My dear fellow translators,

This thread on China gave me an idea. Is it possible to organise encounters of translators around European cities? Translating agencies (or anybody else) can be our sponsors. We could spend a week or two together exchanging experiences and sightseeing, socializing. Hotel accomodation is cetainly not a must. More private and personal one in pensions or with families would be quite all right for the occasion. We would have our own guides, people from the country where the encounter is taking place. I presume a lot of you would greet this idea. Anyway it would be nice to support it in written and to give suggestions how this can be realized.

Regards,

Ljilja from Serbia

Dear Ljilja,

I totally agree with you . Organising such event would give many of us the opportunity to meet, get to know each other, exchange ideas and experience. I` m sure the other translators would be happy to participate.

Azra

Hi, Azra
Thanks for being the first to support. I am staying in English because of our fellows. If you wish any contact to have further discussions in our mother tongue(s)!, feel free to contact me to the personal mail from my page.
Ljilja

I agree with you girls. It would be a great idea. In fact, I believe there are organizations that subsidize these type of reunions. A reunion of this type could offer two days of conferences from the different translators as well as sight seeing in groups.

Believe me, it is not the first time I have thought about something like this. And once and for all I would like to meet some of these translators.  

John

Hi, John

I see you live in Granada, Spain. Do you happen to know any Spanish institution or organisation that would be willing to pay for an informal encounter lasting for seven days? I don't think we need conference halls, perhaps something less informal would be more appropriate. Some premises where we could meet, mingle and liase.

This is the invitation for everybody. I guess that among us there are people with contacts that may be useful. Let's share them and see which ones we can  pull.

Thanks for such a quick reaction, John.

We'll hear soon again, hopefully:

Ljilja

Ljilja,

If we were to formally meet in Granada ( or any other place for that matter), it would take a lot of planning and would require some basic installations so as to make the trip interesting. By the same token, at least for now, I don´t forsee any other possibility than that of each guest or participant paying for their own trip.

Like I said, it would be interesting and would ( in my opinion) raise the category of TC as there would be conferences, cultural visits as well as lunches. As far as institutions are concerned, we would have to at least invite someone from the Faculty of Translators and Interpreters and we would have to approach the Andalusian government to see whether they could pitch in or not.

It would take a bit of preparation but like I said, it would really be a historical first in the history of TC.

John

Hi, John

I can't tell you how glad and relieved I am to see that there is someone who took it seriously. From the moment I have posted it, I've been thinking about organising. And you may be right. If we raise it to formal level, it may be easier. You are a TC master. Can you, the masters, be an official body of TC? Can you (personally) talk to these people (masters) and see what they think? Maybe you as a TC body could approach The Institute of Linguists and see their reaction. The point with government is all right, but can they help? Or can we count on them to pay for guests such as people from institutions? And what are the organisations or companies that could be the sponsors? Translating agencies, soft drink companies... Who can have financial benefit of our encounter? Coffee producers?

Granada is all right with me. Though at the moment I probably couldnot obtain visa for any country, I am postponing thinking about that. We have to organise first. How can we notify all the members about this whole thing?

Ljilja

Well,

If I were you, I would talk to the moderators and Anatoly. Then we could make an announcement. There would have to be a committee ready to organize the trip. Then you would have to send out invitations to TC members (masters and non masters) because a lot of our core members here are non masters. Obviously, those invited would have to tell the organizing committe whether they are coming or not and whether they can talk about a topic related to translation. Etc, etc,...

Of course, this is an outline and would have to be planned in detail.

John

Dear Marina,

thanks ...it` s nice to be among all these translators...There is something I` ve always wondered about the Portuguese...is there a big difference between the language you speak in Portugal and the language spoken in Brasil?

P.S. I agree that what Ljilja suggested might appear difficult to accomplish, but at least we could try.

Cheers.

Azra

Ljilja,

I sent you a message.

John

Yes Marina, it does. Now I have a much clearer picture of your language which I like very much, since it has a very interesting pronunciation.

Azra

Hi, all,

I would like to ask everybody who would like to meet people from TC for a few days provided we bear share of expenses to speak up so that we can see if there is interest to pursue this. Thank you.

Ljilja

Ljilja,

I gave you my point of view concerning the topic. You can count on me as long as we are clear that I will do what I can and with plenty of time to plan ( as well as the participation of others).

