Translation events

Calendar of translation events – April 2018

Posted On March 20, 2018By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators/ 1 No Comments

April 3-5

LocWorld36 Tokyo. Localization World, Ltd. Tokyo, Japan

April 9-11

SpeechTEK 2018. Information Today, Inc. Washington, DC USA

April 13-14

International Interpreters Forum. Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Moscow, Russia

April 19

BP18 Translation Conference. Business + Practice for Freelance Translators and Interpreters. Vienna, Austria 

April 19-20

13th EUATC International Conference. European Union of Associations of Translation Companies. Madrid, Spain

April 25-26

Internationalisation through the Art of Translation and Interpretation. Western University of Arad. Arad, Romania

April 25-28

ALC Annual Conference. Association of Language Companies. Scottsdale, Arizona USA

April 26

Localization unconference Toronto. Localization unconference Team. Toronto, Canada

April 26-28

Localization unconference Berlin. Localization unconference Team. Berlin, Germany

 

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Signs of a Good Translator

The Telltale Signs of a Good Translator: How to Recognize Them

Posted On December 21, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/ 1 No Comments

Recognizing the telltale signs of a good translator is essential when recruiting a freelancer. Selecting the correct person will save you a huge amount of time and hassle in the long run, as it will avoid poor quality work and unhappy clients.

Here are some of the main points to look out for.

CV and Cover Letter

First impressions are paramount. CVs and cover letters tell you a lot about writing skills and should be well-written and faultless. If a freelance translator hasn’t taken the time to ensure this, then you simply can’t trust their skill.

As well as spelling, punctuation, grammar and structure, you should also be looking for excellent content. If the translator is replying to an advertisement, then all the required information should be covered. Have they taken the time to research your company and include relevant references to it? Above all, it needs to be original enough for you to be sure that it hasn’t been copied and pasted from stock examples online.

Social Media

Look candidates up on social media. Translators should keep their social media platforms up-to-date and professional looking. A high-quality photo is a great first impression and completed profiles should give an idea of their experience and activity.

Referring to social media should be done even before contacting a translator. A stagnant, badly created social media platform may indicate that the freelancer is not as immersed in the industry as you would like. Are they worth taking the time to contact?

Communication

Once a translator has passed the CV, cover letter and social media checks, put their communication skills to the test. When you contact them for a quote or to ask questions after receiving their CV, they must respond in a timely manner. Taking too long may mean that you have to chase them on work deadlines.

Do their replies indicate that they understand what your project is about? Do they ask the right questions, showing that they know what a translation project involves? Even better if these questions make you think of issues you didn´t anticipate.

These are the basic telltale signs of recognizing a good freelance translator to work with in your agency. Each one is a minimum requirement. If a translator fails on any of the above points, you need to keep looking.

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Celebrating the Fourth Fastest-Growing Industry in the United States!

Posted On October 1, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers, Translations/  No Comments

September 30 was International Translation Day – the day for translators and the translation industry as a whole to stand up and be celebrated! Translators are not always been seen as they work in the background of many industries. Yet it is thanks to them that many other industries prosper due to the ability to maximize their reach to different areas of the globe.

The history of International Translation Day

Originally a day to celebrate St Jerome, also known as the patron saint of translation. He was the man who translated the bible in to Latin. This was the beginning of the bible being translated into 636 languages, with the New Testament alone now available in 1442 languages.

Since 1953, St Jerome Day has been celebrated worldwide in order to raise awareness of the importance of translation. In 1991, the International Federation of Translation officially deemed the September 30 to be International Translation Day.

The translation industry in figures

International Translation Day calls for a look at the figures of the translation industry, which has continued to grow in times when other industries have suffered.

Reports from the Centre of Next Generation Localisation have named the translation and localization industry as the fourth fastest-growing industry in the Untied States. The industries using the widest variety of languages are software products, medical devices, automotive and pharmaceuticals.

