ATA Conference: Next Month!

At the Denver conference in 2010.

October marks one of our favorite months, including one of our very favorite weeks of the year: the ATA conference in gorgeous San Diego, California! We have the chance to hang out with all our wonderful friends and colleagues, get to learn a lot and enjoy each other's company, too! This year, just like in 2012, the ATA has invited the presidents and leaders of translator and interpreter associations from other countries (those associations do the same when they have annual conferences). Dagy has the pleasure of serving as secretary general of UNIVERSITAS Austria Interpreters' and Translators' Association and is delighted to accept the ATA's invitation to represent Austria at the 53rd Annual Conference. We will be presenting a German-language session on "Austriacism for Beginners" -- join us if you are interested! The session code is G-5 and it will be held on Friday from 11:30 until 12:30 pm. In addition, Judy will present her popular workshop "10 Habits of Highly Successful Interpreters and Translators," which will be on Friday from 3:45 to 5 pm (session code IC-7).

Now, if you've never been to an ATA conference: where do you start? It's a huge event,  but attendees are usually very approachable and you should be able to meet new people relatively quickly. The best way to prepare for the conference is to attend the free webinar presented by our friend and colleague Jill Sommer:  Tips for Navigating Your First ATA Conference on September 11. She also gives this session on the very first day of the conference,  but by taking the free webinar ahead of time, you will save time and effort -- and you will know what to expect. Register here. We look forward to seeing you at the conference! We can usually be found at the InTrans books booth, spending time at the NITA table, joining our friends for lunch, dinner and receptions and yes, perhaps at the hotel bar.

What to Expect at a Deposition: Part 2

The first part of this two-part post was published August. We hope you enjoyed it, dear readers! As promised, please read on for the second and final installment for some procedural insight into civil depositions and information about how they work from the point of view of a court interpreter. This is not an exhaustive list by any stretch of the imagination, and I (Judy) might come back with a third column at some point in the future.

• Most civil depositions can informally be divided into three parts in addition to the admonitions portion. Before any formal questions are asked, but after the parties (the deponent and the court interpreter) have been sworn in, the deposing counsel will go over a list of rules and procedures.
• During the admonitions portion, the deposing attorney will remind the deponent that he/she needs to tell the truth, that the oath he/she took is the same as the one sworn in court, that lying constitutes perjury, etc. The deponent is then reminded to answer all questions verbally and to refrain from nodding, as that won’t show up in the transcript, which the court reporter will compile. The deponent has to acknowledge that he/she understands all these rules.
• The first portion of all depositions revolves around getting a deponent’s background information. Issues that are discussed usually include full name (be sure to write these down for the court reporter), other names used, birth date, social security number (to which the other party occasionally objects), immigration status (objection!), work history, previous job responsibilities, current and previous addresses, educational background, etc. I am always amazed at the great detail that deponents are expected to give. Mostly, the deposing attorney is trying to establish a person’s identity, but in all honesty, I don’t remember what I had for lunch last Wednesday, not to mention my exact employment dates or zip codes from 10 years ago. You will get a lot of ‘’I don’t know” and “I don’t remember” responses here.
• The second portion of any deposition usually has to do with the __________ (motor vehicle accident, slip-and-fall, etc.) in question. After you have done a few of these, you will begin to see a clear pattern of questions, and even highly experienced attorneys will sometimes have a prepared list of questions to make sure they don’t miss anything. For car accidents, there will be a lot of questions about speed, where were you, where were you going, in which direction, how many lanes are there, when did you first see the other car, did you have time to brace yourself, did you talk to the driver of the other car, did you call the ambulance, did the police come, what was the damage to your vehicle, how did you leave the scene of the accident, etc. Again, many deponents will not have the answers to these questions, and sometimes the deposing attorney will press the issue, making them seem a bit like pit bulls. It’s occasionally a bit painful to witness, and if the deposing attorney is too aggressive, the deponent’s attorney might object and claim that he or she is harassing the deponent.
• The third and final part of most of the civil depositions I’ve done will focus on the deponent’s medical treatment, including doctors visited, dates of the visits, treatment received, frequency of treatment received, medications taken and/or prescribed, length of treatment and questions about whether the treatment has been effective. Deponents are notoriously vague in their answers to this section (as usually instructed by their counsel), but deposing attorneys have very specific questions. Oftentimes, deponents are asked to rate their pain on a scale from 1 to 10, which many are either reluctant or unable to do. This section can include some quite repetitive-sounding question. 

