Guest posts

Nov 11 2017
Corinne McKay

Seeking guest posts: Lilt, TransferWise Borderless

Hello, readers! I’m currently seeking authors for two guest posts:

A guest post from someone who actively uses Lilt, the adaptive MT translation tool. I’d be especially interested in someone who can compare Lilt to a market-leader TM tool with an MT plugin, for example Lilt versus Trados Studio with SDL Language Cloud.
A guest post from someone who’s using the TransferWise Borderless account. I’d prefer someone who lives in the US and can also talk about the tax implications of this type of account in the US tax system (for example is it subject to FATCA declarations?).

I pay an honorarium of $75 for guest posts, guest writers get a byline and a bio on their article, and this blog averages about 20,000 views a month. If you’re interested in writing one of these posts, please contact me directly at corinne@translatewrite.com. Please respond only if you are actively using Lilt or the TransferWise Borderless account; please don’t respond if you’ve only researched them or considered using them. Thanks!

Jun 23 2017
Corinne McKay

Babelcube: One translator’s experience

This is a guest post by Ligia Ribeiro. Ligia is Brazilian, lives in in São Paulo and is a freelance translator working from English and Spanish into Brazilian Portuguese. In this post, Ligia describes her experience working as a literary translator through Babelcube, a website that matches authors with translators, for royalties-only literary translation assignments. Note! This post is not meant to promote working for free or on a royalties-only basis, or to promote Babelcube. It’s simply meant as one translator’s experience with that option should you choose to pursue it. I (Corinne) had received several inquiries from translators wanting to hear from someone who had actually completed a translation project through Babelcube, including the financial details. I appreciate Ligia’s honesty here in sharing the details about her work.

For many years, working as an executive assistant for leading global companies, I was often asked to translate corporate documents for the pharmaceutical and food sectors. Since 2016, I have dedicated my time and effort exclusively to translation. I need to confess that it had never crossed my mind that I might translate a book. In fact, I had a lot of questions, such as: “How would I find a book to translate? How would I get in contact with authors and ask them to let me translate one of their books? Would it be possible to translate a book even though I didn’t have any experience with literary translation?” Lots and lots of doubts–and then one day, browsing the internet I found Babelcube.
Babelcube’s site is pretty simple to use; it didn’t take long to put up my own profile there. One of the icons on the menu bar is called “Teams,” in case you want to share the translation of one book with other translators, which was not my case at that time. So, I clicked on the “Books” option and I felt like there was a real chance of getting a book to translate. On that page, I saw that there were several book genres available. One tip about those options: there are genres in which you will be able to find many books available for translation at that time. However, in others, you will find none. So, be open to more than one option of book genres in case you don’t find what you’re looking for on the first try.
My first book translation
I decided to choose a mystery novel, one of my favorite genres. Following the instructions on Babelcube’s website, I translated a short sample page plus the first 10 pages of the book and sent them directly to the author. The whole process is done through the website, so you do not need to exchange messages by using your private email.
Nearly five days later, having not received any reply from the author, I decided to choose another book. I should also mention that I had no intention of translating a book with hundreds of pages. It was my first experience and I did not want to it to be frustrating. My second choice was a book of 7,320 words in a genre I felt more familiar with (business), on the topic of finding a job. I started all over again. I translated the sample page plus the initial 10 pages of the book. Less than five days later, I received the author’s approval and the complete book to be translated. The translation took me about two weeks, and I then sent it to the author– and three days later he wrote me an email praising my translation and asking if I could translate another book of his, which I did.

