Home .........Hire Me .........101 Tips

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

How to decide Spanish Translation Rates?

This is an article taken from Internet. The credit is given at the end.

One of the first things a translator has to do is decide what kind of Spanish translation rates to set. This can be a difficult thing to do when first starting out because many other translators are reluctant to share their rates with fellow translators. Well, before you do set your Spanish translation rates, there are some things you should be aware of.

First of all, translators set rates differently. Most translators charge by the word, but there are times when translators charge by the hour, or even by the page. The reason that translators charge by word is because the amount of words on a page can vary. It's not fair to translators to get paid by the page because the client could put more words on a single page in order for the cost of the job to be less.

As I mentioned before, one of the hardest things for translators to do is to actually set their English and Spanish translation rates. Well, rates can be decided by a number of factors. One of the factors that decides translation rates is the language pair that you translate in. For example, if you are a translator who translates a unique language, you can command a higher rate than someone who translates in Spanish, since Spanish is a more common language.

Another factor that determines translation rates is the type of material that you will be translating. Typically, more technical material will be able to command a higher translation rate. For example, if you are a medical translator, or an engineering translator who translates scientific or engineering technical papers, you will be able to charge more. On the other hand, documents that are more general in nature will usually only get the basic Spanish translation rate.

Another factor that sometimes plays a role in how much you can charge is the reputation you have as a translator, or how long you've been in the business. Competition is pretty tough these days, partly due to the fact that everyone that speaks more than one language thinks they can be a translator. Because of the competition, Spanish translation rates are often driven way down. However, paying the lowest cost doesn't mean the client will get a good translation, so by keeping your translation rates at a fair price for translators and clients, you'll be keeping the industry fair.

Once you understand the factors that go into setting Spanish translation rates, you can go ahead and set rates. One of things that can give you an idea of what kind of rates to set for your translation business is to check out freelance translation websites and see what kind of rates other translators set. One such site is Proz.com. One this site, clients can post their jobs and translators can bid on them. To get you started in setting your Spanish translation rates, I will say that I've seen rates anywhere from .15 to .70 cents a word, so taking the above factors into consideration, you should have enough to decide what rates to set.

Clint Tustison is a Spanish <--> English translator interested in helping businesses and translators better understand the translation industry. If you're interested in how to improve your translation business or your relationship with translation companies, check out his website at http://www.spanish-translation-help.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Clint_Tustison

http://getdirectclient.blogspot.com

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Internet Resources for language professionals

