A networking tale June 3, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.2 comments
I just got a phone call from someone in Wisconsin looking for a state-certified translator recognized in Spain to translate some official documents for him. He asked if any of my NOTA members were a “traductor jurado” (sworn translator – thanks to @nj_linguist on Twitter for helping me with the term and its spelling). My first reaction was to tell him no and refer him to the ATA member directory, but then I realized the directory probably didn’t offer a search field for that. At that point I had a flash of brilliance (if I can call it that…). I suggested he contact my former mentor at Kent State and ask her for the names of some KSU graduates living in Spain – and specified one person who I think might best be able to help because he is active in the translation industry in Spain. I knew that from talking with Marian Greenfield several years ago, because she had told me he had said hello when she was invited to speak there.
Networking truly pays off. Maybe not for me in this case, but it feels good to know I was hopefully able to help him and at least point him in the right direction. When he called me he was getting pretty desperate. I hope my past connections – even if I haven’t spoken with them in 15 years – will be able to help him. It’s always a good idea to be able to refer colleagues who might be able to help even if you can’t. They might return the favor some day.
How to say no and still keep the client May 26, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.8 comments
As freelance translators we all eventually have to say “No” to a job offer. Either we are too busy to do a good job or feel it might be over our heads – or may simply want to enjoy a weekend off for a change. Some translators I know are afraid to say “No” to anything, because they are afraid the client won’t contact them again if they say “No” too many times. This isn’t a good mindset to get into. If you have done good jobs for them in the past and are easy to work with I guarantee the client will contact you again.
Sometimes “No” is the only responsible response – as well as an honorable response. If you decide that “No” is the answer that you prefer to give, then it is authentic and honest for you to say “No.” If you say “Yes” when you want to say “No” you will feel resentful the entire time you are working on the job – and that helps no one. This costs you energy and discomfort and is not necessary if you just say “No” when you need to. Plus, you probably won’t do as thorough a job if you are resentful – and that is NEVER a good idea.
There are ways to say “No” and still keep the client. A simple “No, I won’t be able to help with that. I’ve already made a commitment for Friday afternoon.” is always appreciated. My method is explaining why I can’t accept the job and always offering the names of one of two colleagues who I think would do a good job. It is up to the client to then decide whether or not contact them, but I have found that most of my clients appreciate a good referral. Sure, some clients have their own stable of translators who they contact, but some don’t. And your colleague might appreciate the work and return the favor in the future – it’s a win-win situation.
So the next time you are feeling overwhelmed practice saying “No.” I guarantee you that you won’t regret it.
The luxury of mobility May 20, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.5 comments
You really have to love our job. We can live and work anywhere we want and still be able to keep in contact with our clients. Benny the Irish Polyglot is the epitome of the globetrotting translator :-), but most of us do love the freedom translating affords. As long as we have our laptop set up and configured we can pop off to the cafe and use the wi-fi whenever we feel like working with others or our Internet goes down.
I just spent the last two days at my sister’s. I babysat my nieces and still managed to translate around 3000 words both days. My parents are on vacation (I am also dogsitting their Cairn Terrier). My father babysits on Mondays, and my sister needed me to take his “shift.” I was even able to spontaneously stay a second day when I realized they needed me but hadn’t dared ask if I could. I don’t think my clients noticed, because I had access to my e-mail, Twitter and Skype the whole time. Most of my clients also know to call my cell phone. When I walked in the door tonight I checked my messages and only had one – and it was not a business call.
When my nieces asked me why I was working all day I explained that adults work all day (and that their mom and dad were also at work); however, I also found time to blow bubbles in the backyard, run around the yard with the dogs with them, and cater to their every need. Most importantly, I took the time to explain that work doesn’t feel like work when you are doing something you love. Hopefully that settled in their subconscience for when they grow older and are ready to choose a vocation.
How not to market yourself May 16, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Marketing ideas.3 comments
Social networking sites can be a great way to market yourself, but you need to make sure that the person you are looking to “link up with” is in your field and/or a potential business contact. If you are looking to stretch out of your field, you need to make sure that your message to them is targeted enough to want them to link to you. One of my friends, who is very active in social networking, received the following request through XING. The names have been changed to protect the innocent as well as the guilty.
Dear Karen,
Johanna Onestra has requested to be connected to you on XING.
“Hello!
