We all define success in different ways. Do you consider yourself successful? Are you proud or happy about where you are right now in your career? Of professional objectives you have reached? Would you be willing to share with others how you got there? 

A new site area, "Freelancer success stories", is now available under the "Member activities" menu.

Jared Tabor

Common Sense Advisory (CSA), in cooperation with Translators without Borders (TwB) and ProZ.com, is conducting a large-scale survey on translators and interpreters, to research challenges being faced and changes being made by today's professionals. Please consider taking some time to respond to this survey-- your input will be greatly appreciated. Results of this research will be made available to ProZ.com members.

Jared Tabor

Part three of this report was posted at https://go.proz.com/blog/human-response-to-a-changing-industry:-part-3

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Part two of this report was posted at https://go.proz.com/blog/human-response-to-a-changing-industry:-part-2

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Human response

How are the puny humans faring in all of this? How are they adapting? There are three main camps:

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by Henry Dotterer and Jared Tabor, ProZ.com

Intro

In this report, we will take a look at some of the changes that have been introduced into the language services industry over the past years, and at how the humans in that industry, specifically translators and interpreters, are reacting and adapting to those changes.

But first, we want you to meet someone.

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A new translation contest starts today, with a source text in Arabic. The text is from Al-Nazaraat, by Mustafa Lutfi Al-Manfaluti.

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Hello all,

In the translation contest Benevolent deception: the placebo button effect, the finals stage has come to a close. Winners have been determined in the following language pairs:

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The vote buttons are not a placebo! They work!

In the current translation contest, Benevolent deception: The placebo button effect, some language pairs are in the Qualifications phase. For these language pairs, participants can provide ratings for Quality of writing and for Accuracy of translation next to each entry: 

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André Lisboa is an English - Portuguese translator based in Brazil. He is a ProZ.com member, and member of the Certified PRO Network (CPN). He has been working in the translation industry for over 25 years now, and has recently published a book, How to Become a Successful International Translator. In the book, he discusses some translation basics like resources and CAT tools, and also goes into detail on marketing, building a portfolio, time and resource management, and other subjects. The English edition of the book includes an interview with Ofer Tirosh, CEO of Tomedes Translations, on the translation industry in general, and what they look for when they hire new linguists.

I interviewed André about How to Become a Successful International Translator, and his thoughts on translation and the industry:

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Have you done post-editing work? Have your clients approached you about it? Have machine translation and post-editing changed the way you work, or the way you present your services to clients? There is a short survey running on the topic. If you have a few minutes, your input would be greatly appreciated:

Please share your experiences in this 18-question survey »

Jared Tabor

In the previous post, we took a look at CAT tool use among translators. Now we will delve into this subject some more, examining which tools are being used, how translators are deciding on those tools, favorites, least favorites, and recommendations.

And if you are a reader who likes charts and graphs, you're in luck. 

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Every now and then, the subject of the use of Translation Memories (TMs) and Computer-aided Translation (CAT) tools comes up in the ProZ.com forums and elsewhere. Should you use a CAT tool? Why? Which one? Why (again)? Are there kinds of work where a CAT tool will not be useful?

In a previous State of the industry report for freelance translators, the word on TMs and CAT tools was to take them as "a given." A high percentage of translators use at least one CAT tool, and reports on the increased productivity and efficiency that can accompany their use are solid enough to indicate that, unless the kind of translation work you do by its very nature excludes the use of a CAT tool, you should be using one.

Jared Tabor

There is a short survey running, about tech trends and translators. Have you incorporated any new tech in your work recently? Are there advances in technology for translation and translators that concern you, or you are happy about? Take a few moments to respond to the survey; your input will be greatly appreciated. 

See the survey here »

Jared Tabor