Free Translation Advice and an Umbrella

Here is a story about how pointing out less-than-stellar translations can result in a win-win situation, make everybody happy and even make the lousy Austrian weather less frustrating.

Our Austrian company, Texterei, is a member of KSV1870 (Kreditschutzverband, a collection/business protection service). For a membership fee, they conveniently track the creditworthiness and financial standing of companies in Austria. They are a large credit rating and risk management company, and they also do collections if it comes to that (it rarely does, as a stern letter from them is usually followed by prompt payment).

Dagy has always thought that KSV1870 is a highly professional operation: their website is great, their services and processes are excellent, they have outstanding customer service and they keep in touch with their members by sending vouchers for services and give-aways every once in a while. They also send out very handy stickers that can be used on payment reminders. They are bright red, which makes them hard to miss, and they have a powerful message printed on them, in one of those famous passive wordings in German: "Bei Nichtbezahlung erfolgt Inkasso durch den KSV." Unfortunately, KSV1870 decided to add the same information in English. They clearly translated it themselves (they probably thought: come on, it’s just a few words, and we all speak English). They put their heads together and came up with: "In case of non-payment debt collection is made through KSV1870."

While we have certainly seen much, much worse, this translation sounds like a German sentence with English words stuck into it. Dagy has been reluctant to use these stickers for that very same reason. When she recently received yet another batch of those stickers, she decided to complain effectively and sent an e-mail to KSV1870. She recommended using a professional translator, and since she was at it, suggested a new translation. After a brief consultation with our pro bono American attorney (yes, we are related to him), who excels at writing succinct legalese, we suggested using "Failure to pay this invoice will result in a debt collection action by KSV." The very next day, she received both an e-mail and a phone call from a very friendly marketing lady who thanked her profusely and also told her that she had passed on her contact information to several departments in the company. As a token of their appreciation, KSV sent her one of those very handy folding mini-umbrellas (Knirps in German), which is a great thing to have in this lousy weather. 

Blogging Lesson Learned

Some of our wonderful readers noticed and contacted us because our blog was offline for roughly a day earlier this week. Thanks to our IT guru and guardian angel Thomas Gruber, it's now back online, and we couldn't be more grateful. This is a Blogger blog (part of Google), and here's what happened and what we learned:

• Google found some suspicious activity in the Gmail account that's associated with the Blogger account, which is Judy's (she rarely uses it). Google promptly shut the account down, which is a good thing.
• When Judy logged in to Blogger to publish some comments, the system informed her that she had no access. A quick Google (yes, always) search informed her of the Gmail security issue.
• She logged into her Gmail account, verified her identity by receiving an activation code via text message, and Google quickly restored access to all associated services (Picasa, Google profile, etc.) That is: everything but the blog.
• While we had backup files, that didn't do us any good, as Google was not giving anyone access to the blog -- neither to the owner nor to readers. 
• After Thomas communicated with the Google folks via the online forums and asked them to restore access to the blog, it was done within a day -- sometimes it just takes a while for all the information to be re-linked to your account.

Here's what we learned:

• Add a second user to the blog. We've now added Thomas as an administrator to our blog. If the Gmail account gets hacked again, Thomas will have access and the blog won't be owner-less in cyberspace.
• This all happened because Judy's Gmail password was weak. Bad Judy: she uses the highly sophisticated password database Keepass (we wrote about it here), but her old Gmail password was too easy to guess. Easy lesson: use difficult passwords with special characters and numbers. Keepass automatically generates complex passwords.

We are generally very happy with Blogger, but also use Wordpress for other blogs and websites. For now, the issue was user mistake (weak password) combined with a smart hacker with a smartphone in Brasil (who sent out some drug-related e-mails on Judy's behalf). We are incredibly grateful it's been resolved. We wanted to share what we learned so it doesn't happen to you. 

Free PDF Conversion Software Until February 5

PDFZilla is a Windows application that converts PDF files into Word documents, HTML files, JPG images and a variety of other formats.  The program usually costs $29.95, but you can now get it for a grand total of $0, which we like. Our techie guru found this great offer, and we figured we would share it our colleagues who have been looking for an affordable PDF conversion tool. We downloaded it in less than a minute. 

To get started, go to the PDFZilla website. The program is free until February 5th, so you only have a few days to get the download.  It runs on Windows 2000 and more recent versions. At 6 MB, it is quite small. 

When you go to the website, you will be shown a registration code. Be sure to write it down (or copy it) before you begin the installation process.  Then, once installed (execute the program as administrator if you run on Vista or Windows 7), click the "Register" button and type (or paste) your code.  Your software will be fully licensed and ready to use. 

