Training for Translators

Classes for translators and interpreters

online courses for translators


Corinne McKay

Upcoming online courses for translators

Training for Translators has a bunch of great offerings coming up next week and in March!

On Wednesday, February 24, Joachim Lépine comes back for another round of his sold-out three-hour master class Harnessing the power of neural machine translation. “This class was practical, informative, encouraging and thoroughly enjoyable!” says a participant in the last session. Learn how to use NMT to handle some of the routine parts of your work, so that you can focus on the creative and challenging parts. $75.

On Thursday, February 25, translation marketing expert Tess Whitty presents a three-hour master class Optimize your resume/CV and cover letter to find more and better agency clients. Create a resume that sells, and learn tips for finding agencies to apply to. $75.

On March 1, the third consecutive year of March Marketing Madness kicks off, with me, Corinne McKay. “This greatly increased my confidence in marketing and has been a turning point for me. My business will never be the same again!” says a 2020 participant. Join this fun and motivational group for 20 consecutive business days of marketing challenges. $75.

On March 8, Madalena Sanchez Zampaulo’s four-week course Copywriting for translators: identifying and targeting your copywriting market kicks off. For translators with some previous copywriting knowledge or experience, this course will help you develop a package of copywriting services and market them to your current or potential clients. $365 plus various discounts; early bird pricing ends February 22.

On March 8, Susie Jackson brings her popular four-week course Charge With Confidence, to Training for Translators. Previous participants call this course, “a life-changer in more than a million ways.” You’ll complete the course with a business budget, an analysis of your current financial situation, and a plan to raise your rates with your dream clients. $365 plus various discounts; early bird pricing ends February 22.


Corinne McKay

January classes start this week!

Happy 2021 to the entire Training for Translators community! Our 2021 class lineup starts this week. Translating for the international development sector is sold out (e-mail classes@trainingfortranslators.com to be added to the wait list), but all other classes still have space:

  • Complete what you started, a four-week challenge and coaching group led by Dorothee Racette, starts on Thursday, January 7. If you’ve been struggling to finish a freelance website, target a new specialization, prepare for a certification exam, or assemble the branded writing you need to position yourself in your niche, this challenge intensive is for you. In this 4-week course, you will look behind the scenes of procrastination and work in a small peer group to finally take your big business projects to the next level. $299 with various discounts available.
  • Direct client marketing…for people who think they can’t, a three-hour master class, runs from 12 noon to 3 PM New York time on Thursday, January 7 (recording provided after the session). If you’ve proclaimed 2021 your year to break into the direct client market, join instructor Corinne McKay for three hours of practical instruction on how to get started! $75, no discounts.
  • Into-English patent translation, a four-week course with expert patent translator Martin Cross, starts on Monday, January 11. Patent translation is a well-paid specialization and a growing market segment, but even experienced technical translators can find patents hard to understand and can be unsure of the legal considerations involved. This course is intended for translators working from any language into English who have an interest in science and technology and want to start translating patents or improve their patent translation skills. $365 with various discounts available.


Corinne McKay

Copywriting for your business and for your clients: early registration ends Friday!

Greetings, readers! I promise that I have a few substantive posts waiting in the wings, but they’re on hold until I wrap up the March marketing challenge group (it’s been fun!) and some translation projects. In the meantime, just a reminder that the early registration rate for Madalena Sánchez Zampaulo’s online course (beginning April 29) Copywriting: for your clients and for your business ends Friday. Madalena–who has quickly gained a reputation for offering tips and techniques you can apply right away–will help you learn to “write like a copywriter,” write better marketing copy for your own business, and target translation clients who may need copywriting services.

This hands-on course with lots of individual attention is limited to 15 people, and we’ll do two live sessions a week, plus a weekly copywriting assignment that you’ll submit to Madalena for individual feedback. Early registration is $365 (goes up to $380 after Friday), and there are various discounts available on the course page. Once this session is full, I’ll start a wait list for a future session.

I’m excited about this course, and I hope to see some of you there!


Corinne McKay

New online courses, and March Marketing Madness?

I’ve been steadily adding courses to my winter/spring 2019 lineup, and I’m also considering running a March Marketing Madness coaching group that would include daily accountability and some individual sessions with me. If you’re interested in the March marketing group, send me an e-mail and let me know.