However, I had other questions popping into my head: “Two books translated, but what about the royalties? When would I receive them? How would I know how many books had been sold?” All these questions were answered sooner than I thought. Nearly five days after the delivery of the final translation, I was informed by Babelcube about which online sales channels the books had been published in. Here’s a suggestion. Marketing is everything. When the book is published, depending on the subject you choose, it can attract the readers’ attention and, consequently, increase the sales volume and also the royalties. So, letting people know about the book you have just translated through social networks is vital for its success.
Royalties for your translation
With regards to the receipt of royalties, in my case, it took me a while to receive them–nine months. The completed translation of the second book was delivered to the author in July 2016 and the first royalties ($1.31) appeared in my account balance in December. The disclosure I mentioned above–about the importance of marketing–could have made all the difference, but as I was involved in other projects (technical and audiovisual translation), I did not invest time nor enough effort in letting people know about the books I had translated.
You might wonder: “Why did it take nine months to receive your money?” This is because Babelcube allows you to collect your royalties only when the balance is over $10. Otherwise the balance will be carried over to the next month until you reach $10. And that was I did. In April 2017 my royalties balance reached more than $10 and I could have the money transferred to my PayPal account. Babelcube pays you via your PayPal account. If you do not have one, you can access PayPal directly or via Babelcube’s link, set up an account and link it to your bank account. It is a very simple process.
As I am not a US citizen and my country (Brazil) does not have a tax treaty with the US, I could not receive the total amount of my royalties. In fact, I had withholding tax deducted at a rate of 30% of the royalties. So I could withdraw $7.86. On Babelcube’s site, there is more information about the taxes and a list of countries that have a tax treaty.
Every month you will receive an email from Babelcube with your royalties account balance information. After receiving the money, I received a message informing me that my account balance was $5.54. When I reach $10 again I will be able to withdraw it. If you ask me if I would recommend Babelcube, I would definitely say “Yes.” Overall, Babelcube is an interesting way to find book translation projects. I believe that receiving royalties is always welcome as an incentive, but it is also gratifying when the author says you did a great job and asks you to keep on translating their books. Not to mention that those translations can be included in your portfolio. If you are interested in literary translation, you might consider giving Babelcube a try, and tell us what your impressions are!

May 09 2017
Corinne McKay

Become a tablet translator: guest post by Alexander Drechsel

This is a guest post by Alexander Drechsel. Alexander is a staff interpreter at the European Commission, who works from English, French, and Romanian into his native German. He shares other people’s opinions in the interpreting booth, and his own thoughts and insights on languages and technology on his website adrechsel.de or as @adrechsel on Twitter. You can also tune in to LangFM, his storytelling podcast about language and what people do with it, and Troublesome Terps, a conversational podcast about topics that keep interpreters up at night, with Jonathan Downie and Alexander Gansmeier.

Sometimes, when people talk to me at a conference or meet-up, they’ll just address me as the “tablet guy” or the “tablet interpreter.” This is probably because I have been working with tablets ever since Apple launched its first iPad in 2010. At last count, I have owned five versions of the iPad and three Android tablets. All of those I have used before, during, and after interpreting assignments for all kinds of tasks. And for several years, I have helped fellow interpreters get the most out of their tablet during workshops and presentations.
In the back of my mind, however, there has always been the question: What about tablets and translation? Can these devices be useful for translators? In this article, I will explore the question in more detail.

The CAT-shaped elephant in the room

The easy way to dismiss tablets as work devices for translators is to check whether CAT tools run on them. But in 2017, the answer is not a simple “no,” but rather: it depends. First of all, why aren’t CAT tools widely available on mobile devices? Well, between translation memory, machine translation, terminology, project management and other features, a CAT tool can be a real application heavyweight. But mobile apps tend to be more focused: doing a few things, or just one thing well instead of providing lots of functionality. Let’s take a look at the current situation of CAT tools with regard to tablets:

– SDL Trados Studio is not currently available on tablets. You could certainly install it on a Microsoft Surface Pro 4, but that is more of a tablet-laptop hybrid. So for now, your only option to use it on a “real” tablet, would be remote access (see below).
– OmegaT is a CAT tool that requires the Java runtime environment to work but Java is not (really) available on iOS or Android tablets. (Again, the Microsoft Surface would be an alternative).
– MemoQ: While Kilgray do offer MemoQWeb, you need a memoQ server installation along with web licences to be able to use it. If you do, you get the translation interface, a collaborative terminology management system and some project management and administration features.
– Wordfast also provides a web-based solution, called Wordfast Anywhere, and it does not even require a Wordfast licence. Free of charge (for now), it gives you a personal workspace on the company’s server for your translation memories, glossaries and other files. WFA also offers collaboration and sharing features.
– Memsource appears to be the leading CAT tool right now when it comes to mobile availability. For starters, it is designed as a cloud-based solution. A desktop editing software is available, but most of the heavy lifting happens online. The recently published apps for iOS and Android are mainly intended for project managers.

Now, while some CAT tools can indeed be used on tablets, the biggest problem is likely to be the limited screen real estate available. My advice would be to use an external keyboard. On Android and Windows devices, you can even connect a mouse.

Getting down to business. And productivity.

With the CAT-sized elephant out of the way, let’s look at some more work-related use-cases. As a matter of fact, most productivity tasks can now easily be carried out with tablets. With office suites from Microsoft, Google and Apple readily available, you can:

– Write and edit text documents. Most applications also support track changes or will even let you draw and doodle on a text.
– Draw up and edit spreadsheets. Yes, they can even contain formulas or conditional formatting, if need be.
– Create and edit presentations. Oh, and did you know you can also give the presentation straight from your device? Wirelessly?