Upcoming Webinars

If you would like to brush up on your skills or learn something new without having to leave your house, then webinars are a great option.  They are also excellent for colleagues who live in more isolated areas with little or no access to in-person workshops or seminars. A few months ago, Judy held the first-ever webinar in the new American Translators Association webinar series, and we've been fans ever since. The technology works quite well (with occasional challenges), and you don't need any fancy software -- mainly just an internet connection and a headset. Before you sign up, be sure to check the system requirements to make sure you have everything you need to participate.


Here are three great upcoming webinars:

1. Corinne McKay's "Beyond the Basics of Freelancing" promises to be an exciting webinar. Corinne is a highly experienced translator and speaker and the author of the best-selling "How to succeed as a freelance translator." We highly recommend her presentations. It is Wednesday, January 26, at 12 noon EST. The cost is $40 (well worth it). For more information, please visit Corinne's website. This webinar is run through GoToWebinar, a top-notch software. 
2. Eve Bodeux's "European Translators: Adapt Your Marketing Materials to Target US-Based Clients" is offered through Proz.com. Eve is also a great speaker and has 15 years' experience in the localization industry in the Americas, Asia and Europe. The webinar is February 3 at 11 a.m. EST. The cost is $15 and there are still a few seats left. For more information, please visit the education section of Proz.com's website. 
3. The American Translators Association continues its highly successful series with a February 17 webinar titled "Accentuate the Positive: Making Your Résumé Sing." The speaker has not been announced yet, but registration should start in the next few days. Visit the ATA webinar page for more information. The cost is $35 for ATA members and $50 for non-members. 

Happy learning!

Humor: Court Interpreter Needed

Sal Esposito of Boston will need linguistic assistance when he has to report to jury duty in Boston on March 23. Can you help Sal?

Enjoy this funny gem, courtesy of the American court system. As we all know, not being fluent in English is not reason enough not to sit on a jury -- that's why we have highly qualified court interpreters! Who is available for this unique job? Read the full story. 

Dress the Part

While we are identical twins, there are a few key differences. One of them is the fact that Dagmar is the more sporty twin when it comes to dressing, while Judy is most comfortable in dresses, suits and heels. What we do agree on is that in professional situations, it's best to always err on the side of being overdressed.

On interpreting assignments for legal depositions, Judy frequently gets mistaken for the attorney, which isn't a bad thing. And even though we've shown up to assignments in a suit when everyone else was wearing khakis, that's better than the other way around. Most of us work from the comfort of our homes, and there are no rules: wear whatever works for you when you are by yourself. However, when you leave the house to head to a work-related appointment, you should dress professionally. When in doubt, wear a suit -- you are always well-dressed in a suit, and it's nearly impossible to be overdressed in a professional situation (unless you are going to a charity fundraiser at the beach).

Unfortunately, we've heard the term "frumpy freelancer" quite a bit, and there might be a little bit of truth to it that home-based entrepreneurs can get a bit sloppy when it comes to professional dress. We can all help reverse that trend by trying to be the best-dressed person in the room. And dressing well doesn't have to be expensive: we get great deals on suits as discount stores such as Marshalls, Ross, Steinmart, etc.

Charity Donations: Free Deduction Calculator

Tax season is approaching rapidly in the U.S., and we wanted to share a website that our American CPA (whom we highly recommend; we finally found a great one!) told us about. It's a nifty and free tool to help you figure out how much your charity donations are worth. To claim 2010 deductions, can use this tool for donations you made last year for which you have a receipt from the charity, but for which you not yet calculated the value. Then attach a print-out from the software to the dated receipt you received from the charity to make sure you have all the proper documentation to prove your donations. Although this tool is developed by Intuit, maker of the fee-based Turbotax, the deduction tool, aptly named It's Deductible, is free. All you need is a free account -- and yes, they do want your e-mail address (but won't send you unsolicited stuff). It also keeps track of all your donations throughout the year.

We've found this tool to be highly intuitive and quite useful, and it turns out that the donations we made in 2010 (furniture, scanner, clothes, sporting goods, etc.) actually had a higher monetary value than we thought -- a pleasant surprise indeed. Get started and let us know what you think.

5 Myths About Direct Clients

Happy 2011 to all our wonderful colleagues around the world! We figured we'd start 2011 with discussing one of our favorite subjects: direct clients. As many of our readers know, we work exclusively with direct clients, and our experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. We frequently get questions about direct clients, some of them based on some erroneous perceptions/beliefs about direct clients. Keep in mind that our experiences are not always necessarily representative, and that we have been working with direct clients for roughly ten years -- and educating your clients is also a big part of the equation.

