ProZ*Pay has added Venmo as a withdrawal option for your payouts in ProZ*Pay. So now, when it comes to getting paid as a language professional, you have even more choices. If you want to set up Venmo as your preferred payout method, simply head over to your ProZ*Pay account and make the update.

Dear members,

Last year, 26 hours of interpreter training were added to the basket of goods, services, tools and other resources available with ProZ.com Plus membership.

New courses have been added to this part of the package, representing 130 more hours of training that you can take for free if you have a Plus subscription.

I’m happy to present a guest blog post for translators and interpreters who are interested in boosting their speed and elevate their craft with the ChatGPT featuring Steven S. Bammel and Revolutionize Your Translation Process with ChatGPT: Moving Beyond Sentence-by-Sentence Translation.

Steven S. Bammel, PhD, is a seasoned technical translator specializing in Korean-to-English translation who is actively harnessing the power of AI-based tools like ChatGPT to revolutionize translation work. As the President of Korean Consulting & Translation Service, Inc., he has nearly 30 years of experience in Korea, business, and translation fields. 

by Max Troyer

This is a guest post from one of ProZ.com's partners, Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

Content creators are increasingly turning to video to expand their audience. This proliferation in video content has created a new market in video subtitling, but do you know how to take advantage of this opportunity? 

As a freelancer, you may not be sure how to start offering subtitling as a service. Or, you may already be doing so, but you’d like to improve the quality of your work. You can find plenty of online examples of subtitling, but creating world-class subtitles is part art, part science, and it’s also the result of quite a bit of research into what the human body is capable of doing. (Really.)

Earlier this year, over a thousand interpreters participated in surveys designed to look at trends, challenges, and opportunities in the current landscape of interpreting. If you are interested in some of the results, along with advice and strategies from experts in the field, be sure you are tuning in to the free online event ProZ.com is hosting for remote interpreters, happening this Tuesday, March 28th.

One question interpreters were asked was:

"What hardware or software would you consider as part of your list of 'must haves' for the modern interpreter?"

A lot of recommendations were made, and so I thought it might be fun to share a compiled list of those recommendations, and maybe also build off it, to create a more or  less comprehensive list of tools that anyone can go through to get ideas which might help improve how they work.

For language companies with large or small payrolls, if your payroll data can be formatted or entered into a spreadsheet, it is easy to share with ProZ*Pay. This gets your payment instructions out to your payees, and makes freelancers happy in minutes.

When you have a large amount of data in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or another spreadsheet format, an easy way to share it is to export it as a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file and then share the output file with ProZ*Pay.

If you're like me, you might have to occasionally Google "transcreation" when you see the word pop up, just to make sure (again) that you are clear on what is being talked about. 

I think I get the idea now. I think.

by Cintia de Melo Dias Kanowitz

This is a guest post from one of ProZ.com's advertising partners, Middlebury Institute of International Studies

I’m happy to present a guest blog post for translators and interpreters who are getting started in their careers featuring Tianci Hu Marrero (Iggee) and Tips to Get Started as a Tech Translator. 

Iggee is a full-time freelance translator and software developer based in New York. In the 7 years of her career, she has worked on numerous tech translation projects such as blockchain whitepaper, software localization, optical hardware, and API documentation.

Audiovisual translation (AVT) has many myths associated with it. Let me share 5 perceptions about AVT that are simply not true.

I’m happy to present the first guest blog post for translators and interpreters who are getting started in their careers featuring Robert Rutledge and Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid in Medical Interpretation. Robert Rutledge is a Spanish medical translator and interpreter from Dayton, Ohio. He holds an MA in Spanish Translation from Kent State University and a 40-hour Bridging the Gap medical interpretation certificate. 

On March 28th, the conference will focus on a selection of learning materials for language professionals and bilinguals interested in entering the remote interpreting market, and resources and platforms to help grow your remote interpreters' business.

Book translation is a unique field that requires both deep knowledge of the languages and the culture involved. It is not even translation but rather “rewriting” in another language or “re-authoring”, a process which is now referred to by many as transcreation. A book translator does their best to deliver the same idea as the idea of the original text, conveys the style and the energy of the original, and even may create new words in order to show a reader the fantastic world that the author created in their masterpiece. 

We asked the popular artificial intelligence tool for the answer.

A translator and an interpreter are both language professionals who facilitate communication between people who speak different languages. However, they do so in different ways and in different settings.

Key Insights from 2022

It's been another great year for the podcast, with a wide range of guests and lots of amazing discussions on translation and interpreting. It really has been an honor to host the show, talk to such fantastic guests and interact with our very supportive listeners.

We're growing as well, with streams up 127% and listeners from 77 countries around the world.

26 hours of interpreter training has been added to the basket of goods, services and resources available with the ProZ.com Plus membership subscription.

As discussed in this year's language services industry report, many interpreters are getting involved in translation. And even more translators are getting involved in interpreting.

In 2017, ProZ.com began, through its partnerships, providing direct paid work for those in the remote interpreting world. Support, project management, and payments are handled by the ProZ.com team in order to facilitate this work and to keep up the quality and consistency of the service provided. In 2022, the average earning from this single channel of work was 2,791 USD among those interpreters who were working. The ProZ.com team intends to increase that average while increasing the incoming work and the number of interpreters who are getting work.

This is a guest post from one of ProZ.com's advertising partners, Middlebury Institute of International Studies

By: Kyle Chow

What’s obvious to translators isn’t always so obvious to clients. I’ve found this to be especially true when encountering the impact of major design differences between the same online content in different languages. Helping our clients figure out how to navigate the design differences between cultures is one of the most valuable services we as translators can offer. 

Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving back. With the support of language professionals and trainers, ProZ.com organizes this free conference which, over the years, has raised money for many different charities.

The event includes sessions from experts in the industry and a free networking space. This year, we want to support Ecologi in planting trees to help restore nature, improve the climate and positively transform society.