The world wide web can be a good place to start learning a foreign language. This is a compilation of language communities, tools, and other online resources that’ll help you get started.
Language Communities
Chaula - Chaula is a pronunciation dictionary created by the community and a social network where you can help other people learn your language.
FriendsAbroad - An online community of language learners speaking over 80 languages across 200 countries.
Huitalk - This is a language learning community where you can chat with other Huitalk members, access the article resource, and join the forums to learn new languages.
iTalki - Language exchange network wherein you can find a partner and practice speaking a foreign language using an instant messenger or iTalki’s text and voice chat tool.
Kan Talk - This site will help you learn English by conversing with other members and sharing questions, recordings, and videos.
Lingoz - Online dictionary created by the community and providing a resource for language questions.
LiveMocha - Another language learning community where you can enroll for language lessons, and practicing conversing with text and chat tools with other community members.
MyLanguageExchange - Find a partner to practice a new language with a native speaker.
Novlet - A collaborative story writing tool in several languages. You can also read stories written by other users.
Open Language Archives Community - Network of institutions and people who are creating an online language resources like data, tool, and advice to documentation and analysis of human language.
SharedTalk - Chat on voice or text with other members to learn new languages.
Speak Any Language - Forums, chat, and tools for learning foreign languages and interacting with people speaking foreign languages.
TalkBean - You can tutor language students or be a student on the TalkBean community. Students pay to get language lessons and tutors can get paid to teach.
TalkConmigo - Barcelona’s language exchange community.
Top Language Community - This is an online language community site for bilingual and multilingual people living in London, UK, and Ireland offering language jobs, dating, flat sharing, directory, events and forums.
TraduWiki - A wiki where members and readers contribute to translate documents and texts. You can submit your documents for translation in select languages.
UniLang - This is a community where people can discuss and find language resources, linguistics and translation.
WeLang - WeLang is an online language community where you can learn new languages and communicate with native speakers.
xLingo - xLingo is a language exchange online community where you can find partners across the world to learn new languages.
Sites Offering Courses and Tools for Learning Multiple Languages
1-Language - Learn English with 1-Language’s audio course. The site also provides various resources for learning different languages in different countries.
AlphaLearnr - AlphaLearnr is a collection of Flickr pictures grouped according to the English alphabet to help children learn English.
BBC Languages - Resources for learning French, Spanish, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, Portuguese, Greek, Urdu, and more.
Digital Dialects - Provides interactive activities for learning over 48 languages.
EduFind - Provides language learning tools, courses, materials, resources and news in more than 128 languages. The site also lists language schools in various countries.
eLanguage - Provides free online grammar guides in English, Spanish, French, and German. Provides slideshows of 32 world cultures.
eLanguageSchool - Resources for learning Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
Engoi - Free vocabulary exercises of more than 12 languages.
Fonetiks - Online pronunciation guide to different variations of the English, French, French Canadian, German, Swiss German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Indonesian, Japanese, Mandarin, and Thai languages.
Goethe-Tests - Free online language tests.
InternetPolygot - Learn various languages with digital flashcards.
iTools - Provides word, text, and website translator tools.
Learn Indian Languages - Provides English, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu language word and sentence constructions in the scripts of your language.
LanguageGuide - LanguageGuide offers sound integrated language learning tools in 11 languages developed by its volunteers.
Linguanaut - Phrases and alphabets of 49 languages.
Mango - Free language learning course with each course comprising of 100 lessons. Courses available are for Spanish, Russian, French, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, German, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Geek, English for Spanish speakers, and English for Polish speakers.
Omniglot - Provides information of over 150 different writing systems with illustrations, origin, usage, notable features and the language(s) written with it.
PhraseBase - This is an online database of everyday words and phrases translated into over 90 foreign languages. There are live webcam language classrooms as well.
Scola - A non-profit educational organization re-transmitting native language TV programs from around the world.
Single-Serving - Learn common phrases and words that you can use while traveling to various countries. Provides information on more than 33 languages.
Stella Online - Online language courses for Danish, English, and Hungarian.
Transparent - Site offering free language software.
Transcon - This site provides important and need-to-know vocabulary of Middle East and African nations for military and civilians working in these conflict areas.
Virtulingo - Provides personalized language learning programs over the Internet through VoIP programs. Languages offered are Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. Standard lessons start at USD $35.00.
Vocabulix - Learn Spanish, English, and German with Vocabulix’s predefined lesson from over 90 choices or from a lesson created by another Vocabulix user.
Word2word - Links of various resources of learning new languages online.
Translation Tools and Services
101 Languages - Basic vocabulary and translation service of various languages.
AjaxTrans - With AjaxTrans, you can have your text translated, automatically in the language of your choice, as you type. Supported languages are English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Greek, and Dutch.
AllWords - Provides links to language dictionaries, language learning tools, translation services, etc.
AltaVista Babel Fish - Translates a web page or up to 150 words of text in English to/from Chinese (Simplified), English to/from Chinese (Traditional), English to/from Dutch, English to/from French, English to/from German, English to/from Greek, English to/from Italian, English to/from Korean, English to/from Japanese, English to/from Russian, English to/from Portuguese, English to/from Spanish, German to/from French, Dutch to/from French, French to/from German,French to/from Greek, French to/from Italian, French to/from Portuguese, and French to/from Spanish.
AquariuasNet - Provides translation jobs, forums, and directories of translation agencies.
Babelplex - You can enter any word and search the web on the translation of that word in the language of your choice.
Foreignword - Provides links to language dictionaries, translation and language identifier tool, and directory of language translators.
Freedictionary.biz - This is a multilingual dictionary supporting translations from and to these languages - Dutch, Estonian, German, Italian, Lithuanian,Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.
Google Translate - This Google tool translate text and webpages in English to/from Arabic, English to/from Chinese (Simplified), English to/from Chinese (Traditional), English to/from French, English to/from German, English to/from Italian, English to/from Korean, English to/from Japanese, English to/from Russian, English to/from Spanish, English to/from Portuguese, Chinese (Simplified) to/from Chinese (Traditional), and German to/from French. You can also enter a particular phrase in your language and search it among other language sites. There is a multi-lingual dictionary too.
ImTanslator - Provides an online translator, spell checker, multilingual dictionary, virtual keyboard, and a Russian decoder tool.
iPhoneCedict - An online Chinese to English dictionary.
LingoDeal - LingoDeal is a translators’ open marketplace aggregating language deals from other different language translation job networks.
Netfinder - Directory of New Zealand sites that provides translation services of the sites its its directory into 8 languages.
PanImages - You can use PanImages to translate words into different languages and search Google Images and Flickr.
PopJisyo - This is pop-up dictionary for Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and other languages that you can use to read foreign language websites.
Proz - Proz is an online directory of freelance language translators & translation agencies. It also has translation job listings.
SDL FreeTranslation - Translates websites and text in English to Chinese (Simplified), English to Chinese (Traditional), English to/from Spanish, English to/from French, English to/from German, English to/from Italian, English to/from Dutch, English to/from Portuguese,English to/from Russian,English to/from Japanese,and English to Norwegian. there is an advanced translation option, chat translation, and human translation service available at a price.
TranslatorsBase - You can post a project at TranslatorsBase and get quotes from freelance translators and translation agencies.
TranslatorsCafe - TranslatorsCafe provides linguistic news and resources. You can also chat with other linguists and apply for work at translation agencies.
WordReference - Multilingual online dictionary that supports English to/ from Spanish, English to/ from French, English to/ from French, and English to/ from Italian translations.
WorldLingo - Resource for various free online language dictionaries. Also provides language translations of documents, websites, multimedia, and software by professional translators.
Yahoo Babel Fish - With Yahoo Babel Fish, you can translate a webpage or upto 150 words of text in English to/from Chinese (Simplified), English to/from Chinese (Traditional), Chinese (Simplified) to/from Chinese (Traditional), English to/from French,English to/from German, English to/from Dutch, English to/from Greek, English to/from Italian, English to/from Korean, English to/from Japanese, English to/from Russian, English to/from Portuguese, English to/from Spanish, German to/from French, Dutch to/from French, French to/from German,French to/from Greek, French to/from Italian, French to/from Portuguese, and French to/from Spanish.
Miscellaneous Tools
Orangoo - Online spell checker in 27 languages.
Project Readon - You can use this browser-based player to watch videos with foreign language captions.
RhymeZone - Enter a word and find its rhymes, synonyms, antonyms, definition, related words, similar sounding words, homophones. You can also check spellings, match consonants and letters, search for pictures and quotations, and search in Shakespeare works.
Talklets - Add this tool to your website and convert its content to life-like speech. (via)

