Übersetz das doch mal kurz March 12, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Fun stuff, German culture, Translation.1 comment so far
The German radio channel WDR3 featured a commentary yesterday about the work of translators that you German-speaking readers might enjoy hearing (warning: it’s in German). The title is Übersetz das doch mal kurz (Can you translate this quickly for me?). The speaker talks about how people expect translators to work quickly and compares translation and dental work, which I think is a good comparison. After all, no one expects a dentist to quickly fill a cavity at a low rate – and people expect dentists to know what they are doing because they have had the training. Enjoy!
And, thanks to Roland Grefer, here is a link to the MP3 in case you want to save it.
How do you handle illness? March 9, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.8 comments
The Freelance Folder published a very timely blog post yesterday called How to Tell When It’s Time to Take a Break. I just got back from a week in Florida. What was originally intended to be an active vacation turned out to be a working vacation. I went to the Keys with my mother, who has been suffering from a health issue. That combined with the fact that the weather was abnormally cold meant I agreed to take on translation work while down there. However, the abnormally cold temperatures made me sick… and have forced me to take the last two days off. I have spent the last two days sleeping and avoiding the computer. I have a couple translations to work on, so I will most likely be back at the computer tomorrow. I was curious how most of you handle illness. The Freelance Folder contends you do everyone a favor when you take time off when you are sick because the quality of your work suffers. I was talking to a friend who is also a freelancer (albeit a lawyer with her own practice), and she was telling me I am too hard on myself and that I needed to tell my clients I was sick and get an extension. I am rarely sick, so it is quite a strange concept for me. I would love to hear what you all have to say on the subject. Do you tough it out or do you listen to your body and take time off?
Confidentiality in the translation industry February 9, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Translation.6 comments
There is an interesting discussion right now on the ATA’s Business Practices listserv about confidentiality. The discussion originally started out as a discussion about payment issues and ethics and how some agencies should bear the risk of non-payment by choosing their translators carefully, employing editors and setting money aside to cover any problems that may arise.Interestingly enough, the subject soon turned to ethics and confidentiality.
Confidentiality is definitely something everyone in the translation industry (both translators and agencies) should think about. Riccardo at About Translation wrote a blog post just yesterday about an agency that sent a blanket e-mail to numerous translators and attached highly confidential and sensitive documents. He had never worked with the agency before and had therefore never signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement. If their client knew about this clear breach of confidentiality they would most assuredly not be pleased. Unfortunately this is often common practice in our industry. Agencies should really be more careful when sending out confidential documents to lots of translators.
Translators can be just as guilty of this when they agree to translate a job and then subcontract it out to a colleague either in whole or in part. I very rarely subcontract work, but when I do I always let the client know I am doing so. I recently had a large job just before Christmas that I split with a colleague because the volume was quite large and I wouldn’t have made the deadline on my own. I let the client know I was doing it and told them the name of the other translator. We agreed to just submit one bill to the client. The client was so thrilled with our quick turnaround that the project manager sent us cloth bags with the translation agency’s name on it and a very nice thank you note. I sent my colleague the bag along with my check for her half.
Behavior like this is a clear breach of ethics. We in the translation industry need to be more cognizant of the ethics involved in our field. Project managers, take a deep breath and really think about the documents you are sending out to a pool of translators. If they contain confidential information, it would be better to just send out a brief description of the text. Translators, the next time you consider accepting a job you can’t handle on your own, please think twice or at least let the client know you will be working with someone else. And you’d best make sure your colleague has signed a confidentiality agreement and keep it on file.
If anyone else wants to bring up confidentiality issues in our industry that bug them, feel free to comment. I look forward to the dialog!
Dealing with the year-end lull December 29, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.2 comments
Most translation agencies are closed between December 24th or December 25th and the first week of January. We don’t get too many lulls in our industry, so we have to take them when we can get them. I just finished a 2,000 word job and loved the fact that I had two days to do it. I went out to breakfast yesterday, worked from a friend’s office for a bit, and bought a desk chair to replace my broken Herman Miller chair (which will go out to the desk in the living room as soon as I take down the Christmas tree). I took advantage of the fact that my dog was at the groomer’s today and did a thorough cleaning and vacuuming of my apartment (she usually barks at the vacuum and tries to attack it, so I usually only do a cursory vacuuming when she is here). I also took a mess of old paper and newspapers to the recycling center. I feel refreshed and revitalized.
