Weirdest place where I've worked on a translation project -- click on the image to enlarge
See this post in Spanish>>
Related articles: ProZ.com poll
“Weirdest place where you’ve ever worked on a translation project”
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Translator’s productivity (part 1): voice recognition tools
Translators’ nightmares series: blackouts
Blackout — click on the images to enlarge
See this comic in Spanish.
See more cartoons in this series:
- “Just this one tiny favor”
- “Meet your colleague, Macheine Transleith”
- “Just this one tiny favor”
- “A translator at the Tattoo Shop”
Also visit Translator Fun Shop.
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Are you making the best use of social media for your business?
Are you making the best use of social media for your business? -- click on the image to enlarge
Read this article in Spanish>>
A common perception of social networking sites is that they are good for socializing with friends, family, and strangers, “goofing around”, and not too much else. But social media and social networking sites (such as Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, etc.) have been growing in popularity and utility for businesses for some time now. Many professionals are viewing these as tools, taking advantage of them, and using them to build their business. Freelance translators are no exception.
Some translators still seem reluctant when it comes to using social networks as a marketing tool for their businesses (see these ProZ.com‘s poll results from 2009 and 2010). Some are testing the waters, and others have already become adept at leveraging key networks with good results.
Social networking communities provide an opportunity for you to contribute your opinions, interests, and skills on the Internet. They can help you recover, maintain, and build your professional business network. Among the most frequently cited benefits of using social media as a marketing tool for your business are:
- Enhancing your online visibility
- Advertising your name, personal branding and/or services on the Internet
- Detecting and utilizing information that can help you grow your business
- Strengthening your relationships with clients
- Building an online reputation
- Reminding your clients that you exist
- Distinguishing yourself from the rest (by adding/aggregating valuable content)
- “Entering the dialogue and the 21st century”– not using the Web for networking and prospecting for business “leaves you in the cold”
- Building up a defined and selected network of like-minded and skilled colleagues
- Getting your comments and opinions about translation-related topics indexed on Google and other search engines (on Twitter this can be done through a careful selection of “hashtags” like #xl8, #L10n , #languages)
- Staying abreast of the latest news and trends in the industry
Other benefits of social networks include:
- Knowing what your colleagues are up to and following their tips on, and experiences in, translation
- Finding out about interesting industry blog posts (and promoting yours!)
- Following the news from one place (as opposed to going to and browsing every site and/or blog on the topics in which you are interested)
- Receiving help in real-time (Twitter is a good example of this)
- and having fun
Of course, it is important to start on the right foot. Here are some tips that may help you have a pleasant online experience:
- Be clear on what you want to achieve for your business overall.
- Build a user profile that is a snapshot of your skills and of the services you offer (this is what your potential clients and colleagues will see). Keep your professional profile and the activity you engage in with that profile professional.
- Find out what is out there and invest your energy in the social sites and/or groups that reach your target market or networking needs.
- Define and know your criteria for accepting social connections with colleagues and clients and feel comfortable with it (compare the difference of adding a valued, professional connection to simply adding an unknown name to a list of contacts.)
And remember, social networks can be your diary, your address book, a daily newspaper, your online ad and more. It is up to you.
Note: I originally wrote and posted this article on Translator T. O. blog.
Useful links:
- Facebook for professionals
- 12 reasons you should use Twitter for business
- Social media for freelance translators – There’s something about translation blog (Sara Dillon)
- Joining social sites– the criteria
- Why social media is really business networking
- ProZ.com’s forum for social networking
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The art of multitasking
Multitasking — click on the image to enlarge
Purchase code “MULTITASKING”
Also, see this cartoon in Spanish.
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Friend’s Day in Argentina
Friend’s day in Argentina
Also, see this post in Spanish>>
Today, July 20th, we celebrate Friend’s Day here in Argentina. On this day long-standing friends get together in bars, restaurants or at someone’s place to have dinner and honor their friendship.
So I wanted to celebrate Friend’s Day with my fellow translators and made a cartoon about it. I hope you like it!
You can follow tweets related to this day with the hashtag #amigo on Twitter.
Romina
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Twitter series (part 2) — “follow me”
Follow me — click on the image to enlarge
See this article in Spanish and French>>
If you would like to sponsor a cartoon on Translator Fun, visit the “Become a sponsor”section.
