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CAT |  |
General
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How to split a huge and (possibly) unusable TMX memory in smaller blocks, even if it contains wrong (non TMX compliant) translation units that crash SDLX or Trados Workbench.
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XLIFF is a new standard for exchange of translation data that is finally finding some support among some tool vendors. This article gives you an overview of why we need this standard and how translators can benefit.
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A plea for an overhaul of terminology in the translation industry. Is "CAT" a good term and what are some alternatives?
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Computer-assisted translation tools are widely accepted among professional translators to streamline translation. How can we use these tools to implement quality assurance beyond the bare-bones-approach of repetition? Here are some tips.
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A minimal best-practice checklist for translation environment tool developers.
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A brief guide to working with Adobe FrameMaker and InDesign Files in Across. Many translators hesitate to take on projects involving these programs, this guide attempts to demystify the translation process for these files.
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Brief explanation of CAT tools principle and problems freelancer may have with the "beast".
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Trados
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Hopefully this article will help you get rid of all prejudices against TRADOS and begin using basic Trados FL functions in two minutes. To do so, you only need to focus on vitally important Trados features and skip all the others.
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How to fix the Microsoft Visual Basic run-time error 5 in MS Word 2000 because of corrupted Trados template
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Wordfast
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The article explains how to exchange TMs between Wordfast and Trados if they are saved in the .txm format.
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The article explains how to translate Excel files with Wordfast.
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This is a quick practical guide to Wordfast. It aims at removing the barrier to learning CAT Tools through mastering this efficient easy-to-learn one. Reading this article, one is requested to do the exercise included to get familiar with Wordfast's main options and settings. Arabic-specific considerations are highlighted, as well.
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Computers and Technology | |
Hardware
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Palm OS(r) based PDAs offer the possibility of keeping large amounts of data on a tiny footprint. While they currently do not offer every capability a notebook computer can, their use in the interpreting booth can be convenient and space-saving, and they can faciltitate the review of documents and terms on the road.
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Multilingual Computing
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Descriptions and links to a number articles already published by Jeff Allen. These topics relate to Machine Translation in general, Machine Translation postediting, localization, speech technologies, speech-to-speech translation, minority language translation tools, and even using the Bible to train translation systems.
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This article describes a project which specifically aimed at improving the quality of Machine Translation (MT) output by creating a custom user MT dictionary. Productivity results are provided as well as examples of the resulting output.
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Operating Systems
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A summary of the translation tools available for Mac OS X.
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The use of mouse is one of the main triggers of Repetitive Strain Injury, tendinitis and other similar muscolosceletal disorders. Sufferers of these disorders report that they feel less pain when typing compared to when mousing. Thus, a desire to avoid mouse as much as possible. Once keyboard shortcuts have been mastered then one can work much faster and be more productive.
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The new Time Machine program introduced by Apple in Mac OS X has made backups easier than ever. This article discusses how to set it up and some additional steps that can be taken to minimize down time.
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We've all heard of the need to backup our computers. This article brings into clear focus why it's so important and how it can be easy to do.
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Although most people don't realize it, programs which can replicate the same functionality as Time Machine have existed for some time. Now there are also some applications available which make it even simpler.
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One of the most touted features of the latest Mac OS has been an easy to use backup program called Time Machine. However there are equivalent programs for Windows that provide the same functionality.
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Linguas OS is a Linux distribution created specifically for professionals in the translation industry, including Free Open Source Software tools to perform all of the tasks that professional translators must do every day in their work.
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Software
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This article offers a brief overwiew of some new desktop search programs, such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, Microsofts and others. It explains how they work and how to get and use them, providing the links to the Internet websites from which you can download them.
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This article describes a workflow for translating text documents which are only available in the PDF format. A heterogeneous set of tools is used, consisting of free and non-free software. The workflow is ad hoc and it is meant to illustrate what you can do, not what you should do.
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We will describe an optional way of transforming Acrobat Reader files into files that can be read by Microsoft Office Word. The following method can be used to convert .PDF text files to MS Word files. It will not convert images or tables. Word files are needed, if we will use a CAT tool, such as Trados, SDLX, or Wordfast. In this way, we can also distribute a large PDF file among several translators, proofreaders, or editors.
