Sarah's Archives

an archive of content from ≈ 2005 - 2015, relating to international business, translation, freelancing, and working online.

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CPD Matters: What is CPD?

by Sarah Dillon

I refer frequently to professional development on this blog (in fact, I have an entire category dedicated to it), but life-long learning is not specific to translators or language professionals.

Doctors do it, engineers do it, and I have it on good authority that even educated fleas do it. So I’m running a mini-series on CPD over the next few weeks: what it is, how to do it and most importantly, where to get it, even if you’re not in a position to fly 10,000 miles for a one-day workshop. [Read more…]

Last updated: 16 June, 2010 by Sarah Dillon. Filed Under: Language and languages, Professional development, Translation profession and industry Tagged With: Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators, Institute of Translators and Interpreters, online learning, professional bodies, Professional development

5Qs with Karen Stokes, French to English translator

by Sarah Dillon

Karen Stokes has been providing French to English translation services through KES_Translate since 2002. In 2008 she was awarded Chartered Linguist (Translator) status, one of the first five translators in the UK to be awarded this distinction. Read on for more about Karen’s background, her approach to marketing and the Chartered Linguist application process. [Read more…]

Last updated: 22 September, 2009 by Sarah Dillon. Filed Under: Business of translation, Professional development, Real-life translators (5 Qs) Tagged With: Client relationships, Karen Stokes, professional bodies, Professional development, Real-life translators (5 Qs)

Who cares what other translators are doing wrong?

by Sarah Dillon

Wrong Way ... Way Wrong

I was surprised to feel myself smiling in recognition this morning during my usual scan of industry-relevant blogs. In asking himself if translators should care how much their colleagues charge, translator and programmer Ryan Ginstrom summed up what I found myself trying to express only yesterday in an aborted message to a mailing list. [Read more…]

Last updated: 10 June, 2009 by Sarah Dillon. Filed Under: Business of translation Tagged With: business, professional bodies

Don't ask, don't tell: translating and parenting

by Sarah Dillon

A juggler entertains outdoors in Devizes, Wilt...
Image via Wikipedia

One of translation’s biggest trump-cards is the opportunity to work for yourself. Long before I started my masters, I decided that if I couldn’t work freelance I wasn’t interested in being a translator at all. This might sound a little extreme, but it has always been important to me to be able to pursue personal projects outside of work. After a couple of years in the workplace, I realised that a traditional desk-job was never going to give me the flexibility I needed to do this. So I assessed my strengths and weaknesses, researched a couple of options and identified a course I was sure would prepare me in the areas I needed. And here I am, give or take a stage, working for myself.

I know that not everyone entering the profession has gone about it in such a deliberate way. But I’m certain that the lure of flexible working is a huge part of what keeps translators, both aspiring and experienced, in the game. [Read more…]

Last updated: 17 March, 2009 by Sarah Dillon. Filed Under: Business of translation, Translation profession and industry Tagged With: parenting, professional bodies, work-life balance

First impressions: translating in the UK vs translating in Australia

by Sarah Dillon

The last eight months have been a real roller-coaster ride professionally speaking, as I’ve tried to settle into life on the Other Side of the World. On the one hand, despite my best efforts to stay connected virtually, at times I’ve felt isolated and demotivated without the face-to-face contact that I enjoyed with my peers in London. On the other, I’ve had a stronger sense than ever of the wealth of opportunity and choice that translation as a career can offer me – if only I could get myself focussed enough to tap into it.

Thankfully last weekend’s 2008 AUSIT Biennial National Conference in Brisbane delivered just the shot of enthusiasm I needed to top up my motivation levels. My one and only aim in attending was to gain an overview of translation in Australia. What I got was a lesson on how the oldest profession in the world is forging its place in country with needs far different to those I’d ever considered before.

Brisbane CBD and the Story Bridge, Brisbane QLD.

Yes, this is where I live now. And yes, this is the frankly breathtaking mode of transport I used to commute to the AUSIT conference last weekend 🙂

[Read more…]

Last updated: 24 November, 2008 by Sarah Dillon. Filed Under: Professional development, Translation profession and industry Tagged With: Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators, Institute of Translators and Interpreters, Moi, professional bodies, Professional development