Top 10 misconceptions about TRANSLATORS

Top 10 misconceptions about TRANSLATORS

10th place:	Anybody who’s studied a foreign language for a few years can become a translator
9th place:	A good translator DOES NOT need a dictionary
8th place:	There’s no difference between translating and interpreting
7th place:	A translator who has to work at night and on weekends to meet delivery deadlines MUST NOT ask for a surcharge for this service
6th place:	A translator DOES NOT need to understand what he’s translating
5th place:	A good translator DOES NOT need to have his translated text checked or revised
4th place:	Becoming a translator is a quick, easy way to get rich
3rd place:	Translating is typing something in another language
2nd place:	An automatic translator costs less and works simply on two batteries
1st place:	THE WORST OF ALL: The advertising text that 20 creative copywriters worked on for 2 months can be translated in the same style and with the same message by only a single translator in a few hours.

Para Traductores!!!!

You are a translator if…

a.. You are miserable unless you can get up 11 a.m. and go to bed at 3:00 a.m.

b.. Your working wardrobe consists of jeans (shorts) and sweatshirts (t-shirts), which you store conveniently on the floor of your closet.

c.. You are prone to carpal tunnel syndrome and backache

d.. You are alone with a computer all day; when you are with other people you tend to jabber.

e.. Your bathrobe is what you are apt to be wearing at 2 in the afternoon.

f.. You are sick of looking at four walls all day and are dying to go out to dinner.

g.. You know many words in your second language that you do not know how to pronounce.

h.. You have met most of the professional colleagues you know through e-mail or Internet chat rooms (or at ATA conferences.)

i.. At home you are always working or thinking about work, so the best way to spend quality time with your family is to travel together.

j.. You struggle not to gain weight from spending all day sitting on your duff and the constant availability of your refrigerator and your work leaves you little time for exercise.

k.. You stay up half the night stewing about how you’ll translate a term the next day.

l.. Your favorite dictionaries are battered from the rough treatment they get on your desk when you are in a “term search frenzy”

m.. It drives you nuts to be asked if you ever did “simultaneous translation” for a celebrity.

n.. You are chronically tired and short of money, and you suspect that the world underrates how hard you work and how much you contribute.

Barter Exchange: A Surprising Option for Freelancers

As a freelancer, there will be times in your career when gaining extra time is more important than earning extra money. That means that trading some of your working time for something you need directly — rather than taking the long way around and trying to earn the money first — can make sense. Bartering some of your work for what you need, can be a useful way to get it. Bartering services can be especially useful when you’re just starting your freelancing career. IT CAN GET THE JOB DONE!

There’s a reason people use cash, rather than barter exchange, for every day transactions. It can be tough to find someone who not only has what you want, but needs what you have. 

It can be worthwhile to keep a list of what you’re willing to barter with, just as you might keep a price list for the different services you can provide. It can also be worthwhile to establish a cash value for both ends of your bartering agreement, so that you’re both clear that the arrangement is fair to each participant.

Write up an agreement of what is involved in the project, deadlines and any other expectations and sign it. That way you will at least start out on the right foot when it comes to treating any barter work completely professionally.

In short, you should handle a barter arrangement no differently than you would handle any other client. The only thing that should not be identical to a regular gig is the method of payment.