According to the CNBC, the last seven years have seen a 24% increase in the number of operating translation companies, as well as a significant 50% jump in the number of people employed in the industry.

Technology has not replaced the need for translation

Despite speculation that technology and the advent free online translation tools could damage the translation industry, it is in fact technology that has seen the industry boom.

As the Internet has become ever present in life and in business over the past two decades, globalization has develop the increased need for translation worldwide.

Research results from the Common Sense Advisory, a translation industry think-tank, showed that “a full 63% of global brands recently reached more customers by increasing the number of languages on their websites”. Without translation agencies, this extended reach would not have been possible.

The translation industry – a facilitator of international reach and growth. That’s something to celebrate!

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Translation tool privacy breach explained

A Word of Warning about Free Online Translation Tools

Posted On September 19, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers, Translations/  1 Comment

News broke at the beginning of the month that large amounts of documents that had been submitted to Translate.com were visible to the general public.

Norwegian news agency NRK was the first to run the story, which detailed the exposure of sensitive information about Statoil, Norway’s state oil company. Contracts, workforce reduction plans and dismissal letters were publicly available to see online after the company had opted for a free online tool for their translation needs, in place of using a translation agency.

Slator, a translation industry news site, investigated further and reported similar findings for other companies and industries, including documents such as email exchanges, late payment notices, tax matters and termination letters.

Reaction from governments and institutions was quick and abrupt. The Oslo Stock exchange instantly blocked access to Translate.com.

Translation tool privacy breach explained

 Translate.com offered a full and detailed explanation of how this privacy breach occurred, stating that the documents in question had been submitted via a system that ceased to be used two years ago.

Up until the end of 2015, Translate.com used volunteers to translate documents submitted to the site. These documents were stored on the cloud so that all volunteers had access to them. This also meant that they were publicly available online.

Translate.com defended their system choice, stating that it had issued clear warnings on their homepage. The point was also made that the free service was not appropriate for business use involving sensitive data, and that a private, protected and payable enterprise service would be better suited.

An apology was offered, together with a strong warning to remove private data from documents that are submitted, including names, addresses and phone numbers.

Why translation agencies are a safer option

 When employing the services of a translation agency, you can rest assured that your data will be treated with the utmost privacy. Reputable agencies will have non-disclosure agreements that are signed as a matter of routine to ensure 100% confidentiality.

Using a free online translation tool may be an appealing way of saving money, but is it worth the risk? Exposing sensitive data and information could cost your business much more than money. You could lose your hard-earned reputation and client base.

 

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How failing to proofread your website content will lose you money

Posted On September 7, 2017By TranspanishIn Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers/  No Comments

In a world where internet buying has become common place, there is less and less face-to-face contact with sales people. Coercing potential customers into purchasing a product or service in-store just doesn’t arise as often.

Everything comes down to your website content. So what happens if that content is littered with typos, spellings or grammatical mistakes? It’s simple – you lose money.

People are becoming increasingly ruthless in selecting where to spend their money, so if you fail at the first hurdle by simply not having your website content professionally proofread, then you are likely to suffer financially.

Why is proofreading so important?

The inbound marketing agency, ImpactBND, answered this question nicely:

“If your content is plagued by poor grammar, it’s likely that people will think twice about the quality of your products or services.”

Your actual copy can be some of the best written around, but if it contains mistakes, its effect will be lost almost instantaneously.

When potential customers are looking for a new service or product provider, they are looking for a trustworthy, knowledgeable and credible company. This is very hard to show if a customer sees that the effort hasn’t been made to ensure the website is faultless.

There is a very talked-about case involving a British company called TightsPlease.co.uk. After correcting a typo on one of their tights category pages from ‘Tihgts’ to ‘Tights’, the company noticed a 80% increase in conversions. This is the proof that one simple error can lose your business a significant amount of money.

The importance of proofreading translations

The correct translation of your website is paramount if you want people to take your business seriously. The same applies for the proofreading of that translation. Content that has been badly translated or that contains spelling or grammar errors will very quickly fail to provide you with the extra revenue you had envisaged.