Another problem that freelancers have to contend with is the brief one or two week lull in payments in January. Some agencies pay their invoices early right now to get some tax benefits of making payments still in 2009. Not my agencies apparently. I have about $1500 in outstanding overdue invoices (and that does not count the invoices that come due next week). I received several checks yesterday with a huge pile of mail, but my mail box today was pretty empty. It seems to me as if most companies are busy doing year-end stuff, so they let the payments lapse a bit in January. It’s also pretty quiet until things start ramping up again mid-January. I spent time today sending out all my outstanding invoices to ensure they get processed before the end of the year – or first thing next year. In the meantime I have made sure I have a bit of a cushion to carry me through in case there are some lean moments next month.
I would be interested if you are experiencing a lull and how you handle things. I also hope you all have a wonderful New Year’s Eve and that 2010 is the most profitable and busiest year ever for all of us. See you all next year!
How do you handle health insurance? December 21, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.6 comments
The Urban Muse, which is an excellent blog for freelance, self-employed writers, had a post about a month ago in which she asked her readers How do you handle health insurance. This seems to be a common question in our field as well.
As Susan so aptly puts it:
Health coverage has come up in the news a lot lately, and it’s a very touchy topic, especially for freelancers. I’m curious how other self-employed folks handle this issue. Do you take your chances and go without? Rely on a spouse or domestic partner for health coverage? Join a union and buy it through them? Perhaps your tips will be useful to another freelancer, so leave a comment and let us know.
As for me, I have a health insurance plan through Golden Rule. I recently switched to the Network Option to cut $100 a month off my monthly payment. I have a large ($2500) deductible and a health savings account that I try to pay a hundred bucks a month into until I accumulate $2500. I’m a little under halfway there at the moment. I also rarely go to the doctor, and I have yet to see a general practitioner since I moved back to the States. I also exercise regularly and try to stay healthy. That said, if I met a man with a good health insurance plan I would marry him in a heartbeat ;-).
I don’t want this to become a forum to debate health care reform. I thought it might be helpful to those just breaking into the business to see how other translators insure themselves.
End of the year musings December 10, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.1 comment so far
I’m sure most of you also read Corinne McKay’s blog, Thoughts on Translation, but just in case you don’t (and if you don’t you should!), you should check out her latest post on her End of the year to-do list for translators. She has lots of good suggestions, and I am actually thinking of implementing some of them now while I am prepping my holiday card list.
I always send out holiday cards around this time to all the clients with whom I have worked throughout the last year – and a couple that I want to remind that I am still here and available. I decided to edit my list down drastically this year, but I still have 28 cards going overseas to clients and friends in Europe. I took advantage of having a lull today and took my laptop to one of my favorite breakfast restaurants to bang out my annual Christmas letter. I drank coffee, enjoyed a nice Cajun omelet, and reflected on the past year as I composed the letter. I don’t send the Christmas letter to my clients, but since I send out all the cards at once I have a set pattern I follow. I write the letter, drop it off at Office Max to be printed on holiday paper, buy stamps at the post office, print off labels based on my Microsoft Access database (which I have been maintaining throughout the year), and then stuff the envelopes and mail the cards off. It’s a nice feeling to have the big stuff done now. I should have it all done by this time tomorrow and can then concentrate on a proofreading job and any translation jobs that may come in in the next few weeks.
I plan on reviewing my clients like Corinne suggests. I have a feeling the balance will have shifted. My biggest client is most likely no longer my biggest client, but that is okay. I think now my revenue is probably balanced more evenly over several clients, and that is much more healthy. They still send me work, but not as much as in the past because they lost a big client this year who decided to hire someone in-house. There is always some attrition every year, so this isn’t all that surprising. This just proves how important it is to constantly market yourself. I found two new clients this year who have almost made up for the shortfall, and I just acquired two more this week – both through recommendations from fellow translators.
I also plan on either having my Aeron chair repaired or buying a new one before the end of the year. My lower back was tender during my massage yesterday, and I attribute that to the broken pneumatics in my chair. I am not sitting in the chair properly at the moment, and that is not a good idea ergonomically speaking. Corinne suggests any big purchases be made by the end of the year, and that is valuable advice. I bought a new sound card this afternoon at Office Max as well, so I’ll be installing that later tonight. Remember, any purchases for your office are tax-deductible – and that includes software and computer hardware.
