In the news

As many readers will be aware, I recently had the honour of being featured in an article on working as a specialist translator that ran on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. You can read the article in full here .

The story of how this article came about starts a little over two years ago when I attended my second ATA Conference in San Francisco. Whenever other translators ask me what I specialise in, I explain that I work in the environmental field with a strong emphasis on recycling and waste management. The next question is typically whether there is enough work to making a living with this speciality (yes!). After networking for a few days in San Francisco I was attending one of the evening functions when I was approached by a translator who had obviously heard of my unusual speciality: "I've heard of you before," he said, "you're trash girl." I was a little taken aback, but realised that my speciality was gaining attention and that the memorable "trash girl" moniker might prove to be a good marketing tool.

Fast forward to a little over a year later when I drove six hours to Oklahoma City to attend our annual regional translation and interpreting symposium. The invited guest speaker was ATA's current president, then president-elect, Nick Hartmann. Nick and I ended up talking about my unusual speciality and apparently the "trash girl" story stuck in his mind, too.

A few days after this year's ATA Conference I received an e-mail from Tina Susman, a journalist with the Los Angeles Times. Ms. Susman told me that she had attended the ATA conference and was planning on writing an article focusing on the varied and often unusual specialities of translators, and my name had been given to her by Nick Hartmann. We had a 30-minute phone conversation later that morning and covered areas including how I got started as a translator, how I fell into my area of speciality and how the recession was affecting my business. She also asked me about the potential annual salary, any tough situations that I have been in as a translator or jobs that I now regret having accepted. Of course, a lot of the subjects that we discussed did not make it into the final interview. Ms. Susman also requested that I send her the details of any other translators who I knew with unusual specialities (I recommended that she contact Katrin Rippel who mainly translates for the food and hospitality industries.)

We kept in touch by e-mail over the next few days, and Ms. Susman asked me to provide her with a list of words that I often find myself translating. I did so, emphasising the complex nature of German grammar. A photographer was also supposed to take my photograph for the article, but ultimately the freelancer that the newspaper uses for the Kansas City area was not available in time for the deadline.

The article ran towards the bottom of the front page on 16th November and continued inside. I was happy with the way that it turned out, with the exception of a few inaccuracies. Most regrettably, there was a misunderstanding about my Alma mater: I went to university in Edinburgh, but attended Heriot-Watt University rather than the University of Edinburgh. I was also disheartened to see that the list of words and phrases that I commonly translate did not have the nouns capitalised. Most glaringly, "die Abwrackprämie" was not only missing its umlaut, but also translated merely as "cash for clunkers" rather than the fuller description I gave explaining that these were the equivalent of payments under the German "cash for clunkers" scheme. (Side note: The New York Times has an excellent article on one of the shortcomings of the German scheme compared with the US approach.

The article was subsequently picked up by other media outlets including the LA Times' sister newspaper, the Chicago Tribune. It was also the subject of several blog posts. I have since received more than 20 e-mails and several phone calls as a result of this article, mainly from other translators interested in specialising in the environmental field. A couple of US-based companies have also contacted me asking for more information about my services after reading the report in the Chicago Tribune.

In the past few days, Judy Jenner from Twin Translations has made it two high-profile newspaper stories on translation and interpreting in a month with this article published by the Wall Street Journal's online edition. It is great to see our profession garnering this kind of attention for all the right reasons.

Keeping an eye on your vision

I had a rare day off yesterday and decided to get a long-overdue eye exam out of the way. It had been several years since my last exam, but since our current insurance plan covers vision exams and we are switching to a high-deductible health plan with an HSA next year I decided to bite the bullet and made a last-minute appointment.

To my dismay, I left with a prescription for computer glasses in my hand and a diagnosis of Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) having had 20/20 vision just three years ago. I had had an inkling that my vision was gradually getting worse as my eyes had occasionally felt strained, especially late at night after working several hours in a row. I had also been forgetting to follow the 20/20/20 rule: Every 20 minutes, look away from your screen for 20 seconds to an object 20 feet away. (Lots of tips and a great deal of other information on CVS can be found at this website)

I certainly wish now that I had been more proactive in taking care of my eyesight in the past, and I am now looking for technology that will remind me to take regular breaks. Feel free to comment if you have any recommendations.