A translation agency should have a vigorous quality assurance process that involves employing a second qualified translator to proofread any translated text. Proofreading your own work is an almost impossible task, as your eye does not spot all the errors. A two-stage process means, as a client, you can be 100% sure that the translation delivered will be faultless and ready to upload onto your site.

Although having your website proofread will mean an initial outlay of money, it should be seen as an investment that will earn you higher profits in the long run.

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Toxic Clients in the Translation Industry

Identifying Toxic Clients in the Translation Industry

Posted On August 10, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators/  No Comments

Identifying toxic clients in the translation industry is actually fairly simple – they are the clients that make you feel bad at the end of the day, the ones that stop you from getting a good night’s sleep, and the ones who generally make you dread the job you usually enjoy.

However, it is important to identify why a client like this has become problematic. Toxic clients usually display one, but often more, of the traits we discuss below.

General disrespect – at any level

Disrespect at a lower level can be the client not valuing the translation work you do for them, but not causing you too many problems. This can simply be a lack of gratitude – never getting a thank you can be very frustrating and demotivating.

At the higher end, translation agencies and freelance translators do sometimes come across rude clients, who voice their feelings in an inappropriate way. Once this line has been crossed, it can be hard to continue working with the client.

The middle ground is a client that leaves you feeling stressed at the end of the day. Remember that if you are taking longer to wind down at the end of the day because of the way a client treats you, this extends your working day.

No respect for your time

Having no respect for your time can come in many different forms. It can be an unawareness of the time it takes to complete a translation. Clients can presume that if you are a translator you can just translate thousands of words right away.

A client can monopolize your time, by constantly checking up on what you are doing, changing the task at the last minute and asking for continual amendments. If you have fifteen clients and one of them is taking up the largest proportion of you time in relation to the amount of work you do for them, this is unfair to both you and your other clients.

The ‘grass is always greener’ client

When a company employs the services of a translation agency, there has to be trust. A client who is constantly questioning your work and thinking they could get better services elsewhere does not have any trust. Worse still are the clients that get a bilingual employee without qualifications in their firm to ‘check’ your work and take their word over yours.

Late payers

A translation agency has bills to pay, like any other company. A late paying client can mean that you cannot meet your financial commitments. This is not good business practice and should be addressed when onboarding a new client in order to set expectations.

Low payers

Clients that pay low rates are not always bad clients – some just don’t have the means to pay more. It is then your choice whether to work with them or not. After all, it isn’t all about money. Doing small projects in your favorite field for lower rates might be just what you need to keep you motivated.  However, if you do agree to lower rates, make sure you can do it without feeling bitter.

The real problem arises when a high-end company approaches you and offers you peanuts. This is the time to say no, as they don’t respect the skill, time and effort that go into translation work.

The bottom line is, if you feel bad at the end of the day working for a certain client, then it is time to reevaluate. The first step should be to think about how to improve the relationship. If this doesn’t or can’t work, you need to make plans of how to move away from them.

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Calendar of translation conferences, workshops, courses, webinars. July and August 2017

Calendar of translation events – July and August 2017

Posted On June 30, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators/  1 Comment

July 1

Course: How to Get Machine Translation to Work for You. Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey
Online and Monterey. California, USA

July 5 – July 7

8th Asian Translation Traditions Conference. Faculty of Languages and Cultures, SOAS, University of London
London, UK

SSAWW 2017, Society for the Study of American Women Writers, Université Bordeaux Montaigne
Montaigne, France

July 6 – July 7

ND Focus on Sales & Marketing, Elia (European Language Industry Association), Geneva, Switzerland

July 6 – July 9

ACLA 2017, American Comparative Literature Association, Utrecht, Netherlands

July 10 – July 14

International Terminology Summer School, TH Köln, Cologne, Germany

August 1 – August 4

Computer-Assisted Translation Course, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, Monterey, California USA

