I'll be honest; I love self-evaluation tools. When I presented a seminar on "Beyond the Basics of Freelancing" for the Northern California Translators Association last summer, I decided to create a self-evaluation tool for the attendees and we also used this checklist at a meeting of the Colorado … [Read more...] about A freelance best practices checklist
Translating official documents
Over the years, I've observed that many translators are somewhere between lukewarm and downright scornful of translating individual clients' official documents: birth certificates, educational transcripts, diplomas, drivers' licenses, you get the picture. I think that a lot of experienced … [Read more...] about Translating official documents
Maybe it's not all about the design
I need to update the look of my website and marketing materials; it's a task I really struggle with because I'm just not a very visual person. Read me a sentence and I can tell you right away if I like it or not, but show me an array of colors, shapes and layouts and I'm paralyzed. After listening … [Read more...] about Maybe it's not all about the design
When to throw in the towel on a task
At the end of 2008, I wrote a post about post about outsourcing that generated quite a bit of interest, so I thought it was worth raising this topic again. After years of battling with my business payroll taxes (I have an S-Corp and thus have to file quarterly payroll taxes and a separate year-end … [Read more...] about When to throw in the towel on a task
Planning a successful event for translators
Over the weekend, the Colorado Translators Association held our annual "holiday" party (which we always have in January, hence the quotation marks). We're an association of about 100 members and we typically have about 40 attendees at this party, which seems to prove either that translators really … [Read more...] about Planning a successful event for translators