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‘Tis the season… to be overworked December 3, 2008

Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings.
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Here it is December 3rd, and I’m slammed with work. I translated just under 13,000 this weekend, and the survey I’m currently working on is looking to be a similar word count – if not more (the client is estimating 25,000 words…). Hey, I’m not complaining. With the economy in the toilet, it’s a nice problem to have, and it pays those post-Christmas bills. I also know that I’m not alone. December is traditionally an incredibly busy time of year for me. Companies are trying to get business wrapped up before taking off for the holidays. Lots of German companies simply close up shop during the week between Christmas and the New Year, and try to cram everything they can into the weeks beforehand.

As a result, it’s a challenge to juggle the work with decorating, shopping, card sending, wrapping gifts, attending all those holiday concerts and parties, and everything else that needs to get done this time of year. Every year I manage to get it all done, but it’s never the peaceful, relaxed time I remember in Germany. Michelle at WordCount offers some great tips on how to celebrate the season and get everything done this time of year. Even though her target audience is freelance writers, her tips apply to freelancers everywhere – including translators!

Is my drool embarrassing you? December 2, 2008

Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings, Tools.
2 comments

I have a new desk chair to covet. My Aeron is no longer good enough. Herman Miller has launched its new Embody Chair. An array of knobs and levers let you tailor the chair to your body, and an improved tilt mechanism combats neck, hip, and lumbar strain. I can only imagine sitting in this chair is like sitting in a cloud. I just can’t believe anyone would be willing to pay $1,600 for a desk chair. It’s important to invest in a good desk chair, but $1,600 is a bit too pricey for my wallet.

When is it worth quibbling over word count? December 1, 2008

Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings, Translation Sites.
11 comments

I spent the weekend translating a really big online survey. The client had also translated some responses, so I copied and pasted the responses I translated into Word for an accurate word count. My word count ended up differing from the client’s word count by 226 words, which was an improvement from the 625 word difference the client initially reported (he hadn’t taken a second tab into consideration). Since we were dealing with over 6000 words I decided not to quibble over the 226 words and accepted the lower word count. After all, I’m not perfect and might have made a mistake while copying and pasting responses all weekend (but I doubt it 🙂 ). In the end it was only a $25 difference, so I am not freaking out about it. But I’m curious to hear how you all would have handled this. Would you have let it go and accepted the lower word count since the PM did a word count three times and came up with the same count the last two times?

I hate fighting with clients about prices and nickeling and diming them to death, but sometimes you have to in order to make a profit. I did a job for a client about two months ago. I spent more time dealing with their administrative paperwork than I did on the actual job itself. It was a conference call and I billed for two hours (one hour prep work and one hour on the phone). I had to sign their contract three different times (because for some reason they didn’t want me to fill in the date, which is stupid because my signature is dated 8 days before the date on the top of the contract. whatever) and fax and mail it back to them (in England). I managed to talk them into allowing me to add 5 euros to the bill to cover those costs. I got my phone bill over the weekend. My fax costs alone were $16. Not to mention postage to England ($0.94 a pop). OK, that’s my fault for using AT&T and not some 0150 number or some online fax service, but I will definitely think twice before working with them again. I will also think twice before faxing overseas from my office fax machine. I made a small profit on the job, but it is definitely a lot smaller than it would have been otherwise.

Neat Net find – NetPass December 1, 2008

Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Tech tips.
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I’m uncluttering my office and recycling mountains of paper that has accumulated in the past year or two. I wanted to share this little blurb with you, which I have from the August 2006 issue of Real Simple. I think it could be a great tool for translators everywhere.

It’s the Web-surfing equivalent of a wipeout: you’ve combed through 27 pages of search results to find the newspaper or journal article you want. And when you finally reach it? They want a subscription fee. (Worse: They tease you with the first three lines!) Don’t pay. Download a free NetPass at www.congoo.com (Windows only) for access to up to 15 premium articles a month from more than 200 sources, from the Chicago Tribune to the Encyclopaedia Britannica to Harvard Health newsletters.

They also offer a free toolbar. Does anyone have any experience with this service that you would like to share it with the rest of us? Firefox refused to install it on my computer because it didn’t ensure “secure updates” – whatever that means. I’m curious if its concern is justified.

As far as I can tell they don’t have the medical journals I usually need, but there’s always the chance that there might be something in there you need. Enjoy!