Another obvious use case is managing email. And no need to only do triage – with a little bit of practice on the on-screen keyboard (or, well, an external keyboard), you’ll be writing on the go like a pro in no time. And with tricks like email snoozing, mobile email clients like Airmail or Spark easily out-smart their desktop counterparts.

And yes, in some regards, our mobile companions are real geniuses: Think of the camera in your tablet or smartphone. You cannot only use it for snapshots, but also to turn your device into a smart portable scanner. Apps like Scanbot leverage the device camera to help you scan one or several pages quickly and cleanly, and even offer optical character recognition. And with FreshBooks, you can not only manage clients, projects and invoices, but also “scan” paper receipts that you may need for billing a client.

More than a remote possibility: accessing your home computer

Whether you’re travelling around the globe or are just one floor away from your desk: sometimes it can be handy to be able to access the home computer remotely. Maybe it’s that big old CAT tool that does not run on mobile devices or a file you have placed on the desktop, but not in your favorite cloud storage – once you’ve set up remote access, these moments will not scare you anymore (unless you’ve turned your computer off). And it’s actually quite easy to get started. There are two components to the setup, a “helper app” on your PC and the client app on your tablet or smartphone. The easiest system I know of is Google Remote Desktop, especially if you’re already using the Chrome desktop browser:

1. Install the Chrome Remote Desktop extension on your Mac or PC.
2. Open the newly installed Remote Desktop app and follow the setup instructions.
3. Download the client app for your iOS or Android device and sign in with your Google credentials.
4. Choose your PC or Mac from the list of available devices and log in with the PIN you entered during setup.

Double take: second screen

This may sound a little silly at first, but bear with me. With “second screen,” I’m not referring to hanging out on your favorite social network and commenting on a TV show or the game that everybody’s watching right now. Instead, it’s the use of apps to extend your main computer screen to your tablet. It works similarly to remote access: you install the helper app on your computer and the mobile app on your tablet, make sure that both devices are directly connected or on the same network and you’re good to go. If you’re curious, iDisplay is a good place to start, since it’s available for all major platforms. The luxury option for iPad users with a Mac or PC is Duet Display. But even without such an app, you can just use the tablet as a secondary device next to your main computer, say, for research, to control the music that “gets you into the zone” for that dreaded patent translation or as reference when you are localizing an app.

Lastly…

Steve Jobs, the late Apple co-founder, once used a great analogyto describe computers and tablets:

“When we were an agrarian nation, all cars were trucks, because that’s what you needed on the farm. But as vehicles started to be used in the urban centers, cars got more popular. Innovations like automatic transmission and power steering and things that you didn’t care about in a truck as much started to become paramount in cars. … PCs are going to be like trucks. They’re still going to be around, they’re still going to have a lot of value, but they’re going to be used by one out of X people.”

So when PCs are trucks and tablets are cars, maybe Microsoft’s Surface devices are SUVs? Whatever you compare them to, tablets have become mature devices that can be useful for translators, too. Why don’t you give it a try? And if you just want to grab your tablet to “Netflix and chill” – go ahead, we won’t judge you!

Apr 24 2017
Corinne McKay

How to become an agency’s favo(u)rite translator

This is a guest post by Tom Robinson, digital marketing and communications executive at translate plus, a Global Top 50 language services provider by revenue, offering a full range of services, including translation, website localisation, multilingual SEO, interpreting, desktop publishing, transcription and voiceover, in over 200 languages. All this is complemented by cutting-edge language technology, such as i plus®, translate plus’ secure cloud-based TMS (translation management system).

