I apologize for all of these nubbins; there’s just too much going on on the web today! If you have any interest in computer security issues, make sure to read Michael Wahlster’s post Secrets on a Postcard, in which he argues (quite persuasively!) that sending confidential documents by standard (unsecure) e-mail is a major security risk for translators and clients alike. I was amazed to read that in over 10 years of offering to send confidential documents by encrypted e-mail, Michael has never had a client take him up on the offer. Check out his post for the full story!
Word clouds of inaugural addresses
Thanks to reader Dierk Seeburg for sending the link to these word clouds that compare Obama’s inaugural speech to those of Bush, Clinton, Reagan and Lincoln. If you haven’t checked out Wordle, it’s a very cool language/art/geek tool that generates a word cloud that gives greater importance to frequently used words in your text. In the inaugural address word clouds, Obama’s most prominent words are “nation” and “new,” Bush’s standalone star word is “freedom,” Clinton’s are “new” and “century,” Reagan’s, by far, is “government,” and Lincoln’s two addresses highlighted “constitution,” “union,” “government,” “people” and “war.” These are worth a look on your coffee break!
Obama on bilingualism
The inauguration of our 44th president promises to bring many changes to the U.S., and there’s reason to hope that better foreign language education will be among them. The statistics on foreign language proficiency in the U.S. are downright dismal; in 2005, the National Association for Bilingual Education reported that half of the European Union’s citizens considered themselves fluent in at least two languages, and nearly 80% of EU high school and college students felt that they could hold a conversation in at least one foreign language. In some EU countries where multiple languages are in common use (for example in Luxembourg and Switzerland), upwards of 90% of citizens consider themselves conversant in at least two languages. By contrast, a mere 9% of Americans considered themselves fluent in a second language as of 2005.
As reported in the Salon.com article One nation, just not speaking English, Obama was asked to comment on high school dropout prevention as well as bilingual education. Obama first decried the misguided English only movement and went on to observe that “Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English…you should be thinking about, how can your child become bilingual? We should have every child speaking more than one language.”
Without injecting too many of my own political views in here, I have to note that this is the first time I’ve ever seen a politician take the “why can’t everyone just speak English?” issue to the next level. Obama’s underlying question of how our own, largely monolingual children will measure up in an increasingly multicultural and multilingual world, is a huge one. Obama clearly has a number of tasks on his plate right now, but once he resolves the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, establishes a national health care system, fixes Medicare and Social Security and stops global climate change, here’s hoping that better foreign language education will get its moment in the spotlight!
Improving the quality of your translations
If one of your goals for 2009 is to market your translation services to a more discriminating client base, you’ll certainly want to step up your marketing efforts. At the same time, it’s important to focus on the quality of the product you’re offering; don’t try to sell a Yugo at Mercedes prices. The latest Fire Ant & Worker Bee column’s first piece of advice on surviving a recession as a freelancer is “Make yourself indispensable,” and a large part of that is giving your clients the type of translation they’ll have a hard time finding elsewhere. (The column I’ve linked to coincidentally includes a link to my blog, but this isn’t a link exchange!) Here are a few suggestions on improving your translation quality, and feel free to add your suggestions in the Comments!
Read industry publications. You don’t have to spend a lot of money or travel great distances to find some excellent continuing education materials. For example, the current issue of Translation Journal includes an article on enhancing translation quality as well as a number of language-specific translation technique articles. The ATA Chronicle (included in your membership dues) also runs articles on translation technique.
Read other translators’ work. Whether on a paid basis (for example as a proofreader) or just for your own education, one of the most practical ways to improve your translations is to read work done by translators who are more experienced, more specialized or more skilled at writing than you are. As long as the materials you’re asking for aren’t confidential and you make it clear that your purpose is self-improvement, I think that many translators would be flattered to be asked for some samples of their best work.
Take a writing or editing class in your target language. Some of the best professional development money I’ve ever spent was on a series of editing classes with Alice Levine. I still enjoy translating much more than I enjoy editing, but these classes showed me that there were concrete things I could do to improve my editing skills. Likewise, there are many people who are excellent translators but who just aren’t very good writers in their target language; look into a local adult education or community college course if you’re in this category.
Take a class that applies to one of your specializations. Some (lucky!) translators come to the profession with significant work experience in a targeted subject area, but most of us are largely self-taught in our specializations. Pursuing some training in your specializations can put you a cut above the “jack of all trades” translator. Your local colleges and universities are great resources for this (consider taking the course on an audit basis if you don’t need/want the credits) or look at online programs. Through places such as the USDA Grad School, you can take online or correspondence courses such as Business Law, Legal Writing (you can even become certified as a paralegal), Principles of Accounting, Audit Report Writing, Intro. to Editing, Hydrology, and more.
Is LinkedIn useful for translators?
Update to this post: Make sure to read the comments for some excellent tips on how to use LinkedIn effectively.
This is just a brief request for input: is LinkedIn useful for translators? I set up a LinkedIn profile last year, around the time I started expanding my base of direct clients. Since then I’ve fleshed out my profile to include this blog, and it’s been fun and interesting to connect with other translators through the site and its groups that I’ve joined. However, I’ve never received a contact from a prospective client via LinkedIn, nor have I seen any translation jobs (regardless of the language) posted on LinkedIn’s job boards. This makes me wonder if I need to use the site in a different way, or if LinkedIn is not the right online gathering place for translators?