Do you feel ready to interpret at civil depositions? I hope you find them to be as rewarding as I do. We'd love to hear your thoughts and comments on civil depositions. Feel free to share what you know by leaving a comment. 

You Must Read This: Trip of the Tongue

Our wonderful friend Nataly Kelly recently sent me (Judy) a book that she knew I would love. It's a book on languages in America by language writer Elizabeth Little. It's cleverly titled Trip of the Tongue: Cross-Country Travels in Search of America's Languages. The author, who has studied many languages herself and has an impressive Harvard pedigree, set out on a road trip across America (we love road trips!) to discover our country's many languages and to find out how they are doing. It's a great and entertaining read. As opposed to many books on language, this one is not dry and academic -- quite the contrary. Although the author does share her impressive knowledge on the nitty-gritty of grammar details on say, indigenous languages, her insight is fascinating and her observations are part Kerouac and part hard-core linguistics geek. 

Her book is subdivided into chapters that each address a language (or several) in a particular state. The reader not only gets in-depth information on the state of the language in that state -- for instance, Basque in my home state of Nevada or Norwegian in North Dakota, where I recently went on vacation (really), but there's also some great history lessons to be had. Little is a compelling storyteller, and she mixes the highbrow and the lowbrow quite well. I was particularly interested in learning about creole languages in South Carolina and Louisiana. If you are looking for a great summer read that will make you feel smarter and will also entertain you, then this witty book on America's languages should be right up your ally. Thanks for the great gift, Nataly! Here's what National Public Radio had to stay about the book (they are much more eloquent than I am). Also, the book was featured on a segment of Public Radio International's The World by Patrick Cox. 

What's your favorite book on language, dear readers? We'd love to hear about your favorites. 

Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination: Report

A few weeks ago, I (Judy) took the written portion of the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination (FCICE for short), which is offered every two years. For those of you who are curious about the exam, here is a brief report. As a matter of course, I will not divulge what's on the exam specifically, but I do want to give you some insight into the process and into my experience.

• For the first time, the exam was offered on the computer at Prometric testing locations throughout the country, which seemed like a great and convenient idea in theory.
• However, the exam hasn't been updated to reflect the fact that it's electronic, so many instructions tell the test-taker to "mark the correct answer on the answer sheet." Of course, there is no answer sheet.
• It appears to me that  Protemetric folks spent a lot of time looking for the worst possible location in which to have a testing center in Vegas, and they succeeded to secure a small office in the back of an industrial area where you take the exam accompanied by the sounds of 18-wheelers backing up right outside the exam room.The headset provided to block out the noise was cheap, hard, and hurt my ears immediately, so I had to tune the noise out by sheer will (a challenging endeavor).
• Contrary to what it says on the Prometric website and contrary to the e-mail confirmations received from the testing folks, lockers were indeed available to store one's belongings, even though the company had insisted they were not. That's the reason I only showed up with my driver's license, car key and water bottle and had to leave my purse in the car in a rather sketchy area. Test takers are not allowed to park directly in front of the almost-empty parking lot, but rather across the parking lot. I am not quite sure why paying customers should not be able to park in front of the business they are visiting. Who else is supposed to park there? Employees? Random 18-wheelers? Multiple signs remind you that you will be towed if you park in front of the building. I found this highly puzzling and not very welcoming.
• The exam lasts 3 hours and 15 minutes. You are not allowed to bring in your water bottle. Trust me: this is quite brutal in the Vegas summer. For some reason, watches are not allowed either.
• The exam starts with an oath that you will not divulge anything that's on it. Fair enough. It's followed by a short tutorial on how to use the mouse, which I didn't really need. However, the instructions on how to mark a question for review, then come back to it and unmark it could have been more clear. I am a highly proficient software user, but this really could have been explained better.
• The exam starts with the English section, which consists of 100 questions. You can take however long you want on each question, and you roughly have a minute a question. Reading comprehension is first, which is a challenge on the computer. I am used to underlining important phrases and to write on the paper. You cannot do that on a screen, so that's a significant disadvantage.
• In order to see sample questions, you can order a practice booklet for $30, which comes in very handy. The exam includes sections on synonyms, identifying translation mistakes, etc. All questions are multiple choice.
• I finished the English section in 45 minutes. In general, I thought the English-language portion was less challenging than I had anticipated, even though I tend to score higher on the Spanish sections.
• The Spanish section also consisted of 100 questions in the same order (reading comprehension first). In general, I thought the Spanish sections were higher register than the English ones.
• I finished the Spanish questions in 50 minutes, so I had a lot of time to kill. I decided to review some questions, and then called it a day at 2 hours and 10 minutes or so, so I had more than an hour left. I think the time is sufficient, but I am also a very quick reader. By the end of the exam, my eyes were quite fatigued, and I was tired of the truck ruckus outside the exam room.
• I am not sure if I passed or not -- it's quite hard to tell. As opposed to other exams in this format that I have taken (GMAT, etc.) one does not get the score immediately, which is a bit odd. Rather, the results will be mailed in 8-9 weeks (whew). I will keep you posted!