Participate in this virtual event by attending and making a one-time donation. As always, ProZ.com will match, dollar for dollar, the first $1,000 USD donated.

Some need absolute silence while working. It might also depend on the job, or the part of the job. For some, they work best when the music is just right.

ProZ.com contests started back in 2007. Time flies, and so do submission phases of contests, so if you have a moment, don't wait! The latest translation contest, ProZ.com's 30th, is now open for submissions. There are source texts in English and Spanish, authored by two members of the ProZ.com community. 

MCIS Language Solutions announced at their Annual General Meeting that ProZ.com is a joint winner (along with the Social Purpose Institute) of their Professional Partner of the Year Award! MCIS gives the award to a business partner that has contributed substantially to their growth and development. MCIS initially partnered with ProZ.com in 2019 and this year has strengthened the relationship further, with ProZ.com offering more of MCIS’ high-quality translation- and interpreting-related courses on its platform.

This is the latest in a series charting the development of the embryonic Pro Bono Project, which matches volunteer translators with worthy non-profit causes. Our first “clients” have been environmental agencies, and few could be more urgent and important than the cause of Professor Bill Ripple and his film, the  Scientist’s Warning.

ProZ.com’s Pro Bono Project has completed its first real month in action, and there’s been a LOT of action, especially when it comes to environmental projects.

I thought the easiest way to tie the threads together would be via a monthly newsletter, keeping you updated on the non-profit clients and the translators involved, as well as updating you on other must-know areas of the project.

As a freelancer, you know that managing your money can be a tough task. You may not have an employer to help out with benefits like vacation time and health insurance. It's up to you to make sure you're saving enough for retirement and investing in ways that will grow your nest egg over time.

Here are some money habits that can help any freelancer stay financially secure:

When it’s an unworkshop, obviously. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

Perhaps you’ve heard of Translation Mastermind, a group that I’ve been running for a few years now, several of which have been in partnership with ProZ.com. The participants (around 1,350 translators) are made up of a small minority who’ve joined independently and the vast majority who enter the group as one of the benefits of being ProZ.com membership Plus subscribers.

I'm sure you've been there: you've finished a project for a client, and they're supposed to pay you the agreed amount. But they haven't paid yet, and now it's been weeks since you sent them your invoice. So what do you do?

You can keep calling or texting them every day asking where the payment is until they pay up. Or, you could be polite and friendly while also making it clear that this isn't acceptable behavior anymore—and how soon would it be possible for them to send over that wire transfer, PayPal, Payoneer, whatever?

Time is money. If you're like most people, you probably think of this as an excuse to work harder and make more money. The truth is that time really does equal money, but only if you're working efficiently and not wasting your precious hours on distractions or unproductive tasks. The key to doing more with less time isn't just about working harder—it's about working smarter too.

Oluwatobi J. Oladipo, founder and CEO of iVoice Africa, shared his presentation "Multilingualism in Africa and its cultural impacts on communication" at International Translation Day 2022. Oluwatobi, a voice over artist, describes how having a natural conversation differs from being able to communicate effectively - especially as it relates to communication in Africa.

His presentation has been shared on YouTube and is available for viewing below. 

All over the world as we speak, good work is being done by volunteers. From aiding refugees to rescuing animals, from teaching underprivileged children to staffing a local charity shop, this quiet work goes on day after day, carried out by unsung heroes. And at times, as in the recent case of Ukraine, we witness mass mobilizations of people power that are truly inspiring. 

Freelancers receive payments from different companies, using different payment systems and many times that can involve different ways of transmitting the money. When you are paid, it is important to receive as much of your money as possible in a timely fashion.

To make sure payouts are meeting your needs, I suggest trying the $100 audit.

Join the ProZ.com community in celebrating International Translation Day with two full days of online sessions, panel discussions, live interactions and more. Each day, the events will include a remote networking session in the final hour.

ProZ.com's 14th annual online conference to celebrate International Translation Day is happening soon. If you have created an account at ProZ.com with the objective of meeting clients, don't miss the session "Finding ways through the maze: how clients and professionals meet at ProZ.com" on September 28th.

As a freelancer looking for opportunities on ProZ.com, your professional profile is your most important tool. Here are some ideas to take your profile from good to great, and attract clients' attention at a higher rate.

The first thing you need to know is that, while many agencies and end clients post public job openings on ProZ.com, the great majority (up to 80%!) of the work volume that flows through the site actually comes from job offers sent privately via profile messages. 

The Translation agencies and companies directory is where you can find translation agencies and end clients on ProZ.com.

It's easy to see where your business page ranks if you're a confirmed employee —you just need to head over to the directory and you'll see it:

Looking for language professionals on ProZ.com for your projects? 

If you've outsourced work before on the site, then you probably have seen and even used ProZ Find to make your searches. But did you know that you can personalize your searches with many filters to find the best match?

Have you ever posted a job on ProZ.com and wondered why you didn’t get as many quotes as you had expected? 

With over 150 jobs posted in a day you need to make sure you get the attention of the right professionals.

Do you have an urgent request for translation? Are you screening language professionals for future opportunities? 

If so, it is likely you are contacting linguist profiles at ProZ.com. Can your message reach the right translator? Are there secrets to getting their attention? How do you break through the noise?

As a freelancer at ProZ.com, you have the option to include rates. Some do, some do not.

In a previous ProZ.com Facebook group discussion, Andrew Morris suggested that he always preferred not to in the early days when seeking out new clients all the time, because some clients surprise you by offering you more than you’d have naturally stated.

That seems like a simple explanation for one side of the debate.

All our lives are marked by milestones which appear clear in only retrospect. Each time we make major decisions or react to unexpected circumstances, we never really know what lies ahead. But looking back, we see how each key event – whether welcome or unwelcome –played a part in making us into the person we are today. A chance meeting, an unplanned travel experience, a divorce, a disease – all emerge along the journey as seemingly random events, and it’s only later that we recognise them as real turning points. That is certainly true of English and French into Italian and Spanish translator Patricia Ferreira, whose life and travels have taken her far from home, given her a varied career in languages, and culminated in an inspiring triumph over adversity.