August 3 – August 5

FIT XXI World Congress, International Federation of Translators, Brisbane, Australia

August 4 – August 6

1st Translation Industry Conference in Latin America, Translated in Argentina, Cordoba, Argentina

August 5 – August 6

TRADUSA 2017, Brazilian Meeting of Specialized Translators in Healthcare, São Paulo, Brazil

August 8 – August 10

University of Malaya, The 16th International Conference on Translation (ICT-16), The Value of Translation in Society, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

August 12

California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA), CHIA Training: Interpreting Skills Workshop, Madera, CA

August 16 – August 18

PACLING 2017 , Pacific Association for Computational Linguistics, Yangon, Myanmar

August 20 – August 24

Interspeech 2017 Special Session, conglomerate, Stockholm, Sweden

August 31

Community Interpreting as a Profession, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, online

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Must-have tools and apps for translators and freelancers

Essential tools and apps for translators

Posted On May 31, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators/ 4 2 Comments

When it comes to translating, having the right tools for the job can make all the difference. Whether you are a translator, a translation agency, or a freelancer these tools and apps will help you manage all your activities.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT / ORGANIZING / SCHEDULING / COLLABORATING

  1. Rulingo

English and Russian
Paid version

Cloud-based translation business management platform.

  1. Todoist

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Manage tasks and projects anywhere with Todoist. At home. At school. At work. Online. Offline. And across 10+ platforms.

  1. Trello

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what’s being worked on, who’s working on what, and where something is in a process.

  1. Asana

English
Free and paid versions

Asana is a web and mobile application designed to help teams track their work.

  1. Quahill Basic

English, French, German
Free and paid versions

QuaHill Enterprise is translation management software for LSPs and teams of translators. The software enables complete administration of all processes ranging from the receipt of purchase orders, through preparing quotations, generating the project, preparing and recording purchase orders, ensuring access to files by vendors, delivery of translations to the client and invoicing.

  1. Portable Kanban

English
Free

 Portable Kanban is a Personal Task Manager. This Portable Free Personal Electronic Kanban Software might be used to help schedule and track your daily events or tasks and to monitor assignment productivity.

  1. LSP Expert

English and French
Paid tool – 30 day free trial.

LSP.expert helps you manage your daily translation jobs. Features: track daily work, invoicing, reporting, client management.

  1. Remember the Milk

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Remember The Milk is the popular to-do list that’s everywhere you are: from your phone, to the web, to your Google apps, and more.

  1. Podio

Multilingual
Paid version

Podio supplies a web-based platform for organizing team communication, business processes, data and content in project management workspaces.

  1. Doodle

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Doodle radically simplifies the process of scheduling events, meetings, appointments, etc. Use Doodle to find the best time for any event. Suggest a number of times and invite participants to select their preferences.

  1. Insightly

English
Free and paid versions

Insightly is the easy, powerful and affordable online Customer Relationship & Project Management.

TERMINOLOGY/DICTIONARIES

  1. InterpretBank

Paid version

InterpretBank is an intuitive terminology tool for interpreters to create and manage multilingual glossaries.

  1. Glosbe

Free

Provides free dictionaries for almost every existing language and translation memory with 1 013 284 995 sentences included.

  1. IATE’s Chrome extension

Free

IATE (= “Inter-Active Terminology for Europe”) is the EU inter-institutional terminology database. IATE has been used in the EU institutions and agencies since summer 2004 for the collection, dissemination and shared management of EU-specific terminology.

  1. Termcoord

Free

Terminology Coordination Unit of the European Parliament. Resources, Traineeships, Glossaries, Articles about Terminology.

PDF VIEWER / CONVERTER

  1. SumatraPDF

Multilingual
Free

A free PDF, eBook (ePub, Mobi), XPS, DjVu, CHM, Comic Book (CBZ and CBR) reader for Windows. Includes screen shots, documentation and a support forum.

