5 Tips to Avoid Proofreading Bad Translations

Photo Credit Eduardo Amorim 5 Tips to Avoid Proofreading Bad Translations Many of you would have had the experience of landing up with poor translations while proofreading causing you to perform drastic corrections. This would have cost a lot in terms of precious time and money since the amount paid to proofread is generally much lower than what is paid out for translation. In order to avoid falling prey to such costly mistakes, it is advisable to follow a few pointers while accepting work for proofreading. 1. Try and check if the person who has handled the translation is well-versed with the language of translation and has had sufficient experience in the field. 2. Tell the client that you need to preview the translation before accepting the job. Do not take up the work if they do not agree to this condition. Tell them you need to do this to access the quality of the translation. 3. Try to charge an hourly rate rather than a per word rate. This will limit losses if you are to handle a poor translation. 4. If the client does not agree to an hourly rate, try to negotiate different rates based on what needs to be done. Tell what it will cost them if the translation needs to be just proofread and what it would be if it needs to be edited. 5. If during the preview you find the work to be very poor such that it will need more time to edit rather than just retranslate, inform them and tell you will handle the work at translation rates only. If you do not want to do a retranslation, then flatly refuse the work or outsource it to somebody who will be willing to do so. The important thing is not to be taken for a ride or for granted. If the situation calls for putting your foot down, it is necessary to take action as long as what you are asking for is justified. If the agency refuses to abide by your conditions, it is time to take a call for accepting work from them in future.

Include current rates on your CV?

Is it a good idea to include current rates on a CV? Should the rates be negotiated afterwards? If the rate is low , the agency would love it. It will limit the translator. One opinion is- Do not include rates in your CV. More so if they are low. The agency could get the wrong impression about you that you are not experienced enough. And you are desperately searching for a job and ready to take up whatever comes. Remember your rates depend on complexity of the text and turnaround time. It is always better to negotiate rates afterwards. Your CV can draw attention of agencies in two ways(1) very professionally drafted CV (2) very low rates. Everybody loves to get jos done at lower rates. SO the point is do your homework carefully and present a very good CV but do not mention your rates in your CV. If you are not sure about rates, ask the agency what rates they are ready to offer or they have been offering to their translators. If they do it you may accept or refuse that rate. It is in your favor. To get better rates present yourself in a professional manner. In one of the translators forums somebody has commented that once you understand that all people are different and react different to rates it will be easier for you to come up with higher rates. Top quality jobs can come only with higher rates. So provide quality output and dont hesitate to ask for higher rates.

Subtitling

Photo Credit W Subtitling Being a translator, if you are keen on getting into subtitling and do not know much about it, the information provided over here should help you understand better and aid in deciding whether it is a career option that you need to take. First and foremost, you should understand that being a translator for doing the subtitling is just a part of the entire subtitling process. Subtitling involves a total of three steps that include translation, spotting and burning. Let us understand what each one is. Translation involves translating the language in the audio to the language required for subtitling and bringing it in the text format. This process requires the skill sets of the translator. Most times, the translator does not use the actual audio but uses a master file that has already been spotted and presented in a text file. The master file is used by different sets of translators to translate in different languages for subtitling. The advantage of this method is that the master file provides a common basis on which many translators can work and the spotting needs to be done only to the master file and helps in saving a lot of time and money. Spotting refers to the process of recording the time of the subtitle to correspond exactly with the audio. This can be done by a person who knows both the languages, the language in the audio as well as the translated language to a good extent. This process is performed by the translator sometimes but mostly it is done by other technicians in the field. The last step involves the burning of the prepared subtitles to correspond to the audio. This involves the burning of the subtitles using some good software and other equipment. This is generally done by a technician who has the infrastructure to do so and is generally not the work of the translator. Before jumping into the bandwagon of subtitling, you need to remember that competition is killing the money paid to translators doing subtitling. Although the gloss and thrill of being involved with movies and such could be very enticing, you need to weigh all the pros and cons before taking up this as a career.

