The Savvy Newcomer aims to serve newcomers to the translation and interpreting professions by publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed content on a weekly basis. We strive to provide you with the answers to the many questions you face as a new or aspiring translator or interpreter.
Many language professionals start out doing their work 鈥渙n the side鈥 of whatever else they are doing in life. When people find out you are bilingual, you may be asked to do some volunteer interpreting to help out a friend, family member, or someone in need, or you may agree or be expected to do the occasional translation鈥攁nd maybe even get paid for it. Volunteering and doing small side jobs are great ways to gain experience and improve your skills as a translator or interpreter. But in order to be a professional鈥攚hether you plan on doing this work part-time or…
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This post originally appeared on Translating is an Art blog and it is republished with permission. I find that a lot of people only use CAT tools for repetitive texts. And that is of course what they were originally developed for. Modern CAT tools, however, have so many other useful features that it鈥檚 worth considering using them for non-repetitive texts…
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This post originally appeared on Copyblogger I don鈥檛 know about you, but when I started freelancing as a writer, I made a ton of mistakes. And by 鈥渁 ton,鈥 I mean everything I did was pretty much a disaster. Thankfully, you can fix mistakes. And contrary to popular belief, making mistakes is a good thing 鈥 provided you learn from…
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Oftentimes, clients will have questions as to the style choices that language professionals make. Perhaps the target document may not appear the way they see it in English, or perhaps it does not coincide with other documents they have seen written in the target language. In order to alleviate some of the stress in this process, this style guide was…
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Reblogged with permission I often receive emails from aspiring translators who are switching from a career in the fields of science or healthcare and are seeking advice from someone with the same language combination who made a similar change, albeit several decades ago. This blog post is an expanded version of my response, in the hope that it will save…
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From time to time we at The Savvy Newcomer receive questions from our readers that make for great blog post topics. This is one of them! Here鈥檚 a question from one of our readers who鈥檚 just starting to pursue an interest in languages and wants to know how to get started. Q: Is there any advice you could give for…
Read MoreHow to Create an Ideal T&I Client Profile to Market Your Services
This post was originally published on Madalena S谩nchez Zampaulo’s blog. It is reposted with permission. It is incredibly important to know your ideal client if your marketing efforts are going to be effective. After all, we want to work with our ideal clients, and not just anyone who crosses our paths, right? I mentioned recently in a webinar that I…
Read MoreThe Secret Sauce for Building Cohesive Teams
Though it may seem paradoxical since many of us work independently, teamwork is a critical component of a freelance translator or interpreter鈥檚 professional life. Introverts and extroverts alike need collaboration and interaction in order to thrive, and oftentimes quality necessitates working together to resolve questions and agree on solutions. Whether you鈥檙e volunteering on a committee, working with a team of…
Read MoreFreelance Beginner Tips: The Pitfalls to Avoid
Reblogged from Hongkiat, with permission If you鈥檙e still unsure whether or not to pursue freelancing, chances are you鈥檝e contemplated what life is like as a full-time freelancer. You鈥檝e probably heard of the many splendid perks of freelancing, but you鈥檙e still dying to know if it鈥檚 really all sunny and greener 鈥渙n the other side鈥. Like most professions, freelancing has its…
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As many states and entities seek to define standards for the translation and interpreting profession, the State of Oregon serves as a great example of a robust set of standards. In order to prepare to meet these standards, many take translation courses. Such courses can serve as proof to clients who require proof of having taken translation training or as…
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This post was originally published on the听dba Plan B blog. It is reposted with permission. When you have a translation project ready to go, here are some of the questions you鈥檒l likely be asked 鈥 certainly by me, but also by other translators. In most cases, translators need to see the documents before giving you a quote, but even with…
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