The Interpreting Olympics

As readers of this blog may have recently discovered, we like to draw analogies between sports and interpreting, mainly because well, we are pretty serious athletes ourselves and because we are tired of the same old analogies about interpreting.

During this month's 2018 Olympics in Korea, we are reminded, as you would expect, of the Olympic spirit of competition and sportsmanship. We especially loved Olympic gold medalist figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu motioning for his fellow medalists to join him on the top of the podium. Shoma Uno and Javier Fernández (who took a historic bronze for Spain), and in a touching moment, they all embraced on top of the podium. Uno and Fernández initially seemed to think that Hanyu was only motioning for them to come closer, but no, he wanted them to share the moment with him as equals. It was a touching gesture that's oftentimes done in Olympics, but it's powerful every time.

And perhaps this Olympic moment can serve as an important reminder that in the profession of interpreting, we are all in it together. It's not a competition, and while some of us might have a higher profile than others, get more glamorous assignments, have more visibility than others, have more followers on social media platforms, have cooler clients and higher rates, travel more or less than others, or get more coverage in the media than others, we should keep in mind that we must all work together to further our profession.  We are, essentially, all equals. No matter your language or your skill level (let's face it: there are skills differentials) or whether you are a high-flying diplomatic interpreter or do thousands of cases in dingy courtrooms for non-glamourous cases, you are just as important as every other interpreter. Oftentimes in our profession we don't realize that we need to be each others' best allies and fans in order to strengthen our profession from within. It is true and correct that we also have to work with the outside world to increase visibility and improve rates and working conditions, but let's not forget that it all starts from within. Let's ask each other to join each other on the proverbial podium. Let's celebrate each other's succcesses and get inspired by them: just like Olympic athletes. This analogy may or not be a stretch, but perhaps we can get a medal for trying to make it. Go #teaminterpreters! 

Tuesday Laughs: Voice Recognition Meets Scottish Accent

Happy Tuesday, dear readers! We know there's a lot happening in the world of voice recognition, and here's a humurous take on it. Many thanks to our lovely colleague Willy Martínez in Argentina for sending us this gem. Enjoy!

Mistake of the Week

The solution is on the left side.

True to our tradition to occasionally poking fun at ourselves with the goal of having others learn from our mistakes, here's Judy's mistake of the week during a legal interpreting assignment.

All Judy knew was that she was to interpret at a deposition. She had the case name, the time, the plaintiff's name and the deponent's name. It's very common to get incomplete information about the cases for which you are to interpret; even if you ask. It's just something court interpreters work to live with, but we all know that it's always ideal to have as much context and background information as possible. Having had it would have solved the following situation that we are now delighted to present. In fact, it could have been prevented with a single photograph that everyone but Judy had previously seen.

The attorney is deposing a maintenance worker. That is all Judy knows about the deponent at this point.

Defense attorney: So why did you trim this tree?

Judy (interpreting): ¿Por qué recortó usted este árbol?

Deponent: Bueno, porque las ramas estaban llegando hasta la carpeta (note: last word was hard to understand).

Judy (interpreting): Well, because the branches were reaching all the way to the carpet.

Puzzled looks all around, including from Judy.

Here's an explanation: the Spanish word for carpet is not carpeta. It's incorrectly used by Spanish speakers in the U.S. all the time. The correct word for carpet in Spanish is alfombra. Carpeta is also a Spanish-language word, but it means folder, as in a manila folder that you would have on your desk. We've gotten very used to Spanglish terms, and when we hear carpeta we immediately interpret "carpet." Now, Judy was very aware that it didn't really make sense in this context to talk about carpet since the issue in question as a tree, which would most likely be outside. That said, she didn't have any other context and interpreted what she heard. Here's what followed.

Plainttiff's attorney: At this point I'd like to stipulate that my client said "cart path." Would our interpreter agree?

Judy: It is the interpreter's opinion that the deponent could have used the English-language term "cart path," but pronounced it in such a way to render it almost unintelligible.

Defense attorney: For the record, I did not hear anything resembling an English word in the deponent's answer.

Judy: Would counsel like the interpreter to clarify that the deponent meant to say "cart path"?

Both attorneys: Yes, please go ahead.

A few minutes after this incident, the defense attorney introduced an exhibit: a photograph that clearly showed an image of a golf course, a tree, a cart path, and a maintenance cart belonging to the worker. An image speaks a thousand words, and context sure is king. After the session ended, all parties agreed that this was a new one. But yes, if you pronounce "cart path" a certain way, it could sound like carpeta. Mystery solved.

We don't really know how Judy would have been able to do any better with this one under the circumstances, but it's still a mistake that's worth pointing out. Actually, mispronounced English-language words by Spanish speakers and Spanglish are very interesting topics that we don't discuss much in our industry, and we plan on writing more about them in the future.

What do you think, dear colleagues? How would you have reacted? Having asked for repetition would have resulted in the deponent repeating the word with, most likely, the same pronunciation, so the options here were limited. 

I Speak Spanish!

We speak Spanish, too. Photo taken in Mexico City.

Happy Friday! For today's post, we figured we'd send you off into the weekend with some humor. Fellow Spanish court interpreters can surely relate to today's (humorous) post. This is a situation that Judy, in her role as a certified court interpreter, encounters relatively frequently.