Another blog- my favourite

I like this blog "Musings from an overworked translator". It is a different blog though about translation and translators. It features musings about the translators life and the translation industry. The owner of this blog is a full-time freelance German→English translator and also the current president of the Northeast Ohio Translators Association, an active member of the American Translators Association, and an adjunct faculty member of Kent State. I like it more because it gives a list of the books she is reading currently. So you get some book review also. Have a look at the blog the url of which is given on right under the title 'My favourite blogs'. =Ostom

Chinese Translation Rates

I did a quick search in Internet and found a typical rate list for Chinese language. It seems to be an agency but how big it is I dont know. Since they have published their rates in their website we can know what is the going rate for Chinese language. Read below: $0.12 per source word for written translation. For jobs involving less than 170 words, the fee is $20 The rate is the same for translating English-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-English. Rush Service Fees Word count Additional Fee Less than 200 words-------$10 200 to 400 words------------$15 401 to 600 words------------$20 601 to 800 words------------$25 801 to 1000 words----------$30 Over 1000 words----------send email Oral Interpretation $60 per hour. Video Translation $15 per minute of video. ($30 minimum charge). Includes written transcripts in both English and Chinese Hope the above information helps in search of a typical rate. The only thing I dont know is whetehr it is a freelancers rate or an agency rate. These data taken from this site. http://www.blessedkids.com/index_files/rates.htm Read more posts on rates here

8 Useful Pointers for Notations in Interpretation

Photo Credit thorinside 8 Useful Pointers for Notations in Interpretation Unlike translation, interpretation is much more difficult as you do not get any time to go and perform research through a dictionary or any other means to get your work done. This necessitates you to be much more proficient and be able to remember lot of things on the go. For easing down the work, many resort to notations to help them remember what they need to convey. Here are some useful pointers in aiding you to develop an effective note taking system that will make your job much simpler and more adept: 1. Go through some useful books that are available on the subject in order to help you understand good methods for note taking. Some good books that are available on this subject include Jean-Francois Rozan’s Book Note taking in Consecutive Interpreting and Andrew Gillies’ Book Note taking for Consecutive Interpreting- A Short Course. 2. Develop your skills by constant practice. Use some videos of some speeches for conducting your practice sessions. 3. In interpretation, you need to concentrate on conveying the meaning and not the words. So, try to hone your skills in doing this. 4. While taking down notes, it is important not to put in too many details in one page as you should be able to understand what you need to convey by just a brief peep into the written material. 5. You can develop your own abbreviations, symbols or pictures for notations but use something that you can easily remember. Some information for this can also be found in the books that are available on this subject. 6. Take down important details such as numbers, names, etc that are the most difficult things to recollect from memory. 7. Linking the sentences together is also important. For this, your note taking should be able to help you get the right links between sentences to keep your interpretation flowing smooth and fluent. 8. Be sure to take down details such as the speaker quoting somebody else or the sequence in which the speaker lists out something. Remember, constant training and practice is what makes you perfect. Strive to be better and developing personalized skills will make your job much easier and more enjoyable.

Vote for the most notable personality in Russian history

These days there is a voiting going on in Russia and in the world. It is for those who are interested in Russia. Official site of 'Name of Russia' project http://www.nameofrussia.ru/ Name of Russia (Russian Èìÿ Ðîññèè) is the project of "Russia" TV channel aimed to elect the most notable personality in Russian history throught voting via the Internet, radio and television. Initially, there were 500 names on the list of people who according to "Russia TV Channel" played significant role in Russia's history. On June 12 the list was shotrened by voting to 50. In December 2008 the name of the winner will be announced. As for July 2008 according to official site rating page with more than 2.000.000 total votes, there are 4 distinctive leaders: 1. Joseph Stalin 2. Nicholas II of Russia 2. Vladimir Visotsky 3. Vladimir Lenin Official site of 'Name of Russia' project http://www.nameofrussia.ru/ AS per the site of www.KPRF.ru on 12th July Stalin is in 1st position and Lenin in 3rd position. So, go and cast your vote at http://www.nameofrussia.ru/ =Ostom

My favourite translation blogs

I read a lot of blogs by freelancers in general and translators in particular. Here is one of them. I shall continue to bring more such blogs for you. Do come back to this site. Bookmark and subscrible to it. Masked Translator. The purpose of this blog is to discuss issues in the translation industry and in the practice of translation--issues that are hard to discuss with colleagues, clients or translation agencies because translation is not always a field of directness or honesty.

