Dec 1st, 2009 | Business, Reports, Translation | No Comments
Monica Moreno and Naomi Baer will be speaking at the NCTA General Meeting on December 12.
Monica Moreno and Naomi Baer
The term “crowdsourcing” was created just three years ago and is already causing much discussion and experimentation in the translation industry. What does crowdsourcing mean in the context of translation, and what does this new wave of translation crowdsourcing projects look like? How do community translation projects that predate the invention of this term relate to the trends today?
As a rapidly growing international non- profit organization, Kiva faces the challenge of how to efficiently handle translations and has developed a unique translation crowdsourcing methodology. Kiva’s approach integrates volunteer resources, a mentoring program, and a professional translation agency, Idem Translations.
Monica Moreno, of Idem Translations, and Naomi Baer, of Kiva, will discuss emerging translation crowdsourcing projects at both not-for-profit and for- profit organizations, provide insights into why organizations are interested in this approach, and what can be gained. → continue reading
Dec 1st, 2009 | Business Tools, Reports | No Comments
Lured by offers of free software, translators may make decisions they later regret. BY HANY FARAG
Early in the week I received an invitation from XXX, a company that produces dictionary software, to join an outreach program for translators. This program offered to grant me a free license to their software if I placed the company’s logo on my website. I flagged it for later review and took a look again on Friday–a relaxed workday which I reserve for small jobs, casual business and which I typically conclude with some pleasant event.
On that Friday, my work load was light. The day would be made special by observing the ritual of Happy Hour. I checked potential spots and my evaluation ended with two top choices. The first was Elephant Bar & Grill, a great local place with a fabulous view of the Bay. With a stool in the right spot, I view the planes descending to San Francisco airport while also watching the TV sports channel. The second was BJ Brewery—dim lighting but it dedicates one big screen in the afternoon to European soccer.
→ continue reading
Dec 1st, 2009 | Literary Translation, NCTA Info, NCTA Meetings | No Comments
Association business, literary translation & business pointers are all covered at the September GM. BY NORMA KAMINSKY
Margarita Millar and Anne Appel on literary translation
The Fall NCTA General Meeting was held on September 12 at The Center. First on the agenda was the approval of an amendment to the NCTA By-laws, Article 11, covering Voting and Elections. The text in bold was added to the existing article: “Each member in good standing shall be entitled to one vote cast either at General Meetings of the Association, cast electronically or sent by surface mail in the pre-addressed envelope attached to the Notice of the Annual General Meeting. The Board shall decide which of these methods shall be used for voting. Proxies shall not be recognized in any voting.”
This change means that members will now be able to cast their votes electronically in NCTA elections. Fewer resources will be used and our voting system will be more environmentally friendly.
The proposed amendment was approved by a vote of 22 to 0 with 0 abstentions.
After the vote, we had interesting and varied feature presentations. In the first part, two translators shared some of their experience and insights into literary translation. → continue reading
Dec 1st, 2009 | NCTA Events, Reports | No Comments
BY AFAF STEIERT
Latest East Bay lunch social at Cha Am, a Thai restaurant.