I would like to connect with you as I can offer you my affordable translation services.With kind regards,
Johanna Onestra
Now, my friend is not involved in the translation field. She is an online recruiter (specifically, an in-house headhunter for a Fortune 500 company). If “Johanna” had done her homework on her potential connection (a simple Google search of her name would have sufficed – she’s all over the web) she would have immediately seen that “Karen” has no need for translation services. Instead, “Johanna” did not get a connection and actually had her e-mail forwarded to me with the wry comment “Thought you’d get a kick out of this 🙂 I didn’t realize I was in the market for translating services!”. If she had simply written “Hi, I am a Business English trainer who is pursuing a career that combines both my academic and professional experience and would like to learn more about what you do.” (because I googled the woman and that is pretty much what her LinkedIn profile says – not a word about translation services) or even”Hi, I like your profile and would like to learn more about what you do,” my friend might have been more receptive to adding her to her network.
Marketing involves a bit more legwork than simply sending out an e-mail or link request blindly. Do a bit of research on the person or company you are contacting. I promise you will stand out from the crowd!
Ideas on handling presumptuous clients May 8, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.8 comments
Presumptuous: overstepping due bounds (as of propriety or courtesy) : taking liberties (Merriam-Webster)
We’ve all had to deal with them – clients who have unreasonable deadlines, clients who expect you to do their work like prepping files or formatting files to meet their standards even though the source text didn’t conform with their specifications, clients who change terms in the middle of the job, clients who expect you to translate 2000 words in one hour. Here are two very real examples that just happened today (one to me and another to a colleague who is ready to tear her hair out).
Example 1: Client sends a binding job order for a job due Monday morning at 11 a.m. German time without even asking if I am available.
Example 2: Two separate clients contacted my colleague on Wednesday with 4600 words and 7700 words respectively. Both clients initially asked her to deliver on Monday and she agreed – and then they started putting on the pressure for Friday. One even had the audacity to send her a PO with a Friday deadline instead of the agreed upon Monday deadline (for the 7700 word job).
Example 1 was resolved by sending an e-mail stating that I wasn’t available over the weekend. Hopefully they can find someone else. It’s not my problem. They should have had the common courtesy to ask if I was available. I have worked the last two weekends and two weeks straight without a day off. I need some “me” time.
Example 2 is a little trickier, and I would love to hear what you all would do in that situation. The nightmare PM has simply ignored her e-mails stating that the agreed upon deadline was Monday. The PM instead sent her an email asking her if she (colleague) wanted her (the PM) to convert the Excel glossary into a Multiterm glossary. She ended up delivering the 7700 word job 3/4 finished and is powering on with it today. In the meantime she is completely stressed because, like everyone, she hates delivering a job she hasn’t finished working on and hasn’t polished. I told her I would simply deliver the jobs as agreed upon on Monday and not stress out so much about it. But of course you have to keep the client happy…
She is seriously thinking about quitting freelancing and getting a different job altogether. Her final sentence says it all: “I love translation just not some of the business aspects of it. Which is sort of weird, because I think I did really well dealing with the business aspects when I was a PM. I would never have put “my people” under that kind of pressure.”
So how do you handle presumptuous clients? Any advice for my colleague?
Update: Client in Example 1 responded asking when I could deliver by because she definitely wants me to do it, so I now have a Monday afternoon deadline. See, clients can be reasonable if you stick up for yourself. Oh, and if you are reading this through an RSS feed I highly suggest clicking on the link to visit the blog itself and check out WordPress’ third suggested post for a good laugh.
Common Sense Advisory survey on translation tools May 7, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Translation.add a comment
Nataly Kelly of the Common Sense Advisory (and the Global Watchtower blog) is inviting freelance translators to participate in a new survey on translation tools, your clients, and the various translator communities you are active in. You can take the survey until June 1st. I just took it and can vouch that it will only take a few minutes of your time. The more people who take it, the more comprehensive (and thus better) the survey results will be. You might also want to bookmark this page to weigh in on their surveys.
How to successfully work with people over long distances April 30, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices.1 comment so far
Freelance Folder features a blog post on How to Successfully Work With People Over Long Distances today that I feel is an important topic to translators and worth sharing. If you don’t live in the global metropolises of Washington DC or New York City, most likely you do not work very often with local agencies and clients. I have one client in Ohio, but most of my clients are spread all over the U.S. or Europe. One of the things that always fascinates people I meet when I talk about what I do is that I work with clients all over the world. This also presents challenges, and one of the biggest challenges we face as translators is that of working with people who we’ve never met face to face. Several of my clients call me on the phone, which I encourage since it allows me to build a good rapport with them and ensures they get an instant answer as to whether or not I am available to accept their translation job. However, most of my business negotiations and everyday communication occurs non-verbally via e-mail.
Communicating via e-mail can be difficult, because it is so easy to be misunderstood by the recipient. As Freelance Folder states, “Without seeing a client’s face or reading his or her body language, it can be pretty hard to know if you’re getting the full message.” One study found that 78% believe they were communicating clearly, 89% of those receiving the e-mail believe they were correctly interpreting what was written, and only 56% correctly interpreted the message.
