Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters


Corinne McKay

Happy Swiss National Day

Although the thought of a traditional bonfire isn’t particularly appealing when it’s supposed to be 98 degrees, Joyeux Premier Août to all the Swiss out there! As an honorary Swiss (being the wife, daughter-in-law and now mother of Swiss citizens!), one of the things I love about Switzerland is how old everything is, as when people talk about their “old” houses having been built in the 1600s rather than in 1945. The first of August, Switzerland’s National Day is similar; it was first mentioned in the Swiss Federal Charter written in 1291.

This month’s issue of Swiss Review featured photos of Swiss people celebrating National Day throughout the world, with lots of red and white. If you’re lucky enough to be celebrating in Switzerland, enjoy it!


Corinne McKay

How to do an acceptable job on a rush job

First, note that the title of this post is not “How to do a good job on a rush job,” because often the two concepts are mutually exclusive. Realistically, no translator does her/his best work under extreme time pressure, but the nature of the industry is such that deadlines are often tight. So, when a good client calls with a rush job, how do you ensure that your output is as good as it can be?

  • Understand the difference between a rush deadline and an impossible deadline. Everyone has a different definition of this, but to me, 4,000 words in a day is rush while 1,500 words in an hour is impossible. 15,000 words in a week is rush, but 10,000 words in two days is impossible, and I categorically refuse impossible deadlines.
  • Make sure the client understands that rush work is not going to be your best work. I think that using terms like “draft quality” or “for informational use” is a good idea; help the client understand that publication-ready work requires a reasonable deadline and several rounds of proofing.
  • Turn off the distractions. The home phone, your personal e-mail and your feed reader will detract even more from the quality of your work. Disable them until after the rush job is done.
  • Quickly review the document. There is nothing worse than churning out 1,500 words in two hours, only to find out that the last five pages of the document are a translation of the first five, or that there is an existing translation of what you just raced to translate.
  • Do some sort of quality assurance. Proofreading on paper, extensive terminology research and other steps that are crucial to the quality of a non-rush translation often have to be severely compressed for a rush job. However, it’s important to do some rudimentary quality assurance. At a minimum, look over the translation for any spelling errors that the spell-checker has marked (so that you don’t return the client’s annaul report or arcitles of incorporation) and then make sure that all of the parts of the document are there. For example, at least make sure that your translation includes the correct number of bullet points in a list, or the correct number of subheadings under each heading.

    • There’s no question that rush work can be stressful and does not produce the kind of result that most translators like to return. However, following these steps (and feel free to submit your own in the Comments!) can help increase the chances that you will do acceptable rush work.


Corinne McKay

Think like the clients you wish you had

Amybeth Hale, a Sourcing Strategist (one of those jobs your high school guidance counselor didn’t know existed!) who writes the blog Research Goddess, offers some excellent advice in her post Where do I go to find people?. We translators could replace “people” with “clients” and her advice is directly applicable to our businesses.

Amybeth comments that one of the most frequent questions she is asked by other recruiters and sourcing specialists is “Where do I go to find people in [insert industry]?” I think that the same is true of translators who would like to build up their base of direct clients; translators have a specific type of client in mind, but don’t know where to find that client. For translators, I think that Amybeth’s best piece of advice is to “Think like the person you’re looking for,” and avoid the large and often overused Internet marketplaces.

If you advertise your services on a large Internet portal for translators, you’re competing with many, many other translators, and a lot of those people probably charge less that you’re worth. A company that posts a translation job online is likely to be overwhelmed with responses. However, if you go to a trade show for companies that work in your target industry, you may be the only translator there. If you join and contribute to a discussion list for people who work in your target industry, ditto: you’re suddenly the expert, because no other translators are posting to that group.

So, think like the clients you want. If you worked for a (boutique hotel, law firm, advertising agency, pharmaceutical company, international aid project, financial services firm) and you needed a translator or information about translation, where would you go for information? Then go there! Be waiting to inform your potential clients about your services and the majority of your marketing work is done.


Corinne McKay

Finding the time

Time management is an aspect of freelancing that many people struggle with. In one sense, a freelancer’s time belongs to her or him, which is a beautiful thing. Rather than the métro, boulot, dodo (an expression too expressive to be translated!) life of the office worker, a freelancer can make the 10-step commute from the bedroom to the office at 6AM, 10AM, noon or later and then work until the work is done, scheduling shopping, cooking, exercising or socializing as time allows.

At the same time, the amorphous structure of a freelancer’s work day has its disadvantages. An office worker has an external incentive (let’s call it “the boss”) to get to work on time, put in an eight, nine or ten hour day and produce results. In addition, an office worker doesn’t have to explain why he or she can’t drop a friend’s dog off at the vet or let the neighbor’s plumber in, because the office worker has a strict boundary between home and office.

I think that there are a number of good productivity strategies that home-based translators can apply. A few of my favorites are:
-Use a prioritized to-do list or a day planner. When you’re translating away and suddenly remember that you need to check on overdue invoices, pay your credit card bill or buy printer paper, don’t stop what you’re doing to perform that task. Instead, write the task on your list or in your planner, and do all of the small tasks at once during a work break.
-Realize that it’s acceptable to be “at work” even though you’re at home. Answer the home phone line sparingly; warn house guests that you will be working while they’re visiting; don’t feel obligated to be the person who’s always free during the day just because you work at home.
-Do the “have to” tasks before the “want to” tasks. On your to-do list, list the tasks that must be done that day first; don’t let yourself fiddle around with your website when you should be doing your payroll taxes.
-Give yourself a time frame for non-work tasks. One of the things I really enjoy about freelancing is the ability to do things like banking, grocery shopping or getting the car’s oil changed at off-peak times, but I make sure to give these errands a defined amount of time so that they don’t eat the day up.
-Acknowledge that sometimes, staring at the computer screen isn’t the best way to get the job done. Especially if you’re at the computer for most of the work day, consider an “exercise desk” where you can work while on a treadmill or stationary bike, or make an hour of outdoor exercise part of your work day.

Also, I think that productive people are sometimes defined more by what they don’t do rather than what they do. For example, our household doesn’t have broadcast TV and we watch one or two movies per month on DVD. If you watch a couple of Netflix movies a week, you could probably start a blog, write a book or market your translation work to better-paying clients in the same amount of time you spend watching movies. However, our household also considers nightly home-cooked meals to be an essential component of our day. We spend a fair amount of time growing, shopping for and preparing food, but we feel it’s an overall benefit to our quality of life. A big part of increasing your productivity is prioritizing the activities that are important to you and eliminating those that aren’t. As the summer winds down, it’s a good time to think about your goals for the upcoming months and how you can achieve them efficiently!