January always tends to be a little slow while companies are starting back up after the holidays and reviewing and drafting their budgets, so I am preparing mentally for that – and if necessary I can use the financial cushion I have built up over the year. Hopefully the new clients and my existing clients will start contacting me with work by then. If not, I have some books I have been meaning to read and I might even get around to setting up my T-Mobile Dash to check my e-mail on the go…
Advice for a budding translator December 3, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Translation.3 comments
Hi Ms. Sommer!
My name is [Nicole Kidman], and I just found your website! I’m a freshman at the University of Mary Washington, and I’m planning on majoring in German and…something else. I always thought translating and interpreting were one and the same, but now I realize there is a difference. The reason I wanted to double major is because I had NO idea what career options interested me, and my parents are pressuring me to have a back-up plan because I need to earn money somehow. After reading your website, however, I’ve realized that being a translator doesn’t mean standing behind a diplomat, translating what a speaker is talking about. I have a few questions that I hope you could entertain because I’ve never had the chance to talk to an actual translator before. I studied abroad in Germany last year (took a gap year between high school and college), so I’m pretty steady in my German learning. In high school, I took four years of Spanish (though I’m not passionate about the language), and this year I started Chinese. I definitely plan on continuing with German and Chinese, but I was wondering if you could offer some advice as to which third language I should learn. My parents want me to continue with Spanish. I realize this is the most reasonable choice since 22 countries speak Spanish, but I plan to either work in Europe or with a European country in America. As a translator who has expertise in the German language, which language would be the best accompaniment to German? My options are Spanish, French, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Arabic. Also, since I do want to have a steady career and income, would you say that translation is a steady and growing field?
Sorry, this email has become much more long-winded than I meant it to be! 🙂
Hi Nicole,
I suggest concentrating on learning one language you are passionate about and learning it really well. Live overseas for as long as you can. Being a translator means you need to understand every nuance of the source text (including cultural references and subtleties). Being immersed in the language ensures you understand that the text is talking about a Tornado fighter plane and not an actual tornado. If I were to do it all over again my second major would have been something helpful, like business classes or some technical field that I enjoyed. That would allow you to specialize right out of the gate. It is very rare to find someone who speaks seven languages and knows them well enough to translate them effectively. There are a few people out there that do, but they are very rare indeed. Most agencies prefer to work with someone who translates from one or perhaps two languages into their native language. My friend Jane translates from German and French into English, for example. Dr. Geoff Koby translates from Dutch and German into English, etc. Both work in languages that are somewhat similar. Even though I don’t translate from Russian, I find my knowledge of Russian sometimes comes in handy in WWII documents, for example, when it comes to the transliteration of names or cultural background information.
As for translation being a steady and growing field, absolutely. With globalization the need for translation continues to grow by leaps and bounds. As the current ATA President Nick Hartmann mentioned in the closing ceremony of the ATA conference this year, the industry grew 15% last year and looks like it will grow another 15% this year. There aren’t enough trained translators out there to cover the demand, so I would suggest continuing your undergraduate studies and study abroad one of those years. Then consider studying translation at the graduate level at either Monterey (if you want to interpret, this would be the best choice) or Kent State University.
I hope that answers your questions.
Hey fellow translators, do you have any wisdom to add? If so, please feel free to add some more advice in the comments!
10 simple rules for project managers to live by and keep me happy December 2, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.7 comments
1. Tell your client that there will be a rush rate/weekend surcharge of 50% if they want the file back at the end of the day or on Monday morning.
2. Keep in mind that we are not machines. If I just translated 30,000 words for you, please don’t contact me a day later asking for a 2,000 word job due the next day.
3. Don’t question your translator when he/she tells you their word count and it differs drastically. If the difference is 10,000 the translator is most likely right – they know how hard they worked. You don’t. I won’t quibble over anything under one hundred, but anything beyond that…
4. Do not pawn off your work onto the back of your translator. If you get a PDF don’t just guess how many words there are – convert the file to text or run it through an OCR tool and get an accurate word count.
5. Please charge the client more for special formatting requests. Our job is to translate, not to format it from scratch.
6. If at all humanly possible, do not contact your translators at 7 PM during the week or at 5 PM on Friday with a job and ask for quick turnaround.
7. Respond promptly to e-mails and especially to questions your translator may have regarding the text.
8. Honor your translators and proofreaders.
9. Maintain a sense of humor and do not take yourself too seriously. It makes my job – and yours – more enjoyable.
10. Remember that even the Lord rested on the seventh day.
Trados ad = tempest in a teapot November 25, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in ATA, Business practices, Random musings.23 comments
Tempest in a teapot (in American English) or storm in a teacup (in British English) is an idiom meaning a small event that has been exaggerated out of proportion.