  1. Abby FineReader

Multilingual
Paid version

FineReader is an all-in-one OCR and PDF software application for increasing business productivity when working with documents. It provides powerful, yet easy-to-use tools to access and modify information locked in paper-based documents and PDFs.

SCREEN CAPTURE

  1. FastStone Capture

English
Free. For commercial use, license is required.

FastStone Capture is a powerful, lightweight, yet full-featured screen capture tool and screen video recorder. It allows you to easily capture and annotate anything on the screen including windows, objects, menus, full screen, rectangular / freehand / fixed regions as well as scrolling windows / web pages.

  1. Snipping tool

Multilingual
Free

A screenshot utility included in Windows Vista and later. It can take screenshots of an open window, rectangular areas, a free-form area, or the entire screen. Snips can then be annotated using a mouse or a tablet, stored as an image file (PNG, GIF, or JPEG file) or an MHTML file, or e-mailed.

  1. ScreenGrab

Language depends on your browser settings
Free

Add-on – Firefox (I am not sure if it is available in other browsers). Saves webpages as images

VOICE RECOGNITION

  1. Dragon Naturally Speaking

Languages supported: U.S. English, UK English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and Japanese.
Paid version

With Dragon Naturally Speaking Home, you can talk to your computer and watch your spoken words instantly appear in documents, email and instant messages.

ACCOUNTING / INVOICING

  1. Wave

Language: English

Free accounting software for small businesses.

  1. Zoho Books

Paid version

Zoho Books is an online accounting software to manage your invoices, bills, banking, inventory and do mobile accounting as well.

TRANSLATION SCAMS

  1. Payment Practices

Paid subscription

Dataset related to the payment practices of translation agencies and other consumers of translation services.

  1. Translator Scammers Directory

English
Free

Website maintained by volunteers from the TRANSLATOR SCAMMERS INTELLIGENCE GROUP to fight the plague of translators’ impersonation and identity and CV theft and fake translation companies running wild in the translation industry.

VARIOUS

  1. Lock Hunter

English
Free

It is a free tool to delete files blocked by something you do not know. LockHunter is useful for fighting against malware, and other programs that are blocking files without a reason. Unlike other similar tools it deletes files into the recycle bin so you may restore them if deleted by mistake.

  1. Search and Replace

English and Deutsch
Paid version

Search and replace utility used by programmers, webmasters, translators, and novice computer users. Search and Replace searches through one or more files files for a string and can also replace that ‘search hit’ with another string.

  1. Repetition Detector

    Free trial

Repetition Detector 2 helps you detect repetitions in texts (while preserving your formatting), and much more: overused auxiliairies, adverbs, adjectives and complete phrases are also detectable. The software is available in English and French but works equally well with texts in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Icelandic.

  1. Remove line breaks

English
Free

Have you received a document full of broken sentences? Remove line breaks with this tool!

IMPROVING CONCENTRATION

  1. Focus@Will

English
Paid version

focus@will combines neuroscience + music to boost productivity and tune out distractions.

WORDCOUNT

  1. Count Anything

English – It counts Asian characters
Free

Count Anything is a free word-count utility for Windows. It supports: Word (.doc, .rtf), Excel (.xls, .csv), PowerPoint (.ppt), Writer (.odt), Impress (.odp), Calc (.ods), HTML , XML, Text, PDF.

BACKUP

  1. Backblaze

English
Paid version

Robust, scalable low cost cloud backup and storage services. Personal online backup to enterprise scale data storage solutions.

PRINT TO PDF

  1. Bullzip PDF Printer

The Bullzip PDF Printer works as a Microsoft Windows printer and allows you to write PDF documents from virtually any Microsoft Windows application.

  1. Microsoft Print to PDF

Multilingual
Free

Microsoft Print to PDF feature is available in every application in Windows 10 that has printing capability.

TAKING BREAKS AND TIME MANAGEMENT

  1. Workrave

English
Free

A program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). The program frequently alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts you to your daily limit. The program runs on GNU/Linux and Microsoft Windows.