The ability to establish real-time communication at the click of a button -- by text, voice or video -- is having a significant impact on business in general, and on the translation industry in particular. Meanwhile, translation companies are under pressure to complete translation projects more quickly. Given these factors, being able to make yourself readily available to a project manager in a time of need is a significant competitive differentiator.

Many translators speak of how their final career choice was somehow the result of an action or decision by one or both of their parents, but few trace the journey back two generations to a grandparent. However, that’s exactly the case with long-term ProZ member Mario Freitas, whose grandfather – even though he wasn’t a career diplomat – served as Brazilian ambassador to El Salvador, Honduras, and Lebanon. It was in Beirut that Mario’s parents met – his father was of course Brazilian, and his mother Lebanese – and it was precisely because of that cosmopolitan experience that his father later placed Mario in an American school in their hometown of Belo Horizonte.

While some translators had jet-setting parents who carted their kids with them across the globe, complete with international schooling, and others grew up amid several languages, surrounded by grandmothers or uncles muttering away in exotic tongues, Élisabeth Fuchs begins her interview by saying “My background’s not very interesting.” Ah, but appearances deceive. It may be true that she has lived her entire life in a 200-km radius, and that the most adventurous move was from Lorraine, in the northeast of France, to Alsace in the…er…northeast of France, when she was still a young child. But when you zoom in and look at the detail, every human story, every background, has its fascination, and Élisabeth’s is no exception.

Are you a freelancer constantly on the move? In a world where living as a digital nomad is again an option, it leaves us wondering how to transition from a traditional lifestyle to one unencumbered by physical boundaries. 

One of the largest concerns is financing; how do freelancers bank without a home? Let's discuss how freelancers can bank while on the move.

Imagine growing up in one country and enjoying your late adolescence and adult life in another – but without ever leaving your home town. Such was the experience of Tvrtko Štuka, who was born in Zagreb, in what was then Yugoslavia, although the city is now of course the capital of Croatia.

Every June 20th, the world celebrates World Refugee Day to honor refugees from around the world. The day, formerly known as Africa Refugee Day, was established in 2001 in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and designated as an international day in 2000 by the United Nations.

It’s vital to inhabit the right mindset as a freelancer, which includes both the story we tell ourselves, and the emotional state we inhabit. But none of that means we don’t have to have the core skills to do the job, day in day out, or the strategies to get the word out and begin to interact with clients.

Whether that’s in your website, your marketing, your social media pronouncements, or your attendance at trade fairs and industry conferences… the list goes on.

Any business or individual can outsource via ProZ.com using any of these two methods:  job postings and the directory.

The directory allows outsourcers to search over 1 million linguists with over 20 search criteria, and contact them directly through their profiles. The directory represents the primary means that outsourcers use to find translators and interpreters at ProZ.com.

Job postings, on the other hand, allow outsourcers to share an offer and receive quotes from suitable language professionals. 

Professional membership puts ProZ.com to work for you as a marketing tool that helps freelancers connect with outsourcers - even when you are not working.

Just close your eyes for a few seconds and type a sentence or two at your keyboard. Then open them and see how you got on. If you’re a touch typist, chances are you didn’t do too badly, but nevertheless you’re keen to check – a task for which you use your vision of course. Now imagine operating “in the dark” throughout your professional career, typing sentence after sentence, translation after translation, without ever being able to see the page, and without using any kind of speech-to-text software. The trick? Well, on your keyboard, there are tiny key bumps on the F and J keys, as well as on the number 5 on your numerical keypad. Perhaps you’ve never stopped to give them much thought. But for a blind person, they are essential, and orientate the fingers around the entire keyboard.

Welcome to the extraordinary world of Stefan Paloka.

Ah, now you have an advantage over me, because you’ve seen the photograph. But when the online interview window opened to reveal Lola Sugimoto, my initial surprise was that she’s not Japanese at all, but rather Italian American (née Calabro), with bits of the original Dutch settlers in New York as well as a smattering of Irish and German genes thrown into the mix. All the same, she’s married to a Japanese, speaks the language fluently – although she speaks English to her son –and has been in the country over a decade, so we’re definitely talking bicultural here…

Imagine speaking one language at home, another while shopping in town, and yet another every time you come across someone who greets you in a third. That was a daily reality for the young Achille (pron: a-SHEEL) Yaya growing up in the central region of Benin in West Africa, tucked between Togo to the West and massive Nigeria to the East.

A Purchase Order (PO) --or Project Order-- is a commercial document issued by a buyer to a seller, indicating types, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller will provide to the buyer. Sending a project order to a supplier constitutes a legal offer to buy products or services. Acceptance of a project order by a seller usually forms a contract between the buyer and seller, so no contract exists until the project order is accepted.

On today's quick poll, freelancers are being asked whether they required a PO before starting a project or not.

Some translators end up feeling like fish out of water in their own families, where they are the only one with a penchant for languages, as if their gift sprang out of nowhere. Others are lucky enough to have parents who carefully foster and encourage a love of languages. Such was the case of Caroline Durant (stress the first syllable of the surname), whose mother was herself an aficionado of all things linguistic, and carefully nurtured her daughter’s interest. 

Epiphane Adjadji is an English <> French and English <> Fon translator from the Republic of Benin in West Africa. Despite the fact that he has been registered at ProZ.com since 2014, I virtually met Epiphane a few days ago when he replied to one of my email messages about the ProZ.com invoicing tool and ProZ*Pay.

While most experienced language professionals know how to invoice their clients, sometimes calculating taxes, keeping a good backup or sending reminders complicates the process and takes time, extra time they could use on actual projects, marketing or learning. Not to mention the number of late or incomplete invoices that result in non-payment issues!

