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.
As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to transform industries, many translators and interpreters are asking themselves: Is there still a place for me? The answer is a resounding yes, but it comes with an important caveat. The future of translation and interpretation belongs to those who can do what machines cannot, that is, bring cultural competence, empathy, and context to language. At least, thus far. Cultural competence has always been at the heart of effective communication. It enables professionals to interpret meaning beyond words, including humor, idioms, tone, and intention within specific cultural frameworks. While AI can process vast amounts of…
How to identify and avoid translation scammers
It is an unfortunate truth that translation scammers abound. Many of us receive dozens of emails per week that qualify as translation scams鈥 some more convincing than others. How do we sort through the myriad of requests to determine which ones are legitimate and which are worth nothing more than a quick 鈥淒elete鈥? Although much has been written on this…
Fidelity In Translation
Reblogged from Dragon Translate blog, with permission from the author (incl. the images) Faithfulness or fidelity has been a measure by which a translator鈥檚 work can be judged. However, fidelity has not remained constant throughout time and across space and at different stages of history the interpretation of fidelity has varied quite broadly. This essay aims to discuss this meandering…
Book review: Guide to Becoming a Successful Freelance Translator
The translation and interpreting industries have been blessed with a plethora of new books in the last few years. The book I’m going to talk to you about is mostly for new translators and interpreters, curious to explore and eager to learn more about their communities. Let鈥檚 see the basics of the book first. Title The Ultimate Guide to Becoming…
Linguist in the Spotlight: An Interview with David Rumsey
Following our most recent 鈥淟inguist in the Spotlight鈥 interview (with current ATA President Corinne McKay), we could not be happier to have had the opportunity to speak to immediate past president of ATA, David Rumsey. A Swedish-, Danish-, and Norwegian-to-English translator for nearly 30 years, David has a wealth of knowledge about the profession (which, by the way, he fell…
Dear Savvy: Will I Go Broke as a Literary Translator?
If you read the first post in our new 鈥淒ear Savvy鈥 series, on breaking into culinary translation, you might remember that our inbox has been graced by a number of thoughtful reader questions lately. In this new column, we provide answers to your questions by asking those who know best. In this case, we recruited literary translator Lisa Carter to…
Certification Exam Changes
Reblogged from The ATA Chronicle, with permission There are major changes ahead for ATA鈥檚 certification exam in 2017. Eligibility Requirements Education and experience requirements needed to take the exam will be discontinued in January 2017. Why? Because they failed to predict the chances of an individual passing the exam. And that was the whole point鈥攖o ensure that exam candidates were…
9 Useful Questions by New Professional Translators
Qualifying is a massive part of becoming a professional translator. But once you鈥檝e finished your training, how do you get started? This article answers nine of the most popular questions by budding professional translators when they get to the end of my Spanish-to-English translation course.
Linguist in the Spotlight: An Interview with Corinne McKay
This fourth installment of our 鈥淟inguist in the Spotlight鈥 interview series features Corinne McKay, French-to-English translator and current president of the 情侣自拍 (ATA). If Corinne鈥檚 name is familiar, it may be thanks not only to her visible role in the ATA, but to the fact that she is a regular contributor to The Savvy Newcomer and also the…
Dear Savvy: I Want to Work in Culinary Translation
Recently, our inbox has seen a number of thoughtful questions from readers. In lieu of shipping off worthy advice to lone recipients, we decided these exchanges could benefit a broader audience. Without further ado, we are pleased to inaugurate our new question-and-answer series 脿 la 鈥淒ear Abby,鈥 titled 鈥淒ear Savvy鈥 (get it?). Our first reader question is on how to…
Transitioning from Student to Freelance Translator
Reblogged from the SDL Trados blog, incl. the image, with permission from the author In November this year at ATA鈥檚 57th Annual Conference in San Francisco, Meghan McCallum and Sarah Puchner, both French to English translators, co-presented a session on 鈥淭ransitioning from Student to Translator: Strategies for Success.鈥 After the conference we reached out to Meghan to discuss this topic…