The Savvy Newcomer aims to serve newcomers to the translation and interpreting professions by publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed content on a weekly basis. We strive to provide you with the answers to the many questions you face as a new or aspiring translator or interpreter.
This post was originally published on ORH Translations. It is reposted with permission. Upon completion of my undergraduate degree, I was faced with the difficult decision of what to do next. I was frightened, anxious and overwhelmed with the thought of stepping into the big, scary working world. I would say that I was quite naive when I finished my undergraduate studies. I honestly believed that I would be able to get my dream job almost instantly; however, I soon discovered that this wasn’t the case! I reached out to numerous translation agencies and soon realised that my undergraduate degree…
Read MoreSo You Want to be a Freelance Translator or Interpreter: Money Matters
In the first post in this series, I alluded to a question I’ve been asked several times since I began freelancing—sometimes more subtly than others: “Do people actually pay you to do that?” Some days it feels surreal that, yes, people really do pay me for this and I get to read in Spanish, write in English, and sometimes even…
Read MoreATA’s Certification Exam Preparation Workshop in Boston
Reblogged from The ATA Chronicle, with permission ATA’s Certification Exam Preparation Workshop presented opportunities for participants to learn how the Certification Program works, including the general characteristics of exam passages and how exams are evaluated and graded. ATA held a Certification Exam Preparation Workshop on January 20 at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Training has always been an important part…
Read MoreWhat Exactly Is a Technical Freelance Translator?
by Jost Zetzsche I was asked some time back to write a book chapter about freelance translators and translation technology. Not surprisingly, I started by defining a “freelance translator” in this context. Here’s what I came up with: “According to Wikipedia, a ‘freelancer’ is ‘a person who is self-employed and is not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. (…)…
Read More
After 35 years as a translator, these two things I know: we translators love words, and we love a good meal. The more exotic the meal (or the words), the better. Need a good Burmese take-out in Oklahoma City? Ask a translator! A colleague and I recently had a discussion on the taxonomy of the world’s dumplings, from Russian pel’meni…
Read More
I had heard many people say Errors and Omissions (E&O) policies were not necessary for translators. I went along with that… until a direct client required it. In the medical field, it is common for direct clients to require a one million dollar E and policy limit. When I signed the policy, my insurance agent walked me through the do’s…
Read More
Reblogged from the Gostalks blog, with permission This is to give you some pointers as to what and how to check for, hence a sort of QA/QC checklist, for legal translation: Unless you have perfect memory and consistency, write down a glossary, either a general one or a specific one for every larger project, to make sure that you translate the…
Read MoreMy Personal Style Guide for the ATA Translation Exam into Spanish
Reblogged from Gaucha Translations blog, with permission by the author Based on the comments from a failed exam. I am writing this to help others not fail the same way! Include necessary clarifying information to reduce ambiguity. (register former inmates/registrar para votar a los que habían sido…) (spread the word to thousands… /informarles la decisión a decenas de miles…) Keep…
Read MoreBook review: The Subversive Copyeditor
I first became aware of the work Carol Fisher Saller does when she spoke at the American Copy Editors Society conference in Portland, Oregon, and presented on her book, The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago. I finally read her book in January of 2018. I should have done so sooner. There are so many things we can learn from…
Read MoreInbox Zero: Forever in pursuit of “No new mail!”
There is nothing more satisfying than seeing those three little words: “No new mail!” My Gmail app announces, “You’re all done!”, and I especially love the accompanying image because, yes, I do want to be sitting in the sun reading a book right now. The elusive Inbox Zero is indeed attainable, but I have a little help. I use Unroll.Me,…
Read MoreHow to identify and avoid translation scammers
It is an unfortunate truth that translation scammers abound. Many of us receive dozens of emails per week that qualify as translation scams… some more convincing than others. How do we sort through the myriad of requests to determine which ones are legitimate and which are worth nothing more than a quick “Delete”? Although much has been written on this…
Read More