One of the most common misconceptions about languages is concerning language variants. American and British English, European and Latin American Spanish are some examples. Portuguese is no exception and it is not unusual for people to believe one version is adequate to all Portuguese-speaking countries (Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé […]

Jörgen Danielsen describes the challenges in getting started with Machine Translation and the difficulties faced with post-editing. Modern technology now covers more than the basics, but grew more complex on its way to get there. I am an experienced driver (I am German, so I have to be), but when I bought my current car, […]

You work at a fast-growing startup. You’re aware that it’s time to expand to international markets—more users and bigger revenues are your top priorities right now. And you know the international market is lucrative: Google announced at I/O 2017 their goal of targeting Next Billion Users in emerging markets like India, Brazil, and China.   […]

Back in 2011, I wrote this post about how much freelance translators earn. After almost seven years, it’s still the most popular post on this site, with over 21,000 views. A reader recently sent me a series of questions about translator income: “I’m in college and deciding whether to try to make a career as […]

Whenever I get asked to ‘proofread’ something that involves a translation, I make sure to ask what the client actually wants me to do. Should I check the translation against the source text to make sure the translation is correct and fit for its intended purpose? Or should I check the text for spelling and […]