One of my friends forwarded me the following ad last night with the comment “Marian’s making the rest of us look bad. 😉 Would love to know how she pulled that off!” I read the ad, but did not give it much mind. Little did I know it would blow up overnight as I slept.
34,501 words. 10 hours. One translator.
Sound impossible?“I just completed a 34,501 word project in 10 hours thanks to AutoSuggest, Context Match and the other nifty time-saving features within SDL Trados Studio 2009 SP1. That’s without having much of anything in the pre-existing TM!”
Marian Greenfield, Translator and Trainer
I tweeted that I wondered how she managed to pull it off and went to bed. I woke up this morning to find that the ad has generated a lively discussion on Twitter and on ProZ.com.
I know Marian personally and know that she is an extremely capable and talented translator. She is also very generous with her time and advice, presenting on growing your business and earning a six-figure salary at recent ATA conferences. I never doubted for a minute that she achieved this feat and was proud of her accomplishment, as I’m sure she was. Trados cites her as being a translator and trainer, but everyone in the industry knows that she is also a former ATA President (and did a fine job).
One comment in the ProZ.com discussion really gave me pause. The author took offense that an ATA executive or former ATA president was using their clout to advertise for a translation environment tool. I can understand taking pause and wondering if she was compensated. However, Paul Filkin, the SDL Trados representative, responded to this by saying “It is comments like this that I find extremely insulting and completely unwarranted. I can assure you that this translator received no compensation whatsoever for providing this quote.” It seems as if people are making assumptions and jumping to conclusions without talking to those involved.
I don’t know about you all, but I have better things to do with my day today than get all up in arms about a person who volunteered several years of their time to serve on the ATA Board and travel extensively for two years as President of ATA – for no compensation whatsoever.
Everyone talks about the ATA Board as if it is “us against them.” That isn’t the case. Everyone on the ATA Board is just like you and me – and no one gets compensated for taking time out of their undoubtedly busy days to respond to a tempest in a teapot like this one or just to make decisions for the good of the members. ATA Board members are all volunteers and could be you in a few years!
Sure, it was tacky of SDL Trados to advertise using a claim that most translators could never dream of achieving. There isn’t a whole lot of repetition in most of the texts I translate (but I do enjoy it when there is!). Marian, on the other hand, translates financial documents, and the file in question was an Excel file with lots of repetition throughout the text. However, we translators should investigate more instead of getting all hot under the collar and jumping on the outrage bandwagon. I for one am glad I found the ProZ.com discussion and read Paul’s explanations. Everyone should just simmer down and enjoy the long holiday weekend!
Since when is it expected that translators work on weekends? November 16, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.11 comments
I received the following e-mail on Saturday morning, which I promptly deleted without replying:
Subject: Proofreading
Hello,
I’m looking for a translator to proofread a German to English translation today using Star Transit. If you’re available please let me know what you rate is per word/ per hour?
More information available on request.
I was really tempted to reply with an hourly rate of $100 since it was weekend and rush, but I decided it wasn’t even worth getting upset about. However, it did inspired this blog post, so I’d like to thank the agency publicly for sending me an e-mail at 4:56 a.m. through the ProZ.com directory (Are you really surprised that this came through ProZ? I wasn’t…). I’m just glad I receive my e-mail on a computer in my office and not on my cell phone next to the bed.
The beauty of being a freelancer is that we can choose when we work, but I really resent the assumption of some agencies that we are available 24/7. Sending an e-mail on a Saturday morning or calling on a Sunday really exceed the boundaries of common decency. If I am translating 2,000-3,000 words a day during the week I need some down time on the weekends – or if I choose to work through the weekend I make sure to take a day or two off during the week. A while ago I had gotten so busy that I realized that I had worked for three weeks straight without a day off. At that point I decided that I would no longer work on the weekends, so I really notice the fact that some agencies seem to assume we will work at any and all hours of the day.
I think the problem lies in the fact that many translators are only available on the weekends, because they hold full-time jobs. There aren’t enough full-time freelancers to change public perception. Hopefully that will change as the industry grows and changes. In the meantime, stand your ground to unreasonable requests (5,000 words a day, 3 hour turnarounds, weekend work) and make sure you don’t burn yourself out!
Update: Riccardo at About Translation posted a similar post today (great minds think alike I guess), but his focus was on the phrasing of a quote request to ensure you receive a meaningful reply. The agency should have read this post before sending out the request. I may have been more likely to respond.
Musings from an overworked translator 