Here are the 5 myths that we hear the most often:

1. Direct clients are difficult to work with. Sure, some clients are more challenging to communicate with than others, but the vast majority of our clients are accessible, easy to talk to, and very professional.
2. Direct clients don't pay on time. Based on our substantial historical experience, that has not been the case. In ten years, we have only had one client who never paid (he filed for bankruptcy). What is indeed difficult is finding payment data about direct clients, as the fantastic translator databases, such as Payment Practices, only track agencies. When in doubt, ask for partial payment up front. 
3. Direct clients are never happy. That also hasn't turned out to be true for us. It's your job to make the client happy; whatever it takes. Without an agency as buffer, you are fully responsible for the customer services experience, and if you want repeat customers, you have to ensure that the experience is outstanding. You will need an editor to proof all your documents. Direct clients expect outstanding work -- as they should. We have a five-step quality assurance process, and we make sure that our clients know how thorough it is. If there is a problem, direct clients expect it to be fixed promptly.
4. Direct clients are impossible to find. While it is true that they are challenging to find, it's not impossible. Growing a translation business is like any other business: you need to combine an offline and online strategy with outreach and social efforts. The more people know about you, the better. This will, however, take time. There's no such thing as immediate gratification when it comes to direct customer acquisition, and it requires some patience (which is not our strongest suit).
5. Direct clients are too busy to answer the phone. It is true that most of our clients are extremely busy, but they are typically very much vested in the projects we translate: they have either created the documents or are responsible for their publication. Hence, it's in their interest to move the project forward.  Of course, some clients might be too busy at a given time, but it is your job to try to get the question answered, perhaps by an assistant or by e-mailing or calling a few times. 

Perhaps 2011 will be the year that you start working with more direct clients? Either strategy -- direct clients, agencies, or both -- has advantages and disadvantages. Our ideal situation includes long-term repeat direct customers for whom we do projects on a weekly (and oftentimes daily) basis: they are the bread and butter of our business. 

We Will Miss You, 2010! Will You?

As we put the finishing touches on our last projects of 2010, we realized that we haven't really had much time to  reflect on our year, and that's because we've been buried in work (which is a good thing). It certainly didn't feel like the recession (or end of the recession) to us, and we had the opportunity to sign a good number of repeat customers this year, for whom we do projects on a weekly -- and sometimes even daily -- basis. In addition, we were able to capitalize on our business development efforts and established business relationships with several dozen new clients on both sides of the Atlantic. We will definitely miss 2010: our book was released to excellent reviews, we were able to work together in person for almost three months, we attended and spoke at many outstanding conferences around the world, we won several awards, we worked on the boards of directors of our regional and national associations, and we had the chance to spend time with our wonderful friends and colleagues. That said, we would like to improve on taking time off: we really are not very good at fully leaving work behind and are constantly lugging our laptops around.

We are sad to see 2010 go, but we look forward to another prosperous, rewarding, healthy and fun 2011! We would love to hear how you feel about 2010: was business good? Was it a struggle? Are you happy that 2010 is finally coming to a close? We have heard mixed reviews from our colleagues -- some had fantastic years, while for others it was just a slow recovery from 2009. 

Happy 2011 to our dear friends and colleagues around the world!

Last-Minute Holiday Gifts (No Shipping)

Time flies -- and now Christmas is right around the corner. Did you forget a special someone on your list who happens to be a linguist, and now it's too late to mail anything? Not to worry: here is a short list of great gifts that recipients can receive via e-mail. They might not have anything to unwrap, but these gifts sure will get some use!

1. The Translator's Toolbox: A Computer Primer for Translators  is the perfect guide for anything you need to know about technology (PDf files, operating systems, translation environment tools, terminology tools, online security, and much much more) by ATA technology guru, working translator, prolific writer and all-around great guy Jost Zetzsche. This 400-page, password protected PDF can be purchased via PayPal and is $50 ($30 for ATA members). In addition, there's the premium edition of Jost's incredibly popular newsletter (The Tool Kit), which you can send to your favorite translator for $15. 
2. Give the gift of good research by purchasing an annual subscription to the invaluable Payment Practices database. Expertly run by our wonderful colleague Ted Wozniak, there's no better tool than to research an LSP before you take a job than Payment Practices (PP). This might be the best $19.99 gift you could give a translator. 
3. While we haven't had the chance to read it yet, we hear great things about Alex Eames' Business Success for Translators. It's an e-book that you can download immediately for $33. This price includes a 20% holiday discount that Alex is offering at the moment. If the name sounds familiar: Alex is the editor of tranfree. 
4. Is the linguist on your list starting out in the business? Then give the gift of Getting Started as a Freelance Translator, a tailored online course offered by one of the most knowledgeable linguists in the business: Corinne McKay. Her new online class starts on January 10 and is $350 ($300 for ATA members).
5. Purchase a subscription to the Watercooler Network, which is perhaps the best new private forum for linguists that we have seen. Expertly run by Andy Bell, who lives in Australia, Watercooler is a members-only, advertising-free forum for linguists around the world. Since there's a small barrier to entry in the form of a $25 every six months, you will not have to share the forum with folks who are not serious about the profession. 
6. And, last but not least, if you'd like to get our Entrepreneurial Linguist book -- the PDF version -- you can download it immediately for $17. 

Happy holidays and merry Christmas to all our colleagues, clients and friends around the world!