BUILDING AN ONLINE PRESENCE

I recently celebrated one year as a freelance translator (hurrah!).

During the first six months or so, I worked almost exclusively with agency customers (for whom I completed an application process). Recently, I have also been working with some direct customers (who I mainly found through contacts and recommendations).

My work flow has gradually become very healthy (by mid-February, I already had orders taking me through to the end of March). I even find myself regularly having to turn down work with my agency customers due to a lack of availability. However, I decided that as my company is maturing, so should my online presence.

There are two main reasons for this:

1. To have a more professional image,

2. To attract more customers searching for the services I provide, by being more visible on the web.

With this in mind, I recently took the following steps:

In addition to this blog, I already have a (very basic) website, which I plan to develop over the coming months. I have been meaning to set time aside to do this for a while, and thanks to a very busy March, now is the time I can really afford to.

I have also been making an effort to connect with more people on Twitter and follow subjects and causes related to modern languages, and translation in particular. In doing so, I have learnt a great deal, discovered interesting blogs and networked with more people in my industry. A fellow translator, Eric Hansson (@erik_hansson), recently created the #xl8promote hashtag as an initiative to promote professional translators. If any of you would like to take part, send him a direct message and get your name tweeted!

I also recently wrote a guest post that was published on Nikki Graham’s blog, in her series on Translation MAs: http://nikkigrahamtranix.com/2016/03/11/the-benefits-of-an-ma-in-translation/. Hopefully this will help people understand the importance of education and training in our profession and provide potential translators with information on the courses available.

To round it all off, I have just created a Facebook page for my business (https://www.facebook.com/translatingmatters). I am hoping this will direct more traffic to my blog and website.

If any of you have any hints/tips/experiences to share related to building an online presence, feel free to comment at the end of this post!

Happy Easter!

Comments

A-Z of Aviation Abbreviations

The aviation industry is full of abbreviations. Here are just some of them! How many did you already know? Abbreviation Definition A/C Aircraft B/C Business Class CCOM Cabin Crew Operating Manual DFDRS Digital Flight Data Recorder System EASA European Aviation Safety Agency FAA Federal Aviation Administration GHS Ground Handling/Servicing HMI Human Machine Interface IATA International Air Transport Association JAA Joint Aviation Authorities KPI Key Performance Indicator L/G Landing gear MOE Maintenance Organisation Exposition NEO New Engine Option OAT Outside Air Temperature PF Pilot Flying QRH Quick Reference Handbook RTO Reje

LOST FOR TRANSLATION

Last week I attended the 2018 Mediterranean Translators and Editors Meeting (METM18). It was set in the beautiful Catalan city of Girona - conveniently only a stone's throw away from Barcelona, where I am based. As well as taking part in a practical workshop led by Laura Bennett* and learning a wealth of information from presentations by fellow translators and editors, METM18 was a wonderful opportunity to meet fellow colleagues based in the Mediterranean region and beyond. When talking to other translators, I was struck by how hard it was to get a straight answer to the simple question: "Where are you from?" Now, before you jump to conclusions, I'm not saying that translators are a shifty or reserved bunch. To the contrary, most answers were fascinating and reassuringly resembled how I usually (sometimes uncomfortably) respond: "I was born in Country A, studied in Country B, moved to Country C for work and am currently living in Country D".

How to Stand Out from the Translation Crowd

To be a good translator, as a bare minimum , you need to: - Master your source (foreign) language(s), - Be a great writer in your target (native) language, - Have a translation qualification or exceptional foreign language skills and industry experience, - Have in-depth knowledge of the culture of your source and target languages, - Deliver your work on time, - Have a Quality Assurance process in place, - Set rates that reflect the quality of the work you produce, - etc. However, to go from being someone who knows how to translate to being a thriving freelance translator, you should also consider the following: 1. Find your niche As a qualified generalist, you can almost certainly find work with big agencies, but they usually only agree to pay low-to-average rates and have you working under mediocre conditions (quick turn-around times, volume discounts, degressive pricing with CAT tools, etc.). If you really specialise in a subject area (preferably in somethin

Translating matters

Search This Blog