John

Count on me  as well you two  

Thanks, Azra

Originally written by Marina Oliveira on April 21, 2006 3:01 PM On the differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese, basically they have different spellings, as Brazilians dropped all mute consonants, some differencies in verb tense usage and prepositions but no big deal. Also some different vocabulary, particularly on common spoken expressions. The major difference is in the accent, which makes it harder for Brazilian people, for instance, to understand the Portuguese. The Portuguese usually hate to read Brazilian texts because it looks "crippled". But we do read each other and manage to understand the speech, provided people do not speak too fast. Enough differencies to call for separate translations and/or localization, though. (I know Portuguese and Brazilian people who prefer an English version to one in a Portuguese variant other than theirs!) Hope this answers your question. Best, Marina

I've never give much tought before about the real differences of PT-BR and PT-PT but one of the first experiences I remember is back in the 90's when I was watching John Travolta's Phenomenon (1996) there was a scene where he learns the "most difficult language in the world" (Portuguese).

It happens that I was watching the subbed version and when he started speaking in portuguese there was no subtitling, and for my surprise I couldn't understand any word he was speaking. Later I've watched the scene a few more times and finally could understand what they were saying... it takes some time I guess, to one get used to the new pronounce and adapt to other differences.

As for the "crippled" aspect you refer, the reverse is also true... when we read a pt-portuguese text it does have a look of "ancient" portuguese, like the galego-português and other variants we learn in literature classes.

Anyway, I don't think in the way you said of prefering an english version instead of a pt-portuguese one, they are in the same level for me. But if the case is Spanish (here in Brazil we think of Spanish as a very similar language to PT-BR) I wouldn't follow the "common sense" and choose for the english one.

[]'s

Paulo

Hi Marina!

Thanks for the welcome!

I've put further comments on the subject in the thread you've pointed... So if you want to see a more complete brazillian perspective on the subject take a look there and drop some comments too!

[]'s

Paulo

Although we may not need this for translators' encounters, you never know...

From http://www.netimperative.com/2006/05/31/WhiteSmoke/view:

Interactive technology firm WhiteSmoke has launched an online language tool designed to help people improve their English language skills.

The online ‘date profiling’ program will initially be used to help single people promote themselves in a more articulate and powerful manner on dating and community sites.

The program, which can be downloaded from www.whitesmoke.com and appears as an icon at the bottom of the computer screen, helps people using internet dating programs to express themselves more eloquently and to support them with spelling, grammar and text enrichment suggestions.

LONDON (Reuters) - Was your father a thief? Because he stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-07-11T102808Z_01_L11670575_RTRUKOC_0_UK-LIFE-LOVE.xml

FlightStats.com  provides an agglomeration of real-time information on the status of just about every airline flight in the world.

Dear TC family members,

I'm going to the country of my dreams for the first time i.e. France on a month's official training program arranged by my company.

I'll reach France on night of 27th August. I'll stay at Paris for two weeks and for the last two weeks, I'll move to Brest. I'll be free in the evenings and in the week-ends i.e. Saturdays and Sundays. I would like to meet you guys. Please let me know if We could have a small get together at some place of your choice as I'm not familiar with the surroundings.

It's my first ever trip abroad. I'm quite excited about it.

Hope to hear hear from you soon.

Naveen Dhiman

Hi Naveen,

Sounds great, congratulations on your trip! I'm sure you'll love it, Paris and France are very beautiful! Why don't you launch a meeting in a separate thread, so people will see it immediately?

All the best,

Matilde

This is not for translators only. (I was once a member of an organization which functioned in a similar way: http://joomla.servas.org/)

....CouchSurfing, a private accomodation exchange network. "Financial transactions between host and guest are forbidden. Money-based transactions are replaced by the exchange of assistance... My first guest was an Erasmus student from Latvia who spoke English with a heavy Russian accent and thanked me warmly for the use of my sofa... To be honest, I was a little disappointed that it was so little. It was only when I stayed as a guest with others that I realised I had actually received a lot more... I often remember something my mother used to say: 'Never open your door to strangers'. This sentence belongs in a society that is afraid of the unknown. But if you want to see the world in all its complexity you should let strangers in and keep a spare mattress handy." Dilema veche (Romania) http://europe.courrierinternational.com/eurotopics/article.asp?langue=uk&publication=05/07/2007&cat=CULTURE&pi=2#2

Not much activity here, so I thought I would entertain y'all in the meantime.

From http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/fashion/27dating.html?em&ex=1191124800&en=ff4faeec0b785923&ei=5070:

The idea of a dating coach sounded ridiculous: Why should I entrust my romantic success to another person? What could a coach possibly tell me that I did not already know? But my dating life was not getting better, so I called Nancy Slotnick, a “love life manager” in New York City. Ms. Slotnick, a Harvard graduate, takes a no-nonsense approach to love.