If you took the exam or have anything to contribute, we'd love to hear from you! We are looking forward to comments.

Job Posting: Senior Project Manager in Vienna, Austria

A few days ago, we received the following job posting through a dear friend and colleague, who highly recommends this agency, ASI (he works for them as a contractor). Note: we do not know this employer personally, but have heard that they are a reputable business. As usual, job postings on this blog, which we do for free as a courtesy to the potential employer, are not endorsements in any way, shape or form. This job is in Vienna, Austria. The unedited job description is below. Please contact the employer directly if you are interested in this position. By law, Austrian employers have to disclose the salary range, so it's listed on this job description. We have to be honest: we are a bit floored by the low minimum salary, especially for a company that lists large multinational corporations as its clients, but it is just the minimum salary that they have to disclose.  Hopefully qualified applicants would receive a more appropriate and professional salary. 

By the way: Vienna is a gorgeous place to live!

Job opening:

Senior Project Manager

ASI, one of Austria’s leading language service providers, supplying large multinational corporations, government agencies, NGOs, PR agencies and major law firms with cutting-edge language services, is currently looking to enhance its team of project managers.

This job would be an excellent fit for outgoing and ambitious persons who thrive on challenges and embrace a stimulating, fast-paced team atmosphere.

Projects matter to us personally, as does the success we generate from them.

The ideal candidate possesses the following qualifications/skills

• Language degree, either in translation studies and/or linguistics/philology
• Fluency in German and English
• Ability to assess translations and other language material, both from a linguistics and translation studies perspective
• Ability to provide linguistic counselling to clients
• Profound knowledge of project/process management
• Experience in compiling complex glossaries/terminology management
• Sound notions of knowledge management
• Specialist knowledge of, and expertise in, Trados/Trados Suite, MultiTerm
• Affinity towards all things IT
• Highly developed negotiation and interpersonal skills
• Experience as a project manager in the language industry, ideally at a translation agency
• Ability to work both independently and within a team setting
• Service-mindedness, meticulousness and hands-on mentality
• Ability to prioritise and meet – often tight and conflicting – deadlines
• A keen eye for detail and unwavering commitment to ensure top-notch quality

Further skills/qualifications (optional)

• Additional languages at near-native level, preferably a Romance and/or Slavic language
• Knowledge of further CAT tools and DTP programmes (InDesign, FrameMaker, etc.)
• Experience in localisation

Tasks

• Managing translation and other language projects in a targeted and profit-orientated manner
• Building on and enlarging service portfolio for assigned clients
• Compiling glossaries and providing project-specific instructions to external language experts/translators as well as team members
• Choosing and coordinating (teams of) linguists for each project
• Negotiating rates on an as-needed basis
• Acting as point person for all parties involved in a project (translators, editors, proofreaders, in-country client reviewers, type-setters, graphic designers, clients, etc.)

• Supporting external services providers
• Negotiating and meeting deadlines
• Maintaining accurate records of all services rendered and the costs thereof
• Ensuring accurate project controlling
• Regular reporting to management
  
  

What we offer to you is

• a competitive salary above the minimum (EUR 1,948.85) stipulated in the applicable collective agreement, depending on your qualifications, paid annual leave and fringe benefits
• a clearly structured, unerring pathway to success at one of the most successful and vibrant translation agencies in Austria
• prominent clients entrusting us with exciting projects
• a multicultural and multilingual atmosphere (German and English are just our main working languages – but by far not the only ones we use on a daily basis)
• a goal-orientated working culture with a strong focus on the essentials
• team-minded, welcoming colleagues who will help you thrive on your challenges and further your career

So, why wait and see? Give us a call or send your CV straight away and explore your opportunities at ASI. We have the answers to your questions.

