If you’re a translator or interpreter who travels frequently, I might have some good news for you!I recently returned from a trip to Hong Kong and Thailand, which was my first time anywhere in Asia and while I’d been to Europe several times, just a couple of months away from my trip, I realized that […]

We’ve all gotten those impersonal e-mails from agencies and companies starting with “dear translator,” “linguist,” the dreaded “resource” or some other generalized category. I know many translators who immediately delete these without reading them, others who jump on them trying to be the first to respond and still others who are either silently offended or…not-so-silently […]

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who owns an internet marketing company and manages their sales team. He mused that he and most of his entire sales team were all introverts. As an extrovert fascinated by psychology, I’ve actually read quite a bit about introverts but it wasn’t until that […]

It’s almost tax day and if you hate numbers or organization is not your strong suit, you’re probably not looking forward to it. Here are some last-minute things you can think about to get the most out of your deductions! Niche research: books, magazines, and any other materials you use to research for your job…and […]

Ever been in this situation? I started a proofreading job only to realize the translation is a disaster. I agreed to translate a file based on a sample, but the rest of the sample includes tons of unexpected formatting. I took an interpretation assignment that was supposed to be escort but once I got there […]

We are all people, and mistakes happen. Sometimes we, as translators or interpreters, are the ones at fault. Perhaps we didn’t catch a typo or mixed up a deadline. Or perhaps there was a miscommunication between you and your client that produced what your client perceives to be a mistake on your part. It happens […]

Rates are a very controversial issue in our industry and the issue of low-ballers is even more controversial. In fact, it’s kind of a hard concept to pinpoint. One freelancer might be regularly (and happily) working for a rate that another considers low-balling. Or, you might be too fast to burn a potential bridge over […]

As freelancers, we are translators and/or interpreters first, and many of us fall into being a business owner for no other reason than the fact that our industry is generally set up in favor of hiring freelancers to do work on a contract basis instead of hiring full-time employees. In other words, instead of having […]