I met a very nice and well-informed man at the ATC conference in September - Renato Beninatto - who has his finger on the pulse of the big companies in the globalisation, localisation and translation world. Today he sent me his predictions for movements in the industry in 2007 -some of which could potentially affect European freelancers like us:
The Good News
Companies like Alchemy, Lingotek and MultiCorpora and other new players are expected to challenge SDL-Trados market dominance on TM - could this mean cheaper software for us?
The Translator Profile Exchange (TPX) initiative will allow Language Service Providers (LSPs) to receive automatic updates on translator profiles and work records - no more sending out endless CVs to agencies every time you add skills and experience (perhaps). Though this would only be for those large companies who subscribe to the scheme - the others will still have their separate databases.
Mash-ups are on their way - for instance Googlemaps and estate agents can now combine to show properties on a map - Renato believes we may see directory services tied to Googlemaps which send SMS messages to interpreters near the location needing language help....
The Bad News
Google, IBM, Language Weaver and Microsoft will be looking further into statistics-based automated translation applications, these will produce better automatic translations based on corpora of texts - this one will be interesting to watch.
India's National Knowledge Commission expects 500,000 jobs to be created in the Indian translation industry (Cisco, Microsoft and EMC are already there).
China has loads of foreign currency and salaries of US$600 per year for an editor, they are expected to build a powerful language and translation sector both for internal minorities and their export activities - watch this space!
BUT!
Before all this sets our hearts-a-fluttering we must remember that good quality output of any complexity can only be produced by human translators well-versed in the details of the real world - culture, genre, professional and local usage and the like.
One over-riding message from the ATC conference in September was that all the key players are desperate for listings of good, reliable, professional translators - many buy-outs of smaller companies are based almost exceptionally on the aquisition of good databases.
And remember, the big boys of the sector may be profit motivated and margin dominated, but they cannot provide adequate quality products for the high-end of the market without the likes of you and me.
For up to date information on developments amongst the big boys (albeit with a bit of a US bias) see:
www.commonsenseadvisory.com
Wednesday, 13 December 2006
Thursday, 7 December 2006
Web Learning: TM and Corpora with MeLLANGE
Talking of e-learning: the ITI offered their members three weeks of free access to two e-learning courses developed by the MeLLANGE consortium last month in return for feedback to the team developing these.
The courses, "Translation Memory 2" and " Corpora for Translation," covered the key points of both these subjects in quite some detail, including some practical activities on demo versions of the software allowing students to practice the procedures they were learning.
Personally, I would have liked some more of these "hands on" elements (I have to do things about 10 times before the process sinks in) but on the whole the courses were very well-structured, meaning the blocs could be taken at a pace that suited individual learning capacity/time availability.
There were a few irritating elements in some of the "movies" (jazzy swirly bits you could not switch off) and I had to play some of the TM demos two or three times to get all the steps as the breaks seemed a little too far apart.
Overall though, the courses are an excellent introduction to two areas of relatively recent development in translation. They are are great for building up vague ideas into informed opinions, providing valid criticism of these technologies along with praise for their capacities.
I must admit, I do get very over-excited at the potential of e-learning! For people like me with limited time, family and work commitments etc. it's the best way I can see of accessing new concepts and keeping abreast of the constant changes in professional skills and practices. Hmmmmmmmmm! That's got my cogs turning...
(For more abouth MeLLANGE see http://mellange.eila.jussieu.fr/ )
The courses, "Translation Memory 2" and " Corpora for Translation," covered the key points of both these subjects in quite some detail, including some practical activities on demo versions of the software allowing students to practice the procedures they were learning.
Personally, I would have liked some more of these "hands on" elements (I have to do things about 10 times before the process sinks in) but on the whole the courses were very well-structured, meaning the blocs could be taken at a pace that suited individual learning capacity/time availability.
There were a few irritating elements in some of the "movies" (jazzy swirly bits you could not switch off) and I had to play some of the TM demos two or three times to get all the steps as the breaks seemed a little too far apart.
Overall though, the courses are an excellent introduction to two areas of relatively recent development in translation. They are are great for building up vague ideas into informed opinions, providing valid criticism of these technologies along with praise for their capacities.
