Voting for Top 100 Language Blogs has begun May 12, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Translation.1 comment so far
Hi everyone,
Sorry I have been MIA lately. Business has really picked up, but my main focus is packing up my place for my move on June 1st. I can’t believe all the stuff I have accumulated in the last 8 years. It’s unbelievable. I just returned from my third trip to the recycling center. The back seat of my car was stuffed with broken down boxes that aren’t appropriate for the move and old issues of the ATA Chronicle, Real Simple and Shape magazine – not to mention tons of papers I have kept over the years. Everyone should have to move every ten years if only to just get rid of all the garbage one really doesn’t need!
Anyway, the reason I am writing today is to let you know that voting has begun for Lexiophile’s Top 100 Language Blogs. This little blog is one of the 400 blogs in four categories that has been nominated. I am once again honored that someone (or several people) nominated me. Thank you to all my readers. I promise I will have lots of new blog posts once this move is behind me! If you would like to vote for me, be sure to click on this button:
ATA/AAIT Translation Tools Seminar – June 5-6, 2010 April 29, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in ATA, Tools, Translation.add a comment
I just received the following e-mail about an upcoming ATA seminar. If I wasn’t moving June 1st I would definitely be attending. I find that ATA’s smaller conferences/seminars tend to be more beneficial with regard to meeting clients. This seminar just sounds cool since it will be focusing on translation tools, which every translator should confidently use or at least be familiar with. I find translation tools increase my efficiency. If it wasn’t for my translation tool I would not have been able to translate 780 words in 45 minutes yesterday. PDF conversion is also a very important skill every translator should have. If you can attend this seminar I would highly recommend it!
ATA/AAIT TRANSLATION TOOLS SEMINAR
Hyatt Regency
Atlanta, Georgia
June 5-6, 2010
An ATA Professional Development Event
Presented by the American Translators Association and the Atlanta Association of Interpreters and Translators
__________________________________________________
WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND THIS SEMINAR?
The ATA/AAIT Translation Tools Seminar offers a unique opportunity to enhance your skills and advance your career! To learn more, click on http://www.atanet.org/pd/tools
__________________________________________________
BY ATTENDING THIS SEMINAR, YOU WILL:
– Receive training specific to your needs as an experienced translator and interpreter
– Acquire a set of tools that will enable you to work more efficiently and produce quality work
– Discover the tools you need for successful terminology maintenance, quality assurance, and project management
– Understand how to fully utilize the PDF documents you encounter on a daily basis
– Connect with colleagues, company owners, and seasoned professionals at the Networking Session
– Market your services by taking part in the Job Marketplace
– Obtain the professional development you need to enhance the added-value you can offer in a competitive marketplace
To learn more, click on http://www.atanet.org/pd/tools
__________________________________________________
REGISTER FOR BOTH DAYS AND SAVE!
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY RATES:
– Early Registration Rates (by May 30)
ATA & AAIT Members $215
Nonmembers $385
– Late Registration Rates (after May 30)
ATA & AAIT Members $260
Nonmembers $430
Space is limited. Register today!
Saturday-only and Sunday-only rates are also available.
To register, click on http://www.atanet.org/pd/tools/register.htm
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BOOK YOUR HOTEL BY MAY 4 FOR ATA RATE!
Located along historic Peachtree Street, the Hyatt Regency is a short walk to the Georgia Aquarium and Peachtree Center Mall, and is only 12 miles from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The special ATA rate of $126 single/double a night (plus tax) is available until May 4, 2010, or as space allows. Call the Hyatt at +1-888-421-1442 and ask for the special ATA rate!
To learn more, click on http://www.atanet.org/pd/tools/hotel.htm
__________________________________________________
CONTINUING EDUCATION
ATA-certified translators can earn up to 9 ATA Continuing Education Points for attending this seminar.
A change is gonna come… April 1, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Translation.5 comments
Everyone is all atwitter about the changes to the ProZ.com’s job posting system. I’m hoping it isn’t an April Fool’s joke and change is truly coming to the ProZ.com job posting system.