This is a guest post from one of ProZ.com's advertising partners, Middlebury Institute of International Studies

To some it might seem like a dream childhood. Based in glittering Dubai, but travelling the world with your parents, as your Egyptian father does a hush-hush job in military intelligence, working throughout the Middle East. Spending two-to-three months at a time in countries as diverse as Turkey, Iraq, Greece. Lebanon, Israel, Cyprus, Syria, Algeria and Morocco. But alas, the attractions of nomadism were lost on the young Islam Younis, who felt quite bitter about it at the time. Just imagine – the moment you make friends, you move on. You’re rootless, endlessly on the road, and your whole life lacks a sense of being settled.

At the end of 2005, ProZ.com released a feature called "Project history".  The tool was created to allow freelancers to track past projects completed and list them in profiles with information such as language pairs, fields, volume, keewords, clients and collaborators. Since then, more than 17,300 site members have listed projects, 11,733 of which show as corroborated.

The ProZ.com Blue Board is the complete, searchable database of business records containing service providers' feedback and rating.  When leaving feedback on a client / translation agency / company, linguists are asked to enter a number from 1 to 5 corresponding to their likelihood of working again (LWA) with them. Entries may also contain information about quality management, on-boarding processes and payment procedures. 

Sometimes when we look at translators who have achieved a notable level of success, we imagine that it must have been plain sailing, or that they just “got lucky” somewhere along the way. We forget the years of hard work, the risks taken, sacrifices made, the wrong choices and the lessons learned. The story of Martina Russo’s career is a case in point. She may well be CEO of a company today, with a finance officer and an entire admin team, but she’s worked hard to get there, and done several other challenging jobs as part of that journey.

Your business page at ProZ.com is the way you present your business to the world. It does not matter if the viewer is a potential vendor or a potential client, if it is incomplete, you likely will not achieve your desired results. 

So...is your business page complete?

Many a translator ends up living in a different culture, far from home. That’s often part of the deal. But few are those, it could be argued, who don’t feel at home until they reach and settle in that second country. It’s as if they were simply born in the wrong place, and had to pack their bags and journey across borders or even continents to find the right one…

This guest post was written by the Portuguese Association of Translators and Interpreters (APTRAD). APTRAD will be hosting its first in-person event since 2019 on April 23, 2022.

"I officially retired" said Sheila Wilson in a recent email message. "Thank you and all the team at ProZ.com for everything the site has provided for me since 2007."

This is a guest post from one of ProZ.com's advertising partners, XTRF. XTRF is a Polish company providing a leading cloud-based translation management system to translation departments and LSPs around the globe.

By: Karolina Galek

Have you recently completed a job? Do you need to send your client an invoice? At ProZ.com, it is easy to create, send and track your invoices online through the invoicing tool. 

Membership allows you to create as many invoices as needed. Non-members are afforded five invoices to try out the platform.

For many translators, a love of the magic of foreign tongues is the springboard in to the profession. But of course that’s not the only gateway… For Anne Rametsi, for example, it was a passion for human rights discovered early in life that eventually led her to a life as a professional translator and university lecturer designing and delivering courses on translation. 

Just like Business Pages, the ProZ.com Blue Board works as a business card. Not only are Blue Board records an important risk management tool for language service providers since 2001, but they also show a company's reliability in terms of payment and commitment.

Christian Nielsen-Palacios is a man who has learned the meaning of the word “enough”. At 65, with two grown-up sons, a steady stream of texts from his favourite agencies, his house in upstate New York paid for, and all his essential bills covered, he’s reached a place of satisfaction that will no doubt be the envy of many. But it’s been a long and winding journey, which began far from where he is now, with several serendipitous events as milestones along the way...

This is a guest post from one of ProZ.com's advertising partners, Middlebury Institute of International Studies

By: Emily Cipriani

Laptop with refreshable braille display [Photo by Elizabeth Woolner on Unsplash]

What is web accessibility—and how can you best incorporate it into your translation or localization content work?

Web accessibility is an inclusive practice that ensures that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. My recent project with Olivia Plowman, my colleague in the MA in Translation and Localization Management program at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, investigated web accessibility from a localizer’s perspective. 

Here’s what you need to know. 

Many jobs are posted by outsourcers at ProZ.com every day. Each one competes for the attention of the 1.2 million registered language professionals. 

How might your business get great responses to job posts?

ProZ.com has over 20 years of success as the largest, most trusted online community where language professionals can freely form transparent and open working relationships. For these relationships to continue, there are important basics for freelancers to remember when being approached by an outsourcer.

Generations of kids have been transfixed by the cartoons of Loony Tunes, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck into global celebrities. Cartoons are said to increase creativity, language development, promote laughter and relieve stress, while giving toddlers a window on another world. Detractors say they encourage violence and lack of empathy. Whatever the pros and cons, they played a significant role in the living room of a family home in Moinești in Eastern Romania, where the young Leda Costea was fascinated by the characters and the strange sounds that came out of their mouths. 

Here is the latest update to the challenges involved with meeting Ukrainian language needs. The updated list of available professionals working in Ukrainian languages already features 580 linguists offering services in Ukrainian language, with more currently being processed.

This is a guest post from one of ProZ.com's advertising partners, Middlebury Institute of International Studies

By: Emily Cipriani

ProZ.com's unique membership model means that when outsourcers and service providers connect via ProZ.com, neither side is charged any commissions or fees. When a translator, interpreter, subtitler or transcriber meets a client or provider, the relationship is yours, unencumbered, forever.

