whole drama:

  • The worst part was the unexpected nature of the upgrade and the two hours of lost work time; had I been on an important call with a client, or presenting a webinar, or on a really tight deadline, that element alone could have been a disaster. If you have a Windows 7 or 8 computer, I would recommend doing one of two things: either schedule the Windows 10 upgrade for a time when you are not working (for example run it on Friday evening so that you have the weekend to clean up any messes), or install a plugin like Never10 that permanently disables the upgrade notifications (thanks to Colorado Translators Association member Karen Williams for that tip!).
  • The other question is how long the free Windows 10 upgrade period will last and what happens after it ends. No clear answers there.
  • And as always, make sure that everything on your computer is fully backed up at all times, in case this, or another unexpected IT event, occurs. I use and love SugarSync (not an affiliate deal) because it keeps my designated folders backed up with no action on my part, but just make sure that you’re doing something bombproof to keep your files backed up.
  • Have a disaster recovery plan, at least in your head. As I watched the Windows 10 upgrade roll and thought about my imminent deadline, I also thought, “What am I going to do if the machine doesn’t come back up, or if my old software doesn’t work?” Since everything in the My Documents folder is synced to my cloud storage, the solution would be to immediately to buy another laptop and download My Documents onto it; expensive and stressful, but it would have worked, and worked much better than restarting the 10,000 word translation.

Readers, any other thoughts on this?


Corinne McKay

Summer-fall online courses: open for registration

My summer-fall online courses are now open for registration on my website. All of the recent sessions of these classes have filled up with a waiting list; so it’s not too early to sign up, even if the class you’re interested in is a few months in the future.

I currently offer four online courses; each runs for four weeks and includes four sets of video lessons, individual feedback on four assignments, four sets of weekly readings and podcasts, eight live question and answer sessions and a private Google Group for class participants. Registration is $355, with a $15 discount for ATA members. You can choose from:

Following are some comments from participants in recent sessions of these classes. Thanks and I hope to see some of you there!

“Exactly what I was looking for. Corinne will answer pretty much any question one might ask. Her feedback is thorough and very perceptive. It’s not just “good job” but why something is good and why something is not, and what you can do to improve it. I also loved the flexibility of the class, as I ended up having two very busy weeks during that time. Everything is recorded and, even if it is advisable to do everything according to schedule, you can go at your own pace. I now have a notebook filled with useful notes, objectives pinned on my wall and a strategy to attract direct clients I am now confident in.”

“One always learns from Corinne’s experience. She’s an outstanding instructor because she empowers her students so that they can approach their freelance business more effectively while feeling more confident. Corinne’s courses are a must for translators/language professionals/freelancers. I’d take one of her courses every year.”

“I found the course to be extremely helpful, both through the wealth of information conveyed and Corinne’s positivity. At the end of the course, I now have the confidence and knowledge to market to direct clients.”

“I don’t know why I waited so long to take this course. Corinne’s experience and feedback have proven to be an invaluable tool for my freelance career and I would recommend it to anyone, not only to those who are just starting, but also those of you who have been in this for a little while, but want to become more focused and effective in the way you run your business.”

“I learned so much about the translation industry and general business practices and the personal feedback from Corinne was absolutely priceless. I would highly recommend this course and I will take another class from Corinne in the future.”

“I am very pleased to have taken Corinne’s “Getting Started as a Freelance Translator” course. It was a real eye-opener. The course was very well organized, pretty much every aspect of the business was dealt with adequately, Corinne’s homework corrections were very helpful and the conference calls were also quite informative. I know I can do this now! Thank you so much for everything.”


Corinne McKay

Maybe you need a co-working office?

Everything “co” seems to be hot these days (co-living, car sharing, and so on), and after working in a “co” office for three years, I thought I’d share some thoughts and tips.

About three years ago, after 10 years of working from home, I hit the wall. My daughter (the main reason I started working from home in the first place) had started middle school, many of my friends who used to work part-time or not at all had gone back to full-time work, and I was unhappy and not getting a lot done during the day. Go out into the kitchen to get a drink of water…only to be confronted by a heap of dirty dishes. Get an e-mail asking if I could chaperone the school field trip…and end up feeling guilty about having to work instead. So, I decided that the problem wasn’t working from home, it was me plus working from home, so something had to change.

Three years in, my three-word summary is: I love it. I really don’t plan to ever work from home again on a permanent basis, although I do work primarily from home in the summers when my daughter is out of school. My income has gone up a lot; I gave myself a parameter that I had to make up the office rent in increased income and I exceed that goal, and I find that I’m much more able to focus on work when I’m at work. I’m much happier with my work situation, and I also find that when I get home, I’m much more able to focus on things other than work, which I had a very hard time doing before.

For my first two and a half years of co-working, I worked in an office in a historic school building, where the other co-workers were mostly middle-aged word nerds. When that office closed, I moved to a new office which has more of a tech/startup vibe and I’m one of the oldest people there, but I like both offices in their own way. At the first office I paid $350 a month and at the new office I pay $330, which includes my own desk, coffee, meeting space, etc. I leave my large monitor, full-size keyboard, etc. at the office and carry my laptop back and forth on my bike. The office also has a printer, copier, etc. so I’m pretty much set in terms of office equipment.

The only main caveat I would give is that working in a co-working office requires either a fairly high ambient noise tolerance or a willingness to wear headphones a lot (I alternate between the two). People are on the phone, or chatting, or whatever…there just always seems to be some kind of conversation going on. I find that kind of enjoyable, but it’s something to think about.

I’ve also heard from readers who want to try co-working but can’t find an office near them. The easiest option would be to just DIY: go work from a cafe or the library when you need to get out of the house. Another interesting option would be to form some kind of co-working club: get a couple of freelancers (or 20 freelancers…whatever!) together and meet up to work together. One day a week, or one day a month, or whenever you want; meet at the library or a cafe, or someone’s house, or a space like a church basement that you could use inexpensively.

Also, don’t discount the option of co-working on the road. Last summer my daughter did a day camp in Denver, which is about a 40 minute drive from our house. I couldn’t get excited about the idea of either doing two round trips a day, or camping out in a cafe for 7 hours, so I rented a desk for a week at Creative Density, a really fun co-working space in Denver (and they separate their rooms by noise level…yay!). So that’s an interesting option too!


Corinne McKay

Ask Me Anything call recording

If you missed Wednesday’s inaugural Ask Me Anything call, here’s the recording:

That link will allow you to stream or download the recording. Topics covered include:
-Minimum charges and when to apply them
-How much I earn per year, and how to break into six-figure income (as the person who submitted this question commented, “You said we could ask ANYTHING”…fair enough!)
-Marketing tips for complete beginner translators
-Whether direct clients want to work with an individual, a team or a company
-When an agency asks you to review and respond to the editor’s changes
-Finding and vetting agency clients
-Tips for staying focused during the work day

Overall, I think this beta test went well, so let me know if you have any ideas for future AMA calls; the sound quality on this one is not outstanding (my land line), but I will try to work on that for future calls. As I mentioned initially, this is not a sales pitch for anything; just Q&A about our industry!