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Though there are several ways to translate PowerPoint files, ppt.helper is the easiest and most effective.
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Perhaps translators need to take a more business-like approach to their work? You can't economize on (or rely on a pirate copy of) something that ensures your business's survival!
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Although PowerPoint is one of the formats that hardly any translator can escape it is clearly the most tedious of the Office programs for translation.
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What are software localization tools? Do translators need to invest in other tools than translation memory tools? Maybe not but this article gives you an overview of what these tools are and who could benefit from using them.
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You may not like PCs for good reason, but does stubbornness pay?
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Translating help systems without expensive help authoring systems.
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Navigating the plethora of software development formats and tips on how to translate them.
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The common denominators of desktop publishing programs seem to be these: they are expensive, they're not very intuitive for users, and they present considerable obstacles for translators.
This doesn't sound good, but here are the brighter aspects: Yes, they are expensive, but you may not even need to have them installed on your computer when you translate them. They are very difficult to learn on a real expert level—after all, desktop publishers and prepress specialists are well-paid professionals—but as translators we only need to translate the files, not design them.
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Translating a Photoshop file is often considered a near impossible task by translators. There is an easy to use tool available which simplifies the process.
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 Off-Site Articles
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This article will give you a step-by-step workflow for translating charts in Microsoft Excel and similar programs. Submitted by Stanislav Okhvat.
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In this article, you will learn how to use a free image editor called Paint.NET to translate graphics — regular image files (JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc), images in PDF files, and graphics embedded in other documents (e.g. Microsoft Word documents, etc). It will also teach you the principles you can apply with any other image editing software. Submitted by Stanislav Okhvat.
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From Language to Literature | |
Chinese Cultural Knowledge
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With the 2008 Beijing Olympic coming soon, China is faced with a serious problem—how to express their culture clearly through accurate Chinese translation. Dish translation is one of the utmost important aspects pertaining to conveying Chinese culture.
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This article is basically a Comparison between Simplified Chinese and the Traditional Chinese in the context of English to Chinese translation, and it's only intended to provide some very basic information to people who are looking for Chinese translators but do not quite know much about the differences of the two variations.
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Differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese
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With this article, I intend to share a little bit about my experience as a Brazilian translator living in Portugal for about 8 years.
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From Cuban Spanish to Mainstream English
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Translating one’s own work vs. translating others’
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Techniques | |
Localization
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Describes 3 methods on how to translate AutoCAD drawings with Unicode Characters. Professional translators are used to work with Translation Memory software packages that help them to re-use repeated phrases, and check words in specialized glossaries, but AutoCAD doesn't have this capability itself.
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This short article shows how to translate the translatable text in a Joomla PHP language file.
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Establishing a localization agency is not as easy as it may seem. In this brief illustration, we will try to draw the outlines of the localization cycle.
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Off-Site Articles
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If you want to launch your e-commerce Web site abroad, it's essential that you localize it - - and that doesn't mean creating word-for-word translations of your full domestic Web site. It means taking into account cultural differences that may influence how your target market views your products and prefers to shop.
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Proofreading
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Typing, spelling or grammar mistakes on translators’ web sites are the worst – to look like a professional, you must look totally professional in all your texts and presentations. It does not matter how “good” you are at translation; if your web site does not reflect this, you loose. There is now a tool to spot those pesky mistakes in your html code before they hurt you.
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An often-overlooked step in the translation process, proofreading is nonetheless essential to providing clients with the best possible translation. This article outlines the best tips & techniques to ensure accuracy and perfection in the final document.
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Comparison of three of the most popular TQA tools in order to find out their strengths and weaknesses, and therefore help translators, project managers and proofreaders to select the optimal TQA tool for any particular job.
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Terminology
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How to make the best use of online linguistic resources: the present and future of terminological research from the freelancer's point of view.
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Why should I devote more of my time to terminology work and how can I benefit from that as a freelancer? This short article explains how and why and also describes an affordable new terminology tool that can help get you started.
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Translation memory users tend to underuse the terminology management component of their CAT tools. This article is a plea for greater consideration of these important components.
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Translating Together With Another Colleague
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This article looks at the benefits and prerequisites of the technique of dual translation, which consists of having two professionals partner together in translating in order to maximize the quality of the outcome and shorten the time put toward producing a quality translation ready for use.
