Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

Announcements


Corinne McKay

Happy International Translation Day

Today is International Translation Day, and this year’s theme (as selected by FIT, the International Federation of Translators) is Translation: Bridging Cultures. Past ATA President Jiri Stejskal wrote a lovely text for the FIT website; here’s an excerpt:

The professional translators, interpreters and terminologists represented by FIT member associations build bridges between cultures and facilitate communication that creates prosperity and cultural enrichment. They are brokers of peace and mutual understanding. They open national literatures to the world. They make international assistance in disaster areas possible. They are the voice of politicians, religious and intellectual leaders, and all other people who influence our daily lives. They are gatekeepers of information. They are cultural ambassadors. They are absolutely indispensable

Beautiful, and true! Happy International Translation Day to everyone, however you plan to celebrate it!


Corinne McKay

ProZ podcast interview

Romina Bona of ProZ prepared a very nice podcast interview with me and it’s online today. The interview talks a bit about the new edition of my book and also includes some of my tips for beginning freelancers, based on my experiences starting my own freelance business. Thanks to Romina for these great questions; the interview was a lot of fun!

A bit about ProZ, since one reader asked if I am now working for them. No; I don’t have any financial ties to ProZ and whenever they raffle off my books, they are books that I’ve donated at my own expense. I’ll be the first to say that the job boards on auction-style sites are often a grim place; just the thought of people translating for 2 cents a word makes me sad. In addition, I don’t support ProZ’s policy of prohibiting people from posting links to their own websites in the ProZ forums; I think this is counterproductive as long as the person is not a spammer.

However, I want to put it out there that in terms of the free information they offer and the professionalism of their staff, I have found ProZ to be outstanding. For example, I translate a lot of official documents for African immigrants. These certificates often contain wording that is specific to those countries (Senegal, Mauritania, etc.) and is really hard to find in standard French terminology sources. However, ProZ’s terminology forums are a gold mine for this kind of thing, because they attract users from all over the world. Absolutely, you need to be a savvy user of any user-generated content. There’s a lot of noise in those forums, but they have also saved me many times when I’ve found a submission from (for example) an attorney in Burkina Faso for just the term I need.

Also, ProZ’s staff (at least everyone I’ve dealt with) is awesome. Totally professional, efficient and smart! So that’s my $0.02 on ProZ; enjoy the podcast!


Corinne McKay

A few random updates

Thoughts on Translation is winding down for vacation, and will be on hiatus until mid-July. A few updates on previously-mentioned issues:

  • Back in March I wrote a post about options for home office phone service. I switched my office line to Vonage Lite (since discontinued by Vonage and repackaged as the US and Canada 300 plan) and I’m quite happy with it. The sound quality is good, my office line now has its own voicemail, I can forward my office calls to another number and I’ve had no outages. The only issues I’ve discovered are that for reasons unknown, the Vonage line cuts in and out if my land line rings while I am talking on the Vonage line, and the Vonage line’s voicemail indicator is not completely reliable. I always get an e-mail when I have a new voicemail, but the stuttered dial tone and flashing modem light indicators periodically malfunction.
  • Speaking of Translation’s book launch webinar went well! Eve Bodeux interviewed me about the new edition of How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator and Michelle Bradley managed the technical aspects with aplomb! If you missed the webinar (or you’re just dying to hear it again!) you can listen to the recording free of charge. Visit SoT’s Listen! page for the link.
  • Speaking of which, if you feel like educating yourself in the comfort of your own office (or maybe procrastinating!), the Listen! page also has the archives of the Speaking of Translation podcast. And really, where else will you find a wrapup of the 2008 ATA conference?


Corinne McKay

Book launch webinar is Friday; online course coming up

This Friday (June 24) at 9 AM Mountain (Denver) time, Eve Bodeux and I are going to do a question and answer webinar about the second edition of my book, How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator. The webinar is free, and we’ll be raffling off two copies of the book as well. Hope to see some readers there!

Also, the newly redesigned version of my online course, “Getting Started as a Freelance Translator,” starts on August 22. I’m now offering two versions of the course (basic and full) so that students can pick the amount of help they need and the amount of work that they have time for. Over 200 people have successfully completed the original version of the course, so I’m excited about this new direction!