Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

Books for translators


Corinne McKay

Spanish Edition of Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies

Congratulations to English > Spanish translator Rafael Gomez-Cabrero on his newly-published Spanish edition of my book, Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies. I’m excited to see this book coming to life in other languages!

If you’d be interested in translating this book into a language other than Spanish, or if you’d like to translate How to Succeed As a Freelance Translator into a language other than Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian or Russian (the rights to those languages are already sold), drop me a line at corinne@translatewrite.com.


Corinne McKay

The Translator’s Little Book of Poetry

Thanks to reader Nathalie Reis for letting me know about a newly published book for translators that looks really interesting!

The Translator’s Little Book of Poetry

Curated and written by Elizabeth De Zoysa, Caroline Durant, Joanna Pawulska Saunders, Felicity Pearce, Nathalie Reis, Rosie Robbins, Angie Taylor and Adriana Tortoriello, this collaborative work is an anthology of poems compiled to offer insights into translation.

The purpose of this anthology is not to talk about how to translate poems, nor does it examine the translation of poems. This anthology takes a unique approach in using poems as a springboard to address universal challenges faced by every translator in every field, from technical to legal, medical to literary, and offering suggestions, or tips, for resolving them.

It mentions the importance of specificity, the need for musicality, and the virtues of concision in translation and writing, as well as tips for translating taboos, humor, and local and national culture, among others.

The BLT Creations Editorial team is enormously proud to have collaborated during lockdown to produce a work celebrating poetry and the art of translating. We really hope it will remind all translators, new and established, that we need to examine everything – not just poetry – we read (and hear) not purely for what is said but also for how it is said.

The perfect present for colleagues and clients alike, The Translator’s Little Book of Poetry can be ordered from bltanthology@gmail.com at the price of £8.95, plus free p&p in the UK.

You can also follow this project on LinkedIn!


Corinne McKay

HSFT in Italian; June Time Crunch Challenge

Over the past several years, I’ve sold the translation rights to my book How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator, to freelancers working into Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Italian. It’s always fun to see the book come out in new languages. Congratulations to English>Italian translators Chiara Rizzo and Barbara Ronca for the latest translation: Come diventare traduttori di successo, now available in electronic format.

Next, I’m excited to announce a new challenge group: the June Time Crunch Challenge. From June 3-June 28, German<>English translator and leadership/productivity coach Dorothee Racette will lead this group, modeled on my March Marketing Madness challenge group (which inspired feedback such as “This greatly increased my confidence in marketing and has been a turning point for me. My business will never be the same again!”). There will be daily challenge activities, motivational videos, and a Slack group to keep everyone accountable and motivated. Registration is $75 and there are various discounts available on the registration page. We’ve already got a good group signed up, with room for more!


Corinne McKay

Your questions about working with direct clients?

This year, I’m working on a series of single-topic books for freelance translators. The first one, Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies is available now, and the second one, Finding and Marketing to Direct Clients, is in the works. I originally referred to these as e-books, but my book designer convinced me to do a paperback version as well. I’m glad that I allowed myself to be overruled on that one, because the paper version is actually outselling both the PDF and Kindle versions as of now.

As with the agencies book, I’d like to include a chapter of reader questions in the direct clients book. If you have a question about working with direct clients, please:

  • Submit your question as a comment on this post
  • Specify whether it’s OK for me to use your name if I answer your question in the book

If I use your question, you will receive a free PDF copy of the book when it’s published. And if you’re interested in diving into the direct client market right away, the next session of my online course Marketing to Direct Clients starts next Wednesday–November 1. That link will take you to the full course description, feedback from past students, and a preview of the self-paced course videos.


Corinne McKay

New book: Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies

One of my behind-the-scenes projects for this year is a series of narrow-topic books for freelance translators. The first one, Finding and Marketing to Translation Agencies, is freshly pressed and available in print, Kindle, and PDF format. I think that many translators feel torn between two realities: agencies are the backbone of many translators’ businesses, but there have been a lot of recent shifts in the agency market, making it more difficult to find quality agencies to work with. I’m hoping that this book provides some helpful advice on those fronts.

Big thanks to everyone who submitted a question in response to my post, Your questions about working with agencies? earlier this year. Those questions morphed into a larger-than-expected chapter, but I think they added a lot to the book. Everyone who submitted a question has now received their free contributor copy as well.

Finding and Marketing to Translation agencies is available for US $9.95 in three formats: PDF (auto-download from my website after purchase), paperback from Amazon, or Kindle from Amazon. Thanks also to my awesome book designer Sue Campbell, who takes a plain old Word document and turns it into a beautiful book!