Early in my freelance career, I failed two translation tests in a row for two different agencies. Both of these tests were marketing/PR-type pieces, and the agencies' comments went something like this: Agency 1: "Your translation was too faithful to the original. The French text was not very well … [Read more...] about "We just translate"…or do we?
Constructive things to do if you're afraid of a work slowdown
So far, the language services industry seems to be holding up well in the ailing economy. Although I haven't had as many inquiries from clients in the past three months, the size of my projects lately has been larger than usual; I finished 26,000 words this week and will start another large project … [Read more...] about Constructive things to do if you're afraid of a work slowdown
Treadmill desk makeover
After a number of months of using a treadmill desk, I've decided it's a keeper. There are definitely some things (namely proofreading) that I can't do while on it, and I generally alternate between walking for an hour and sitting for an hour during the day. Still, I find the treadmill desk to be … [Read more...] about Treadmill desk makeover
A great blog about OpenOffice.org
If you use OpenOffice.org, click on over to Solveig Haugland's blog OpenOffice.org Training, Tips and Ideas. She's the author of the OpenOffice.org 2.0 guidebook and her blog is full of tutorials on OO.o's features. I use OO.o almost exclusively and really enjoy it, but some features that I used to … [Read more...] about A great blog about OpenOffice.org
The best and worst of working from home
This fall marks my six year freelance-iversary, and I've been thinking about the pluses and minuses of the past six years in order to plan for the future. Before becoming a translator, I was a high school French teacher, which is about as far from the home office environment as one can get (think … [Read more...] about The best and worst of working from home