David Faffelberger
Deputy Managing Director
Superior Service with a Smile

T: +43-1-714 33 76-22
F: +43-1-714 33 76-19
E: david.faffelberger@asint.at
www.austriasprachendienst.at

Sechskrügelgasse 2/17
1031 Wien
Austria
ATU11292000

Google AdWords: Win $100 Certificate

Google keeps on sending us many free certificates for $100 in Google AdWords for new users, and we are happy to raffle them off. As usual, we will raffle off the certificate to a colleague (freelancers only, please) who answers one question correctly. We will e-mail the access code to the winning person so he or she can get started with Google AdWords. The certificate expires September 30, 2012.

A caveat: you have to be a NEW user of Google AdWords, as this certificate is not valid for existing users (in that case, we'd probably use it ourselves).

Here's the question: where were these pictures taken? Hint: it was not in the U.S. This is an easy one, and both pictures were taken in the same place. Give us the city and the country and you will win the prize. Votes must be received by September 1, 2012. We will announce the winner that day. The first person to guess correctly will win.

Good luck and have fun!

Sounds Fishy

A few days ago, a potential client contacted us with a personal document that had to be translated for immigration purposes. Even though these certified and notarized translations can be quite painful and time-consuming, we accept them occasionally, especially when people need them for immigration purposes (Judy has been through that difficult process). 

As usual, we asked the client, who had given her name, Lucrecia,(we made this up; not her real name) to send us the document, which she said she'd do right after she returned home. She promptly did, but as soon as we opened the document, we knew that something was off. The client claimed the letter was from a Swiss nursing home (we made this up, too, to protect the client's privacy), but it was a very unusual Word document. Official entities in the German-speaking world rarely issue official correspondence via e-mail, and when they do, it's always in the highly inconvenient PDF format. That was our first red flag. Here are the others:

• A spelling mistake (the name of the month) on the first line
• Multiple references to a person's name, but the second reference did not match the first 
• No signature
• The offiicial who supposedly wrote the letter did not include his title (he's probably a doctor), which is unheard of in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. They love their titles.
• The letterhead looked unofficial, too. We did a quick web search, found the nursing home, and realized that the images had been taken directly from the website.
• We were really suspicious at this point. We checked the properties section under Word, which lets you see who authored and who edited the document. Sure enough, the document had been created the same evening -- by our potential client.
• The potential client used the name Lucrecia to identify herself on the phone, but in all e-mail correspondence, which came from a very generic address, she used the name Eulalia (we made this up, too).

We spoke with our pro bono lawyer, Judy's hubby, who was unsure about what sort of fraudulent activities were underfoot. However, he did tell us to stay away from the translation, which had been our first instinct as well. It was relatively evident to us that someone was trying to defraud someone, and we certainly don't want to be an accessory in a crime or be involved in aiding and abetting a criminal activity.We e-mailed the client back and told her, in general terms, that we did not think the letter was an original document and that we could thus not translate it. We don't every want to wrongly accuse anyone of fraud (and we did not), but we think we did the right thing here. Again, we are not sure what the potential client was trying to do, but we are glad we ran for the hills. 

What would you have done, dear readers?

What to Expect at a Deposition: Interpreting

When I (Judy) first became a certified court interpreter, the biggest challenge I encountered wasn’t one of terminology, but one of procedure. Even though my home office is well-stocked with fantastic dictionaries and resources about the American and Mexican legal systems, civil procedure and textbooks, and I’ve taken classes in criminal and civil procedure, I was never quite sure what to expect during the many types of legal situations for which I interpret. I had a hard time, for instance, finding out exactly how civil depositions are conducted. I looked high and low, and found limited information, so I learned it by doing it. Perhaps there is a resource out there that I am not familiar with (please let me know if there is, dear readers!) that explains the processes well, but I wanted to share my informal (and by no means exhaustive) list of procedural structure with you.

Ready to interpret!

