One of the appealing aspects of working from home is that you’re free to configure your work environment however you want, especially if you have a dedicated office room in your house. Readers, what are some of your favorite strategies/configurations/products for staying happy and comfortable in your office? I recently gave my office a thorough [...]
Archive for the ‘Freelancing’ Category
Staying comfortable in the office
Posted in Freelancing, Productivity, Working from home on April 22, 2011 | 24 Comments »
The importance of aiming low
Posted in Freelancing, Marketing, Productivity on April 13, 2011 | 21 Comments »
…well, maybe not “low.” Maybe “The importance of setting realistic expectations” is a better way to put it. Over the years, I’ve noticed that many translators fail to reach their long-term goals because (paradoxically) they aim too high. Typical case scenario: a translator who has been in the business for a few years wants to [...]
Shoshin
Posted in Freelancing, Professional development on April 7, 2011 | 15 Comments »
This post has either nothing or everything to do with translation, depending on how you look at it! Here goes: I’ve been thinking a lot about Shosin, the Zen Buddhist concept most commonly translated as “Beginner’s Mind.” It’s most commonly described as an attitude of openness and lack of cynicism about experiences, or as the [...]
Putting 40 cents a word in context
Posted in Freelancing, Marketing, Money, Rates on March 15, 2011 | 33 Comments »
Well, it seems that something about money and income always hits people’s urge to discuss! At 65 comments and counting, “How much do freelance translators earn? Is it enough?” is far and away the most-discussed post in three years of Thoughts on Translation and everyone’s comments have provided me with lots of food for more [...]
How much do freelance translators earn? Is it enough?
Posted in Freelancing, Money, Rates on March 7, 2011 | 93 Comments »
Beginning freelance translators often want to know (understandably) how much they can expect to earn in our industry. Experienced freelance translators often want to know (understandably) whether they are earning enough for the effort they put into their businesses. So, what do freelance translators earn? The American Translators Association does a compensation survey every few [...]
Happy 2011: Are bad habits a form of self-protection?
Posted in Freelancing, Marketing, Productivity, Translation quality, Working from home on January 5, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Happy 2011 to everyone out there in the translation blogosphere! To start the year off, here’s a very interesting interview I came across: sports writer Bill Simmons interviewing New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell. Both Simmons and Gladwell draw some interesting parallels between sports and the rest of life, but my favorite is Gladwell’s take on [...]
Everyone’s talking about work/life balance
Posted in Freelancing, Links, Working from home on December 14, 2010 | 3 Comments »
It must be something about the holiday season that makes bloggers’ thoughts turn to the work/life balance or lack thereof. Here are some excellent posts from around the blogosphere: Jill Sommer’s post ‘Tis the season for no work/life balance points out what many of us are experiencing: clients who have tons of work for us [...]
Webinar question: Should I incorporate?
Posted in Freelancing, Money, Webinar questions on November 29, 2010 | 7 Comments »
This is post #2 in my ongoing series of questions from the webinar on “Getting started as a freelance translator” that I presented for the American Translators Association earlier this month. A participant asks: As a self-employed freelance translator, should I operate as an LLC, an S-corp or a sole proprietorship? Short answer: If you [...]
Some interesting links
Posted in Freelancing, Links, Translation industry news, Translation technique on November 22, 2010 | 1 Comment »
As Thoughts on Translation wraps up for the holiday week (U.S. Thanksgiving is Thursday), here are some websites and blog posts that you might enjoy looking at: Eve Bodeux is giving away some SmartPlay language-learning products for kids on her blog; see the end of the post for how to enter. Writer Michelle Rafter has [...]
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Corinne McKay is an ATA-certified French to English translator specializing in international development, law and non-fiction books. She launched Thoughts on Translation in February, 2008 as a way to connect and share ideas with freelance translators around the world.
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