This is the situation: You walk into a deposition or into a courtroom, and next thing you know, the plaintiff and/or defense counsel walk(s) up to you to let you know that they also speak Spanish. Now, one might think that they are only making friendly conversation, but as those of us who deal with attorneys know, in litigation, attorneys don't say much without trying to make a specific point. When saying, "I speak Spanish!" what is really being said is this: "I will be checking up on you. You better watch out, interpreter." Now what? 

The problem which such a statement from an attorney is that there are really no possible reaction, except for maybe one, that do not make you sound at least somewhat defensive. That's a problem, because even though the attorney is clearly a bit aggressive here, as service providers, we usually want to keep our composure and maintain a friendly tone. That said, it's marginally possible that the attorney just wants to make conversation about his/her Spanish skills, in which case it's a great idea to start a high-register Spanish conversation about the expropriation of Mexican petroleum to show them the limit of their Spanish (kidding). Seriously, now: How do you react? Here are things Judy has wanted to say, but has never, ever actually said:

"Thank you for sharing. I am really worried about my performance now."

"Well, I really have been put on notice. Duly noted, counsel."

"Maybe you should just do the interpreting then and I can go have an espresso."

Of course, please do take this with a grain of salt (we told you this would be a humorous post). We'd never seriously think about saying anything like that, but it's fun to at least let these thoughts appear in your head. 

Usually, it's just best to say: "That's fantastic! It's a great language, isn't it?" and leave it at that (or something similar). We are very aware that many professionals, especially here in the American Southwest, do speak Spanish (some better than others). While humility and the desire to keep on learning are important for interpreters, so is confidence in one's skills and certifications. One doesn't become a certified court interpreter by osmosis or chance, just as no one becomes an attorney by taking a few criminal justice classes and watching a lot of Judge Judy. 

So, dear fellow court interpreters: Be proud of your skills, and let's welcome all the Spanish speakers into our proceedings. Now, we've heard from other court interpreters that sometimes there are entirely incorrect objections to certified court interpreters' renditions, and that's another topic--one that has actually not happened to us. What are your thoughts, dear colleagues? How would you react or how have you reacted when confronted with "I speak Spanish"? 

Ouch: Mistake of the Month

Because few things are as fun as poking fun at ourselves, we wanted to do a quick post with this month's utterly horrifying mistake. We make many errors, but try not to make the same ones twice. This one was Judy's, so we will let her tell the story.

A few weeks ago, Dagy had the unique opportunity to interpret at an OPEC conference (English booth), and I was to be the back-up interpreter (I also did get to interpret). The setting in Vienna's regal Imperial Palace (Hofburg) was amazing, and the permanent booths were top-notch. As a US-based interpreter, I am usually quite impressed by anything resembling a permanent booth. We checked out the other booths, which are located on the third floor high above the stage, to meet our colleagues from the Spanish and Russian booths, but no one was there, so we reviewed our materials and got ready for the big moment. After we had sat down, a distinguished-looking gentleman walked in, extended his hand (without introducing himself), smiled, and said (in Spanish) that he was delighted to see us. I thought, don't ask me why, that this lovely gentleman was the colleague from the Spanish booth because no one else every ventures up there, so I immediately went into very casual small talk, and yes, I addressed him informally. As if I knew him. As if we were colleagues. As opposed to English, in Spanish we've got two pronouns, the formal usted and the informal tú (which I used). Among colleagues, we usually use the latter. 

The rest of the morning went better.

The only problem here was that this gentleman wasn't a fellow interpreter, but an ambassador to Austria of a South American country. Dagy had the good fortune of getting a glimpse of his badge, which had been facing away from me, and recognized the name immediately (research pays off; as the badge doesn't say "ambassador," either). She immediately greeted the ambassador with something appropriate along the lines of "Good morning, Your Excellency." This is of course when I realized my error and I was completely utterly mortified. However, the ambassador didn't miss a beat, didn't take offense at all, and just chatted away. I did recover enough to thank him for coming upstairs and for hiring us (yes, he hired us!), and exchange some other pleasantries. So yes, I committed a pretty big faux pas at a high diplomatic level, and I lived to tell about it. It's a nice reminder that people at the top can be very kind and forgiving, and I am grateful for it. I was pretty sure I'd never hear the end of this one from Dagy, and now that we've shared it here, I am guaranteed that it will last forever!

What about you, dear colleagues? Care to share your favorite mistake? We won't tell. Oh wait, this is a public blog....

Bad Client?

Made on www.canva.com. 

Today's  post is about something that comes up in our industry quite often. The scenario is this: the highly talented translator delivers a world-class translation, only for the clueless client (we mean this tongue-in-cheek, in case you haven't noticed) to destroy it by "editing" it when the client should stick to his or her area of expertise and leave the translating to the talented translator. The resulting edited translation is not improved at all: quite the contrary. It's a disaster. Now the translator is  indignant and complaining to all her colleagues and friends about it. Does this sound familiar? Let us suggest a different way of looking at it.

After the client pays for your work, he or she owns it. Period. They are free to do with your product as they please, because you now longer own it (yes, we got a legal opinion on this). A translator can certainly insist that his or her name not be listed as the translator on a mutilated translation, but the reality is that most translators can't get their names within 10 miles of most translations anyway, so this shouldn't be a big concern. We are not saying that the client is right in destroying a perfectly good translation with good intentions but bad language skills, but that's life. Translators are no different than lawyers, doctors, interior designers, stylists, etc. We hear our stylist when she tells us black is not our color, but we love it anyway. We hear our doctor when she tells us to lay off the fatty Mexican food, but it's so tasty.  Our CPA is right that we should be more organized in our charity donations, but we aren't. Sometimes clients buy a Mercedes and put gaudy rims and license plates with rhinestones on it. The dealer probably cringes, but if the client's money is good, what can be done? Not much. 

