Recently in our Facebook group, made up of 25,000 freelance translators from all four corners of the globe, we asked them what they thought were the criteria that should entitle an agency to a ribbon.

How do you measure up?

Mike Donlin

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

Jared Tabor

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:

Jared Tabor

Heading to GALA 2019 in Munich? Henry Dotterer and Jared Tabor of ProZ.com will be giving a talk there on the future of the industry.

The talk, titled "Human Response to a Changing Industry", will be given at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 25. It is in the first session, following the welcome and keynote.

Mike Donlin

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: 

Jared Tabor

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:

Jared Tabor

Where does your business rank in the translation agencies & companies directory at ProZ.com?

The answer to that question is now immediately available to all recognized employees of a business.

Mike Donlin

Founded in 1979, The National Center for Interpretation (NCI) is a research and outreach unit at the University of Arizona located in Tucson, Arizona. From its inception, the unit was charged with promoting intercultural communication and social justice for language minorities, mainly through training and testing for interpreters and translators. A corollary objective was that of advancing the professionalism of the field. Our previous director and founder, Dr. Roseann Gonzalez, provided the groundbreaking work that lead to the establishment of the process to assess and certify federal court interpreters in Spanish, Navajo, and Haitian Creole. Her work set the standard for interpreter testing for the entire profession of court interpreting, and helped to expand interpreter testing and training across many regions and professional fields in the USA. In 1983, Dr. Gonzalez founded the then 3-week Summer Court Institute for Court Interpretation. She also created the Medical Interpreter Training Institute and both institutes’ curricula continue to be valid -- and even considered a gold standard by some-- in today’s ever-changing world of interpreting.

Alejandro Cavalitto

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. 

Jared Tabor

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

Hi translators and interpreters.

There have been significant changes in translation and interpreting in recent years. How are you, as a freelancer, adapting?

Henry

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

The active shutdown of the federal government is the longest in United States history, entering its 32nd day as of this writing.

Over 400,000 federal workers are not being paid and others have been put on a temporary leave (furloughed).  The United States media has focused on the long lines at the airport and national parks are left unattended since the shutdown started on December 22, 2018.

How has the government shutdown impacted freelancers in the language industry? 

Mike Donlin

AT&T has launched a popular series of amusing advertisements called “Just OK Is Not OK”.

In this campaign, the world's largest telecommunications company, created situations where a service provider is telling a concerned client that they are "OK" at their work. The humorous situations involve a tattoo artist, surgeon, an auto repair shop suggesting they are not bad, but maybe also not very good at these tasks.

Keep this clever campaign in mind when updating your professional or business profile for 2019. 

Mike Donlin