Translation memory (TM) and machine translation (MT) continue to change the translation industry. Pricing is evolving, too, as clients, translators, and agencies offer and accept consideration for translation services. But what goes through the minds of the players as we haggle? One way to puzzle this out is to consider how the players view the […]
He trabajado en seis empresas de software y en todas ellas la queja era siempre la misma: el alto coste que suponía traducir los textos de las aplicaciones. Y es cierto, si una empresa necesita traducir su aplicación a varios idiomas, ya puede tener cuidado con el número de palabras “traducibles” que incluye en dicha […]
A reader asks: I come across lots of bad translations in my language pairs. How can I use these to pitch my freelance services to new clients without sounding like a hyper-critical tattletale? This is a regular topic of conversation among translators who work with direct clients, and bad translations can be a great marketing […]
There was a time when dinosaurs dominated the world of translation: huge great lumbering beasts of companies with offices in every major world city and thousands of contractors at their fingertips. They offered every language pair, every specialism and every service under the sun, all overseen by huge teams of project managers in vast offices […]
Last week, I found myself suddenly rolling out a blog post because of an unpleasant experience involving machine translation (or should I say machine pseudo-translation), which I wanted to share with you all. This week I’m shaking my head at yet another affront to our profession, … http://nikkigrahamtranix.com
Marketing oriented translation work is beset with potential hazards. Whether you are concerned with packaging, signage, ad copy, or an international website’s user interface, you know that the path is challenging. (Those compliance and training people don’t know how good they’ve got it.) Glyph Localization and Translation Services
Finding the right translator can be tough, I get that. But it’s no different from finding the right doctor, dentist, lawyer, or any other professional service provider. Yet, when approaching a translator, clients will often say things they probably would never say to any other professional. This is the top five on my list … […]
Whilst there are lots of benefits to working as a freelance translator, there’s also significant amounts of less-romanticised, hard work that’s also involved. This post will ask some of the hard questions that aspiring freelance translators will have to consider themselves, prompting you to evaluate yourself and see if this is the sort of job […]
Sound project management is crucial to taking possession of a quality, error free project. If you’ve undertaken a translation or localization project, even a small project, without the aid of a project management system, you may be guilty of contributing to translation errors that have cost your company in lost revenue. http://japan-translators.saeculii.com
This blog post is a spiritual successor to my 10 Simple Rules Every Translator Should Live By which pretty much went viral (well, at least by translation industry standards) with hundreds of awesome people sharing it in their social networks and leaving their comments. http://bestrussiantranslator.com
The myths, misconceptions and drawbacks of working from your own home. Let’s talk about what it’s really like to work from home. I’m sure you can easily imagine the benefits of being able to work at home, but until you’re actually there, it can be difficult to think of the downsides. http://sixrevisions.com
Language Intelligence employs several professional Localization Project Managers to manage our clients’ complex projects. A Localization Project Manager handles the project from beginning to end including: source content analysis, project initiation, project planning, assembling translation teams and managing in-country translation review. Let’s get into each of these activities in a little more detail… […]
The freelancer-large agency relationship is often an ambivalent one. On the one hand, the industry behemoths can provide a steady flow of work, which is a good thing if you have bills to pay. On the other hand, larger also means more layers of organization, so the people you talk to don’t have the authority […]
How long does it take to complete a (good) translation? “I could translate 2,000 words in less than 30 minutes”, a potential client said to me, declining my offer to deliver the job within close of business on the same day. “Wow, how quick you can type!”, I thought*. http://www.francescaairaghi.it
During any occurring and horrific “famine” period, I tend to look back at my career so far. I stand still and mentally travel to the time when I made the first hesitant steps in the competitive freelancing world. Part of this process is looking at a spreadsheet I use to keep track of income per […]
The key to a successful translation project is getting the right people to do the job. Highly qualified translators make up the core of a translation team. Certified Translation Services
We consider translation project management absolutely critical for an agency to consistently deliver quality translations on time and on budget. In our opinion some of the most successful language service providers have made translation project management a core competency… http://blog.mundabla.com
Arabic a is a highly complicated language for Non-Arabic readers and handling any Arabic text by non-native speakers can be an adventure. Arabic is a Semitic language, written from right to left. It has a highly connected script, so letters seldom stand alone, and the shape of each letter varies considerably depending on its position […]
When you request a translation quote, you are given a price you probably do not understand. You also want to know why translators ask you about the number of words in your document, why the type of file matters and why some translators ask for a minimum charge. Let us then take a closer look […]
Post-editing isn’t the only way to improve machine translation output: pre-editing may cut costs and boost localization quality. http://info.moravia.com
Getting your packaging prepared for a new market isn’t easy. Avoid these four mistakes and you’ll be on your way to marketing bliss. Glyph Localization and Translation Services
One of the biggest challenges that any business faces is how to find and attract clients. You cannot help people or attract clients if they do not know your business exists. Sounds simple, but you would be surprised at just how many translators struggle to show up on their ideal clients’ radar. https://alexandria-translation-resources.com
One of the main purposes of this blog when we recently created it was bringing the translators community closer and promote the sharing of different ideas and experiences. Given that we don’t want to turn this blog into something “closed” and only ours, we decided to extend the invitation to recognized translation and translation project […]
Once upon a time some translators had one or more cardboard boxes where handwritten and alphabetically ordered terms ─ including their definitions, sources, synonyms and etymology ─ were kept on cards of different colour. Some colleagues kept them in their notebooks we also used to use as phone directories. http://www.maslias.eu
Last week, Letraduct authored a post about one of the problems that your target customer (the translation agency) has, which is lack of time and desire to read lengthy cover letters, CVs and translation portfolios. The advice was clear: be a translator that makes it quick and easy for the project manager to see key […]
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the overriding factor causing translators to end their relationship with an agency is not being paid at all (no-brainer really, as continuing to work for a client that is not paying you—whatever their excuses and promises—just doesn’t make good business sense), and secondly being paid late. […]