We have had this scenario happen very infrequently, but when it does happen, we just make sure to detail in writing why we think the translation should be published/going to print as is and list the reasons. Then we say that we are happy to give our professional opinion, since that's in part what we are getting paid for. If the client insists to use the mutilated translation anyway and our names are on it, we respectfully ask to have our names removed. We think it's important to stick to your role of professional advisor and not become too indignant when the client doesn't follow our advice. They pay us for it, so they are free to take it or leave if after they've paid for our services.

That said, we are on our way to the tailor to have her add some ruffles to a gorgeous black Jil Sander suit. While we are at it, we might stop by the hairdresser's to see if she can turn us into redheads. Just kidding! 

What do you think, dear friends and colleagues? We'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Breaking News

Created on www.canva.com.

To start off the second quarter of 2015, we wanted to share some important news with all of you, dear readers. As you know, we've both been in the translation industry for a long time, and we've tirelessly worked to share knowledge, empower colleagues, improve rates and working conditions, and elevate the status of our professions (translation and interpretation) in general. It's been a lovely ride, and we are so lucky to have amazing clients all over the world and fantastic contractors who make our business what it is. We couldn't be more grateful.

However, building a business is a lot of hard work, as all of you know. We've put in a lot of 100-hour weeks, and while we do take vacations, we usually work even while on vacation. We are a bit tired, so when a great offer came along to sell our business to a big multinational corporation that doesn't care about quality nor the quality of its translators' lives, we jumped at the opportunity. We know it doesn't make much sense and that it goes against everything we believe in, but it was time for us to exit the industry. The time was right. So was the price. As of April 2015, we plan on getting our own Caribbean island and sip fancy cocktails out of coconuts while hard-working translators around the world slave away for nothing and clients get sub-par work at high prices.

Of course we are kidding. Happy April Fools' Day! Did we have you fooled?

If you've read this far, you either know us and our sense of humor, or you were an unsuspecting new visitor who is now shaking his or her head. In either case, thanks for reading.

Nothing we just stated above is true, at all. It couldn't be further from the truth. We made it up, and we had a lot of fun doing it. But we do want to take this opportunity to reiterate how essential it is that we all keep working together as a profession to grow and strengthen it. You know when low prices will end? When translators will stop accepting them. You know when we will get more respect? When we start demanding it. We will continue working towards these goals, and we invite you to join us.

Finally, thank you for all the wonderful clients and contractors who have made Twin Translations what it is. We are so very, very grateful to be in this fantastic business. Our number one goal is to make our clients happy and to treat our lovely colleagues like family, pay them well, and pay them on time. It seems to be working. The first quarter of 2015 was the most successful in our company's history, and we look forward to many more decades of success, friendship, and great memories.

Our Top 5 Stress Busters

Business has been really, really good, and we are very grateful. However, with lots of business comes lots of work, and with that comes some stress. We admit it: one of us has been a bit overworked and grouchy (hint: it's not Dagy), and as we try to follow our own advice, we figured we'd compile a few easy stress busters here for this Friday post.

1. Take a nap. Sure, a nap won't solve the problem about all the things you still have on your plate, but it will probably make you feel better. We come from a long line of nappers, and we can do quick naps of 30 minutes or so and feel refreshed. If you need a two-hour nap, this might not work for you as it will probably stress you out more.
2. Go for a walk. Clearing our head always helps. We grab the doggie and go for a walk around the block, which only takes five minutes.
3. Call a member of the complaint club. When we are frustrated and overworked, we try not to voice our frustrations online. Rather, we place a call to a trusted member of our so-called complaint club, which is comprised of dear friends and family members. We usually vent our frustrations (which largely revolve around lack of time) for 10 minutes or so, which helps put things in perspective.
4. Have a cup of tea. We've spent enough time in England to know that having a cup of tea solves most problems, including stress, so sometimes we do that. If all else fails, we have a lovely piece of Austrian chocolate to go with our Earl Grey tea. We've also been drinking a lot of ginger tea lately. We've experienced with grating fresh ginger, which is instantly invigorating.
5. Yoga. We are as inflexible as the next translators, but we are working on it. If we only have 10 minutes to decompress, we will do a few easy yoga poses, including laying down on our backs with our legs up a wall. Downward dog, tree, child's pose and others are also fantastic poses for a quick refresher.

What about you, dear friends and colleagues? Do you have any quick stress busters that you would like to share? We'd love to read about them in the comments section.

Two Hands = Violinist?

Today we'd like to discuss one of our favorite topics -- why the simple fact that being bilingual doesn't automatically make anyone either a translator or an interpreter. There's significant training involved, but oftentimes outsiders to the profession equate bilingualism with professional translation and interpretation because writing and speaking is something we already know and do, so they don't perceive it as a learned skill. We've spent a few years trying to collect some convincing analogies, and depending on who we are talking to, we select from this list. Some might be more direct analogies than others, while others might be funnier. As always, take some of these with a grain of salt.

In addition, we like to add that just because you like to do something, it doesn't mean you do it well or that others would pay you to do it. For instance, just because you like to crochet doesn't mean that it's good enough that anyone wants to buy your work. Just because you like to dance doesn't mean that event planners will hire you as entertainment for their events. Passionate chess players might very well not be good enough to play payed exhibition matches -- but the professionals are. Enjoying something doesn't necessarily mean you are good enough that others will pay you for it, or, in other words, that it will have value in the marketplace. However, oddly enough, this is what the general public usually incorrectly assumes about languages skills and translation or interpretation. We rarely hear anyone say that they like numbers, ergo they are an accountant, perhaps because there are significant barrier to entry to becoming an accountant, but we digress.