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Dual translation and its benefits. This article looks at the benefits and prerequisites of the technique of dual translation, which consists of having two professionals partner together in translating in order to maximize the quality of the outcome and shorten the time put toward producing a quality translation ready for use.
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Translation
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The article explains the differences between software localization and translation.
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A short guideline to translating Websites.
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The article addresses some concerns faced by linguists in the English-French pair, as well as the means to overcome them.
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Tips for Direct Clients | |
Globalization
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When a client requests for localization in Hindi, they don’t ask you to localize their product in languages like Bhojpuri, Magadhi Maithili, Pahari, Kashmiri, Rajastani, Harayanwi, Malvi, Kumaoni; most of the time they even don’t ask to localize in Gujarati, Bengali or Marathi (this is cost dependent). These all are either official state languages or major spoken languages in the states of the Hindi belt. I have found that this applies to most languages with multiple dialects.
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As the World Travel Market takes place in London, Christian Arno, director of one of the UK's leading translation agencies, considers how travel industry professionals can achieve a return on their investment in language services.
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Nowadays a multilingual Web site is a must for successful international
business. Find out about translation services for your Web site and how they
can bring you maximum revenue in foreign internet market.
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Off-Site Articles
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Taking your transactional website overseas is an attractive proposition that can prove difficult to execute. Here localisation expert Gary Muddyman of Conversis and Superdrug e-commerce manager Bronwyn Laughlin offer ten steps to making sure your international launch gets off to a good start.
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How to Buy a Translation
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Know when to hire a professional editor.
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The article gives some general information about what translators do and what they generally do not do.
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In our globalised world translation services are often a vital necessity as well as an unavoidable business overhead. There are, however, certain easy steps that can be taken in order save money on translations.
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If your company is involved in international business, one thing is certain – sooner or later you’ll need to hire a translation services provider (TSP). Naturally, you want a high quality translation at the lowest possible cost.
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Une collection de tuyaux et de précautions à prendre si vous avez un document à faire traduire.
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Medical Translation
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Off-Site Articles
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As biopharma makes up an increasing proportion of the global pharmaceutical market, so it will follow into the world's emerging economies too. The opportunities in these markets are well-known, but what are the risks and challenges involved in working in developing countries with unique cultures and little understanding of Western medical concepts?
In this article for European Biopharmaceutical Review, Conversis CEO Gary Muddyman outlines the key language issues for biopharma companies entering developing world markets.
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Translation Agencies | |
Tips for Project Managers
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Most companies at a certain stage in their development start looking at their options for implementing IT systems that support their management, production, and workflow. Relatively often, a company’s managers are the ones who embark on creating such software on their own, confident that it is the most flexible and cost effective solution. Actually, they cannot be more wrong.
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There are a number of language professionals who are turning to be Agency owners, by choice or absent-mindedly or by sheer accident. I had found myself absent-mindedly into the role of an Agency owner while I started formally as a Language Professional some five years back. I have tried to elaborate core challenges faced while this transition happened. I have also tried to emphasize as how social networking and Internet’s evolution pose opportunities and threats.
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There’s no denying that translation project management is not without its stresses...
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Working as a Freelancer | |
Dealing with Agencies and Direct Clients
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You pay your bills on time don’t you? Why shouldn’t they? You’ve done the work so they have to pay… This article describes techniques for calling in unpaid invoices.
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The essay argues that there exists no reference or benchmark for setting the deadline, quality and cost ratio of a translation project. There is no risk management process planned out and causes problem later. The essay proposes a model and then goes to explain how users of TC or such portals can input such a model to make global benchmarks for each language and type of projects.
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Tests are often seen as negative, but they may prove useful.
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A few tips for translators who want to keep all of their global clients happy and remain sane and rested as well.
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The 'cons' of being tested (no pros here!)
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To agree or not on performing a short unpaid test is a very difficult decision to make. On the one hand, agencies have the right to get to know your skills before hiring you. On the other hand, you have the right to get paid for your time. This article is advising translators to perform tests in exchange for a flat fee so that the rules of professionalism apply for translators as they do for other professionals.