Working as a freelancer in any industry can be tough. Lots of competition, hours upon hours spent conversing over e-mail and that work life/personal life balance thwarted. But once you get there and stay there it’s an extremely rewarding career. Trust us, we know. And we know because we work with hundreds of freelance translators every day. We’ve seen them come and we’ve seen them go. The ones that stay, prosper because they know what it takes to become an agency’s favourite freelancer.
We’ll discuss how they do this and what an agency like us look for in its freelancers.
First and foremost we only work with translators that meet the minimum criteria set up by bodies like the Institute Of Translation and Interpreting (ITI), ProZ.com and relevant translation degrees from respected universities. So tip #1 would be, get the accreditations and qualifications, as most, if not all agencies will require its freelancers to meet them – it’s just good practice, don’t you think?
What an agency will look for
-Deadlines are never too far from the mind of a freelancer. So know your deadlines and stick to them. If you can’t, then let the agency know well in advance. Being responsive will make the process easier – be available for follow up phone calls and Skype chats for example.
-Keep in contact with the agency you’re working with. Good communication skills are essential for any job, in pretty much any industry. So keep the agency updated with you progress or notify them of any possible delays. This’ll help to keep things moving and make you appear reliable and open.
-The turnaround of most translation jobs is fast, agencies are always juggling high-volume projects so being a responsive freelancer will benefit not only you but also the end-client. A job well done for the punter in need of translation, will be a job well done for the freelance translator – it could even lead to more work and notoriety.
-Honesty is the best policy. Another tip is to be honest with what you can offer an agency. We value someone who knows their limits. Play to your strengths, but acknowledge your weaknesses and be open about them. If you specialise in something in particular be sure to let the agency or client you’re working with know. Most of all, do not be afraid to recognise your mistakes – its better in the long run to flag them up early.
-A willingness to improve is a great trait and one that will get you seen, heard and considered for more jobs, more often. Agencies value someone who is willing to learn from their errors and who can understand different requirements while adapting to them.
-Keeping up-to-date with your field’s developments will benefit both your reliability and aptitude to do the job. Dedication to the field we’ll call tip #13. You can do this by participating in relevant courses and attending conferences etc.

The importance of networking
Although they are your competition in a way, it’s always worth speaking to other freelancers in similar industries as you. This in turn could lead to more work should a translator you’ve befriended become too busy and recommend you to an agency.
Networking is a great way to get your name and portfolio out there. Often than not agencies hold networking events for freelancers to attend and these are great ways to meet new people. Agencies also encourage freelance translators to join bodies where you can tutor other translators in order to grow.
So the next time an agency you’ve worked for in the past invites you to a BBQ or a small get-together to celebrate the launch of a new product or service, go and make the most of it – might just be worth your time.
Stand out from the rest
You can stand out from the others if you possess good technical knowledge. For example, know the basics of Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools. They’re used by well over 250,000 translation professionals so a good grasp of what they are and how to use them could certainly come in handy. If you didn’t already know CAT tools provide a range of sophisticated features to help you complete projects more quickly and easily.
Moreover, in this digital age we live in it’s astute to have an online presence.

Be active on social media, write a personal blog and share your body of work. Agencies look out for this and you have more chance of being noticed and considered for upcoming jobs if you appear proactive.
Follow agencies on social media and interact with them online. We network with our freelancers via social media on a regular basis. It’s a great way to keep in touch and apprise each other of any forthcoming events which might convert a good opportunity for all involved.
Being respectful and helpful – applies to life in general really – is a sure-fire way to get yourself in an agency’s good books. Clients-alike will value someone who is respectful and professional towards its employees and who uses positive language and is always willing to help.
Have fun. Freelancing can be stressful at times, like all jobs and the uncertainty of work as a freelancer can sometimes be the hardest challenge. So have fun, enjoy what you do and revel in the company of the people you work with.
Finally, being passionate about translation is essential and our tip #59. We highly value someone who is as passionate as we are about languages and translation. Get all these things right and you could be on your way to becoming an agency’s favourite freelancer.

Mar 24 2017
Corinne McKay

Creating and managing a translation team, part 2

This is a guest post by Michelle Bradley. If you missed part 1 of this series, you can find it here. Michelle began her career in translation 26 years ago after earning her M.A. from NYU in Madrid, Spain. Some of her first assignments as a newly-minted project manager included searching the Yellow Pages for Arabic translators, and fixing dial-up modem settings to meet late-night deadlines. It’s no wonder Michelle is now grateful for technology. Subsequent roles as Vendor Manager and Director of Operations prepared Michelle to open her own company (Colorado-based Wordtrail LLC) in 2010. Michelle currently wears multiple hats: project management, cultural consulting (including video creation), transcreation, copy-editing, transcription, DTP and translation from Spanish to English.

Why create and manage a team?

Creating and managing a translation team, part 1 gave a brief overview of basic steps to keep in mind when teaming up with colleagues on large projects. In part 2, we look at payment considerations and choosing your teammates.

There are many benefits to bringing colleagues together on projects. Most of all, your team could be very appealing to both direct clients (e.g., ABC Inc.) and translation agencies. Being more appealing may suffice as (intrinsic) payment for you, and it may provide you with a steady pipeline of work. If so, keep all charges as is for your client, and pay your fellow translators the same rate you’re charging your client, while seeing the workflow and job satisfaction as compensation.

These are some other considerations when approaching both clients and colleagues, and scenarios to mull over.