We've written about this many times before, but we'll state it again: being bilingual is the minimum requirement for this job, just like having two hands is the minimum requirement for being a violinist. But having two hands doesn't automatically make you a violinist. And being bilingual doesn't automatically make you an interpreter or a translator, but all interpreters and translators are bilingual.

Now, without further delay, here are our analogies. Some might be better than others, and we look forward to hearing which ones you like!

Being bilingual doesn't make you a translator just like.....

• being able to write in English doesn't make you a journalist.
• being able to write in English doesn't make you an advertising copywriter.
• being able to write in English doesn't make you a public relations professional.
• being able to type doesn't make you a court reporter.
• enjoying cooking doesn't make you a professional chef.
• driving every day doesn't make you a race car driver.
• being tall doesn't make you a basketball player.

Being bilingual doesn't make you an interpreter just like...

• speaking English doesn't make you an actor.
• speaking English doesn't make you a TV anchor.
• speaking English doesn't make you a professional comedian.
• speaking English doesn't make you a voice-over talent.
• liking to argue doesn't make you a lawyer.

I Was Bored Before I Even Began

We created this image on www.canva.com.

Many times, we hear from newcomers to the profession that they want to become translators and/or interpreters because they love languages and really enjoy working for themselves. Those are two excellent reasons, but of course those two things don't make anyone a translator or interpreter, nor do they guarantee success, but we digress. Today we wanted to address some lesser-known facts of the business: much of it won't have anything to do with language at all, and some can be, well, a bit boring. We are not saying, by any stretch of the imagination, that all adminstrative tasks are boring, but it does make for a catchy title. 

Most readers of this blog are experienced linguists and will certainly know that self-employed translators and interpreters have to devote a significant portion of their time to tasks that have absolutely nothing to do with language. These are neither fun tasks nor tasks that you can romanticize at all: they are the nitty-gritty basic tasks (some very easy, some challenging) that are necessary to run a business. They include highly interesting (yes, we are being sarcastic here) things such as:

• Logging our mileage and our business expenses so we can deduct them from our taxes 
• Calling customers who have not paid their invoices (does not happen very often)
• Sending customers the requested paperwork (W-9s, confidentiality agreements)
• Dealing with tax-related paperwork
• Paying our bills and your vendors
• Renewing business licenses and dealing with government bureaucracies
• Going to see our accountants and lawyer, etc. 

On the other hand, there are many routine tasks that we enjoy very much, such as:

• Issuing invoices
• Working in our trusty accounting system, Translation Office 3000
• Corresponding with clients
• Depositing checks
• Checking the online balances of our accounts

Others are not boring, but can be taxing, such as:

• Dealing with computer challenges
• Doing software upgrades
• Calling the bank again to deal with an incorrect charge

In addition, we frequently outsource work to a small group of our superstar contractors, so we oftentimes do project management and edit others' work, which is not boring at all, but can be quite cumbersome on the administrative level.

The point of this post is the following: newcomers to this profession must realize that while of course we work with language on a daily basis, all linguists devote part of their time to administrative tasks. Sometimes it's 30% of our day, sometimes it's 50%, sometimes it's even 100% (as happened during a recent computer crisis). We think it's important that newcomers know about this reality, which is why we share it here on this space as food for thought.

What about you, dear colleagues? How much time do you spend on boring (read: administrative) tasks every day? Which one is your least favorite? Do you have one that you actually like?

And surely music fans were quick to recognize the title of this post: it is a favorite line from an 80s song by The Smiths. The name of the song is "Shirtlifters of the World Unite." Yes, Judy is a huge The Smiths/Morrissey fan.

Spanish Grammar and Writing: In Pictures

Our friends over at Ortografía Real have been tweeting up a storm and have been sharing a large amount of interesting tidbits about the Spanish language. We really enjoy their tweets and their Facebook page, and highly recommend you follow them.

They recently tweeted two images that nicely illustrate some very common mistakes. If we had a penny for every time someone sent us an e-mail with Hay nos vemos (correct: Ahí nos vemos) or Haber si te quedas a cenar (correct: A ver si te quedas a cenar), we would be rich. Perhaps this will clear up some of these common errors. Enjoy!

Thank you, Ortografía Real, for this gem.

Simple and priceless. A ver si se acuerdan.

Professional Headshots: Our Experience

We are SO not models.

We've long been advocates of professional headshots to be used on business cards, websites, marketing materials, etc. Long gone are the days when we saw many T&I professionals use cropped summer snapshots as their profile pictures on LinkedIn and other online media, and that's a great development. Lawyers, doctors, and other professionals long ago discovered the power of professional images, and translators and interpreters need them, too. It's rare to visit a website these days that doesn't feature an image of the actual services provider. It builds trust and it's always nice to see a picture of a real person rather than a stock image. We are usually surprised when there isn't a real picture to be found on someone's website, and we bet clients feel the same way. Having a professional image is relatively easy and doesn't require a big investment. This year, we just spent $100 each because of a fabulous special at a local studio that made us feel like royalty for an afternoon.

Dagy's royal treatment.