  1. Eyeleo

English
Free

EyeLeo is a handy PC application that regularly reminds you to take short breaks for your eyes.

CUSTOMER RELASHIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)

  1. Highrise

English
Paid version

Highrise makes running your business easy. Share tasks, notes, deals, email history, and more with our CRM Software for small business.

  1. Streak

English
Free and paid version

Manage customers directly inside Gmail. Useful for: sales , CRM, hiring, and support

  1. Yesware

English
Paid version

Yesware puts powerful sales tools inside your inbox, with email tracking, phone dialer, and sales automation.

DESIGNING

  1. Canva

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Canva makes design simple for everyone. Create designs for Web or print: blog graphics, presentations, Facebook covers, flyers, posters, invitations

TIME MANAGEMENT – PRODUCTIVITY

  1. TomatoTimer

English
Free

TomatoTimer is a flexible and easy to use online Pomodoro Technique Timer

  1. Moosti

English
Free

Moosti is a simple time tracker with similar functions described on Pomodoro Technique.

  1. Fitbit App

Free
Multilingual

Use the Fitbit app and dashboard to track activity, record workouts, log food, connect with friends and family & more.

  1. RESCUE TIME

English
Free and paid versions

A personal analytics service that shows you how you spend your time and provides tools to help you be more productive.

UNIT CONVERSION

  1. ConvertAll

English
Free

ConvertAll is yet another unit converter. But it can combine the units any way you want.

EDITING/PROOFREADING

  1. Verifka

Multilingual
Paid

Verifika is a software tool that helps to locate and resolve formal errors in bilingual translation files and translation memories. It detects formatting, consistency, terminology, grammar and spelling errors in the target language.

  1. PerfectIt.

English
Paid

PerfectIt helps professional editors and translators to deliver error-free documents. It helps improve consistency, ensure quality and enforce your style guide.

  1. NaturalReader

English
Free and paid versions

NaturalReader is a text-to-speech app that reads webpages, documents, and eBooks aloud to you with quality, natural-sounding voices.

  1. Xbench

Free and paid versions

ApSIC Xbench provides simple and powerful Quality Assurance and Terminology Management in a single package. Just load files in any of the dozens of CAT formats supported and get your translation quality to the next level.

SOCIAL MEDIA

  1. Hootsuite

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Save time by managing all of your social media marketing efforts from a single dashboard. With Hootsuite’s platform, you get the tools to manage all your social profiles and automatically find and schedule effective social content.

  1. Instapaper

Multilingual
Free

A simple tool for saving web pages to read later on your iPhone, iPad, Android, computer, or Kindle.

  1. Buffer

English
Free

Share to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn – all from one place, on your schedule.

MAILING

  1. MailChimp

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

MailChimp provides email marketing for more than 15 million people globally. Send better emails, connect your e-commerce store, and sell more stuff.

FEEDBACK – SURVEYS

  1. SurveyMonkey

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Create and publish online surveys in minutes, and view results graphically and in real time.

  1. Typeform

English
Free and paid versions

Build beautiful, engaging, and conversational online forms, surveys, quizzes, landing pages, and much more with Typeform.

INVOICING

  1. FreeAgent

Paid version

FreeAgent provides online accounting software made specifically for freelancers, small business owners and their accountants.

CLOUD STORAGE/FILE SHARING

  1. Dropbox

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Dropbox is a free cloud storage service for sharing and storing files including photos, documents and videos.

  1. Google Drive

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

  1. OneDrive

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

OneDrive is pre-installed on Windows 10, and it works well on all your devices. Access and share files and photos on PC, Mac, Android and iOS.

ANTIVIRUS

  1. Advanced SystemCare Ultimate

English
Paid version

From IObit: Advanced SystemCare Ultimate 10 is a powerful and full-scale software for PC security and performance. It offers ultimate protection to Windows system in real-time against various security threats such as spyware, ransomware, DNS attacks, browser tracking, homepage modification and helps the users to block malicious online threats such as phishing websites and pop-up ads ensuring a secure and ads-free online surfing.