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The article includes a few practical tips for beginner translators on how to work with translation agencies on a freelance basis. It discusses such issues as job acceptance and assessment, agency verification, purchase orders, deadlines, quality assurance, readability and accuracy of translation, as well as payment.
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Some moments of translation technology that are not so clear for clients of a freelancer.
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The article addresses the issue of professionalism and how to deal with clients professionally. It introduces a few guidelines that can guarantee a healthy business relationship between the traslator and the client.
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How to become a translator and/or (court) interpreter
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Several helpful hints prepared in the form of a PowerPoint presentation for those of you making only first steps in the cyber world.
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Answers to questions asked by those interested in translation as a career.
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One translator’s take on the pros and cons of the translation trade drawn from her own experiences.
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Once you have come to a decision and if the answer is yes, do not hesitate!
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Marketing Tips
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Through this article we are going to observe how your blog can help you promote your translation and interpretation services.
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In this howto you will find some valuable tips on how you can build a professional and appealing web site that reflects your quality and business strategy. It is aimed at beginners as well as translators with more advanced html knowledge.
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This essay would discuss a profound aspect of this new channel as well as provide some practical steps to help navigate your marketing message.
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Advice and ideas on how to attract new clients for your translation business.
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For a linguist and a small agency, email marketing is the only feasible option to reach far flung clients. However, nature of email and nature of the Internet have changed considerably in last few years. Though fundamentals are same, but some tuning is needed to use this simple, virtually costless, high ROI tool with highest effectiveness. One of the issues is to understand how human behaviour interacts with email and changes both.
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The article advises linguists and agencies from India as how price quoted tells many things about oneself as well the services. It explains how price is something like signature and a race to the bottom can only compromise tommorrow’s wealth and profit for today’s gain. It cautions as how a linguist and agency from India can devaluate itself into a low-cost, low-trust and low-valued provider by not taking adequate consideration in pricing.
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If you want to promote your translation services get your website listed in the Open Directory Project.
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This article describes a strategic method in helping translators promote translation services through major search engines. We recommend to seek backlinks from your happy clients, a method capable of withstanding the test of time, as it reflects the fundamental relationship in society, something search engines seek to model after (through links). We show you how to do it by an example.
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This article gives tips on setting up a new website for beginners. From finding a hosting service to publishing your first website. Also included are tips on search engine optimization to help bring more traffic to your website, to enable the major search engine web crawlers to easily locate all of the necessary information and to get your website listed higher in the rankings.
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Do I need any training? This essay will critically examine this question.
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Quality
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À l'heure actuelle, et comme en attestent de nombreux forums, le secteur de la traduction semble se concentrer sur une approche qualitative des contenus traduits, que ce soit au niveau terminologique ou au niveau rédactionnel.
Mais qu'en est-il vraiment ? La qualité est-elle un mythe, une réalité plus ou moins bien mise en œuvre ? Ou encore et tout simplement un argument commercial parmi d'autres ?
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The freelance translator from A to Z
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The article summarizes the content of the series of recommendations (that will follow) and gives some reading keys. It is mainly intended to guide freelance and/or in-house translators through the practical sides of the profession, and encourages them to ask themselves some crucial questions.
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Title: Time organization and personal commitment. The second article of the series shows the practical importance of time management in order to produce both quantity and quality. It focuses on the deadline and its meaning in the translation industry.
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Title: Work tools; Email; Bank Account; Postal Address; Mobile Phone; CV; Website; Fax, Scanner and OCR. The third article provides a brief presentation of the work tools as they should be used and adapted to the particular needs of the professional freelance translator.
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Title : Work tools ; Internet connection ; Hardware and Software. The fourth article aims to present useful and minimum Hardware and Software required to be able to do translation jobs. It gives a panoramic overview of the commonly used tools.
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Title : Work tools; glossaries; search engines; corpora; professional websites and forums. The fifth article studies some key functions in the use of glossaries and corpora with a selected list of specialized references. A valuable contribution of Mohammad Didaoui, Head of the Arabic Translation at UNO Geneva, about Technology and Heritage in Arabic translation, ends the article.
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Title: Dealing with colleagues; translators’ teams; sharing big translation projects. This sixth article tries to tackle some features of translators team work. It gives a picture of the professional scenery analyzing daily practices among and between translators.
