Archives for April 2007

Best blogs round-up for translators

Here are a couple of blogs I’m keeping an eye on at the moment, of specific interest to translators:

Blogamundo: snippets of info on all aspects of language on the web, as well as translation, localisation, machine translation, accessibility, etc. Something here for everyone.

Get Direct Clients: no guarantees it will do exactly what it says on the tin, but this site still coontains a host of useful posts aimed at translators starting out in the freelance field.

Language Log: intelligent, well thought out discussions on a range of topical language matters. Frequent posts by a team of academics specialising in linguistics. A good starting point for anybody with a love of languages, translation, etc.

International Telecommuting Translator: posts on various aspects of setting up and running a translation business. A bit of a mixed bag in that it contains advice aimed at project managers and potential buyers of translation, as well as anyone considering a career in translation, either freelance or inhouse.

ICE: an international calendar of events for the translation industry. OK, not a blog exactly but you can subscribe to the RSS feed to keep up to date with what’s happening.

It’s amazing how much is out there – I use Technorati to keep an eye out for new ones.

Random lessons from the wordface

by Sarah Dillon

A tidbit from my current translation project –

Did you know that only 22% of people who test positive for allergies actually go on to become symptomatic?? Fascinating!

So where am I going with this blog?

by Sarah Dillon

I’ve been pretty busy with work these past few days (and battling a cold, boo hoo!), but have been giving quite a bit of thought to this blog.

It’s been a pretty big leap for me to start posting on a regular basis. Although I’d had this blog set up for a while, I felt crippled by what I didn’t want it to be. What if I messed it up, insulted key opinion leaders in the profession or irritated every buyer of translation in the world?? How would I ever leave the house again?!

From a technical point of view, I knew it would be pretty painless. As a typical twentysomething, I’m already connected in my personal life through my profiles on sites like Bebo, Flickr and del.icio.us. But I didn’t see how I could translate that to my professional life in a way I was comfortable with. After much thought, I eventually decided to suck it and see, to give it a bash, to just do it.

And it’s been great! I’m surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed being able to comment on a range of things relevant to my everyday working life. I’ve been pretty chuffed with the responses too, reflected in the emails, comments and ever-addictive Google stats I’ve received.

So it’s still not perfect, and I’m still not sure I’ve truly found my “professional voice”. But I’m armed with bags of enthusiasm and a couple of ideas to help steer things in the right direction. Which is to produce something I feel proud enough to put my name to.