I must admit, I do get very over-excited at the potential of e-learning! For people like me with limited time, family and work commitments etc. it's the best way I can see of accessing new concepts and keeping abreast of the constant changes in professional skills and practices. Hmmmmmmmmm! That's got my cogs turning...
(For more abouth MeLLANGE see http://mellange.eila.jussieu.fr/ )
SDL Multiterm Webinar
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending (virtually) the first SDL Multiterm Webinar - a presentation on how to use Multiterm to structure a termbase by Michael Wetzel. Although my technical incapacity meant I missed the first couple of minutes (I couldn't get the VOIP to work!) I could then relax and enjoy an introduction to Multiterm in the comfort of my own big chair.
I am no techie, but basically Mr Wetzel's desktop appeared on my screen and the presentation played itself out with Mr W talking us through the advantages of Multiterm over Excel and the like, going on to describe the basics of termbase structure in the SDL program.
I was ready to be presented with a sales spiel and was pleasantly surprised to find there was a large section of the middle of the presentation that was really useful to me as a frustrated Multiterm user (there was a little promotion, but it was within the bounds of reason).
Overall then, (and to my surprise as I am always wary of anything offered free by large corporations) I was favourably impressed, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.
I presume the Webinar was offered only to recent Trados/Multiterm customers, but I will let you know if they are planning to open these up to the general public when they get back to me.
(30 mins later - the SDL Marketing Initiatives Manager Massimo Ghislandi said they sent invitations out to license holders, but they were happy for this to be sent on to "friends" - so basically if you know someone with Trados/Multiterm and you fancy a bit of free input, get them to forward future invitations to you.)
I am no techie, but basically Mr Wetzel's desktop appeared on my screen and the presentation played itself out with Mr W talking us through the advantages of Multiterm over Excel and the like, going on to describe the basics of termbase structure in the SDL program.
I was ready to be presented with a sales spiel and was pleasantly surprised to find there was a large section of the middle of the presentation that was really useful to me as a frustrated Multiterm user (there was a little promotion, but it was within the bounds of reason).
Overall then, (and to my surprise as I am always wary of anything offered free by large corporations) I was favourably impressed, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.
I presume the Webinar was offered only to recent Trados/Multiterm customers, but I will let you know if they are planning to open these up to the general public when they get back to me.
(30 mins later - the SDL Marketing Initiatives Manager Massimo Ghislandi said they sent invitations out to license holders, but they were happy for this to be sent on to "friends" - so basically if you know someone with Trados/Multiterm and you fancy a bit of free input, get them to forward future invitations to you.)
Tuesday, 28 November 2006
London Language Show - Getting Started
I went to the London Language Show earlier in November – a great day out for Modern Foreign Language (MFL) teachers, translators, interpreters and linguists in general – and was pleased to meet lots of people there who were looking to work as translators.
There were two groups in particular I could identify with – recent graduates and teachers (I recently finished my MA and I also worked as a teacher in a past life) - so here’s some of the advice I heard given that I think might be useful for those groups in particular and anyone thinking of a career in translation generally:
New Language Graduates
Unfortunately for you there are thousands of good language graduates, especially in the European languages, and competition in translation is tough. Few organisations seem to take on in-house translators, and those that do generally require specialist subject knowledge – legal, medical, pharmaceutical, technical, business-related.
There is no particular identified career path for becoming a professional translator, but most of the successful translators I know have developed knowledge of a field before going on to become translators. From what they tell me, real world knowledge is often more important than academic qualifications.
So my Top Tip is: Move to the country of your source language of choice, get a job in an area that interests you and develop that subject knowledge as fully as you can before moving into freelance translation later. It will be a lot more fun than sitting in your room with a pile of dictionaries and will vastly improve your life in other ways too!
Here are some sources of appropriate jobs – I met all these providers at the Language Show:
www.adamsrecruitment.com
www.europa.eu/eures
www.bluelynx.com
www.toplanguagejobs.co.uk
Secondary MFL Teachers looking for a career change
This one is harder unless you are prepared to study for a further degree in a subject area, or to up sticks and join the recent language graduates in starting afresh. There is a lot of competition in freelance translating and unless you have something special to offer it can be hard to make a stable living.
However, I have a plan B which might be of use to you. It is still teaching, but without the sneering uncouth adolescents who don’t see the point in learning languages at all.