American Translator’s Association- Is Membership Beneficial

Photo Credit RichardLowkes American Translator’s Association- Is Membership Beneficial As a freelancer, you might have received advice to become a member of the American Translator’s Association (ATA) and to take up certification exams offered by them. But, how beneficial is being a member or getting certified by the ATA? The American Translator’s Association has directories of all its members that are accessed by many looking for freelancers to take up projects for them. So, being a member definitely will improve the amount of exposure that you get in obtaining more work. Also, there are annual conferences and many workshops that you can attend that will help in developing a good contact base from which you derive the potential of getting more work. Also, attending these conferences will give you better knowledge on what is transpiring in the translation world and will keep you updated on what is new. Getting certified involves the process of writing exams conducted by the Association. Though not an easy one to pass, you have practice exams which you can take up to gear you for the finals. If you manage to get through the exams and get certified, it improves your credentials and directly has an impact on the quality and quantity of work you get. There are some added frills to the membership that you can enjoy. Some of them include discounts on insurance such as disability, life and professional liability. You can even get discounts on UPS delivery services, registration fees at events conducted by the ATA, opportunities to take part in many events and discussion forums, MasterCard issued by the ATA without any fees, etc. Not only this, it also helps you in developing credibility when you post your testimonials on your own website or on other freelancing websites thus helping you get better work. But, all is not lost if you are not a member of the ATA and it definitely does not ring negative if you are not one. A truly good freelancer is known by their skills which by itself will sing laurels about you.

Great Methods to Handle Phone Inquiries

Photo Credit Irina Souiki Great Methods to Handle Phone Inquiries As a freelancer many of you would have been faced with the proposition of taking up a project through a phone inquiry. But, having to do this will leave little time for you to check back on the credibility of the agency and to know the ups and downs of the job before you commit to taking up the project. This makes many a freelancer jittery about taking up projects through phone inquiries. Here are a few great methods that will help you handle phone inquiries and how best to either accept a new project or to deny it: If you are extremely uncomfortable about handling phone inquiries, it is best to avoid leaving your phone number in the profiles that you have posted either on your website or on other websites. As long as you are not giving out your phone number, there is no question of anybody calling you up for a project. If you have left your phone number and have received a call, if you have the capacity to multitask, you can go through the profile of the agency over the internet as you are discussing the details of the project. If this is difficult, you can ask them to give all the details of the project and can give some approximate figures in terms of delivery time and rates which you can confirm only on seeing more details of the project over the mail. Take everything in writing over email before you commit to taking up the project. Check the details of the credibility of the agency before you go ahead with the project. If you have any doubts, you reject them outright or ask them for an upfront payment so that you can feel comfortable in taking up the project. Remember, phone inquiries can be important as you can get to speak to a real person and while doing so get to know more about the agency and them about you and avoids the anonymity the internet can hold. But, at the end of it all it is you that needs to have a final say in whether or not to take up a project.