A few years ago, we started encouraging our local and national associations to host photo shoots with professional photographers at discounted rates for their members, which allowed many colleagues to obtain top-notch photos at reasonable prices. We had our pictures taken at several of these events, and it's fantastic that this is catching on!  Even if you hire your own photographer, it's usually a worthwhile investment and one of the few upfront investments you need to make in your online presence. 

Photo by Sam Woodard.

Photo by Sam Woodard.

After doing four or five outdoor photo shoots in a row (all in Vegas), we decided to have an indoor studio photo shoot this year. We had just received a very attractive offer from Fremont East Studios through our downtown Vegas co-working space Work in Progress and we had a fantastic experience! The photo shoot even included the services of a highly talented and lovely make-up artist, and the studio was fantastic and very comfortable. We hope you enjoy both the finished product (that's Judy on the left) and some goofy behind-the-scenes pictures as well. As you can tell, we are very far from being model material, and we usually don't know how to stand, where to look, or what to do with our hands (told you we weren't model material). Luckily for us, photographer Sam Woodard and make-up artist Doralynne Valenzuela told us exactly what to do. What a great all-female team! You'd think that posing in a studio would be really unnatural and awkward, but it was quite the opposite.

And don't forget that this is a classic business expense. Actually, it's one of our most entertaining business expenses of the year. 

What about you, dear colleagues? Have you had a professsional headshot taken or are you still thinking about it? We are always looking for good photo ideas, so we'd love to hear about your experiences!

The Veiled Interpreting Booth

As a follow-up to this week's raffle (congratulations to our winner Marina Meier!), we wanted to share the story behind what we've been calling "the veiled booth."

This set-up is good enough, if far from ideal.

A few months ago, Judy had a conference interpreting assignment at a large Vegas hotel. The number of attendees was well in excess of 5,000, and interpreting services were provided in six different languages using table-top booths, which are less than ideal (fine, that's an understatement). The interpreting console was quite odd and Judy hadn't seen a set-up like this in a long time. For instance, there was a stand-alone microphone with an on/off button, but not the traditional cough button. However, here in the US, conference interpreters learn how to roll with the punches, and the set-up was functional and there were plenty of technicians to ensure good sound. Even though the interpreting conditions were far from ideal, the first day went quite well. We had individual screens on the tables that showed live footage of the

Just outside the booth: it's a party!

speakers, but not of the videos or any PowerPoint slides, but we could see that through the main window of the booth, so it worked. However, this event also featured a DJ, so it was very challenging to get the audio feed through the headset with the hip-hop music at full blast, and we usually could not hear ourselves interpret. So the conditions were difficult, but certainly not impossible.

Judy did notice that a lot of the relatively rowdy attendees were unsure of what these table-top booths were for, and kept on walking up to us to ask us questions and to try to plug in their cell phones, which was incredibly distracting. The event organizers must have noticed that, because the second day of the event, we came back to find "the veiled booth."

Say hello to the veiled tabletop booths!

It sure seems like the event organizers decided to section off the sides of the booth that was open to the ballroom. This seemed like a good idea because it would prevent attendees from wandering into the interpreting booths. However, what we can't figure out is the black veil that's securely fastened to the front and the sides of the booths via very strong velcro strips (and many of them). We were basically stuck without a way to see the stage. We did have the aforementioned screens, but we could not see any videos or PowerPoints that the presenters were showing (and there were quite a lot). In order to interpret those, we had to get up, headset and all, and try to stretch our necks to see. This made our work very difficult indeed, but we persevered. We couldn't find the conference organizers to have a conversation about the veiled booths, so we just worked with what we had. The show must go on.

What do you think, dear colleagues? Would you have been able to work with this? We'd also love to hear about any challenging situations that you have run into at conferences. Please leave a comment and share your experiences!

Translation Cartoons: Tina and Mouse

http://www.tina-and-mouse.com/

A few weeks ago, we received an e-mail from Elena de Terán Bleiberg, a lovely colleague in Spain who is both a medical doctor and a translator. Oh, and she's a cartoonist, too, one who chooses a female translator as the progagonist of her very attratively drawn minimalist cartoons. Her sidekick is a cute little mouse, who is also quite wise and has some good insight. His or her name (we are not sure!) is simply Mouse, hence the title of the cartoons "Tina and Mouse." We are particularly fond of the lead character's name, as one of our dearest friends is also named Tina. 

Elena has worked in the translation industry in a variety of roles (freelancer, project manager, editor, third-party reviewer, director of medical translation services, etc.) since 1991, and she's published more than 40 Tina and Mouse cartoons in 2013 and 2014. Be sure to check out her blog. We haven't been this excited about translation cartoons since we discovered the great Mox, who seems to be on a bit of a hiatus at the moment.

We immediately fell in love with them and wanted to share them with all our readers! Have a look at all of them here. 

Conflict and Resolution: An Example

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Every Spanish court interpreter in the US has probably found herself (or himself) in the following situation: a Spanish-speaking attorney who is determined to intimidate or critique the court interpreter. Here in Las Vegas, we have a lot of Spanish-speaking attorneys, and their language skills vary widely, from virtually non-existent to completely fluent. Many professionals outside the languages industry tend to overestimate their language skills, which sometimes doesn't stop attorneys from criticizing and challenging professional and certified court interpreters' skills. That's the problem, so to say, with language: everyone uses it every day, but having the attorney critique the court interpreters' rendition is like having the paralegal critique the judge. OK, so perhaps that's not the best analogy, but the point is: these situations can be uncomfortable and challenging. How is a certified court interpreter to deal with this? Now, if your language is Punjabi or Zulu and you live in the US, chances are this has never happened to you. If your language is Spanish, we bet you are nodding by now.

