Although, as I mentioned before, I have mixed feelings about online popularity contests, I’m flattered and grateful that Thoughts on Translation is officially the 79th most popular language blog as rated by the recent Lexiophiles contest. And I thought winning the 8th grade French award was exciting! From that link you can view the overall top 100 language blogs as well as the top 10 blogs in each category; special congratulations to the 10 blogs that won top honors in the Language Professionals section!
Announcements
I'll only mention this once…
I have mixed feelings about online popularity contests, but I’m flattered that Thoughts on Translation has been included in the 2010 Lexiophiles’ Top 100 Language Blogs competition. The finalists are a real who’s who of translation blogging, so whether your #1 read is Thoughts on Translation or another language blog, pop on over to Lexiophiles and vote! And I promise not to spam you with more requests for votes, you’ll only hear this once.
Summer conference for financial translators
The Société Française des Traducteurs recently announced the program for the fifth session of its Université d’été de la traduction financière, a three-day conference for financial and corporate translators (or translators who would like to specialize in those areas). This year’s session will be held in Luxembourg and the lineup of presenters looks nothing short of amazing, with a wide variety of sessions on offer. There are financial education sessions in both French and English, translation-specific sessions for both language combinations and even a guest appearance by Robin Bonthrone, focusing on German to English financial translation. Thoughts on Translation needs a report from this conference if any readers are attending!
Next session of "Getting started as a freelance translator" starts April 12
The next session of my online course Getting Started as a Freelance Translator starts April 12 and registration is open on my website. I’ve been running this course for about four years to help beginning translators launch successful freelance businesses. During the course, we cover topics such as how to write your translation-targeted résumé and cover letter, how to develop a marketing plan and profile your potential clients, how to develop translation specializations and how to set your translation rates. The course materials are six PDF lessons with homework exercises (I provide individualized feedback on all of your homework exercises) and a complimentary copy of my book How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator. I also provide one-on-one consulting to every student in the course for the full twelve week session. Through the ATA Member-Provider Program, ATA members receive a $50 discount off the standard tuition of $350.
Propose a session for the 2010 ATA conference
The 2010 conference of the American Translators Association will be held this coming October in Denver, Colorado (and the venue, the Hyatt Regency Denver, is really, really beautiful!). The form to propose a session for the conference is now available on the ATA website and the deadline is March 8, so get those ideas flowing! I was also interested to note that this year, the main presenter for each session that is accepted receives a $100 discount on registration for the conference.