Thoughts On Translation

Until a few weeks ago, the most popular post on this blog was one that I wrote a long time ago on charging by the word versus charging by the hour (it’s since been eclipsed by a recent post on using a sample translation as a sales pitch). This is a topic I think about [...]

Read Full Post »

I’m a big believer in writing scripts for important occasions; the first time that I presented at the ATA annual conference (a presentation on free and open source software at the 2004 ATA conference in Toronto), I typed out every single word I was going to say, including a few pre-scripted jokes. When Eve Bodeux [...]

Read Full Post »

Translators have a variety of reasons for choosing certain types of clients: some prefer agencies for their steady workflow and layer of “insulation” between the translator and the end client, some prefer direct clients for their higher rates and higher degree of autonomy, and still other translators mix up their workflow or work with clients [...]

Read Full Post »

This week, the French-American Foundation and the Florence Gould Foundation announced the winners of their 22nd annual translation prizes. At the 2008 ATA conference in Orlando, we were fortunate enough to have Sandra Smith, a previous winner of this award (for her translation of Irène Némirovsky’s Suite Française) as a speaker; and it was the [...]

Read Full Post »

If you’re interested in a high-quality professional development opportunity this summer (particularly for EN>FR and FR>EN translators, but other languages are welcome too!), hop on over to Translate in the Catskills, which is running from August 21-23 in Maplecrest, NY (about 1 hr. south of Albany or 3 hrs. north of New York City). The [...]

Read Full Post »

This is a guest post by Karen Tkaczyk, PhD, a French to English translator specializing in chemistry and its industrial applications. Karen’s LinkedIn profile is here and her business website is here. Thanks to Karen for sharing her experience using LinkedIn, and specifically LinkedIn Groups and Discussions as a marketing tool. Earlier this year Corinne [...]

Read Full Post »

A fellow ATA member wrote to let me know that she is on the committee for the Alicia Gordon Award for Word Artistry in Translation, and that the committee is actively seeking submissions for this year’s award. The deadline is June 1 and the submission guidelines are available on the award’s web page. The Alicia [...]

Read Full Post »

Jill Sommer (of Musings from an overworked translator) and I were thinking it might be fun to get translation blog writers and readers together for lunch at the upcoming ATA conference in Orlando. If you’re interested (we were thinking of meeting on Thursday of the conference), either drop one of us an e-mail or post [...]

Read Full Post »

The translation blogosphere is abuzz today with posts about International Translation Day, celebrated each year on September 30, the feast of St. Jerome. If you’d like to learn more about St. Jerome and his works, hop on over to Jill Sommer’s post all about him. Every year, the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs/International Federation of Translators [...]

Read Full Post »

The European Commission’s translation department is once again offering its Juvenes Translatores (Young Translators) competition; the 2008 edition will be held on November 27 and the registration is open to any secondary school in Europe (deadline October 20). On November 27, the student contestants will all translate the same text (last year’s was on sustainable [...]

Read Full Post »