In March 2020, perhaps inspired by the fact that travel was fast becoming a thing of the past amid a global lockdown, I came up with the idea of a series of Translation Postcards for ProZ.com, featuring colleagues from all around the world — a chance to share an insight into their localities, lives, professional ups and downs, and even habits and diets.
When you’ve spent many years of your life in two world cities: London and Istanbul, then a move to Devon certainly represents a change. But on those occasions when you miss the brightly lit skyscapes, the cosmopolitan hubbub and the busy shops and cafés, the bucolic countryside, spectacular coastlines and quaint streets of Devonian market towns and villages offer plenty of consolation.
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This latest ProZ.com podcast covered working from home and parenting with ProZ.com director of platform Lu Leszinsky. ProZ.com head of training Paul Urwin chats with Lu about how to manage being a parent and working from home with your family. Leszinsky shares some great, practical tips for reducing stress and helping your kids get more involved, while still working effectively.
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There are some places in the world where life just seems slower… Far from the frenzied bustle of Ho Chi Minh City (which locals still refer to as Saigon) – the economic powerhouse in the South – or Hanoi, the political capital in the North, Hue in Central Vietnam is a city of peace and quiet, palaces and pagodas, tombs and churches. The strains of gentle melodies waft around as you sample the spicy cuisine at cosy restaurants, or while away the time at coffee shops that once served as classrooms for the princes of the long-since deposed royal family.
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Iran is one of those countries that get a bad press internationally – we’re bombarded with images of fundamentalist mullahs, or women covered from head to toe, and dire warnings about nuclear programs… To such an extent that we tend to forget how multilingual and cosmopolitan its people are, not to mention the historic contributions of Persian culture to art, poetry, and civilisation.
Are you a translation agency or LSP looking to expand your pool of service providers for future projects? Or a freelancer who wants to get their name out there and be contacted by potential new clients? ProZ.com applications may be what you are looking for.
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Kombo na nga Dachiny, naza mwana ya Congo pe napesi bino banso mbote bisika bozali! Of course you recognised immediately, didn’t you, that this is Lingala, one of the languages of the Congo Republic, and that it means “My name is Dachiny, I'm Congolese and I'm greeting you, wherever you are!” ?
Welcome to the city of lights, dancing, and fun. Glitzy Las Vegas is only 115 years old but is fabled around the world for its glamour and casinos. Founded as a stopover on the railroad between Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, the desert city was originally a settlement for farmers, mostly from Utah, But they soon became aware of the pulling power of gambling, and in a mere century of existence, Vegas has attracted hundreds of millions of visitors and trillions of dollars to Southern Nevada. The city is now not just a centre for nightlife but also for business, conventions, and hospitality.
ProZ.com Meetups are a new way for ProZ.com paying members to network, communicate, share and have fun with other language professionals in a virtual environment.
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Imagine living within 2 minutes’ walk of everything that you need. Such is life in the small Israeli community of Adam, or Geva Binyamin, just a few kilometres to the east of Jerusalem. Depending on your perspective, the region is known as “Judea and Samaria” or the “West Bank”. This is a region that has been in Israeli hands since 1967. Apparently, the larger Israeli translator community, which covers the entire political spectrum, has wisely opted never to discuss political issues when they meet. It seems a prudent move for the Translation Postcards to adopt the same stance.
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It can be quite a culture shock to move from a cosmopolitan city to a small town a tenth of its size at the best of times. But these were not the best of times. The city was Sarajevo, in the wake of the bitter three-year civil war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), which ended in 1995 with the Dayton Peace Accords. A war which left its mark everywhere. Everyone lost someone. Cmilja Milosevic lost her own brother, killed by the family’s neighbours. He was 24 at the time.
In the recent International Translation Day event at ProZ.com, Daniel Coria took part in a "How to get more clients" panel (along with Martina Russo and Stephen Rifkind). One concept that Coria mentioned, that of "skill stacking", definitely struck a chord with ProZ.com Head of Training Paul Urwin.
“Beautiful” is not perhaps the first adjective most people would reach for when describing a road network, but even after ten years in Johannesburg – the economic capital of South Africa – Cameroon-born Dr Édith Koumtoudji still lists the infrastructure among the things she’s most impressed by. Next on the list are the abundant trees, the sprawling university campuses, the bristling skyscrapers, and the massive shopping malls, one of which has space for 65,000 cars, she’s at pains to point out.
Walking down Nevsky Prospekt, the main street in St Petersburg, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Western Europe. That was precisely the intention of Peter the Great, when he founded the city in 1703. He set out to make his imperial capital a “window on Europe”, complete with Amsterdam-style canals and grand theatres, opera houses and museums. It remains the country’s cultural centre to this day.
