As busy entrepreneurs, it's important that we maximize our time, as our time is the only resource we truly have. We are constantly looking for ways to do this, and found one that has been really helpful.
Just like many of you, we provide formal quotes for project for all clients. We create these quotes by using a Word template with an integrated Excel table for the cost breakdown. The quote is fairly elaborate, comes with information on payment terms, terms and conditions, delivery time, etc. Even though it's a template, it...
Entrepreneurial Linguist Book: Coming Soon
Hot off the presses: we are about halfway through writing our translation book, cleverly titled "The Entrepreneurial Linguist," which will focus very strongly on the practical aspects of running a translation business, based on many lessons that Judy learned in business school. Here's why we have undertaken this monumental project:We were inspired by Corinne McKay's "How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator"
We were encouraged by colleagues at Judy's "Entrepreneurial Linguist" workshops
We realized that there are very few...
Free Software of the Month: Dropbox
Dropbox is the tool the translating twins had been waiting for! Since we collaborate on projects on a daily basis reviewing and editing each other's translations, we were tired of e-mailing files back and forth. Luckily, our IT guru pointed us to Dropbox, which is an amazing free tool (free is good in this economy). Dropbox has several features, but our favorite is the "share" option. All we had to do was download the...
It's a Scam Update: The Accused Speak(s)
In an effort to provide both sides of the story, and as a follow-up to this week's article It's a Scam: International Language Interpreters, we are hereby posting an e-mail that we received. We don't actually know who it's from -- no signature, no company information, just a free e-mail address with a name that appears to be unrelated the folks in question. Judging from the references being made, this appears to be from the accused party. Below is the entire unedited (no grammar or spelling mistakes were corrected) e-mail....
La Tribune Online Translations: The Integral of the Cats
Bad translations have made it into the nightly news: we recently heard Keith Olbermann on MSNBC mocking the online version of the French business newspaper La Tribune, which is now unfortunately available in bad English, German and Spanish. We'd love to know if the Italian is any good, but we doubt it.
On www.latribune.fr, next to the flags indicating the different languages, a banner reads "Beta Powered by Systran."...
It's a Scam: International Language Interpreters
California-based court interpreter Harinder Dhillon would like to share the information below with her colleagues in Nevada and around the world. According to Harinder, interpreters as far away as Argentina are owed thousands of dollars. Many of them have already sued the company in small claims courts in California (where the company is based) or contacted the Department of Labor. We have never worked with this company, and are merely posting the known facts as shared with us by Harinder, which she assures us are correct....
Interpreters' Portrayal in Literature: Fail
Dagmar just read a book about a conference interpreter, the book’s clever title being “The Interpreter”, written by Suzanne Glass. According to her bio in the back of the book, the author is a former conference interpreter who is fluent in seven languages. That seems hard to believe, especially after reading certain German-language passages in the book. Here is an excerpt for the German speakers among us. This is from...
Vote for Your Favorite Language Blogs
We were delighted to hear that our colleague Emma Littner nominated our little blog for the Top 100 Language Blogs. Thanks, Emma!
The Top 100 Language Blogs list is compiled by the managers of a fantastic blog on language,s in several languages, Lexiophiles. We frequent the site for excellent insight into languages, and used their Top 100 Language Blog list last year to find our favorite blogs. There's a lot of talent...
Speak English or Else
We subscribe to the very interesting listserv by the Interagency Language Roundtable, which is a federal agency that creates and shares information about language-related activities. They keep us up-to-date on highly relevant matters for our industry, including legislation developments on interpretation on the federal level. We highly recommend subscribing to their listserv here.
The listserv's most recent posting caught our attention:
Speak English well, or get a ticket
Truckers face hefty fine for breaking law that says...
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