Back in the saddle

What better way to mark my return to work on an overcast Monday morning than with a chuckle? A former colleague sent me this link to an article in The Daily Telegraph about a humourous mistranslation that was sent out on the Reuters news wire. Enjoy!

Maternity Leave

As you may know, I have been on a blogging hiatus and not accepting new translation assignments for the past couple of months for personal reasons: I gave birth to our second child on 23rd July. I thought it might be useful for fellow translators to learn more about how I handled maternity leave.

After my 20-week ultrasound I contacted my largest clients who I work with on a regular, sometimes weekly or even daily, basis. I let them know that I would not be available from 1 July with a provisional return date of 1 October. I decided to stop working at 38 weeks to avoid letting any clients down if I went into labour early. This two-week buffer also gave me time to complete any tasks around the office (preparing my quarterly tax filing, finalizing invoices etc.). A provisional return date also gives me the flexibility to start working again earlier if necessary.

I also felt that it was important to provide each of these key clients with the name of a fellow translator who I felt comfortable recommending. Alternatively I offered to assist them if they wished to find their own short-term replacement. I have a longstanding personal relationship with these clients and feel confident that they will be using my services again upon my return.

A couple of months later I got in touch with my other clients to inform them that I would not be available over the summer months. These tended to be customers who I do not work with on a frequent basis and who might not have needed a translation over the summer in any case.

While on maternity leave I have also been keeping up with the latest developments in the environmental, and specifically waste management, field. I have caught up on reading journals that had piled up in the office and have also been scanning newspapers and translation websites to stay in the loop.

I plan to get in touch with my clients a few days before I return to work officially to remind them that I am now available again. I do not anticipate that they will be able to tell any difference in the service that they receive: As after the birth of my daughter, I have childcare arrangements in place to allow me to focus on work and work alone. I will be more scrupulous about which assignments I accept for the remainder of this year. In the same vein, I have stepped down from the interaktiv editorial team and have decided not to run for re-election as a member of the MICATA Board. I hope to be in a position to stand for election again in 2010/2011. I might also be blogging less frequently over the coming months.

Unfortunately I will be unable to attend the ATA conference this year, but I am already looking forward to Denver in 2010.

New issue of interaktiv

The summer issue of interaktiv is now online. Unfortunately, I have recently had to scale back my volunteer translation activities for reasons that I will go into in my next blog post. This issue includes some truly wonderful articles that are well worth reading.

While you are there, check out the German Language Division website, which has undergone a major revamp thanks to the efforts of GLD webmaster and fellow blogger Michael Wahlster. Great job, Michael!

Read all about it!

One of the many pleasurable aspects of working on the interaktiv editorial team was that it forced me to set aside time to read translation-related publications in an effort to find articles worth reprinting. Here is a list of just a few of the links that I bookmarked during my quest for suitable articles. Leave me a comment if you know of any translation publications that I have missed and I will update the list accordingly. Happy reading!

ATA Chapter Newsletters

CATI Quarterly

MATI InforMATIon

MICATA Monitor

MiTiN Newsletter

NCATA The Capital Translator

NCTA Translorial (registration required)

NOTA NOTA Bene

NOTIS The Northwest Linguist

NYCT The Gotham Translator

ATA Division Newsletters

Other English-language journals

CTA Newsletter

FIT Translatio

Institute of Translation and Interpreting Bulletin (subscription required; selected articles available under ITI Bulletin)

Irish Translators and Interpreters Association Bulletin

Journal of Specialised Translation

NAJIT Proteus (selected articles available to non-members under Publications)

Society for Technical Communication Intercom (selected articles available to non-members)

Translation Journal

German-language publications

ADÜ Nord Infoblatt (under Publikationen)

ATICOM Forum

BDÜ Landesverband NRW BDÜ info NRW

BDÜ Landesverband Bremen und Niedersachsen e.V. Transrelations

BDÜ Landesverband Berlin-Brandenburg Berliner Rundbrief

Hieronymus

Tekom tcworld (requires free subscription)

Two new environmental translation blogs

Eagle-eyed blog readers will notice a couple of new additions to my blog reader that focus on environmental translation:

Translating for the Environment is a relatively new blog written by Kelly Wester, a Spanish-English environmental translator.

Over the past week I have also been enjoying reading Always Greener: Notes from an American on the other side, Craig Morris' very informative blog with an emphasis on renewable energy.

Happy reading!