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Tips for Translators
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Freelance translators MUST equip themselves with all necessary things to boast themselves. However; some have forgotten them!
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How to add a transcription and translation capability with Dragon NaturallySpeaking and TextAloud.
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Five groundbreaking techniques to keep you in a "positive" frame of mind during a slump period.
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Important aspects of working as a translator at a home based office. A short guide to this job for translators, who have children and who, realistically speaking, are mostly
women and mothers.
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Some warning signs that you may have been contacted by a scammer and may be working for one.
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A common and widespread assumption among those who are not familiar with this job is that being a freelancer implies more freedom of movement than working as an employee. In practice, you can work "when" and "if" you decide to. On the contrary, unless you pay the due attention to the organisation of your time, you will discover how easily your job will turn to a kind of prison.
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How to determine what your specialist fields are and establish your daily output.
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No matter how airtight a company culture may be, employees in different countries will always need to be communicated to differently. When translating corporate literature, an emphasis should be put on local input to ensure it's not just the words that are translated, but the message.
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Methods that help me to meet the quality requirements of the most demanding customers from various countries and areas of business, both translation agencies and direct customers
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Translators need to store a surprising number of electronic documents efficiently to cope with their daily workload. A tidy folder structure for the specific requirements of freelancers can save the day. The author succinctly describes one way to stay organized.
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This article describes possible situations in which a “rookie” translator may find him/herself, and how to best deal with them.
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This article not only shows new paradigm for time management but also life management for translators.
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Ever wonder if you have any other role than just repeating what others said? Issue is a very controversial one, especially in the world of "professional loners," i.e. lawyers and investigators who don't want anyone else but them to take the dominant role during the interview. Read what may happen when you inadvertently try to get on their turf.
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Quality, like any product or service is a mixture of many tangibles and intangibles. Same in the case of translation and localization sector. I would rather say that Quality in this business is all the more complex and nuanced. Our Quality Model, called LQM-10 or 10 point Language Quality Model is a weighed average of the factors described in this article. However no quality model can be said to be perfect and exhaustive.
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Off-Site Articles
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Polish your translation style, and win more jobs from your clients! That’s right-“win” more jobs. Clients have a wealth of resources in the Internet, and they can easily find countless translators online for their projects by doing a simple search in Yahoo! or Google. Minor improvements to your translation style will ensure that clients think of you before going to the major search engines. Read on and profit!
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Chantal Wilford offers a lot of good, solid advice for those just starting out, as well as for experienced translators.
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Translation as a Profession
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This article is an attempt to battle through the acres of red tape and bureaucracy surrounding VAT in the EU, especially those bits relating to small businesses operating internationally - as freelance translators tend to be. It contains some (hopefully) useful information on whether or not you need to register for VAT and how VAT works across borders. It also contains links to relevant sites in all EU countries.
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It is not always the translator that's to be blamed for a translation unreadable. Sometimes it's the author(s)...
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The article (in German, by Edith Vänghelov) describes the new Austrian Standard (ÖNORM D 120 t) for the certification of translation agencies (Übersetzungsbüros) and freelancers. "Nicht nur Schrauben kann man normieren. Auch Übersetzungen. Zumindest auf dem Papier. Seit 1999 gibt es dafür die ÖNORM D 1200 (Dienstleistungen - Übersetzen und Dolmetschen - Übersetzungsleistungen „Anforderungen an die Dienstleistung und an die Bereitstellung der Dienstleistung") und die ÖNORM D 120t (Dienstleistungen - Übersetzen und Dolmetschen - Übersetzungsleistungen „Übersetzungsverträge")"
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A few tiny pieces of advice (not necessarily to be followed) concerning literary translation. Not unquestionable, yet worth a try, if you want your translation to rival the source.
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A number of proverbs are employed to explain some aspects in translation.
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Have you ever thought about how much running and translation have in common? After reading Murakami's book "What I talk about when I talk about running," I wanted to share my thoughts on the subject.
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A conference interpreting relating article.
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This article is attempting to answer the question of why we are in dire need for talented translators and what do we mean by it.
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Looks at the role of translators in worldwide media communications during the World Cup, and the difficulties of translating meaning in creative work, such as football opinion articles, between languages as different as Arabic and English. Includes interviews with translators who worked for Mirror Football, a popular UK football website.
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