Let's illustrate this with a recent example from Judy's practice.

Last week, Judy went to interpret for a Spanish deponent in a very complicated case that involved several counterclaims. Once all the parties were present, Judy counted the attorneys, and there were seven of them. Yes, seven. One of them, clearly the leader of the pack, started the conversation:

Attorney: "You know, Judy, all of us here speak Spanish. You better watch out! We will be checking up on you."

What Judy really wanted to say: "Great! I read a lot of John Grisham novels, and my hubby is an attorney, so you better watch out, too! I will be making sure you follow all rules of evidence."

Of course Judy didn't say that. Rather, she did the following.

Judy: "That's great, Bob! Learning another language is always very enriching, and I am glad you've chosen such a wonderful language. I look forward to facilitating language access today."

Sometimes, it's just that easy. And the best thing you can do to stop any needless commentary is to simply do an outstanding job. Of course, you might still get critiqued even if you are right and they are wrong, but it comes with the territory and you learn how to stay cool and composed.

Now, this is what happened halfway through the deposition.

Attorney: "Wow, Judy, you are a superstar."

What Judy wanted to say: "I know."

What Judy said: "Thank you, Bob."

What about you, dear court interpreter colleagues? How do you deal with these situations?

62 Short Pieces of Advice

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Time flies! We've been writing this blog for almost six years, and we have published almost 500 posts. Not bad, huh? In 2010, we published a book (The Entrepreneurial Linguist: The Business-School Approach to Freelance Translation), which has sold more than 3,500 copies around the world (thank you!) and contains pretty much everything we know. However, we are delighted to keep on writing and sharing, as we get so much positive feedback and we really enjoy it. Even though we publish a lot of free information for beginning and advanced linguists, oftentimes new colleagues ask us at conferences: "What do I have to do to be successful?" There is no easy answer, so we usually say that it would take us the rest of the evening to even attempt to answer that question. However, we also like to come prepared with some memorable (or not) short pieces of advice that might be helpful for those who want some quick nuggets of information. We finally decided to compile some of these pieces of advice here after a new colleague approached Judy at a workshop a few weeks ago. She was frustrated that she wasn't getting the results that she wanted, yet she hadn't invested in herself or her professional presence. A lot of our advice has to do with exactly that: personal growth, outreach, marketing, and customer service.

We have no idea how we ended up with a list of 62 pieces of advice, and these are not ranked in order of importance, nor is this list (obviously) exhaustive. We simply wanted to compile some of the things we think are essential for every translator and/or interpreter and, of course, for entrepreneurial linguists. There are all things you've heard us say before or have seen us write about before, but here they are, for the first time, in one handy-dandy list: 62 pieces of advice on translation, interpretation, and business.

Please read at your own risk and take this with a grain of salt. Yes, we've included some tough love and straightforward advice. 

1.     Running a small business is hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

2.     You are not entitled to be successful.

3.     There are no real secrets to success, but start by working hard and by making smart decisions. 

4.     Don't compete on price. Find your competitive advantage instead. Don't become a commodity.

5.     Get a website and a professional e-mail address. If you want to be taken seriously as a   professional, you need a professional presence.

6.     Your success will depend on the quality of relationships you form.

7.     Translators are writers. Are you a top-notch writer? 

8.     The internet is your friend. Online marketing is mostly free and easy. Use it to your advantage.

9.     No translator or interpreter is an island.

10. Have a positive attitude.

11. Avoid making the same mistake twice.

12. One missed deadline might very well have a negative impact on your career.

13. Don't start work on a project until you have written confirmation from the client.

14. Play nicely with others.

15. Set realistic goals and make a plan as to how you will achieve them.

16. Take an honest look at your skills and improve them. You can always become a better interpreter/translator.

17. No one lands high-paying clients by mistake.

18. Translation and interpretation require completely different sets of skills.

19. Take feedback for what it is: a valuable gift.

20. Without clients, you have nothing.

21. Be reasonable, even when others are not.

22. Think before you send an angry e-mail.

23. Learn to be self-sufficient in terms of IT and software.

24. Invest in your business by purchasing the best tools, dictionaries and gadgets you can afford.

25. Keep your personal and business finances separate.

26. Improve your typing speed.

27. Take very good care of your voice if you are an interpreter.

28. When asking others for advice, be respectful of their time and offer to take them to dinner. 

29. Translators: read, read, read. There really is no substitute.

30. Don't complain about your clients publicly. Ever.

31. Don't complain about your colleagues publicly. Ever.

32. Your reputation is the most important thing you have.

33. Your time is the only resource you have. Spend it wisely.

34. Stop talking about yourself. Ask questions instead.

35. Learn how to really, truly listen.

36. Educate your clients about what you do without wagging your finger. No one wants an arrogant translator or interpreter.

