Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

Announcements


Corinne McKay

Recording of Jost Zetzsche interview is online!

This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of interviewing translation technology guru Jost Zetzsche during a question and answer conference call. If you missed the live call, you can listen to the recording on the Speaking of Translation website (it streams from the conference call provider, so you don’t need to download anything unless you want to!).  Lots of people submitted great questions for Jost to choose from, and on the recording you’ll hear his answers to:

  • Are TM tool developers paying more attention to the editing process and how to support it?
  • What’s the best terminology management tool for freelancers?
  • Are translation management, content management and machine translation systems becoming more integrated?
  • Does Déjà Vu support terminology blacklists?
  • What is the best quality assurance tool for freelancers?

We also learned that Jost has co-authored (with Nataly Kelly) a new book called “Found in Translation,” which includes 90 stories of how translators and translation affect almost every aspect of our daily lives. It’s forthcoming from a Penguin imprint in the fall and will be available at the ATA conference (can’t wait to get a copy!). Thanks to Jost for so generously donating his time, and if you don’t yet subscribe to his Tool Box technology newsletter for translators, you should!


Corinne McKay

April session of "Getting started as a freelance translator"

The next session of my four-week online course Getting Started as a Freelance Translator starts on Wednesday, April 4. I’ve been teaching this class for about five years, and it covers the basics of launching and running a freelance business. It’s open to translators in any language combination, and lately I’ve also had a number of students who are already professional translators but are “re-launching” their businesses to target different specializations or higher-paying clients. We’ve also started doing 2-3 conference calls throughout the course so that the course participants can get to know each other and ask questions about working as a freelance translator. The course tuition is $250 ($50 discount for ATA members) and includes a copy of my book, How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator.

Here’s a comment from a student in the last session of the course: “Simply put, this is one of the finest resources for any translator. No matter what your specialization is, I guarantee you will take something away from Corinne’s online course. For those just starting, it will instruct and guide. For veterans, it can remind and reaffirm. In either case, you’ll definitely enjoy the experience!”  Hope to see some blog readers there! Registration is open on my website, at this page.


Corinne McKay

Q&A call with Jost Zetzsche

Next Wednesday, the 21st, I’ll be hosting a free question and answer conference call with Jost Zetzsche, the translation industry technology guru! Jost is the author of the ultra-useful Tool Box translation technology newsletter and the popular “Geek Speak” column in the ATA Chronicle.

The call will start at 12:00 noon New York time and will last about half an hour. It’s free, and you can connect by phone (toll call if you pay by the minute for long distance) or by Skype (free). To submit a question for Jost or to view the call connection instructions, please visit the Speaking of Translation website.


Corinne McKay

Free Q&A call with Jost Zetzsche: March 21

Speaking of Translation’s recent Q&A conference call was so much fun (if you missed it, you can listen to a free recording here) that we’ve decided to do another one, this time with translation technology guru Jost Zetzsche. Jost is the author of the widely-read translation technology newsletter The Tool Box, and his book The Translator’s Tool Box: a computer primer for translators is in its ninth edition. Jost also maintains the website Translators Training, which presents “apples to apples” comparison videos of 20 different translation tools.

You can submit a technology question for Jost via our website or via Jost’s Twitter page. Then on Wednesday, March 21 at noon New York time, join us for a free live call where Jost will select and answer some of your questions. So whatever your translation technology dilemma, send it in! For instructions on how to join the free call on March 21, please visit the Speaking of Translation website.


Corinne McKay

Q&A conference call recording

I keep forgetting to post this! On January 25, Eve Bodeux and I (in our incarnation as Speaking of Translation) hosted a free question and answer conference call. We solicited questions from the attendees in advance, then answered them live during the call. We have a free recording of the call on the Listen page of our website, where you can also access the URLs that we talk about during the call. In this call we answered questions about:

  • Software for quality assurance and time tracking
  • Marketing to direct clients using the “free trial offer approach” (this question was answered by our surprise guest, Chris Durban )
  • Finding higher-paying agencies to apply to
  • The future of translation and localization management
  • Time management
  • Choosing and learning to use a translation memory tool

Overall I think that the call went very well and we got some great feedback on it! Feel free to take a listen and let us know what you think.