The government is pressing to move MFL into primary schools, and many schools are eager to have languages taught. You could contact your local LEA or local primary schools directly, offering them your language teaching skills, suggesting that you could work across the age groups and maybe throughout a cluster of local schools.
(We have a teacher who gives French lessons from Year R to Year 6 every Tuesday, a pattern she repeats on two other days in other local schools.)
The enthusiasm and lack of inhibition of the smaller children will be refreshing and might even restore your faith in education!
Here are some links I found at the Language Show that you may find useful:
www.dfes.gov.uk/languages
www.eurobooks.co.uk
www.linguascope.com
www.talkingdice.co.uk
www.language-stickers.co.uk
There were two groups in particular I could identify with – recent graduates and teachers (I recently finished my MA and I also worked as a teacher in a past life) - so here’s some of the advice I heard given that I think might be useful for those groups in particular and anyone thinking of a career in translation generally:
New Language Graduates
Unfortunately for you there are thousands of good language graduates, especially in the European languages, and competition in translation is tough. Few organisations seem to take on in-house translators, and those that do generally require specialist subject knowledge – legal, medical, pharmaceutical, technical, business-related.
There is no particular identified career path for becoming a professional translator, but most of the successful translators I know have developed knowledge of a field before going on to become translators. From what they tell me, real world knowledge is often more important than academic qualifications.
So my Top Tip is: Move to the country of your source language of choice, get a job in an area that interests you and develop that subject knowledge as fully as you can before moving into freelance translation later. It will be a lot more fun than sitting in your room with a pile of dictionaries and will vastly improve your life in other ways too!
Here are some sources of appropriate jobs – I met all these providers at the Language Show:
www.adamsrecruitment.com
www.europa.eu/eures
www.bluelynx.com
www.toplanguagejobs.co.uk
Secondary MFL Teachers looking for a career change
This one is harder unless you are prepared to study for a further degree in a subject area, or to up sticks and join the recent language graduates in starting afresh. There is a lot of competition in freelance translating and unless you have something special to offer it can be hard to make a stable living.
However, I have a plan B which might be of use to you. It is still teaching, but without the sneering uncouth adolescents who don’t see the point in learning languages at all.
The government is pressing to move MFL into primary schools, and many schools are eager to have languages taught. You could contact your local LEA or local primary schools directly, offering them your language teaching skills, suggesting that you could work across the age groups and maybe throughout a cluster of local schools.
(We have a teacher who gives French lessons from Year R to Year 6 every Tuesday, a pattern she repeats on two other days in other local schools.)
The enthusiasm and lack of inhibition of the smaller children will be refreshing and might even restore your faith in education!
Here are some links I found at the Language Show that you may find useful:
www.dfes.gov.uk/languages
www.eurobooks.co.uk
www.linguascope.com
www.talkingdice.co.uk
www.language-stickers.co.uk
Thursday, 23 November 2006
That Elusive Number Seven
Aha! Following a belated flash of inspiration I can now fill in the missing number seven.
The other best thing I have done has been to take advantage of other (and practically any) work opportunities which have arisen, simply in order to keep things afloat.
Some of this doesn't really serve my long-term goals - and being in a classroom when you are aware calls/mails may be coming in at home can be frustrating (I have missed a couple of translation jobs this way) - but a little of what you don't particularly want to do may help you reach your goal in the end. Bankruptcy does no-one any good!
Other odd jobs have related more directly to skills used in translation: English language editing of e-learning courses on project management and home wireless systems, and teaching a Specialised Translation Unit on the MA course at Portsmouth University.
So my advice is to be resourceful and exploit your whole skillset. These sorts of jobs all help pay the bills and feed subject knowledge and related skills to some extent. And even if they don't, they will help keep the wolf from the door.
So say it loud: "I'm poor, I ain't proud," and do what you need to do to keep it going.
The other best thing I have done has been to take advantage of other (and practically any) work opportunities which have arisen, simply in order to keep things afloat.
Some of this doesn't really serve my long-term goals - and being in a classroom when you are aware calls/mails may be coming in at home can be frustrating (I have missed a couple of translation jobs this way) - but a little of what you don't particularly want to do may help you reach your goal in the end. Bankruptcy does no-one any good!