First a little background for those of you who are hearing about this for the first time. On February 23, a small group of freelance translators (mainly based in Italy) created a petition to protest ProZ.com’s job policies. As the linked article explains, “The main point of the petition was to ask Proz to stop allowing outsourcers to set rates in the job posting section of the website, in the belief that this facility (for outsourcers to state the rate offered along with the job) is a fundamental distortion of the client – buyer relationship, a distortion that has contributed, the instigators of the petition claimed, to the continuing downward drive in market rates for professional translation services, and the ensuing race to the bottom.” 844 translators signed in support, but the petition was closed early before more translators had a chance to sign it. However, the ProZ.com staff (and Henry D.) sat up and took notice.
ProZ.com has just announced it will remove the pricing field (client-set fees) from job postings and will be posting information concerning the price of professional translation. There will be other changes as well, as yet to be determined. This is a huge change, but I cannot help but think that the damage has already been done. These controls should have been in place from the very beginning. Hopefully these changes will be the first step in stopping the downward spiral of translation prices.
How NOT to publicize your translation software March 31, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings, Translation.1 comment so far
Robin Bonthrone shared this on the ATA’s German Language Division listserv this morning, and it is just priceless. This translation software promises “perfect translations.” The press release is obviously translated using their software. Not the best advertisement for their product…
Here is just a little foretaste of the text:
About Translation Software:
Always it is a fact that professionals doesn’t get to the right way to approach to solve problem rather they always try to get the work done through simplest way. But they do not realize the fact that things can be done in a simple way by opting the right approach through the correct technology
Yeah, I’m not all that worried about machine translation at the moment…
Would you pay to work for a translation agency? March 25, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Tools, Translation.46 comments
There is a very interesting discussion going on at ProZ.com at the moment about Lionbridge’s new plan to have its translators pay a subscription in order to use its tool, Logoport. In other words, translators will now have to pay Lionbridge a subscription in order to be able to work with a system that “has no visible benefits for translators and all the benefits for Lionbridge!”
They are known to be one of LSPs on the lower end of the pay spectrum, so I highly doubt they will be willing to allow their translators to adjust their word rates to factor in the cost of the subscription fee. I can’t imagine this going over very well with its translators, and will not be surprised if it backfires on them. As one translator stated in the discussion, “Working for a low rate, being forced to use their proprietary tool, and being forced to be a customer to their CAT tool business as part of the deal is not quite my idea of an interesting customer…” My issue is that no client should be allowed to force its freelancers to use a tool in order to work with it. If they do, that makes us quasi employees.
Logoport is apparently a “one-way, Internet-based” system. My big question with this Internet-based systems is how can the client maintain quality? For example, I use Trados. When I translate, I translate a rough draft first and then go back, edit it (sometimes several times) and clean it up into the TM. I then edit it one more time to make sure the text flows and sounds like a native English text. I frequently find typos or duplicate words that I missed the first or second time around. A one-way, Internet-based system does not allow that freedom and control that I need to deliver a quality translation.
No thanks, Lionbridge!
Interesting reads for today March 22, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, Random musings, Translation.1 comment so far
Fabio, a German-Portuguese translator based in Bonn, Germany (well, Rheinbach), published a great little review of MemoQ with screenshots on his blog this morning. If you are curious about MemoQ you might want to check it out.
I was aghast to read that students in the Manalapan-Englishtown, New Jersey elementary schools will learn Spanish from a computer next year instead of being instructed by a foreign language professional to save money. This is not a good trend at all. I can’t imagine school administrators trying to outsource teaching mathematics from a computer or videotape. Why do they think this will be a good idea? Teachers are there to answer questions and make sure students are pronouncing things properly. No computer will be able to do that!
And finally, Price for Profit and Sanity is a good article about the “good, fast cheap – pick two” mantra. As the author explains, small business owners should quote services using ‘good, fast or cheap’ matrix. In our case, every customer wants a “high quality” translation “to be completed in a very short time (because they failed to plan ahead) for very little money (because they failed to establish adequate budgets).” In reality we can only reasonably offer two out three. It is a very interesting article.
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.
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!
Johnny Depp is not dead January 25, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings, Translation.add a comment
Rumors were flying today that Johnny Depp had died, and it turns out it is all due to a Dutch mistranslation. An article in Dutch reported how much Depp hated the paparazzi and the media, and the article was mistranslated, leading the media to believe that the very much alive actor was dead. With the Interwebs being as it is (every day it seems like there is a mistaken report of a celebrity death… Jeff Goldblum, Jon Heder, Eminem, Britney Spearks, etc.), some anonymous “source” also apparently dug up an old article from 2004 that reported he had been in a car crash in France, and the media went into a frenzy. No, Johnny Depp is not dead. He was just voted the Sexiest Man Alive. There’s a BIG difference.