  1. CCLEANER

Free and paid versions

CCleaner automatically deletes unneeded files and Windows Registry entries. It can also detect duplicate files, securely wipe a storage device, and act as an alternative to Windows’ Programs and Features tool for uninstalling software.

MICROSOFT OFFICE ALTERNATIVES

  1. WPS OFFICE

English
Free and paid versions

Totally free office suite. Download the free office suite from wps official website. Compatible with .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, .pptx.

  1. Free Office

Multilingual
Free

FreeOffice is a complete office suite with a word processor, a spreadsheet application and a presentation program – all compatible with their counterparts in Microsoft Office.

  1. Google Docs

Multilingual
Free

Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides are a word processor, a spreadsheet and a presentation program respectively, all part of a free, web-based software office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service.

TRANSLATION SOFTWARE – CAT

  1. Olifant

Free
English

Olifant is a .NET application that allows you to load or import translation memories in different formats (such as TMX or tab-delimited). You can edit the translation units, their attributes and any other associated data. Olifant allows you to save or export your data in various formats.

  1. smartCAT

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

smartCAT is a cloud-based environment enabling the translation workflow of companies (including translation companies) and individual translators.

  1. MateCAT

English
Free and paid versions

MateCat is a free and open source translation tool. Companies, translation agencies, freelance translators and any other users can use it for free with no limitations on the number of projects and users.

  1. SDL Trados Studio

Multilingual
Paid version

SDL Trados Studio is a CAT tool and translation memory software that provides features to help translate faster and more easily.

  1. Wordfast

Multilingual
Paid version

Wordfast is the world’s leading provider of platform-independent translation memory software. Wordfast offers powerful desktop, server, and web-based solutions designed to meet the needs of freelance translators, translation agencies, multinational organizations, and educational institutions worldwide.

  1. MemoQ

Multilingual
Paid version

memoQ translator pro is a computer-assisted translation tool which runs on Microsoft Windows and on Mac using Parallels or VMWareFusion. It was envisioned more than 12 years ago by a group of enthusiastic linguists who aimed to develop innovative translation software which increases translator’s productivity while being easy to learn and use.

  1. Memsource

Multilingual
Free and paid versions

Memsource Cloud is a complete translation platform that includes translation memory, integrated machine and human translation, terminology management, and a web-based as well as a desktop translator’s editor.

SUBTITLE EDITOR

  1. Subtitle Edit

Subtitle Edit is a free editor for video subtitles – a subtitle editor. With SE you can easily adjust a subtitle if it is out of sync with the video and much more.

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Proofreading a text

How to proofread your own translation

Posted On May 11, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators, Translations/ 2 No Comments

A common belief is that translators can proofread their own texts due to their language and linguistic skills. However, this is often not the case as translators become ‘blind’ to their own mistakes. No matter how many times they read a text, they may not spot every error.

Working with a translation agency will probably mean that another translator or proofreader will check your translation. However, if you work with direct clients, there may not automatically be another pair of proofreading eyes.

Proofreading your own translation

Whether it is you or someone else who is going to be doing the final proofread, you should always make your target translation text as error-free as possible. Some tips of the trade below should help you proofread your own work:

Take a break

The first rule of proofreading your own translation is to take a break before doing it. Proofreading straight after you have completed a translation will heighten the risk of you missing your errors. You need to leave the text for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes.

Different format

Reading the translation in a different format can make you see mistakes that you haven’t noticed on screen. Printing out a hard copy and marking up with a pen is one option, but changing the size, color or font of the document is also useful.

Don’t rely on spellcheckers

Spellcheckers will only pick up on spelling mistakes, but won’t highlight when you have accidentally used a wrong word. ‘Fact’ can easily become ‘fat’ and ‘from’ often becomes ‘form’ when typing quickly.