Aktan Aydoğmus is firing on all cylinders – a man at the top of his game. When not interpreting at international conferences for the UN or NGOs, he’ll be at the Ministry of Family, or of Justice, or Health or Fisheries, in his home city of Ankara, attending high-level talks on the pandemic, the ongoing war, fish stocks in the Mediterranean or other weighty political matters. Given that Turkey occupies a very strategic geopolitical position, there’s always plenty to say. And seeing as these talks often spill over into dinners, the working day can be long. But Aktan has all the energy required for the job, and plenty more to spare…

For two decades, freelance translators and language companies have met at ProZ.com and often completed transactions with payments through PayPal. The two companies were founded around the same time and PayPal has made it easier for freelancers to receive money, fast.

In some places, however, government regulations do not allow receipt of funds via PayPal. This adds complication for the language company in its payment processes and makes it difficult on the freelancer.

What chance do you have when your grandmother steals into your bedroom and whispers “Bonne nuit, good night, Gute Nacht and buona notte” – along with your native Martinican into your ear every night as she tucks you into bed? None, basically – you’re hooked on the incantatory magic of foreign languages from your most formative years. Languages come intimately bundled up with feelings of warmth, security and love – and you’re won over for the rest of your days.

ProZ.com expresses its heartfelt solidarity with all translators and interpreters in Ukraine. All team members feel a particular connection to the country as we have an office with four close colleagues operating out of Ukraine. We are monitoring the situation with alarm, but also with solidarity and hope that the situation will be resolved peacefully and quickly.

Whatever route our journey towards freelance translation or interpreting has taken, the chances are that along the way, there have been a few key figures who’ve helped us, and pointed us in a certain direction. A parent, perhaps, a boss, or a mentor within the profession. In the case of Daniel Coria in his late teens in Buenos Aires, that role was played by an inspirational English teacher, who not only spotted his classwork but actively encouraged him towards a career in translation, putting him in touch with contacts of hers in the local industry. And the rest, as they say, is his story.

Back in our schooldays, our teachers would tut-tut if we ever used the expression “very unique”. “Unique” is an absolute, they’d say, with no degrees of relativity. Well, having spent an hour in the delightful company of Ana Laila Hagen, I beg to differ. “Very unique” is the perfect way to describe her…

Your profile picture

Nowadays your profile picture is required almost everywhere: networking platforms like ProZ.com, resumes, and even interpreting platforms. So you should know how to use your profile picture to your advantage.

In our younger years, our dreams of what we’ll do when we grow up can vary wildly. Firefighter? Astronaut? Sports star? Or perhaps increasingly these days, the most common aspiration is merely to be famous…

Now picture a young Bart Roelands growing up in the southern region of the Netherlands, not far from Eindhoven, feasting on TV series featuring famous lawyers such as Perry Mason or Matlock, and planning to follow in their footsteps, valiantly convincing judges with the sheer force of their arguments. Or alternatively reading One Hercule Poirot novel after another (in English, if you please), being transfixed by David Suchet’s definitive onscreen performances, and harbouring hopes of one day being a great detective.

— by Katie Craig (Myanmar Indigenous Community Partners)

All around the world, translators go to bed each night haunted by an existential question that keeps them awake into the small hours. No, nothing to do with pandemics, impending ecological doom or financial meltdown – it’s far more serious than that. At issue is how you pronounce “ProZ”.

Some translators are born into cosmopolitan, international households. Others have linguistic aptitude in their genes because of a long family history of learning and speaking foreign tongues, along with copious amounts of travel and exposure throughout their childhood and adolescence… and still others appear out of nowhere, landing like alien beings in a family with neither an interest in nor a history of languages, inexplicably showing up with the language gene. And not only that, but going on to make a living out of it.

ProZ.com and other translation workplaces have been created based on the premise that translators will be willing to cooperate if given the appropriate tools and opportunities. At ProZ.com, there are several areas where you can establish relationships with colleagues and potential clients and share experiences:

For some of us it’s the first magical encounter with an exotic culture on a childhood holiday, or an (imaginary) love affair with a faraway star singing in a foreign language, but for the young Simon Barnes, it was the quiet presence at home of his father’s French and German books that provided the first gateway to a new world. There can’t have been many shelves lined with such books in the small Leicestershire town of Market Bosworth (the scene of a defining battle in a civil war that marked England’s history), but then again his father had started out as a French and German teacher, before leaving to work for Rolls Royce.

Like a trail of breadcrumbs in a fairytale, we can trace Elke Fehling’s love for languages all the way back through the decades. Her mother, who had been an au pair, was keen for her daughters to learn to speak other languages, so she encouraged them to watch Sesame Street from a young age (in English with German subtitles, which the 4-year-old Elke couldn’t read). Along with family trips to Italy and Spain, that early exposure sowed the seeds and inspired a sense of the magical properties of foreign languages.

Crowdin, a cloud-based localization management solution that speeds up and automates localization, has integrated with the ProZ.com API and added three new apps to its store that can enhance the experience of its users. Managers and translators can benefit from these additions to search multiple glossaries, hire freelancers, and make payments. 

In celebration of 2021 coming to an end, the mini translation contest "Ilustraciones" was held during December. There were three comic stripes in Spanish, German and English for participants to choose to translate into numerous target languages during this month-long competition.

The translations are available here for users to discuss and provide feedback, and winners were selected in the following language pairs:

In some ways, Jonathan Downie’s journey to the prominent position he now occupies within the interpreting industry occurred against the odds. Being born on a working-class council housing estate in the West of Scotland to a father who worked on the country’s railways, and a mother who took on various jobs over the years, didn’t exactly point straight to a degree, a Master’s, a doctorate, and a career in languages, with extensive research work and the publishing of two acclaimed books along the way.

The 2021 year-end membership campaign, Stay safe, ended last week. (What? You missed it? Send me a line and we'll figure something out). After three full weeks of intense work, sixteen staff members involved, and great conversations with new and returning members, the largest community of language professionals just got bigger. Thank you, members, once again for your support!