This year’s first three online courses sold out: I have wait lists going for Spanish to English translation workshop with Holly Mikkelson (two sessions sold out!), and Editing and proofreading for into-English translators with Karen Tkaczyk.

Here’s what’s new. All of these courses run for four weeks, fully online, with individual feedback on the homework, and recordings of the live sessions if you can’t or don’t want to attend them. Discounts are available for ATA members, new students, and returning students: see each individual course page for details.

In April, I’ll be teaching Getting Started as a Freelance Translator, my flagship course for beginners, running since 2006 and focusing on creating a translation-targeted resume and cover e-mail, marketing plan, rates and billable hours sheet and online presence.

In May (actually starting April 29), Madalena Sánchez Zampaulo will teach Copywriting: for your clients and for your business, focusing on writing better marketing materials for yourself, and on offering copywriting or content marketing translation as a service to your clients.

In May/June, another brand new course that I’m sure will be popular: French to English financial translation with Judy Lyons, an introduction to financial translation, the life of a financial translator, and the market for French to English financial translators.

In June, Dorothee Racette will teach round two of her popular course Organization and productivity for translators. The first session of this course was a great success, and Dorothee will have even more tips on how to get more done in less time without losing your mind, and how to organize your electronic work space for maximum productivity.

Already scheduled for September is Paula Arturo’s Plain language for into-English legal translators, focusing on how to write legal translations that are clear, accurate, and readable (yes, it’s possible!).

I’m excited for this lineup and I hope to see some of you there!


Corinne McKay

2019 courses open for registration

I’m excited to announce that my Winter/Spring 2019 online courses are open for registration. Ahead of this “semester,” I surveyed my subscribers and asked what you’d like to learn about. You answered, and the lineup reflects the four most popular choices, plus my flagship course for beginning translators. All courses are four weeks long, $365 early bird/$380 regular (see the course pages for additional discounts), and offer a mix of self-paced and live sessions (recordings provided), plus individual feedback on four assignments. Additionally, everyone who registers for a 2019 course before December 31 receives a 30-minute individual consulting session with me. Here’s the lineup!

Spanish to English translation workshop with Holly Mikkelson, CT, FCCI.  January 9-February 6. Join Holly (ATA-certified SP<>EN, Federally-certified court interpreter, Professor Emerita at MIIS, longtime grader of the ATA SP>EN certification exam) for an in-depth translation technique course, focusing on legal and international development/diplomacy translation. Spanish to English translators at all levels are welcome, and this course is particularly recommended for anyone preparing for a certification exam. Early bird deadline: December 9.

Editing and proofreading for into-English translators with Karen Tkaczyk, PhD, CT, FITI.  February 11-March 11. As translators, we proofread and edit on a daily basis, but we often lack good techniques for these tasks, and we don’t know how to incorporate them into our range of services. Karen will cover proofreading, monolingual revision, bilingual revision, and self-editing, as well as information about how to market editing as a standalone service. Early bird deadline: January 11.

Getting started as a freelance translator, with me, Corinne McKay, CT. April 1-26. Running since 2006 with over 500 graduates, this is my flagship course for beginning and aspiring translators in any language combination. Learn how to create translation-targeted marketing materials, find your first clients, set up a website or online profile, and decide how much to charge. Early bird deadline: March 1.

Copywriting for your business and your clients, with Madalena Sánchez Zampaulo. April 29-May 24. Copywriting is an often-overlooked skill that can improve the quality of your translations, attract new clients to your business, and open up new income streams. Better yet, good copywriting is a skill that can be learned, and in this class, you’ll improve your copywriting skills in ways that you can immediately apply to your own business and to your work for your clients. Early bird deadline: March 29.

Organization and productivity for translators, with Dorothee Racette. June 3-28. Back by popular request, this course will help you get more done, in less time, and feel happier while doing it. A past participant told us that this class helped her “stop flailing.” Dorothee will help you minimize the feast-famine cycle and create sustainable business processes you’ll actually stick with, while learning productivity techniques especially for translators. This class includes a 30-minute individual consultation with Dorothee. Early bird deadline: May 3.