The NCTA East Bay lunch social is a nice event because it breaks up the work week. On October 7, we met at Cha Am, a Thai restaurant. Every lunch is an exchange of experiences. I’m always pleasantly surprised at who I meet, whether it’s new members, potential members, or long-term members. We share our perspectives of current day-to-day life and work, and exchange information about everything from client relations to vacation ideas. → continue reading
Dec 1st, 2009 | ATA, Conferences, Reports | No Comments
As it reaches a milestone in its history, the ATA returns to its birthplace, NYC, with a stronger commitment than ever to promote our profession. BY NINA BOGDAN & KAREN TKACZYK
The opening session of the 50th Annual ATA Conference
THE FUTURE IS HERE
Pavel Palazhchenko, Mikhail Gorbachev’s interpreter for many years, spoke to standing room only crowds at the ATA conference, and as I soaked in his words, admiring both his insightful perspective about the world of interpreting and translation as well as his wonderfully elegant English, I reflected also on the importance of this event. At the closing session of the conference, ATA President Nicholas Hartmann announced that ATA membership, as of now, numbers more than 11,000. In an interview that same day with Fox Business News, past president Jiri Stejskal stated that the profession of translator is just that—a profession (meaning, not a hobby or something one can take up after taking a Berlitz course) and that a proficient translator may well earn in the six figures. → continue reading
Dec 1st, 2009 | Business Tools, Reviews | No Comments
The Tool Kit is an online newsletter that comes to its subscribers’ mailboxes twice a month. In Translorial, we offer a quarterly digest of Jost’s most helpful tips from the past season. BY JOST ZETZSCHE © 2009 INTERNATIONAL WRITERS’ GROUP, COMPILED BY YVES AVÉROUS
GOOGLE CHROME SHINES
I always tend to use the software that I have just translated—after all, I know all the tricks once the translation is finished. Here are some things I recently learned that way about Google Chrome: My new favorite feature is a way to create stand-alone applications of web-based applications in Chrome. This means that you can run any website not within the tabbed browser- interface but in an interface that has nothing but the actual application. I really like this because it prevents you from accidentally closing an important application that you’re working in by closing your browser or browser tabs, and it lets you completely focus on your task. This is great for things like browser-based translation interfaces or many other important tasks for which it is not important to link continuously to other webpages. → continue reading
Dec 1st, 2009 | Business Tools, Reviews | No Comments
BY YVES AVÉROUS
There’s never been a better time to get a new Mac. Since last June, the whole line-up of consumer machines has been completely revamped. Choices include the cost-efficient MacBook or a super-duper quad-core iMac. I am particularly impressed with the pixel real estate made available on the new 27-inch iMac. With a finer resolution than previous pricey monitors, this new all-in-one desktop counts as many pixels in width as the 30-inch Cinema Display and only 160 less pixels in height than that flagship monitor that is still listed at $1,800 by itself. → continue reading
Dec 1st, 2009 | Business, Continuing Ed., Reports | No Comments
Frank self-assessment of both linguistic and business skills are necessary in order to be successful as a freelance translator. BY ADA LUZ RESTREPO
Do you find yourself translating documents at work because your co-workers know you speak Mandarin? Or find yourself serving as “interpreter” between your Mexican family and American husband who doesn’t speak Spanish? People admire your abilities to speak two languages and help others who are still living in a monolingual world; but have you asked yourself if you are truly bilingual and truly bicultural?
These were some of the topics covered during the “Getting Started in Translation and Interpretation,” workshop organized by the NCTA, which took place on Saturday, September 19, at the San Francisco State University downtown campus. → continue reading
Dec 1st, 2009 | Business, Perspective, Translation | 1 Comment
The often dysfunctional relationship between project managers and freelance translators may stem from a simple lack of communication. BY SUSAN AYOOB
In a fast-paced, deadline-driven industry, freelance translators and project managers communicate constantly, yet there is often a lack of true communication between both parties. In a way, this is understandable, since there is often little time to discuss details when a project has a short turn-around time. Call, confirm, translate, and deliver. Yet regardless of a project’s scope—be it the translation of a few sentences in Word or a file consisting of thousands of words and involving the management of a hefty translation memory—clear project instructions are an absolute must in order to ensure an on-time, accurate delivery (as well as the avoidance of headaches on both sides). I have worked as both a project coordinator and a freelance translator, and I know that there are certain things that project managers would love for freelance translators to know, and likewise, translators often wish that project managers could do some things a bit differently. → continue reading
Sep 1st, 2009 | ATA, Continuing Ed., Perspective | 1 Comment
In our high-tech world, the ATA exam continues to be a low-tech institution. BY NINA BOGDAN
The decision to take the ATA certification exam is based on a number of factors, one of which is whether or not the individual translator is at the stage of their career that they are ready. There is nothing more frustrating than spending the time preparing for the exam (and paying the substantial fee) and then not passing.
ATA statistics on this issue make it clear that novice translators, for example, those who have just graduated with a degree in a foreign language—even an advanced degree—should not expect to pass the exam. The overall pass rate for the ATA exam is under 20%. These statistics are not broken down by language combinations as, according to Terry Hanlen, ATA Deputy Executive Director and Certification Program Manager, this would be like comparing apples and oranges since some language combinations have hundreds of exams while others only have five. → continue reading
