ProZ.com Blog

By now, the entire world knows that the current Covid-19 outbreak has --and will continue to have--  an enormous impact on freelance financial lives. However, language professionals who usually work on-site --interpreters, project managers, teachers-- don't necessarily have to live off savings during the current quarantine. ProZ.com has a few tricks up its sleeve to make money starting this weekend and while at home, and supplement your income during these uncertain times.

International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8th, to commemorate Russian women's winning of the vote in 1917, after organizing a four-day strike that forced the Czar to abdicate. But the first Women's Day observance, called National Woman's Day, was actually held on February 28th, 1909, in New York City, organized by socialist activist Theresa Malkiel, a labor organizer and educator. Today, International Women's Day demonstrations are still largely protests against the oppression and inequality that women are subjected to.

Covers for The First Wife by Paulina Chizianc, One of Us is Sleeping by Josefine Klougart, and The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

In part 1 of Henry's story, we saw how a moment in the company of Mona Lisa sparked a flash of inspiration that led to some research which resulted in a dream…

ProZ.com the website has been around since 1999, and so have those who have volunteered to foster and protect the positive, results-oriented atmosphere of the site: the moderators.

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

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:

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.

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: 

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:

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. 

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.

Blogs started to appear in this format at the start of 2018. The content at ProZ.com has been used to discuss language industry trends, inform of site enhancements, and sometimes just to share a laugh. 

Of the 98 posts shared in 2018 from 12 different authors, here are the 10 that were most read.

Do you have translation needs? ProZ.com a uniquely effective place to meet capable freelancers and translation companies. Before beginning a search for a translator or translation company, it is important to determine what service is needed, and what is the cost.

This blog post takes some timeless thoughts included in a joint project of ProZ.com members and guests in the ProZ.com Wiki, already eight years old, and repurposes here for today. 

Recent enhancements at ProZ.com make it easier to connect businesses with their employees. Business employees may each have their own ProZ.com profile, while sharing certain aspects like business identification, membership and ability to act on behalf of a business.

Sharing a general account to achieve business member benefits will no longer be necessary. Business entities will have their own business page with vital organizational information, including a list of representative employees. Profiles will be for freelancers or for representative employees associated to a business entity.