Happy Black Friday to our friends and colleagues in the US and happy Friday to everyone else! While we are certainly not going shopping, we are taking the day to play catch-up with work before we take the rest of the weekend off. Today we wanted to share this cringe-inducing article and video with you. They really drive home the point that professional interpreters are essential in many, many situations, especially during press conferences and public events. We recently came across the post on a Turkish blog (Turkish Business...
5 Downsides to Working for Yourself
Many new translators and students ask us about what's better: working as an in-house translator or working for yourself as a freelancer. Judy has done both, while Dagy has never worked in house, but our answer is clear: working for yourself is infinitely better. However, there are a variety of significant downsides, so we wanted to briefly list a few of them. This is a question we get quite frequently, so we wanted...
Monday Humor: German-Language Video
Thanks to our colleagues from the German Language Division of the American Translators Association, who found this gem and recently posted it on the listserv. It's quite silly and a bit absurd, but it's also pretty hilarious, and makes a (funny, if slightly long-winded) point about German compound nouns. It's definitely intended for German speakers, but might be good entertainment even for those who don't speak the language. Enjoy...
NAJIT Conference: Call for Proposals
The 35th annual conference of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators will take place in Las Vegas (Judy's hometown) in May 2014. This relatively small (250 attendees or so) is a fantastic opportunity to learn from some of the best legal interpreters and translators in the country, and next year will mark Judy's third conference, and perhaps her third as a speaker if her proposal is accepted.
We've...
Getting Dressed for Work
Most self-employed translators get to work from home and can wear whatever they want to work, which is fantastic. After years of working in-house (Judy), it's certainly nice not to have to get dolled up by 8 a.m., but the question of whether you should be completely dressed and looking professional before you work from home where no one sees you is a topic that comes up quite frequently on listservs. It's a question...
Recommended Reading: White House Interpreter
Last week at the fantastic 54th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association, we were lucky enough to get an autographed copy of The White House Interpreter by legendary English->German diplomatic Harry Obst. In addition, we also had the chance to hear him give a very entertaining (and packed!) lecture. Mr. Obst is now in his 80s, and hearing him speak about his experiences interpreting at the highest...
Interpreting: Two Quick Memory Exercises
During last week's amazing 54th Annual American Translators Association Conference, several colleagues commented on the fact that we had good memory, as we tend to remember spouses' names, pets' names,
and anecdotes that colleagues told us the previous year. We do think that we have decent memory, as we are both working interpreters, but just like all interpreters, we constantly work on it. Please read on for two...
ATA Conference: Where to Find Us
It's been one year, and now we are getting ready to jump on a plane and attend our very favorite conference: the 54th Annual Conference of the American Translators Association in San Antonio, Texas. We are very much looking forward to seeing all our lovely friends and colleagues, and it will be a pleasure to meet new friends, too! We wanted to share a brief overview of where we will be in case you'd like to stop by,...
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