• Most of the civil cases for which I’ve interpreted during depositions revolve around either car accidents or some type of personal injury (think slip and fall). There are also many others, such as construction defect. Most depositions last 1-2 hours.
• Depositions are usually held at law offices, either at the office of the plaintiff’s or the defendant’s attorney. There are usually at least five parties present: deponent, his or her counsel, opposing counsel, court reporter and the interpreter. Complex cases with multiple plaintiffs and defendants can have up to a dozen people in the room.
• In general, the party or law firm who requested the deposition will pay (this is very important with direct clients, so be sure to clear this up beforehand). Be sure to get the case name and the deponent’s name for invoicing purposes.
• Court reporters will be present at all depositions. They are taking down the record in English only, so your interpretation into English will become part of the official record. Be sure to sit next to the court reporter so she can hear you (I’ve never met a male court reporter). The deponent should sit next to you on your other side, and his or her counsel will be seated on the next chair. The opposing counsel will traditionally sit across the table in a typical conference room setting.
• The court reporter will swear you in. Be sure not to agree to “faithfully translate.” As annoying as it might be, I always correct the record to reflect “interpret.”
• After that, the court reporter will swear in the deponent. This is when you start interpreting simultaneously.
• Keep a blank piece of paper handy on which you will jot down difficult names and places for the court reporter, who will have to produce the transcript. I usually write down things like Eulalia, Amecameca, Tuxtla Gutiérrez – generally cities and names that are challenging for non-Spanish speakers to understand.
• The deposing counsel will introduce him or herself and explain to the deponent how the process works. When interpreting into Spanish (or any other language) for the deponent, I usually lean close to the deponent and speak in a softer voice so I don’t disrupt the court reporter, who is taking down the English for the record. When interpreting into English, I speak up so the court reporter can hear me. Portable interpreting equipment is traditionally not used in depositions.
• Attorneys love to object to each other’s questions. Unfortunately—and they obviously know this—there is no judge to issue a ruling on the objection. They are just trying to get on the record with their objection, and you must interpret the objection, which can be confusing for the deponent. Usually, their counsel will instruct them if they should answer the question or not. Attorneys will also say things like: “For the record, I think defense counsel is being unreasonable,” which you must also interpret.

Part two of this series will follow next month. I hope this information has helped you gain some insight into what’s ahead if you get called to interpret at a deposition. If you have anything you would like to share: please do so by leaving a comment. 

Faking it

At some point in your interpreting career, you will have to to interpret at your first _______. Yes, it's fill in the blank here. No matter your level of education or level of preparation, there will come a day when you have to tackle a project you've never done before, and it is scary. We remember our first criminal trial, our first psychosexual evaluation, the first interpreting assignment inside a jail, the first high-level business liaison interpreting assignment, and our first international delegation. Every time, we diligently prepared, tried to find out as much about the project as we could, showed up to the assignment at least 30 minutes early, and then faked the confidence we did not have. You read correctly: sometimes you just have to fake the confidence, even if the butterflies in your stomach are chasing each other at the speed of light. No one wants an insecure interpreter, and especially when you are not seated in a comfy conference interpreting booth, the interpreter's nerves (or lack thereof) can really set the tone for the project. 

We are not suggesting that you accept assignments for which you are not prepared. What we are suggesting is the following. For instance, say you are a certified court interpreter and have been doing lots of administrative hearings, home visits for Child Protective Services and psychological evaluations with clinical psychologists. While these assignments are stressful enough and come with their own sets of challenges, they are not as high-profile or stressful as say, a criminal trial. There will come the point when you get the phone call to be one of two (or more) interpreters at a criminal trial, and you will rightfully be a bit intimidated. However, as a certified court interpreter, you have the skills and the knowledge to excel at a criminal trial.

Be sure to ask as many questions as possible and try to obtain any pertinent legal documents related to the case as you can, which is often easier said than done. Try to ask the prosecutor questions about how many witnesses they plan to have, and ask about expert witnesses. If you are lucky, the prosecutor will tell you that a chemist will testify about a specific drug at the trial, which means you need to prepare highly specialized terminology so you can keep up with the level of language used by an expert in his or her field, which is a tall order indeed. Many times, you will not get any information at all. For instance, the German delegation that is coming to the US to talk to high-tech companies might not give you any of the information you have requested, which will make your job very, very challenging. One option is to put in your price quote that services will not be rendered unless pertinent materials have been received X days before the assignment, but then you have to decide if you want to enforce that part of the contract. More times than not, you might choose to roll with the punches, knowing that you will be at a distinct disadvantage of not having any (or enough) background information, but this tends to, unfortunately, be quite common in our industry.

The best advice we have is: 

• Prepare as much as you can
• Get a good night's sleep
• Have a healthy breakfast/lunch
• Put on your power suit
• Bring your lucky charm (ours is this) 
• Trust your instincts, your knowledge and preparation
• Fake some self-confidence if you have to

Our experience has been that the first few minutes are always the hardest, but that things do get easier as you start getting into your rhythm. It's just like a tennis match. John McEnroe used to say that being nervous is normal and healthy, and we think that holds true for both tennis and interpreting. 

