On Wednesday 4th September 2019, twelve translators (one of whom arrived after this photo and one of whom was holding the camera!) met in the outdoor pergola of the fine Vista Corona restaurant in Barceloneta, the leisure and marina area of Barcelona, in one of the ProZ.com 20th anniversary powwows!

Andrew Morris

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

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

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

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

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.

Mike Donlin

Dear members,

Next year marks 20 years of ProZ.com helping language professionals to expand their businesses and improve their work, while networking and also having fun. Here's a glimpse/reminder of what ProZ.com looked like back in the beginning.

Since then, ProZ.com paying members have been using an ever-growing suite of services and benefits the site provides to take their careers to the next level. They are also the reason the site has been able to offer those tools and opportunities, and the reason the site is available to everyone. So if you are a paying member of ProZ.com and are reading this, thank you! The ProZ.com site team is here to serve you.

Here is what has been going on at ProZ.com since the last report to members.

Jared Tabor

Through cooperation with the good folks at Routledge, ProZ.com members can now receive a 20% discount off their purchases of books at Routledge, along with free shipping. In addition, Routledge is offering a free chapter download from the book Being a Successful Interpreter by Jonathan Downie.

Jared Tabor

Since its release in 2016, ProZ.com mobile for Android and iOS has already been installed and tried by more than 20,000 translators, interpreters, clients and others in the language industry --22,792 to be precise!

Lucía Leszinsky

It is now possible to login to your ProZ.com accounts in the ProZ.com Mobile app using Google, Facebook or LinkedIn credentials.

Lucía Leszinsky

ProZ.com Plus membership comes with all the benefits members have come to know over the past nineteen years, plus a lot of new tools and opportunities designed with the serious freelance language professional in mind. This series takes a look at these additional benefits, one at a time.

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"The proof is in the pudding," I've heard, in response to the question "How do you show potential clients you can deliver what they are looking for, at the quality they seek?"

Jared Tabor

ProZ.com Plus membership comes with all the benefits members have come to know over the past nineteen years, plus a lot of new tools and opportunities designed with the serious freelance language professional in mind. This series takes a look at these additional benefits, one at a time.

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An advantage, and, let's face it, sometimes a disadvantage, of the world we live in now is that everything is connected. Or it should be. Or could be.

On a professional level, this connectivity can be a great way to stay ahead. If you are in your CAT tool working on your latest project, why should you need to stop what you are doing and go somewhere else when you need help with a difficult term, for example? In another post I mentioned that you can send your query straight to the KudoZ term help network and get answers back without even leaving CafeTran Espresso, if you are using it. You can even get notified of future potential projects of interest while you are working on that project, and you have not left your CAT tool. You can log in to ProZ.com with your Facebook or Google account if you want to. This sort of inter-connectivity is what we have come to expect. Things that don't connect to other things intelligently, that stand alone (not the same, obviously, as standing out!), will lead an increasingly lonely and inefficient life online nowadays. And basically, we are talking about how well you are reaching and serving your clients, right? How many hoops does a potential client need to jump through to find out about what you have to offer, and contact you for work? Are you making it as easy as possible for this contact to happen?

Jared Tabor

ProZ.com Plus membership comes with all the benefits members have come to know over the past nineteen years, plus a lot of new tools and opportunities designed with the serious freelance language professional in mind. This series takes a look at these additional benefits, one at a time.

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The future looks bright for a certain type of translator, interpreter, or anyone providing language services.

These are the language professionals who are able to adapt to the changes that affect us all in general, and the changes that affect how things work in the industry. Some of these changes are related to globalization, some are tech-based, others have to do with how we have come to expect a service to be delivered, in terms of time, cost, and quality, and very often without even having met the person or persons providing the service.

Jared Tabor

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Today we're going to talk about... cats drinking coffee!

Jared Tabor