MANAGEMENT
By Irene Fuentes. https://www.gala-global.org/knowledge-center/professional-development/articles/top-5-soft-skills-translation-project-managers?utm_source=quarterly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=content
Once a project involves several people, tasks, languages, components, or even competes with other projects, drawing a complete and accurate schedule is definitely a must. The challenge of project management lies in the breadth of the subject material involved and the wide variety of translation requests it encompasses. http://www.atanet.org/chronicle-online
With only a few days to go, many businesses all over the world are preparing for the moment the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect. Translation agencies and freelance translators alike should be prepared to implement the rules of the GDPR as well, but among freelance translators especially, the lack of interest or […]
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 […]
One of the most heated debates within the realm of freelancing is whether you should charge hourly or per project (flat fee). While both sides of the coin have legitimate arguments, charging hourly can potentially hinder your ability to advance your entrepreneurial career. Below, I will point out some of the main arguments frequently presented […]
“How should I charge my clients?” This is the age-old freelancers debate, and the answers vary – sometimes from client to client. There are many factors to this question, and it can depend on your previous experiences, your skills, how efficiently you get work done, and even how much your salary goal is, or if […]
At its very deepest, the martial art of Iaido emphasizes the connection of the mind, body, and spirit working together to respond quickly and effortlessly to a sudden attack. The term Iaido consists of the Japanese kanji characters 居合 (Iai) and 道 (do). In English, the term is often translated as “the way of mental […]
Trello is a free tool that helps you see what needs to be done and organize collaboration on projects. Learn how it can be useful for translators. Source: http://wordsboutique.com
« Être organisé, rigoureux et savoir respecter des délais stricts », telles sont les qualités de base demandées à un chef de projet. Il faut savoir mener à bien plusieurs projets de front tout en garantissant au client le respect de ses délais et de la qualité des traductions rendues. Blog MasterTSM@Lille – ISSN 2534-5885
The US Government’s General Services Administration (GSA) used to dispose of war surplus goods in 1949; now it is the independent, centralized procurement agency of the US government―and it provides “billions of dollars worth of products, services, and facilities” to US federal agencies. Home
Whether you are a company or individual, if you need to translate something from one language into another the first thing you want to know is the cost of translation. The translation market is very complex and inhomogeneous. There are many factors that can influence the translation rates and prices — from the country of […]
On your TM-Town profile, you have the option to set a rate range (both a per word range and also a per hour range). This field is optional, and when a translator does choose to show their rate range, we accompany it with the following text: https://www.tm-town.com
The role of the translation project manager is mainly overseen when thinking about the translation industry, probably because it is not fully understood. In fact, when first approaching translation studies, I didn’t even know that this position existed. For this reason, I thought of writing about what I actually do at work, giving an insight […]
It is never easy to ask questions. As professionals, we might fear that people reading our questions think we should have known, or found, the answer ourselves. Many of us have also experienced translation project managers (TPMs) or clients ignoring the questions we asked, or at least not paying attention to all of them. It […]
J’ai pu voir lors de mon stage dans le cadre de la deuxième année du master TSM, que les risques émergent de toutes parts dans la gestion de projets de traduction. En effet, ceux-ci peuvent survenir autant de la part du gestionnaire de projet que des conditions de travail, du contexte dans lequel le projet […]
A recent argument with an agency about the word count for a job handed in weeks previously has driven home just how sordid this practice of counting words really is. Thankfully, this type of situation doesn’t rear its ugly head that often, and this particular client is not one of my main sources of income. […]
Risk analysis can be applied to translation in several ways. One application concerns the specificity of translation, where risk is primarily the probability of the translator losing a translation-specific kind of credibility; it concerns relations between people and can be called ‘credibility risk’. https://www.academia.edu/10485092/Translating_as_risk_management
La technique Pomodoro : l’arme de dégustation massive qui va t’aider à digérer des tonnes de tâches. Petit résumé de la technique, menu, et conseils du chef ! J’ai récemment adopté une tomate pour structurer mes tâches quotidiennes, gérer mes contrats et assurer un suivi simple mais précis de mes techniques de travail (donc […]
Business shouldn’t be busy: Marie Jackson discusses the importance of efficiency over activity and reveals how to find your productivity nirvana. lookingglasstranslations.com
Welcome back to my series on Finance Tips for Freelance Translators! Today I’d like to address a commonplace part of our profession: invoices. As a business owner, invoices are indispensable documents to keep track of your jobs and, most importantly, of who owes you how much money, and when do they have to pay? […]
Organizing quality control on a large translation project with only 10% of the translation budget is a real challenge, especially if the customer expects 100% of the translations to be checked. Home
After fielding yet another “proposal” to translate a book for a fee I found offensive, I thought it might be time to start offering a special, low-cost fare to publishers and other clients who are looking to save money on translations. Details of the low-cost package: https://nopeanuts.wordpress.com
Learn how to minimise your business risks, and make sure you get paid on time. In a freelance setting, getting paid on time is often an issue. Still, there are a few best practices freelancers can implement to minimise the risks of a delayed payment (or non-payment at all). http://www.mtmtranslations.com
We are all people, and mistakes happen. Sometimes we, as translators or interpreters, are the ones at fault. Perhaps we didn’t catch a typo or mixed up a deadline. Or perhaps there was a miscommunication between you and your client that produced what your client perceives to be a mistake on your part. Home
When a translator quotes for a job, (s)he should compare the quote to the actual work when it is done. When you look at your job using numbers, you can learn to make quotes in a better way. This post-calculation Excel template can get you started. Home
Research and observations on geographical, ethnic-linguistic and geopolitical supply-demand principles dictating pricing of translations. According to the Linguistic Society of America, referring to Ethnologue – the most extensive catalogue of the world’s languages, there are over 6,900 distinct languages spoken on Earth. Do you know which the most widely spoken languages of those are? Home