Freelance Folder offers 5 Tips for Dealing with Long Distance Clients. They are:
- Check Your Emotions at the Door. It can be tempting to shoot out an emotional response to an e-mail that seems upsetting to you, but don’t fall into this trap. If an e-mail provokes an emotional response, then allow yourself enough time to recover from that emotion before you respond.
- Stay Professional and Businesslike. You’re running a business. Your client is also running a business. Communication between the two of you should reflect that. While it’s okay to be friendly, in general I’ve found that it’s best to stay away from overly personal communications with your client.
- It’s Okay To Negotiate. An online negotiator definitely has a more difficult job than one who can negotiate face-to-face. For that reason, I think that many freelancers avoid negotiating terms with clients. However, negotiations are an important part of doing business. Don’t be afraid to negotiate.
- Beware the Hidden Tone. When sending an e-mail occasionally an unfriendly tone creeps in. Usually, the tone is not at all a reflection of how I’m feeling at the time, but rather more a result of how rushed I am. If you have this problem get someone else to read your e-mails before you send them.
- There Probably Is No Hidden Agenda. Without nonverbal cues, it’s easy to fear clients who contact you through the Internet. This is where your due diligence comes in. Before accepting work, check the client’s reputation and background. In my experience, in most cases there is no hidden agenda.
The post is definitely worth a read if you work with people over long distances. At the least, it will definitely make you stop and think the next time you are drafting an e-mail to a client.
Can you certify my translation? April 27, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Translation Sites.53 comments
Certified translations are probably the most misunderstood concept in translation. Many countries in Europe have certified translators who have to take an exam in order to be able to certify their translations with a personalized stamp. In Germany they are called “staatlich geprüfte Ãœbersetzer.” There is no such thing in the United States. To quote Denzel Dyer, “In general, a certified translation (in the US) is one to which the translator has added a statement that the translation is true, accurate, and correct “to the best of my knowledge and ability.” The statement may be made under oath, or “under penalty of perjury,” and may be notarized to confirm the identity of the person signing the statement.”
You do not need to be certified by the American Translators Association in order to certify a translation. In my case, I include my M.A. with my name and indicate that I am an active member of the ATA. You are merely certifying that the translation has been translated “to the best of [your] knowledge and ability.” Any translator can produce a translation which is correct to the best of his or her knowledge and belief.
Many times an individual will contact me and need a certified copy of a birth certificate for immigration or legal purposes. Just the other day I translated a birth certificate and vaccination booklet entries for a private individual. Another client frequently asks me to certify my translation of medical reports for a clinical trial. Depending on what the client needs, I add a cover sheet with my declaration that I have translated it “to the best of my knowledge and ability” and take it to a notary public, who also signs it and stamps it. Note that this declaration must be attached to the translation, with individual pages of the translation initialed. That requires delivery of the actual paper, so I usually mail it to the client. I charge a fee for the time I spend driving to and from the notary, the notary’s fee, and printing and postage costs.
Here are some possible formulations you could use:
I, [insert name here], a translator of proven expertise in translating German to English and an active member of the American Translators Association, do hereby certify that the foregoing is, to the best of my knowledge and ability, a true and correct English translation of the original German documents.
In Solon, Ohio, USA, this ___________ day of ______________________________.
_____________________________________________
[TRANSLATOR’S NAME]
STATE OF OHIO
CUYAHOGA COUNTY
I, the undersigned Notary Public, do hereby certify that [Jill R. Sommer] appeared before me and acknowledged that she is an active member of the American Translators Association and that she executed this document of her own free act and deed.
In witness whereof, I have set my hand and seal, this ___________ day of ______________________________.
_____________________________________________
NOTARY PUBLIC
I, [insert name here], a translator of proven expertise in translating German to English and an active member of the American Translators Association, do hereby certify that this document, which I have translated on behalf of [client name], is, to the best of my knowledge and ability, a true and correct English translation of the German document:
I, ________, declare under penalty of perjury that I understand the German language and the English language; that I am certified by the American Translators Association for translation from German to English; and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the statements in the English language in the attached translation of ___________, consisting of ____ pages which I have initialed, have the same meanings as the statements in the German language in the original document, a copy of which I have examined.
Does anyone have any other formulations they would like to share? Everyone probably does. Feel free to add them in the comments. I sometimes feel the comments are the best part of a blog post, because I learn so much from you guys.