Projects for direct clients

Increased flexibility means you’ll be getting more work from your end-client (we hope). You could keep your rates as is for your end-client, and pay your translator colleagues a slightly lower rate. How to determine this? Offer your colleagues a lower rate based on a margin percentage you think is fair to keep. Try to pay them higher than their standard agency rates, when possible.

In any case, you can make a slight margin on your colleagues because you’ve worked hard to find this end-client and your reputation is at stake. You are the PM, project strategist, and you’re taking on the risk. If you pass terminology management to a team member whom you designate as “Lead Linguist”* – then raise their per-word rate to compensate. A small margin for bringing ongoing work to colleagues is reasonable. I expect my colleagues to do the same when they offer me joint projects.

Projects for translation agencies

– There’s more gray area on big projects from agencies, and it depends on which tasks you agree to. If you are simply bringing a team of linguists to the agency’s PM, and he/she is splitting/combining files, you may not see a need to adjust rates at all. Under this scenario, you’d just enjoy more frequent projects and do no extra work beyond your own translation (and paying your colleagues). Keep in mind that the PM would normally have to find appropriate, qualified, compatible linguists for this project, so you’re doing him/her a favor which helps build bridges. You’re doing everyone a favor which is good karma.

– Charge agencies more per-word for added services; add on $.xx per word for editing. Formatting is usually paid hourly, so establish that up front. Add hours to cover proofing the format and entering proof changes.

– Furthermore, if you’re managing terminology, TMs, and handling file management, the agency should offer you compensation for your PM time. Track your time on these projects – after all, every “non-translation” minute you spend on the project, you’re saving them time. Agree on compensation up front, preferably at your hourly rate.

– Establish who owns what tasks. (This conversation goes hand in hand with compensation, and usually you only have to establish this once for on-going projects/clients.)

Paying your colleagues

– For on-going teams, your colleagues may agree to charge slightly less. Offer them your best possible rate and see if they accept. In short, you’d pay your teammates a slightly lower rate than what you charge the agency. The idea is not to exploit, but to compensate yourself for a) bringing them work, b) communicating with the agency, and c) doing the bookkeeping.

– Agree on payment methods and terms with colleagues before you start the project.

– Only you need to know what the client is paying, as you will be handling incoming/outgoing payments. You may be paying each translator the same, or some people may offer you a discounted rate. That’s your business.

Forming your team

For close teamwork, refrain from finding your team on-line or elsewhere because your client is at stake (and your reputation). Resist the temptation to approach “friends” you’ve met at conferences. If you admit an unknown onto the team, do substantial testing and have a backup in place. If it doesn’t work well, you look bad. Be sure:

– you trust their work; you have read their translations and edited them. (Sample translations aren’t an accurate reflection of their work, and especially not of the kind of work they do under pressure.)
– they regularly work in this subject area. They need not give you client names but can name several long projects (with volumes) they’ve handled.
– they’ll raise content/terminology questions when appropriate, and not bother you with separate emails for every question (i.e., they operate efficiently).
– you can trust them to meet tight deadlines (they don’t bite off more words than they can chew).
– they have an appropriate level of CAT tool expertise in the tool you use, or know exactly how to work their CAT tool to be seamlessly compatible with yours (generating target files, terminology management, etc.). This is the area that will go wrong if it can go wrong, so run file import/export tests (not just theoretical discussions) with them before you collaborate.
– to approach these colleagues with potential scope and deadline, sharing a few sample paragraphs (get a signed NDA before you share client content).
– you trust them enough to tell them who the end client is, so they can deliver files directly (via a portal, FTP, Dropbox etc.) in a pinch.

**The role of the Lead Linguist

– decides terminology as questions emerge;
– collects/tracks client Q&A spreadsheet (via chosen communications method) so that everyone sees everyone’s comments/questions and Lead Linguist or client answers;
– may troubleshoot CAT Tool issues;
– establishes or manages glossary/termbase;
– reviews/distributes updated terminology;
– runs QA software when applicable;
– Option: translators deliver draft (3-4 page samples) after day 1 so Lead Linguist sees samples. This greatly informs direction and tone during rest of project. He/she reviews register and terminology after day 1… giving tips, samples and suggestions as needed, fomenting consensus/discussion. It also avoids someone veering into a different direction early on. If a translator is not following the style guide, request to recheck on day 2.

One added bonus that can emerge: you may just find someone whose work is so similar that you trust them to partner up and handle your inbox while you’re on vacation and vice versa! Bottom line, most of us enjoy camaraderie with fellow linguists, and chances are you’ll learn from them. You may get a bigger stream of work if you offer this service to clients, so you’ll want to strike a balance with the benefit and the costs of putting teams together.