Freelancers Owning Websites-Boon or Bane

Photo Credit rosemary Freelancers Owning Websites-Boon or Bane The question that comes to the mind of every freelancer is whether or not to have a website for promoting themselves and their work. Will having a website improve the volume of projects they are obtaining? Will creating an identity help in impressing the clients that scout for freelancers on the internet? If you are one of those freelancers with such questions on your mind, you are not alone. There are many such freelancers who are in the same dilemma as you are. From a larger perspective, it has been observed that there is a divided opinion among freelancers in answering the question. Creating a website and maintaining it does not come cheap. While owning a domain name is not very expensive, creating the right content can be. Also, there is a necessity for you to have the right adwords such that there is more traffic generated to your website. This is again a costly affair as you need to pay to the search engine for certain adwords when ever they are clicked by a user. Even though generation of traffic does not come easy, there are many who believe and have experienced an increase in the number of clients by owning a website. There are many who perceive that with a website there is an identity for yourself on the internet which will help embellish your accomplishments as well as provide a feel-good factor for your clients. At the same time, there are others who feel that having a website in no way increases the face value and they feel that they can obtain adequate workload by other means such as developing a good client contact base and with having their profiles on other freelance websites which has good amount of web traffic already. They feel that this will help them in concentrating on their work more and would not necessitate spending time on any unnecessary things such as trying to improve the traffic to the website. While some think that having a website is highly advantageous there are many others that think that having a website is in no way of an extra benefit. The perceptions of each one differ and how you lean is dependent on how you feel about the whole issue.

Points to Getting Jobs as a Freelancer

photo credit Prakhar Points to Getting Jobs as a Freelancer Being a fresher to freelancing can be very intimidating and daunting, especially when you are trying very hard and not being able to land up with any projects. The first and foremost thing that you must remember is that you are not alone over here. No one usually lands up with a silver spoon in their mouth. Every freelancer when they began did go through this phase. Here are few pointers that will help you in planning out the right approach that you need to adopt to help you out. 1. As a fresher, you need to establish your credibility in the arena that you want to flourish in. You should remember that you are a newcomer in the sea of other freelancers and you should work towards measuring up to them. 2. Start by creating a good C.V. that has up-to-date information regarding you. Add important keywords related to your work in the resume. Try to impress the person reading your C.V. by keeping it polished but be honest. Do not falsify your resume in any way because your lies are bound to come out later. 3. Go looking for work. The advent of the internet has made it possible for you to find jobs on a global front. Check out the various websites offering freelancing work. You can start out initially by taking a free membership provided in many sites and then switch over to a premium membership later. 4. You can even try some agencies that may be present in the city that you live in by cold calling. 5. Never undersell yourself. If you believe that you can land up a job sooner or later stick to your estimates. Another alternative is that you can offer value added services such as proofreading, editing, etc within the quoted price. 6. Check on ways and means to make your presence felt. There are many forums and activity boards on the websites that will be able to help you do so. 7. Last and not the least, you need lots of patience. If you believe in yourself, it is only a matter of time when you will land up with that first job and many more to come.

Bengali Machine Translator

Anubadok is the name of the Bengali Machine Translator. The creators of this translator deserves applauds from everybody. They say it is a small attempt to bridge the digital divide -but infact it is a BIG STEP for Bengali language. Anubadok is an open-source (GPL'ed) English to Bengali machine translator using Penn Treebank annotation system. Anubadok system can be accessed online Anubadok uses dictionary database from Ankur's English to Bengali dictionary project. Incidentally, Anubadok's initial database was used as seed contributions for the project. This dictionary project since its inception, is being maintained by Golam Mortuza Hossain ( gmhossain at gmail.com ). If you are interested in helping this project then please feel free to write to the maintainer or Ankur mailing list ( core at bengalinux.org ). This English to Bengali dictionary is run by Ankur, an internet-based voluntary organization where anyone can join/contribute/leave as they wish. This group is working towards supporting Bangla (Bengali) language on GNU/Linux operating system. Some of its projects are in fact platform independent and add supports to other operating systems.