Knowing when to step back and take a deep breath April 22, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings.2 comments
Business has started to pick up again (thank goodness!), and I had an Aha moment yesterday that I wanted to share with you. I got absolutely slammed with work over the past weekend. I had 27,000 words to proofread for one client and 5,000 words for another, several personal documents to translate for an individual, and a difficult AGB that I needed to finish. And then another client called begging me to accept another proofreading job (“only 300 lines”). I had initially turned them down flat-out, explaining I simply had too much to do as it was, but then the owner called and I managed to let her talk me into putting it off until Monday. Little did I know she meant Monday at noon my time, but that’s another story unto itself. Monday rolled around, and I had finished everything but the 27,000 words and the rush job. Somehow over the weekend or in the chaos of Monday morning between answering phone calls from the client every ten minutes and scrambling to make the deadline (I finally had to put my foot down and tell them in no uncertain terms to stop calling or I wouldn’t make the deadline), I somehow managed to lose the translation of the personal documents.
I needed to print the pages out yesterday to have it notarized and mail it to the client, and I could not find the file on my hard drive. I have a system that usually always works. Anything I am working on is either in the Attachments folder of my e-mail program or My Documents. Once I finish the job (and send the invoice) I zip up all the files and move them to an archive that is broken down by month and delete them from My Documents. When I get crazy busy, this sometimes has to wait until things slow down enough that I have time to do it.
I looked for the file I needed in both folders – three times! – and could not find it. I looked in my temporary folders. I started to wonder if I had possibly translated it and then forgotten to save the file in the franticness of the weekend. Talk about a bad feeling in the pit of your stomach… I couldn’t remember what I had called it, but I had a vague idea. I definitely knew that it contained the client’s last name. I initiated a search of the hard drive, searching for the client’s last name inside the file itself, and went off to make a cup of tea. As the water started boiling, it occurred to me that I had used a template of a birth certificate and that the file might have been saved in my Templates subfolder. Sure enough – it was!
Organization of files on your computer is so important. I know several colleagues who constantly lose files because they don’t know where they have saved them. I am a double Virgo, so this kind of disorganization would drive me insane. I lost 15 minutes yesterday trying to find the file. Being organized is important, but so is stepping back and taking a deep breath every once in a while. If I hadn’t stepped back and made a cup of tea I might still be searching for the file…
Unethical behavior when acquiring a new customer April 16, 2009
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Marketing ideas.9 comments
There is an interesting discussion on the PT listserv this morning on one particularly questionable method of acquiring new customers, and I felt the need to share my thoughts on it with all of you. One of the colleagues on the listserv reports that one of her customers, who publishes a magazine in several languages, receives mails practically once a week in which one of the foreign language articles is copied and edited within an inch of its life (emphasis mine – what she really said is “mit viel Farbmarkierungen versehen” = with lots of colored changes/highlights, but I have a feeling that is what is being implied…) to show that the translation is not very good – but there are no concrete suggestions for improvement. They must be corrections for corrections’ sake – we are all familiar with this kind of “proofreading” (in German we call it “verschlimmbessern” – making something worse by trying to improve it). The person sending these mails simply marks up the text and then encloses a letter in which they claim that they can do a much better job translating the texts – and at a lower price. Luckily her client values her translators and tosses the letters out, but anyone would get upset if they got mail like this every week. The client made the comment today that she has only seen such “uncollegial” and unethical behavior from translators. I certainly hope that isn’t the case.
This kind of behavior to win over a new customer is appalling. As one colleague pointed out, the method is not only unethical, but also stupid. The person sending the e-mail and trying to win over a new customer is merely showing how devious and underhanded they are and cutting off the branch they themselves are sitting on. As one other colleague so aptly pointed out, “Das Erste, was ein Vertriebsmensch lernt: Weise auf die Vorzüge Deines Produkts / Deiner Dienstleistung hin, aber rede nie schlecht über Mitbewerber” (The first thing a salesperson learns is to point out the advantages of your product / your services, but never talk bad about your competitors). I couldn’t have said it better myself.
This is different from seeing a badly translated website or sign and making fun of it. Let’s face it, there are a lot of badly translated texts out there, and some clients probably used their secretaries who speak the other language to translate them – or thought they could do the jobs themselves because they studied in the U.S. for a year ten years ago. You can tell when a translation has been written by a professional and by an amateur. There’s nothing wrong with correcting these texts to make the company realize they need to use professionals in order to come across as professional. But tooting your own horn and making corrections for corrections’ sake in the process to try to win over a new customer is not a good way to go.
When you are marketing yourself to new customers, please try not to use this method. Point out the advantages of working with you without making their existing translators look bad. There is a huge difference. Besides, the client and translator might have a really good, long-standing relationship, and it could blow up in your face.
Musings from an overworked translator 