Also see:
On Twitter if someone follows you it means that your Twitter updates will appear on your followers’ Twitter home page every time you post a new message. Being followed increases your chances of having your tweets retweeted by others and eventually gain more followers. Your number of followers and the number of times your tweets get retweeted help to build your Twitter reach. (see this article on Freelance Switch with a list of tools for analyzing your Twitter stats) However, there is a way in which you can make your tweets reach more people other than your followers. When you use hashtags, which are “a community-driven convention for adding context and metadata to your tweets created by simply prefixing a word with a hash symbol, e.g. #hashtag” you are broadening the reach your tweets since all those on twitter who are following that certain hashtag will be able to see your tweet. Hashtags were developed as a means to create “groupings” on Twitter, without having to change the basic service. As mentioned in my previous post, the hashtags used for translation are #xl8 and #t9n, #L10n is the one used for localization and #flinternet refers to “foreign language Internet”. Since hashtags are a convention among Twitter users anyone can create a new hashtag. This is particularly the case for events: a new hashtag is created to tag the news related to that event. It is also very likely that these type of hashtags fall soon into disuse (i.e. as soon as the event is over or a little after that). Some examples of hashtags specially created for events are: #smday for “Social Media Day” celebrated on June 30, 2011 and #lwbar for “Localization World Barcelona”. So if you are interested in following an event on Twitter you should try to find out which hashtag is being used. As you may have realized by now, having many followers is seen as a positive indication of the person’s influence and the relevance of the content of their tweets. I guess this is why everyone on Twitter is so fond of the “Follow me” phrase. So if you like this post and my comic follow me… but only on Twitter! Romina
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Twitter series (part 1) — “Twitter overdose”
Twitter overdose — Click on the image to enlarge
See post in Spanish and French >>
Also see:
Twitter is a social networking service that allows you to answer the question “What are you doing?” by sending short text messages of 140 characters or fewer called “tweets” to your friends, colleagues or “followers”.
Interactions on Twitter are faster and you can communicate with anyone you want by simply typing “@ plus their username” on the text area (email addresses are no longer needed!)
Many professionals are now using Twitter to market their businesses, stay informed and network. As I mentioned in this article, translators seem a little reluctant to start using Twitter as a marketing tool to help them grow their businesses (see these ProZ.com poll results from 2009 and 2010). However, the number of translators and language professionals using Twitter is growing. Some blogs and sites have published lists of their favorite language Twitterers (see The Global2Local current top 5 Favorites on Twitter! and Jared’s list of his favorite ones on Twitter for translators?). Even a competition to choose the Top 25 language Twitterers was held in May 2011. The top 25 language twitters are listed here.
To start “hearing” what your colleagues are tweeting about translation and localization make sure you follow tweets with these hashtags: #xl8, #t9n and #L10n.
If you would like to get some tips on what to tweet and some ideas on twitter timing read this useful article on Social Media Tactics for Translators: Twitter by Silvina Jover-Cirillo.
As for myself, my experience with Twitter has been very rewarding so far. I could see for myself that using Twitter for one’s professional career has many benefits as my colleagues had indicated. My tweeting practice has given me the opportunity to meet colleagues, stay informed about translation-related news, articles, webinars, tools, products and features and to be contacted for work opportunities.
See you on Twitter!
You can follow me @Romina_Bona and @TranslatorFun of course!
Recommended further reading: 5 Ways NOT to Use Twitter for Freelancers
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Backups
Backup -- click on the image to enlarge
On backups: According to Wikipedia, the primary purpose of backups is “to recover data as a reaction to data loss, be it by data deletion or corrupted data. Data loss is a very common experience of computer users. 67% of internet users have suffered serious data loss.”
Translators are among those computer users whose work may be lost in a matter of seconds. Some translators often forget to make a backup of their files and this may harm their productivity and put them in an unpleasant situation when it comes to meeting the deadline. Making periodic backups should be considered a best practice for translators.
When was the last time you made a backup of your files?
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Note: I originally created this comic for the ProZ.com Translator Playground (this is an improved version).
Some colleagues have come up with nice suggestions (some are even better than mine!) ProZ.com is now running a competition to choose the best among the suggestions. If you would like to vote you can do so here.
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Idioms in translation: It’s not always easy to make ends meet
making ends meet -- click on the image to enlarge
Translating idioms is one of the many challenges translators face on their work. According to the Collins Cobuild dictionary: “an idiom is a group of words which, when they are used together in a particular combination, have a different meaning from the one they would have if you look the meaning of all the individual words in the group”.
Translators should be aware of the meaning of idioms and avoid translating them literally.
Challenge: how would you translate this comic into your source language (provided it is not English, of course) and keep it funny?
Happy translating!
Romina
Translator Fun 