Source http://dir100.com/resource/top-70-online-language-communities-and-resources.html

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Spanish Translation editing and proofreading rates

Some typical rates taken from a translators blog in the internet

EDITING RATES
Hourly rate –> $35/hour * *
Minimum charge of $20.00

PROOFREADING RATES
Hourly rate –> $25/hour * *
Minimum charge of $15.00

TRANSLATION RATES
Standard (7days) - $ 0.10 per word
Rush (3 days) - $ 0.10 per word + a $ 35 rush fee (available only for documents between 250 and 10,000 words)
Priority (24 hours) - $ 0.10 per word + a $ 55 rush fee (available only for documents between 250 and 4,000 words)

* * Rates higher for complex or highly technical material. Estimates can also be provided on a per-page basis, with exact charges depending on the extension and complexity of the material and the turn-around time you want.
Remember: Your individual circumstances are unique, so please do contact us so that we can arrange an acceptable fee for the work that you need done.
In addition to the above, we offer discounts for students and non-profit organizations. We also have special rates for writers.

If you’re on a tight schedule, please consider this before ordering – the clock starts ticking when you accept our quote and we receive your payment. Earlier orders are started sooner than later orders, of course, but no translating or proofreading work can begin until we have all your documents, complete instructions, and deposit or full payment.

Source click Here
All rights belong to ostom, Use of this post is allowed provided this link is present at the end of the article http://getdirectclient.blogspot.com

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Top ten languages in demand for translation

This is an interesting post taken from Internet(Source given below)

Having analyzed the search volume for translations into different languages at Google, we have arrived at the following 10 languages that are most frequently required by online users:
Spanish (over 100,000 people look for a “Spanish translation” or translation from a particular language into Spanish on a daily basis!)
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Chinese
Hebrew
Russian
Arabic
Greek

Source http://www.langbridge.com

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

How to convert pdf files to word documemts online for free ?

There is a Free web-based converter PDF-to-Word turns static PDF files into edit-able Word documents.

And the output is quite accurate.


The software extracts Readable Text from pdf files/images etc.

It is told that it works even with more complex making the text editable and matching it pretty closely to the original fonts.

According to creators of this software using this PDF-to-Word conversion technology, you can quickly and easily create editable DOC/RTF files, making it a cinch to re-use PDF content in applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, OpenOffice, and WordPerfect.Best of all, it's entirely free!
Get it here http://www.pdftoword.com/

All rights belong to ostom, Use of this post is allowed provided this link is present at the end of the article http://getdirectclient.blogspot.com