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1 December, 2015

Tips for translators when supporting charities

Today is #GivingTuesday, an international phenomenon to raise funds for a host of charities. Starting today until next Thursday, the UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Proz.com hosts the #ProzComDrive, a special campaign to raise funds for a few charities that fight illiteracy and discrimination of people with a disability.
For the Proz.com Blog I wrote an article about the importance of translators for charities. In that article I list 4 important contributions translators can make for charities. In this article I will share 5 tips when you consider to support charities.

by Pieter Beens

26 November, 2015

Kitchen sink

Vertaalt.nu and Proz.com join forces in $ 10,000 charity campaign

Vertaalt.nu and Proz.com announce to jointly host the #ProzComDrive, a first of its kind charity campaign to fight illiteracy and support disabled children in Africa. The three-day campaign, from December 1^st to December 3^rd, is directed to raise funds for three causes via Proz.com.

by Pieter Beens

9 November, 2015

Translation practice

Ridiculous comments made beautiful

We all have those moments that clients make a comment and we think “What?!” Last year I had a discussion with a client from South Korea who checked my translation in Google Translate and rejected it because it was different from what Google Translate proposed. That’s quite frustrating. Do you have a similar experience? I hope these “carefully hand-crafted” posters from the Netherlands make you smile.

by Pieter Beens

2 November, 2015

Translation practice

Introducing the Twitter #translationpoll

This morning I published the first Twitter #translationpoll. Twitter recently introduced a polling feature which enables Tweeps to add a short poll to their tweets. You have only two options, but the feature is great to capture some quick insights in the translation community. I will therefore publish a new #translationpoll each Monday. You can find my first poll here. Please spread the word and let's get to know some secrets from our peers and colleagues!...

by Pieter Beens

26 October, 2015

Translator Tech Tips

How to export a Memsource TM in Trados Studio

Using Memsource Editor as a freelance translator is easy: you only need to download the editor and download the files that need to be translated. In Memsource Editor you login and the software then automatically connects to an online translation memory. Segment suggestions (whether it be fuzzy matches or machine translations) show up really fast and new translations are saved in a flash. The major caveat of Memsource Editor from a translators perspective however is that the translation memory only is accessible while working on a specific job. As soon as the job is done and the file is sent, you will loose access to all your home-made translations. I found a workaround that enables you to use your translations in a later stage.

by Pieter Beens

16 October, 2015

Translation practice

„Let’s talk about money openly”

Two exciting weeks: after I published my blog post about 5 reasons to be proud as a freelance translator for International Translator’s Day and shared it on LinkedIn, I received a host of comments. It also led to a short discussion about money. A Czech colleague believed that money should be one of the first things to be proud of and that keeping silent about money is an indication of contributing to the underevaluation of our job. That’s an interesting point of view. I promised him to write about this topic. Here’s my contribution – with a kind of confession.

by Pieter Beens

5 October, 2015

Translation practice

Slate Desktop: opportunities and threats

As the regular visitors of this blog might have noticed, the frequency of new articles is quite … unfrequent. But now I am struck by something very cool and promising: Slate Desktop on Indiegogo, a tool that will offer freelance translators and small business to one of the most promising (and unavoidable) technologies in our industry: that of machine translations.

by Pieter Beens

30 September, 2015

Kitchen sink

5 reasons to be proud on your job as a translator

Today is International Translator’s Day, a day of celebration, pride and – still – hard work. Although our work is appreciated by clients and end clients alike, there’s much ignorance about our job. When I tell people that I’m working as a freelance translator, they often ask “So you translate books?” or tell “Wow, I use Google Translate all the day”. The International Translator’s Day therefore is a nice day to celebrate our job, to connect with others and to praise ourselfes for the great job we’re doing day after day.
There are many reasons to be proud of our job, and below I list 5 that we do not easily realise. So spread the word or print them to use them in those days you cannot think about anything to be proud of (I know, that happens as well).

by Pieter Beens

16 September, 2015

Translation practice

The ethics of being an entrepreneur

When it comes to selling our services, most translators call themselve a freelance translator. And so they are: they are translating on a freelance basis, selling their services to clients and enjoying the freedom of choice that a freelancing job brings with it. But they are more: they are in business, acting as an entrepreneur. The real entrepreneurial translator therefore is looking for opportunities in his/her business, for improvements in the way s/he works and – in the end – for a little extra earnings (or for more than a little if that’s possible). Chances enough then, but at this point it turns out that not every freelancer is an entrepreneur.

by Pieter Beens

28 August, 2015

Kitchen sink

Proz Community Choice Award Nomination

Hurray, the Proz.com Community Choice Awards are open! This year again many translation professionals, blogs and articles are nominated for the Proz CCA (as it is known by insiders) and this blog is even nominated twice: once for my State of the Industry 2014 and once for my whitepaper on Language 2.0.

by Pieter Beens

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