The translation contest "Stories about nature" has come to an end, and winners have been selected in the following language pairs:

A new year is getting started, and so are some of our new site members.  At ProZ.com, there are members who are starting out, also some who have been in the profession for a while, and even many who have a steady list of clients. What do they all have in common? They have invested in their businesses through membership as a smart strategy to be prepared for whatever tomorrow brings. So, congratulations for such a smart move, members, and welcome!

The 2021 year-end membership campaign, Keep it safe, is about to end. Since it started, hundreds of users have decided to keep their income safe in 2022 no matter what the new year brings, and they are participating in the campaign prize drawings. Meet the winners of the second week:

With the ProZ.com virtual fair on December 30 at 12 PM GMT fast approaching, it's time to meet more businesses and read what advice they can give to freelancers when approaching a translation agency for collaboration. 

Don't forget to register for the fair »

What better way to prepare for the ProZ.com virtual fair on December 30 at 12 PM GMT than by meeting more businesses and learning about their advice for freelancers who'd like to cooperate with them?

Kick off your shoes for a couple of minutes and dive right in! Don't forget to register for the fair »

Did you enjoy articles on the ProZ.com blog in 2021? Over 100 posts were written and shared with the language community over the last 12 months. This post lists some of the most popular... in case you missed any.

We are in the second week of the 2021 year-end membership campaign, "Keep it safe". Last week, a good number of users decided to keep their businesses safe no matter what the new year brings, while taking advantage of the special offer included in the campaign:

This December 30 at 12 PM GMT, ProZ.com will be having its first virtual job fair, where Plus subscribers will be able to network with over 25 businesses' representatives and give them their CV or ProZ.com profile links. 

As a way to prepare for the job fair, we asked some of them about their mission and some DO's and DON'Ts  for freelancers when applying to projects. Keep on reading for their answers!

Do you tip your hairdresser, taxi driver, lawn mower, or any other small business owner? Most likely, the answer is yes because it has been a cultural expectation to tip these individuals for providing a service. Now that we live in a digital world, do you extend the same courtesy to those providing services behind the screen? 

Another fantastic virtual event, dedicated to celebrating 2021’s edition of Giving Tuesday Day at ProZ.com, took place from November 30^th- December 2^nd. It featured over 7 hours of free content, a networking session, and giveaways.

Year 2021 is almost over and the site team would like to thank you for spending it with us!

As a freelancer, you are likely booked out with year-end projects and your own personal events, but maybe it is time to add one more thing to your to-do list -  holiday cards.

Are you a freelancer looking for fun and functional gift ideas to share with loved ones this holiday season? When you work from home, there are a number of gifts you can ask for that will aid your freelancing career and make the holiday extra fun! This blog post includes a few favorite categories and ideas to share with you. 

This is a guest post from one of ProZ.com's advertising partners, Translated in Argentina (TINA).

New reality, new normal, new challenges. We have all been affected by the worldwide changes, regardless of our role in the industry. Therefore, Translated in Argentina, a non-profit association of language service companies whose objective is to promote the local language industry, train resources, and build awareness of the industry within the local business environment, organized its third event, #CLINT21Virtual and it was a huge success. 

When Donika Nasto was growing up in rural Albania, chewing gum was a scarce luxury, and you could only sink your teeth into an orange at New Year. The only bread available tasted so bad it needed toasting to be palatable. And the clothes you wore were likely to be hand-me-downs from older cousins…

The Global Coalition for Language Rights (GCLR) is a group of individuals and organizations working at the intersection of languages and human rights.

As a freelancer, you might be wondering if word of mouth works for you. Most freelancers are entirely remote, isolated from the coming and goings of the average business, which means that it's less likely that they will get word-of-mouth conversion clients. But is that true? Not at all! Here are some ideas of how to get word of mouth business.

This is a guest post from one of ProZ.com's advertising partners, Locdoc.

In the age of digital nomadism, upping sticks and seeking out a new place to live, along with all the novel experiences that go with it, is an option open to all. But perhaps as translators, armed with our language gifts and proven cultural adaptability, we are particularly well-suited to such a choice. We can look at a map, stick a pin in it, and pretty much decide where we want to make our new home. Which is exactly what Emilie Himeur did one fine day. As a French native speaker working from English, she indulged a deeply felt longing to live by the sea, coupled with a need for some sunshine, a beautiful language and a quality approach to life (not to mention an economic context less challenging than those of France or England) … and decided on Genoa.

Last October 23rd, 2021, the Feminist Translators and Interpreters of Argentina (TEIFEM) held their third annual meeting for language professionals to exchange ideas, discuss language-related issues from multiple social, gender, and cultural perspectives, and support multilingual struggles, solidarity, and sisterhood from within a results-oriented group. The event was a perfect example of what TEIFEM is and a great starting point for the discussion of what's next in translation from a gender-based perspective. 

It can be uncomfortable to talk about money when it comes to raising your rates, and freelancers may fear scaring your hard-earned clients off. Unfortunately, inflation is something to include in your business model because it affects daily business and living costs. 

The answers ranged from “None whatsoever” to “I would not be able to function without it”. But what was the question? 

Getting consistent work is one of the most challenging aspects of being a freelancer. Often,  hours are spent pitching to new potential clients, creating quotes and polishing your profile  in the hope that clients will choose you.  This post explores the importance of following up and how to do it to increase your job conversion rates.

It takes a certain flexibility to be able to completely change the backdrop of where you live and make the effort to fit in with your new surroundings. Moving between countries is the most obvious example of this for translators – but even within countries there are often stark contrasts between the capital and the provinces, large and small towns, and city and village life. And with stints in San Sebastian and Barcelona under her belt, not to mention life in a small rural Spanish village of fully 27 inhabitants, followed by a return to a slightly bigger village in her native Czech Republic, Mira Dornakova has experienced a real variety of backdrops in her life.

In the fast-paced language industry, it's essential to have a strong and attractive resume always ready to go. Of course, what makes a resume work for one language professional may not do the trick for another, and there's no one-size-fits-all. On the contrary, you should aim to stand out from the crowd: your resume, like your ProZ.com profile, will be more effective if it's personalized.