Search and replace

The search and replace function is an effective tool for finding a variety of errors. All translators make the same repeated mistakes, often in the form of a typo, writing ‘teh’ instead of ‘the’ or adding in spaces to words turning ‘to this’ into ‘tot his’. Using search and replace is a good way of finding your common mistakes, as well as highlighting double spaces, and also checking any numbers, digits, place names or business names that must be 100% accurate.

Using Playback

Using a program to play back your text to you is an excellent option. Mistakes that you have not spotted will become very clear to you when you hear them out loud.

Point at the words

If you decide to print off your work to proofread it in hard copy format, simply pointing your pen at the words will focus your eyes and brain more and will make it easier to pick out any problems.

Reverse reading

Master the skill of reverse reading – literally read each word from the last to the first. This will make you concentrate on the words rather than the content.

Find a proofreading buddy

Teaming up with a fellow translator as a proofreading buddy is a cost-effective way of having someone else look over your work. A reciprocal arrangement will mean you both benefit.

Highlight errors in the source text

Having studied a language for many years, you will be able to spot any errors in a source text. Make a note of them and highlight them to the client. It’s a nice touch and will make them more forgiving if a couple of your errors do slip through!

Not all the above techniques will work for all translators, so the best way is to try a few out and find which ones suit you. Proofreading is an essential part of translation and these tips will help towards you creating error-free texts.

 

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Best Hashtags for the Translation Industry

Posted On April 18, 2017By TranspanishIn Tips for Translators, Translation Buyers, Translations/ 1 3 Comments

Who knew that with the launch of Twitter would come such a change for one simple symbol that had already existed for decades? The hashtag. An integral part of the world of Twitter and other popular social networks. Here we look at the best ones for translators to use.

First though, let’s a have a look at exactly what they do…

The purpose of the hashtag

Placed before keywords, the main purpose of the hashtag is to connect people with others who are talking about the same topic as they are. This can be done in two ways:

  1. By including a hashtag in your message, you will increase its exposure, making it visible to others who are interested in that topic. This reach goes beyond your followers and can, in effect, increase your number of followers if they want to hear more from you.
  2. In a world where there is too much news, content and information at our fingertips, you can search for a specific hashtag to see the latest conversations around a certain topic. For example: by searching #translation, you will see all the other tweets talking about this topic.

It’s not as simple as #translation

#translation may be one of the most used hashtags in the translation industry, but they are not all quite so simple. According to Keyhole.co, these are the top hashtags used by translators:

 

HashtagImpressionsReach
#translation2,122,1671,600,656
#xl81,178,968463,199
#t9n975,865355,148
#l10n991,527537,649
#linguistics245,756234,076
#medxl813,8866,211
#CrossCulture230,991123,698
#MT7,902,0231,335,027
#translators523,129273,877
#t9njobs672,90485,579
#translatorslife4,3024,302
#Interpreter672,546339,851
#t9y708,306183,275
#LSPs19,71519,715
#xl8events28,37620,055

 

How to Translate Translation Hashtags

For newbies in the translation industry, this will all look like another language that needs translation in itself. Even for the pros, there may still be some explanation needed. In order to be able to use the most relevant translation hashtags, there are two main points to understand from the list above:

HashtagExplanationMeaningSimilar Hashtags
 

 

#xl8

 

 

x = trans

l = the sound for the letter L

8 = eight/ate

 

 

 

translate

#medxl8 =

medical translation

 

#techxl8 =

technical translation

 

 

#t9n

 

 

 

 

t + 9 letters + n

 

 

translation

#l10n =

localization

 

#t9njobs =

translation jobs

 

These ‘coded’ type of hashtags is more popular, as only people within the translation industry know about them, so it keeps content and information more relevant to the actual field.

As trends change, hashtags will change, so it is important to keep up-to-date to be able to use social networks to its full potential to gain and share information within the translation world.

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