You hear these stupid celebrity death rumors all the time, but this time it is because of a mistranslation and that makes it worthy to talk about here on my blog 🙂
NAJIT Seeking Volunteer Interpreters and Translators for the Haiti Relief Effort January 20, 2010
Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Translation.1 comment so far
From a NAJIT press release:
Volunteer Interpreters and Translators needed for the Haiti Relief Effort
By now we are all painfully aware of the situation in Haiti following the devastating earthquake last week. The National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators and the American Red Cross are seeking Haitian Creole and French interpreters and translators to assist in this time of great need.
Interpreters are needed for two types of assignments either at the American Red Cross Headquarters in Washington DC (immediate need) or on the hospital ship USNS Comfort off the coast of Haiti (anticipated future need).
Immediate Need
The American Red Cross wishes to identify and recruit a Haitian Creole and French interpreter and translator to work at its National Headquarters Office in Washington for periods of between one to three weeks. The volunteer will support the International Services Department (ISD) in response to the earthquake in Haiti by sharing information with Haitian Creole speakers in the United States, translating documents from various ISD offices and/or American Red Cross chapters around the country, may be called upon to record messages in Haitian Creole or respond to inquiries from Haitian Creole speakers by telephone or in writing. The qualifications for this assignment are below:
VOLUNTEER POSITION DESCRIPTION
International Services Department/ International Humanitarian Law and Chapter Support
Location: 2025 E Street NW; 3rd Floor; Washington, DC 20006
Position Title: Haitian Creole Translator/Interpreter
Purpose: Support International Services Department (ISD) in response to the earthquake in Haiti by sharing information with Haitian Creole speakers in the United States. The writer will translate documents from various ISD offices and/or American Red Cross chapters across the country. May be called upon to record messages in Haitian Creole or to respond to inquiries from Haitian Creole speakers by telephone or in writing.
Key Responsibilities:
* Willingness to support Red Cross Mission
* Translate written information into Haitian Creole
* Respond to inquiries from Haitian Creole speakers
Qualifications:
* At least three (3) years of demonstrated experience as a professional translator and/or interpreter
* Excellent writing, good interpersonal and some cross-cultural communication skills and experience.
* Advanced use of Microsoft Office for word processing.
Training:
* Orientation to American Red Cross
Reports to or Partners with:
* ISD/ International Communications Department
Length of Appointment
* Open
Time Commitment:
* 20 – 40 hours a week — flexible
Anticipated Future Need
Last week a request was sent out for the recruitment for interpreters for the USNS Comfort, a hospital ship that is scheduled to arrive in Haiti Tuesday night January 20 and will remain docked off the coast. Thanks to the American Red Cross chapter network, that need was filled quickly. NAJIT and the American Red Cross anticipate there will be a continued need for interpreters for the USNS Comfort over the weeks and months to come. Currently, the projection is that USNS Comfort will be deployed on this mission for 6-12 months.
At this time, in an effort to anticipate the ongoing and future need for interpreters, NAJIT and the American Red Cross are standing ready by identifying available volunteers for the next possible 30 day rotations. Volunteers will remain on the ship throughout the duration of the assignment and will not deploy to the mainland of Haiti.
Both assignments are on a volunteer basis and the American Red Cross will cover all travel expenses.
Because of the special American Red Cross and NAJIT partnership and our joint collaboration in recent years during major disaster response operations, NAJIT has been asked to coordinate the recruitment of interpreters for the Red Cross Haiti Relief Effort. NAJIT continues to serve as the direct link between interpreters and the Red Cross emergency response. In order to participate in the Haiti Relief Effort, interpreters must either be members of NAJIT or members of one of NAJIT’s organizational or institutional members.
We know that many interpreters and translators want to help in this time of great need, either by volunteering or making donations. Please be as generous with your time and resources as you can be. Thank you.
Please send all responses to christina@najit.org or phone 202-293-0342 for further information.
Musings from an overworked translator 