These suggestions are meant to help you arrive at your ideal resume, or even resumes: plenty of freelancers will have different CVs to use in the various markets they target or to represent their different services. Remember that you should update your resume regularly, so don't stress about landing your perfect CV on the first try —it's likely you'll find something new to improve every time you look at it with fresh eyes.

When outsourcers and service providers connect via ProZ.com, neither side is charged any commissions or fees. However, to make payments for work provided there is always a cost to getting money from one party to another. They are commonly referred to as payment processing fees.

So who pays these fees?

This year, ProZ.com celebrated International Translation Day with a three-day event that featured live workshops, over 20 hours of free content, networking sessions, and giveaways.

A translator with a cat is nothing new. Or a dog. Even a couple of each. But it’s safe to say that providing a loving home to a mix of no fewer than thirty-two stray animals is pretty remarkable by any standard. And indeed, it’s not all that’s fascinating about German and English translator Christine Strobel.

ProZ.com celebrates International Translation Day with two full days of online sessions, panel discussions, live Q&As, live chat, and more.



Join this free virtual event at 10:00 AM GMT on September 29  and 30 to enjoy:

Are you ready for a new challenge? The translation contest "Stories about nature" is now available in ProZ.com. You can participate by translating any (or both!) of the two source texts into your preferred target language →

Throughout history, the general direction of migration within countries has been from the rural areas to the city. The imperatives of escaping labour on the land or seeking work and a regular wage have driven millions to pack their meagre bags and set out for their national or regional capitals.

The translation contest "Game on" has finished, and here are the winners selected by the community  in each language pair:   

English to Spanish: Sury Castro
English to Portuguese (BR): Sharon Martins
English to French: Cyril Tollari
English to Italian: Laura Chiesa
English to Portuguese (EU): Nadia Morais
English to Arabic: Assem AlKhallouf
English to German: Susanne Gläsel
English to Chinese: Alex Liu
English to Russian: Lyudmila Raylyan
English to Swahili : Jonah Ondieki
English to Polish: Anna Sieroslawska and Justyna Zhang
English to Croatian: Samanta Bićanić
English to Albanian: Daniela Pjetri
English to Bulgarian: Pavel Constantinov
English to Dutch: Marianne van Amersfoort-Gerritsen
English to Hindi: Mukund Rai
English to Indonesian: Astari Putri
English to Turkish: Recep Kurt
English to Finnish: Tiia Tikka

There are many within the translation and interpreting community who live far from the land where they were born. We pack our bags without too much difficulty, learn new languages, assimilate new cultures, make new friends. But even among such a well-travelled and cosmopolitan community, some stories stand out as unusual, and that of Yalda Hamidi, an Afghan interpreter now living in Ecuador, is remarkable.

Freelancers are looking for the best way to get paid. ProZ*Pay has been built for the language community to speed up payments, make language companies more efficient on payouts and help freelancers keep more money.

There are few cities more tumultuous – and full of contrasts – than India’s capital New Delhi. From the teeming streets and markets to the soaring architecture, from the manicured lawns of the luxury hotels and upper-class districts to the overcrowded markets, from the street eateries to the dazzling array of fine-dining restaurants, and from the twisting and choked narrow streets to impressive boulevards, all set against the cacophonous background of permanent traffic jams, shouts in a dozen Indian languages, and year-round searing heat, while the aroma of curry leaves, pomegranate flowers and roses hovers in the air. The centre for many ruling dynasties down the centuries, Delhi is a palimpsest where history and legacy have left their marks wherever you look. A city of extremes, where the one guarantee is that you’ll never be bored.

As professionals we are always on the look for new certificates, courses, and professional development tools to keep up with the evolution of our industry and to keep the focus of potential clients on us.

You have completed the work for your client. All aspects of the project have been submitted as requested. You have sent an invoice for your services. However, the client has not started your payout from the work. Why not?

The second Video Game Localization Meetup took place on July 29. Sara Rodríguez and Guillermo Umpiérrez from the Terra Localizations team dove into how CAT tools are used within the video game localization industry and gave attendees some tips and at the end one lucky member won a memoQ license. 

Like last time, there was a myriad of questions and our speakers couldn't answer all of them. But don't worry, we'll get to them right here and now:

For years, ProZ.com's translation industry forums have been a place for open discussion on topics related to translation, interpreting and localization. The topics are always an interesting read, they are often entertaining, worthy of hours of your time for education, and an opportunity to engage with the world's largest community of language professionals.

When agreeing to work with a client, it is important to discuss or understand the employer's process for sending out payroll. Is there one unified method or outside service used for sending payments? Are there multiple ways to receive your money? Can this company pay you in your country?

This is a guest post from one of ProZ.com's advertising partners, RWS Group.

Most online freelancers will never meet their clients in real life, which is why it is crucial to understand how to make a good first impression on a new client without ever leaving home. Here are some tips on making a good first impression on your new client.

Many of us are used to the sounds of city life from the moment we wake up. The cars revving, the trundle of the city cleaners, the distant siren and the dog barking. Not to mention the all-night amber haze of streetlamps, the low cloud of light pollution obscuring the stars, and the lingering smell of petrol fumes…

As a freelancer, personal business development is key to improving your business model and increasing your client load. However, with the past year's restrictions on in-person meetings, it can be harder to pitch your services when you don't get to speak with someone face to face.

So, how can you entice prospective clients?



Email, of course. Unfortunately, getting someone to open, let alone read, your email can be challenging. You need to utilize high-quality email practices, and here is how you do it.

Last year, ProZ.com launched a new service called Meetups for members to engage in online networking during this new normal where networking in person became nearly impossible. 

This year,  ProZ.com teamed up with Terra Localizations to bring you a series of Meetups about game localization. Divided in six levels, the first one —open to members and non-members— took place on June 24.