“I treat it like a job hunt, but a fun one,” said Ms. Slotnick, 40, who has been coaching for five years and married for six. Ideally, she wants clients, most of whom are women in their 20s and 30s, to devote 15 hours a week to their search (surfing the Web counts for three hours, max). She also instructs women to turn on their “cab light.” “You know how you know when a cab is free because the light is on?” she asked. “That’s what you need to do with dating. You have to be in the game.”

I signed up for weekly one-hour phone sessions, for which I paid $500 a month, or $125 a session. ...

Speeking of encounters (and not, Jacek, on the above mentioned couch) I would just like to let everyone on TC know that I am back among you and hapy to be so

I greatly missed you all

Lisa

PS: for those of you who did knot previously know me, I am based the central region of France but often work in Paris and London also.

Hello Lisa,

welcome back!! How lovely to see you around again!

I've been very busy lately, but I'm glad I didn't miss this great news

Matilde

Thanks Matilde for the warm welcome back

It is great to hear from you.

Dear Lisa,

Great pleasure to meet translator women around cuz this papery work area has always been so crammed with male translators!

Nice to have you around!

Mateus
Brazilian EN<>BRPT Translator, in Brazil.

You are most welcome

Am still learning to navigate my way around on here. Nice to meet you all!

Am looking for some tips on how best to get freelance translation work off here and how much folk normally get per month? How does it all work? Do you get regular clients coming back for more? What is the bets rate to offer which is fair? cheers for all the tips...

Originally written by martine barnes on February 24, 2009 8:41 AM   Am still learning to navigate my way around on here. Nice to meet you all! Am looking for some tips on how best to get freelance translation work off here and how much folk normally get per month? How does it all work? Do you get regular clients coming back for more? What is the bets rate to offer which is fair? cheers for all the tips...

Welcome Vassily, Mateus, Ibrahim and Martine

@Martine, to answer some of your questions or at least to make an effort   Please take your time, as much as you have, read the articles (how-to-library), follow the forum threads you are interested in, have a look at the statistics ...

There is no "normally per month" income, it all depends on how much time you invest to get clients, they don*t come into your house ... furthermore of course it depends on your rates and first of all perhaps on the quality of your work. There are many factors. Take a look around, go to the jobboard, answer the offers and contact agencies as well as companies near you. Participate in the forums and you will learn a lot. And don't hesitate to come back with remaining questions

Daniela

Hi Martine,

Here are a few tips to make your freelance endeavours a success, excpet quality issues for which one can't help you:

1/ when you don't have work, spend your time looking for clients: direct mails, website registration, etc.

2/ never deliver late. If so it going to be the case, let your client know asap. Clients often provide for a security margin. When you feel the deadline is tight, always try and negotiate beforehand, you'll find out that there often is some flexiblity, even though agencies process as many translation possible in the shortest time possible

3/ Once you finished your work, always review (target against source), then edit the target language to make it translation free: check that terms have always been translated the same, that the formatting is the same, no spelling mistakes.

4/ During the project, always ask questions when needed, though you may not get an answer because the PM does not know and clients think the agency should sort everything out alone, sometimes it helps.

5/ Get to know the most commonly used tool: Trados, SDLX and Wordfast

6/ buy decent dictionaries and get to know GDT and many other sources on the net. Bookmark them for future use.

7/ If you don't feel comfortable with a text, always refuse it. You must preserve yourself, clients are more easily lost than found...

8/ Try and specialise in some fields

9/ Don't hesitate to take tests, especially for those big agencies, though they will not pay interest if you don't have a translation degree.

10/ Build your network: agencies, particulars, freelancers (a lot of outsourcing between freelancers), etc.

Jonathan

Good to see some life out there, seemed to have been "Lost in Translation" these past eight years. Too busy to communicate with fellow translators. But I'm here to give it a try. 

Welcome to the Forums, Paul. I find this to be an excellent idea. I know that TC members do meet in real world, but usually not until they have interacted a bit in cyberspace. (I wouldn't count on the US "strong horse" perhaps because they must be scared to death these days...)

Anyway, let's keep your Translator house swaps open.

Jacek

Some very sound advice particularly no. 7.

Although if you are an inexperienced translator all texts are difficult to begin with you just need to dedicate a lot of time to them.

I would say that being a good reasearcher is a particularly useful skill to have as a translator and can get you out of some tight spots when you have taken on something a little outside your expertise!

Paul