Have you had to fake some self-confidence? We'd love to hear it. 

Essential Software: TranslationOffice 3000

Many moons ago, when we started our small business (specifically, the European side of our business), we made many beginners' mistakes, including managing to invoice incorrect amounts to incorrect companies. We chronicled this mortifying experience here, and shortly thereafter, we decided that it was time for an invoicing and accounting system. Our IT guru set out to find one, and we loved it from the very beginning: TranslationOffice 3000, mainly known as TO3000. We have been recommending this nifty software at all our seminars and workshops around the world for years without having any financial connection to the company (other than the fact that we gave them money for the software). However, in the spirit of full disclosure, we want to let you know that earlier this year, AIT, the company that makes TO3000, decided to take out an ad on this blog. However, this does not prevent us from giving this software an honest review. The short version: we love it.

Screenshot of main screen. Courtesy of TO3000. 

First things first: What is it?
TO3000 is a translation management software that allows users to track every project, every invoice, every client and every payment. It's relatively simple to use, and readers of Translation Times get a 25% discount (version 10 is currently EUR 183).
The software allows you to create very pretty template-based quotes and invoices for clients, which has forever eliminated embarrassing invoicing errors for us. We also have a solid database of customers, phone numbers, addresses and contact persons inside the software. You can created many different billing categories, including hourly interpreting services, per-word translation rates, discounts for repeat customers, etc. One of our favorite features, which was missing from many of the other software packages that we looked at, is that you can invoice in many different currencies.

Our favorite features
There are many fantastic features of TO3000, and it's a bit hard to narrow them down. However, we've tried to come up with our 10 favorite features in no particular order.

Overview of invoices. Courtesy of TO3000.

1. With one click of a button, you will know how much money you have outstanding for the month. You just go to Invoices to clients --> calculate totals. The system will clearly indicate which invoices are outstanding. 
2. Creating professional-looking quotes is a breeze. They are based on templates that you will help create -- this is a bit tricky, you not too terribly difficult to figure out. 
3. There is a built-in word counter that's integrated into the quote tool, which is fantastic. You upload the document and the system counts the words and automatically tells you how much the project will cost. Brilliant.
4. We really enjoy knowing who our biggest customers are. This comes in handy around the holidays, when we decide who should get the larger presents! You can easily view how much you've earned from each customer.
5. The project tracking tool (called Schedule of Projects) is wonderful. Once you enter the quote and get the project, you enter the deadline for the project and the system will tell you exactly what's due when. 
6. Invoicing is, without a doubt, our favorite administrative job. There's something very satisfying about writing an invoice, and with TO3000, it will only take a few minutes. We then convert them to PDF and off to the customer they go (via postal service in Europe, via e-mail in the U.S.)
7. The company's customer support is top-notch. We've only had a few questions through the years, and every time, the friendly folks at this Ukrainian company have answered our questions quite quickly. It's pretty nice to actually have a relationship with the people who make the software.
8. Entering payments from clients and closing out the project is fast and easy. The system will keep track of the average time it's taken for a client to pay, so the next time you issue a quote to that particular client, it's handy to know that they took longer to pay than you would have liked. This might be a good time to ask for a deposit.
9. TO3000 is a database, so you don't have to worry about hitting "save" for things to get saved. 
10. You can try the software for free for 30 days, but by the end of it, we bet you will be hooked.

Adding a job to an invoice. Courtesy of TO3000.

The software is made by AIT (Advanced International Translations), which makes a variety of other cool software tools as well. Stay tuned for our review of Projetex. 

Any bad news?

Well, not really. Initially, the navigation (those menu items that one uses to click on things) wasn't as intuitive as it could be, but it has both improved a bit with new versions and we've also gotten used to it. Some navigational items aren't very elegant, such as going from creating a project to creating a project-related job, but those are relatively minor details. AIT is very good about bug fixes and new versions, which we've always installed without problems. By the way: we are not translation software gurus (that would be our friend and colleague Jost Zetzsche). Rather, we are advanced users, so rest assured that if we can figure out this business-essential software, so can you. 

Don't forget to get your Translation Times reader discount -- no strings attached. We really don't know how we managed to run our business without TO3000. If you are only going to purchase one piece of software this year, make it TO3000.