Who needs an alarm clock when you have screeching seagulls to do the job? Especially in summer, when the influx of food-bearing tourists attracts flocks in search of tasty tidbits. But your auditory senses are not the only ones assailed in the little seaside town of Courseulles-sur-Mer in Normandy, northwestern France. When the tide is low, the air is rich with the smell of fish, seafood, weeds and salt, flooding in the moment you open the window…

It’s hard to picture two more different places than the Kathmandu Valley and suburban Toronto, but such extreme contrasts form a natural part of the narrative of Bimal Man Shrestha’s life.

This guest post was written by the National Accreditation of Educational Translators and Interpreters of Spoken Languages. NAETISL will be holding its Inaugural Conference online, from June 25-26, 2021.

Are you new to the translation industry? Would you like to work as a translator, but you are unsure about how to get started? Do you have questions about ProZ.com, the platform, the community, the tools available? Then this post is for you. Just keep the following in mind, and you'll find your way in the ProZ.com translation workplace in no time:

« ProZ.com is different than what you may be expecting »

The following questions and answers will show you why.

How do I answer job offers at ProZ.com? That question came up in the ProZ.com Facebook group recently and I'm borrowing the well-crafted answer from Lu Leszinsky to include on this blog.



Highlights:
1. Browse jobs that interest you
2. Confirm you meet quoting requirements
3. Click on submit quote

As a freelancer, one of many benefits is the freedom that it allows. However, at one point or another, most freelancers fall into the trap of overworking themselves and feeling unable to take a vacation. The numerous benefits of taking time off have been well documented: relaxing, connecting with family, and giving ourselves that much-needed mental break. If you want to go on vacation but don't know where to start,  try taking these four steps.

It’s 480 years old and is one of the largest cities in the Americas. Santiago de Chile (St James of Chile), to give it its full name, was founded in 1541 by the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia, and has been the capital since colonial times. With a downtown core of 19th-century neoclassical architecture and winding side-streets, dotted by art deco, neo-gothic, and other styles. Santiago's cityscape is shaped by several stand-alone hills and also the soaring, if unimaginatively named, Gran Torre Santiago, the tallest skyscraper in Latin America.

This guest post was written by the Portuguese Association of Translators and Interpreters (APTRAD). APTRAD will be holding its First International Audiovisual Translation Conference online, "Paths to an Accesible World" from September 8 to 11, 2021.

As part of the work we perform for the professional development of our members and to improve the quality of the market in general, APTRAD, the Association of Professional Translators and Interpreters working to and from the Portuguese language in all its variants, will be hosting its First International Audiovisual Translation Conference online, from September 8 to 11, 2021.

Ulrike Michiels, Trados savvy professional trainer, joins Paul Urwin, the Head of ProZ.com Training, to discuss CAT tool basics. Ulrike explains what a CAT tool is and how using a CAT tool can help a translator to increase speed and improve consistency. She also explains what's included in the upcoming Trados workshop.

How often do you look at reviews before doing or buying something? Most of the time, right? Nearly everyone will investigate a business or product before making a purchase, including your freelance language services. Public feedback inspires trust via its transparency.

What do you do when you’re a rebellious tomboy growing up in a conservative country dominated by the Catholic Church, with education run mostly by nuns and priests, 25% unemployment, the shadow of the Troubles looming further to the North, and a national tradition for exporting its people?

ProZ.com head of training Paul Urwin discusses "Transcreation Essentials" in the latest episode of the ProZ.com podcast. Urwin interviews Nina Sattler-Hovdar, one of the best know global transcreators, and creator of ProZ.com Spotlight Training course "Learn how to get started and prosper in transcreation".

Did you know that you can include a logo on invoices sent through ProZ.com? Adding a logo to the invoice is one way to personalize this ProZ.com membership tool for your needs.

A web widget is an independent application that can be embedded into a web-page, blog, or profile on a social media site and that will enable the display of information (your client feedback) or the call for an action ("Follow me").

As we’ve seen throughout our series of Translation Postcards, you can find translators in historic villages, towns and cities all over the world, but few of us live in a place that boasts over 3,400 years of recorded history.  Home to Plato’s Academy and Aristotle’s Lyceum, Athens (Αθήνα) is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilisation and the birthplace of democracy, largely because of its cultural and political impact on the European continent, and in particular the Romans.

Is your email inbox kept as a to-do list? Often, people leave “to-do” emails in their inbox until they are completed. After completion, the email is categorized or deleted, thus removing it from the inbox.

Many are the reasons we change countries in the course of our lives. For the majority of us, those reasons are innocuous enough – we are drawn to different cultures, or climates, or lured by romance. And yet such life choices are sometimes far harder, as we’ll see in the case of translator and interpreter Mahdi Abdulbasit, who fled Ethiopia for Egypt in 2016.

Persecution: enslavement, forced assimilation, segregation, genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany during World War II, and other human rights violations  – the history, both ancient and modern, of the Roma of East-Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, is a litany of suffering.

In this week’s Language Watch, we head for the first time to Canada, and the indigenous peoples known collectively as the First Nations. We zoom in on the northern boreal and Arctic regions and on the Dene people, who speak a group of languages that are described as Northern Athabaskan.

In the series on 50 Steps to optimising your ProZ Profile being discussed at the Translators and Interpreters (ProZ.com) facebook group, group moderator and author Andrew Morris has turned the group's attention to recommendations.

Translating means allowing everyone to understand the world and to be understood. A real gift that people working into the localization industry offer every day to everyone who needs to communicate or understand a message in another language.

It may not be a pretty city, but it’s certainly a historic one, with roots that date back to the pre-Viking, Anglo-Saxon era, and a port that was already a busy international transit hub when William the Conqueror was on the throne in the 11^th century. Some of the ancient city walls are still visible – the most famous relic being the iconic Bargate.