Other odd jobs have related more directly to skills used in translation: English language editing of e-learning courses on project management and home wireless systems, and teaching a Specialised Translation Unit on the MA course at Portsmouth University.
So my advice is to be resourceful and exploit your whole skillset. These sorts of jobs all help pay the bills and feed subject knowledge and related skills to some extent. And even if they don't, they will help keep the wolf from the door.
So say it loud: "I'm poor, I ain't proud," and do what you need to do to keep it going.
Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Your Starter for Ten
Here is a little list of the 10 best things I’ve done since I decided to launch a freelance career in the UK, more or less in order of importance. You might find it useful (then again, you might not):
1. An MA in translating - it answered a lot of the questions I had asked myself about how translation works, (amazingly enough I wasn't the only person to have wondered about these things…) and improved my chances of getting decently paid jobs
2. Become an Associate of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, ITI, - a professional association working toward due recognition of our line of work and even Chartered Status - offers sound information and support
3. Go to the Association of Translation Companies conference in London this year – some excellent presentations and up to date info on what the Translation industry is up to (more about that later)
4. Join the ITI Peer Support Group – where experienced translation professionals help advise new freelancers on how to launch their careers
5. Do the free local Income Tax Office (HMCR) course on “becoming self-employed” – provides all the info you need on record keeping, tax obligations, National Insurance payments and the other dull but necessary stuff
6. Go to a free Business Start Up event at the Excel Centre, London, lots of hype and unnecessary tripe, but also some sound advice on launching your own business
7. I’ve been sat here for half an hour and I just can’t think of a number seven
8. Join ProZ (with some reservations) – has a lot of good elements, a questionable bid for jobs system, but a vibrant and active community of translators and interpreters
9. Make a website – looks professional to potential new employers, holds more information than any CV (you can look at it if you like on www.griffin-mason.co.uk)
10. Do this blog – I’m enjoying this!
1. An MA in translating - it answered a lot of the questions I had asked myself about how translation works, (amazingly enough I wasn't the only person to have wondered about these things…) and improved my chances of getting decently paid jobs
2. Become an Associate of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, ITI, - a professional association working toward due recognition of our line of work and even Chartered Status - offers sound information and support
3. Go to the Association of Translation Companies conference in London this year – some excellent presentations and up to date info on what the Translation industry is up to (more about that later)
4. Join the ITI Peer Support Group – where experienced translation professionals help advise new freelancers on how to launch their careers
5. Do the free local Income Tax Office (HMCR) course on “becoming self-employed” – provides all the info you need on record keeping, tax obligations, National Insurance payments and the other dull but necessary stuff
6. Go to a free Business Start Up event at the Excel Centre, London, lots of hype and unnecessary tripe, but also some sound advice on launching your own business
7. I’ve been sat here for half an hour and I just can’t think of a number seven
8. Join ProZ (with some reservations) – has a lot of good elements, a questionable bid for jobs system, but a vibrant and active community of translators and interpreters
9. Make a website – looks professional to potential new employers, holds more information than any CV (you can look at it if you like on www.griffin-mason.co.uk)
10. Do this blog – I’m enjoying this!
Monday, 20 November 2006
New Blog!
Welcome to my Blog!
By launching this Blog whilst launching my freelance career I hope to work out what Blogging has to offer personally and professionally to a new freelance translator.
I also thought it might be a good place to post any ideas I might have about how to further my career (and increase my earnings) and that it might be of some use to others in the same position.
I don't actually have any idea of what sort of people read Blogs - I have only read one in my life (the link was sent to me by someone I know for their own Blog) - so it'll be interesting to see what happens on this one.
Well, good to meet you, I'm off to find out what features are offered on this Blogsite.
By launching this Blog whilst launching my freelance career I hope to work out what Blogging has to offer personally and professionally to a new freelance translator.
I also thought it might be a good place to post any ideas I might have about how to further my career (and increase my earnings) and that it might be of some use to others in the same position.
I don't actually have any idea of what sort of people read Blogs - I have only read one in my life (the link was sent to me by someone I know for their own Blog) - so it'll be interesting to see what happens on this one.
Well, good to meet you, I'm off to find out what features are offered on this Blogsite.
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