Basic question for fixing rates

Photo Credit josef.stuefer Freelance translators worldwide debating how much to charge. There is no fixed rate. Experience shows in general rate does not depend on language, country, voulme. It is something you negotiate. You have to ask for the rate you want and consider apprpriate. The question is not how much the translators should charge, but how much are clients willing to pay. Do your home work and get to know how much the client is willing to pay and then charge accordingly. All agencies ask the translators to state their rates in their CVs, and that is very wrong. Never give your rates in your first mail or CV. Let them ask it from you. The clients should tell the translators how much they want to pay, and then the translators decide whether to accept it or not. Rates are bound to go up if the translators let the clients struggle to get their attention, instead of the opposite. Factors Influencing Freelance Translation Rates Freelance translation rates Why translation rates are under pressure? Rates: Do you have a strategy for rates highly complicated texts? What are the Factors that Influence rates? Basic question for fixing rates

Get Clients, but how?

Photo credit wandering_angel This is a very good article taken from internet. It is addressed to service providers but it is very much relevant for translators-frelancers. "How to Really Get All The Clients You Want" by Travis Greenlee © 2005 http://tinyurl.com/4nuv5 As you are probably well aware, the service profession is evolving more rapidly than ever before. Competition, technology and consumerism are taking huge bites out of your business possibilities. You're working harder, feeling more stressed, and not yet seeing the results you want. The old answers to building and sustaining your business don't seem to be working any more. Whether you like it or not, it's time to take action and re-engineer your business - or risk your future. With this in mind, I'd like to share 5 proven strategies that will create irresistible demand for your services, guaranteed! 1. Understand that the primary objective of your business should be the MARKETING of your professional services, NOT the actual delivering of your services. Most service professionals have it backwards. You see, the challenge is that most of us have been taught that simply because we deliver excellent service and provide enormous value, clients will automatically knock our doors down. Well, I can tell you from personal experience, as well as with hundreds of my clients, it's simply not the truth. The key to building a long term, solid practice is the quality and consistency of your marketing much more than the actual delivery of your services. As Michael Gerber states in the e-myth revisited, working on your business much more than working in your business. 2. Become a "positioner" not a prospector. A positioner is someone who builds his/her reputation such that prospects come to them, they command respect. Positioners pick and choose clients, whereas prospectors hustle and struggle to get clients. Become a positioner and share your valuable knowledge, expertise, and education with prospects, as a result you will be viewed as the "go to" person. 3. Use an education-based marketing approach to attract new clients. This is the process used by industry leading service professionals to attract and enroll highly qualified prospects by giving them what they want, not by selling or promoting. Selling based marketing is out, it's old school. Think about it, the problem is that prospects go out of their way to avoid you, they even become defensive. How does that make you feel? The key is to look for opportunities to create and give your information away, which in turn will position you as the expert. As a result, you will create a powerful magnet to pull clients to you. 4. Design, create, sell and give away information products to generate leads. All highly successful service professionals are avid writers and producers of information products. The benefits of creating your own info products are many: beginning with creating passive revenue, allowing you to enjoy more time, freedom, and increased bandwidth to make a larger impact in the world. In terms of positioning, creating an info product will attract highly qualified prospects who view you as an expert in your field, and as a result, will pay top dollar to work with you. 5. Become a specialist, not a generalist. This is a big one. Highly successful service professionals are specialists at one thing. When people think of that one thing, the specialist comes to mind. Prospects who want that one thing will pay top dollar for coaching and advice, and are attracted like a magnet. I'm sure you've heard how vitally important it is to identify and define your target market. I can't overemphasize the importance of this. Without having a crystal clear idea of who you are, in terms of your strengths, gifts, talents, and experiences and who you will support based on your attributes, you are literally shooting yourself in the foot. If you haven't identified your target market and have made the commitment to becoming a specialist and expert in your field, it's absolutely essential that you do as quickly as possible. After all, you have a message to share and a profound impact to make in the lives of those you touch... Make the commitment today to take on these 5 strategies and incorporate them into your practice. If you do, your life and practice will never be the same. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Travis Greenlee is a business design and development coach who specializes in teaching coaches, consultants, professionals, and business owners to earn a more profitable living doing what they love. He is an expert in high-tech/hi-touch marketing systems and is internationally recognized for supporting solo-professionals in building full time practices in less than 180 days. Visit Travis here: http://tinyurl.com/4nuv5