37. Tread lightly when correcting source texts. Be respectful with your comments.

38. You earn others' respect by providing high-quality work and by being helpful, friendly and kind.

39. Join your local T&I association, a national association, and at least one association in your specialization.

40. Get out of your comfort zone.

41. Work on your weaknesses.

42. If a client corrects you during an interpreting assignment, stay calm and be professional.

43. Surround yourself with positive and good people.

44. Invest in your professional development by attending conferences, workshops and webinars.

45. Volunteer your time. Learn to give before you expect others to give things to you.

46. Take care of your eyes and look away from the computer for 20 seconds every 20 minutes.

47. Exceed your clients' expectations. Go the extra mile.

48. Send holiday cards and/or gifts.

49. Keep a list of customer preferences. Become a customer concierge.

50. If you don't know a word during an interpreting assignment, say so. It's no fun, but you must be honest.

51. Work on your memory so you remember people's names.

52. Keep all your client files organized and back up your computer every day.

53. Contribute to a retirement fund.

54. Take care of your health and get exercise.

55. You can be in your bunny slippers, but there's no reason your client should know that.

56. Don't use your client as a sounding board. 

57. Have a plan B if your internet is down at home.

58. Keep confidential things confidential. Buy a good shredder. 

59. Consider joining a co-working space.

60. Go to at least one networking event a week, even if you don't feel like it.

61. Your business will grow when you do great work and more people know that you exist. How will you accomplish that?

62. Be humble. Every great translator and interpreter can learn from others. If you think you can't, you are wrong.

We hope you have enjoyed this (relatively) short list, dear friends and colleagues! Which pieces of advice would you add? We'd love to hear your thoughts to add to this endless list.

Translation Cartoons: LuComics

A few days ago, one of our lovely Twitter followers (Daniela Bottazi, @Vinglish_Italia)  tweeted a hilarious cartoon that we have included here in this post. It's been a few years since we discovered a new translation cartoonist (the last one was, of course, our brilliant colleague Alejandro Moreno-Ramos of Mox fame), and we are happy to report that Lu's work is great! She has a Facebook page and a Tumblr page as well.

The author is Lu, a 23-year old future literary and technical translator from Argentina. She also creates all her cartoons in Spanish, which is fantastic! 

Cartoon by LuComics, http://lucomics.tumblr.com/

We love her distinct style and spot-on commentary about our industry and wanted to spread the word about her work. Who knows, maybe she will come out with a book of cartoons similar to Mox soon? We'd be the first ones to buy it.

What do you think, dear colleagues? Do you like the cartoons?

Just Do It: Price Discrimination

Yes, we collect bills from around the world. Photo by Judy.

It was a tough winter here in the US, and some companies made a handsome profit because of it. The revolutionary car-on-demand service Uber is one of them. In the middle of the Washington  and New York winter, Uber decided to charge customers three and four times the regular rate. This earned the company a lot of bad press, but the company’s CEO defended his pricing policies saying that he needed to use this pricing model to entice more drivers to come out and work, which was a good point. While we don’t agree with Uber’s decision to essentially price-gouge their customers, we do think all of us, as small business owners, should take advantage of price discrimination strategies. Essentially, price discrimination is a strategy that charges customers different prices for a product or service – and even though we love talking about economics, we promise we won’t get into the hard-core economics of it.

When we tell friends and colleagues that all our rates are public on our website, many are surprised. We go on to explain that we think price transparency is a good thing and that we want to save ourselves and our potential customers some time by telling them what to expect. Many colleagues do agree that having rates publically available is a good idea, but they are worried about having different price points for say, translation agencies and direct clients, but it’s perfectly fine to have different rates. In fact, almost every business has them. Let’s look at some other businesses to see how they handle price discrimination. Remember that we are not lawyers (although Judy is married to one), and that this is not legal advice, but rather our experienced-based opinion. Now, let's finally have a look at some examples:

• ·   Lawyers oftentimes offer lower rates for non-profits, local resident discounts, firefighters (or whichever group they support), etc. We recently hired a lawyer who told us he had a regular rate, a rate for people he considers “total jerks” (he used another term that’s not fit for this blog) and a rate for people he likes. He charged us the latter – at least as far as we know.
• ·   Restaurants charge you half the price for a glass of Sauvignon Blanc if you drink it at the bar during happy hour. However, if you order the same glass of wine a few feet away at an actual table, it will cost twice as much. Is it fair? Probably not. Is it legal? Absolutely. One of our favorite high-end Vegas steakhouses now offers a Sunday special, which gets you $60 steak for $30 on Sundays. We are happy to report that the steak is exactly the same and just as tasty!
•     Travel-related expenses can vary depending on age and even nationality. When we take a train from Salzburg to Vienna with our dad, his fare is half of ours. When Dagy enter Argentina on her Austrian passport, she doen't have to pay for a “visa.” However, if Judy uses her American passport, it’s $150. Flights to Europe are cheaper in March (low season) than July (high season). 
•     The price of recreational activities can vary widely. Judy recently wanted to play the same round of golf that she played with our dad in February for $65, but the rate had increased to $110 because the weather was nicer. Skiing is always cheaper on Wednesday than on Saturday. These businesses engage in price discrimination to stimulate demand during slower periods.
•      Many businesses offer a certain discount to customers who saw their ad on say, a billboard, a magazine or a flyer. They will tell you to bring in the flyer to get 10% off the final bill.  Others, such as gyms, have lower prices for women, although they have gotten into some legal trouble because of this practice, as it can be construed as gender discrimination. Our take: men should be happy to have more women at the gym (they usually do put the weights away), but we digress.

So, dear friends and colleagues: while we know this can be a controversial topic, we think you shouldn't be afraid of price discrimination. You get to set your own prices and you can offer different price points for different clients. You wouldn’t be the first business to do so. We would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Business Etiquette: Not Shaking Hands

A few months ago, we had the pleasure of attending a fancy networking event in Europe. It was lovely, and they had free food, too -- you can't beat a great networking event with free food, but we digress. Many politicians and representatives of the European Union were in attendance as well, and we were delighted to enjoy a nice evening with them. During the course of the evening, we ran into a somewhat uncomfortable situation and wanted to share it with all of you to get your input and ideas.

