Friday Humor

Happy Friday, dear readers! Today's post is short and sweet. This is an ad that Judy picked up at a restaurant in Recife, Brazil, during her stay in the gorgeous country for the fantastic Proz.com conference.  Very, very close.  The ad is largely in Portuguese, with one memorable line in English. We hear from our Brazilian friends that advertisers like to use English phrases and words, such as a...

Decision Tree: Bad Translations

Palm trees near Recife, Brazil. Pic by Judy. One of the complaints/questions we get from colleagues quite frequently goes something like this: "My client has some terrible translations on their website. I keep on telling them the translation is awful, but my client doesn't think so and refuses to do anything. What should I do?" This is a common situation, and not one that lends itself to easy answers. We thus...

Warriors Needed

Unfortunately, the public in general doesn't tend to know too terribly much about what we do, and many might think that anyone who is bilingual can be a translator, but that's like saying that anyone who can listen and speak is automatically a therapist or anyone who speaks English is a reporter or anyone who is funny is a comedian -- the list goes on on and on. Of course, being perfectly bilingual is the minimum requirement...

Upcoming Professional Development + ATA Certification Exam: Nevada

Things are happening in Nevada's translation and interpreting world, courtesy of the Nevada Interpreters and Translators Association (NITA). This non-profit group, an affiliate group of the American Translators Association, strives to elevate the quality of language services available in the state and regularly holds professional development events, which are very reasonably priced. Judy is the proud past president...

Proz Conference in Brazil: Final Countdown

The Fifth Annual Proz.com Translation Conference in Recife, Brazil, is just around the corner (August 24 and 25), and Judy is delighted to be one of the keynote speakers! The program looks fantastic, and having a conference in a beach town sure is a draw, isn't it? Barry Olsen of the Monterey Institute of International Studies and InterpretAmerica is giving another one of the three keynote addresses and he's a truly...

Friday Job: Swiss German/English (Contract/Switzerland)

OK, that's Austria, but close enough. Happy Friday, dear readers! A few days ago, our friend and colleague Otto Zellmann in South Carolina sent us the following job posting to share with all of you. Please see below for details. We are not involved in this job search, but we are merely passing this information along for those who might be interested. Role: Translator/Writer  Location: Mezzovico, Switzerland Duration:...