Networking in fancy places. The Wolseley in London.

We were walking up to the hotel's (very fancy) bathrooms, and a well-respected legislator came out of the bathroom. We had met him before and wanted to say hello. He clearly recognized and was happy to see us. In accordance with Central European tradition, we moved closer to shake his hand. However, he quickly pulled back his hand, apologizing profusely that they were still wet after washing them. Now, for those of you who have lived or done business in Central Europe, you know that the handshake is a key element of social and professional interaction, and refusing to shake hands (even it it's for a good reason)  makes all parties uncomfortable and starts the conversation off on the wrong foot, which is what happened in this case. We didn't quite know how to act, as hugging the legislator was not an option, nor was patting him on the shoulder. He clearly felt awkward, too, and kept on apologizing about his wet hands. We kept on thinking that he could have prevented this entire situation by simply drying his hands well before leaving the bathroom. This not-shaking-hands scenario has also happened to one of our lovely colleagues, who wanted to shake a professor's hand at an industry event, but the professor did not shake hands, alleging that she was sick and did not want to spread the germs. That's a good point, but it's probably best to stay home if you are truly sick.

How would you have handled this situation, dear colleagues? It might seem pretty minor, and it is, but it's one of those awkward moments that can be tough to handle professionally. We did not end up having the lengthy conversation with the legislator that we had planned on having, as it just felt all wrong -- amazing what a non-handshake can do. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Truly Mortifying Marketing Materials

Not very professional. Photo by Judy.

Happy 2014 to all our wonderful readers, friends and colleagues! Time flies, doesn't it? We figured we'd start 2014 off with a post on marketing materials and on how you should NOT do it. We usually refrain from making fun of errors and mistakes on this blog, but sometimes a picture speaks a thousand words. We think the marketing materials we are about to show you pretty much make every error in the book, so let's use them for illustrative purposes. Of course, the name of the company that sent this to us shall remain anonymous, but we would like to thank them for giving us this gem. It does seem amazing that this company, let's call them Amazing Vegas Real Estate, would think that the card they sent us would create a business opportunity for them. 

So what's wrong with this picture? With the two pictures, actually? Let us count the ways.

They shall remain anonymous. Photo by Judy.

1. Opinions on this might differ slightly, but cards with a snapshot and somone's child or pet on them are not cute, but unprofessional and shouldn't be used unless you are sending a card to a good friend or trusted business associate whom you know well. We just cringed when we saw this image and wondered why there was a kid with a $100-dollar bill on a card that a business sent us. Under some circumstances, this could have been funny, perhaps for a store that sells children's clothes or some other cute connection. However, for a very traditional and quite serious business like real estate, this doesn't work at all. The card feels like a bit of a joke and certainly doesn't get across an important message that marketing materials should generally communicate: that the sender is a trustworthy and serious business professional. We truly believe any images on professional marketing materials should be taken by an expert -- no snapshots and selfies, but that goes without saying, we thought.
2. You open this gem and out falls a small hand-cut piece of paper that's been folded several times. It feels like a fortune cookie, except fortune cookies are not annoying because you expect the piece of paper to be there. At this point, we just felt terrible for the sender. There's a great Spanish-language term for this: pena ajena.  This looks like a fifth grader made it, and it's not appropriate to send to potential clients. Incredibly, these guys are trying to get business from us! Are they just trying to stand out in a crowded marketplace by being different? That's certainly laudable, but this doesn't work.
3. We did not include a picture of the envelope because we couldn't hide the company's identity on it, but it is addressed to "Dear neighbor," which is a sure way not to get our attention. The only reason we opened it is because it was too thick to fit in our shredder inside the envelope. A basic marketing tip is that it's essential to address people by name.
4. Brrr, we are cold. As you might imagine, we have no idea who Awesome Vegas Real Estate is. While Judy and her husband do own a house in Vegas, they have no intention of selling it, and if they ever did, they will be very sure to stay away from someone who can't even figure out how to send a professional card. Could you imagine trusting these folks with complicated real estate contracts and hundreds of thousands of dollars? Yep, we can't imagine that, either. And cold calling/e-mailing/sending flyers rarely works, so we think it's a waste of time.
5. Low quality. We understand that budgets are stretched to the max these days, but sending low-quality paper is not a good idea. What else is the company saving money on? If you cannot (yet) afford to invest in high-level paper goods for your marketing materials, perhaps it's best to wait a bit until you have the funds to send a professional product. Sending cards made on your home computer on very thin paper just doesn't work.
6. Inside the card, the company manages to thank us for our business, but we've never done business with this company, nor would we. Do they not have updated databases of customers? Do they think it's funny to send this to everyone, thanking them for business when they haven't given them any? Do they have too much money to burn? We don't know, but we do know that this is not a good approach to getting business. There are thousands of real estate agents in Vegas trying to get their hands on real estate listings, and if we ever list the Vegas house, we will be sure to stay away from Awesome Vegas Real Estate.

Of course, we've exaggerated our outrage a tiny bit to make the point that these marketing materials are the opposite of what you should be doing, so take it with a grain of salt. In general, try to create professional and serious-looking (but not boring, which is a challenge) cards and flyers that are personalized and customized to the client. And stay away from cute pictures. Safe those for your personal holiday cards.

What do you think, dear friends and colleagues?