Happy New Year to those of you already celebrating 2012! We still have a few hours left before the clock strikes twelve in Missouri so I'm performing my traditional year-end review and setting goals for the upcoming year with a cup of tea and mince pie. Looking back at 2011, some features stand out:
• My business has altered a little over the past year: Instead of working almost exclusively for direct clients in Germany I am now translating quite a bit for agencies in the US. I'm really pleased to have diversified my customer and currency base a little given recent developments in the Eurozone.
• Preliminary figures show that gross revenue from translation and editing projects invoiced in euros increased by about seven per cent in 2011. I haven't looked at the official figures yet, but my sense is that I worked a lot more than in 2010, as well. The exchange rate was not quite as favourable as it was in 2010, which led me to take action at the end of 2011.
• With the exception of government clients with whom I have long-term contracts, all of my clients are now paying higher prices or will be from 1 January 2012. Right now it looks like everybody has agreed to the price increase (it had been a few years since the last round) so I'm breathing a sigh of relief and looking forward to maintaining these relationships for another year.
• I had the privilege of working on some truly fascinating and inspiring projects this year. I translated reports about waste collection projects in sub-Saharan Africa, mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in small island nations, recycling plastic bottles in China, a sustainability report, International Toilet Day and press releases for a solar technology firm in the US, to name just a few.
• I lost two direct clients this year. One filed for insolvency and the other was bought by a competitor who chose to stick with their existing translation service provider. It could have been worse. Luckily, it had been a few months since I had worked for them, and all invoices had been paid.
• I was acknowledged in print as the translator of two reports that I handled in the second half of the year. I have to confess that I didn't actively seek to be credited and in both cases the customer requested my permission. This is something that I'm going to try to pursue more actively next year and beyond.
• I wrote and sent out my first newsletter (available here). I also paid a trusted colleague to translate the newsletter into German, which incidentally offered real insight into the experience of a translation buyer. I'm already working on the next edition and hope to make this a regular occurrence.
• One of my main goals entering 2011 was to mix up my approach to professional development. I attended a waste management conference in January, a networking event for business communicators in March and the ITI Conference in the UK in May. I'm looking into going to a trade fair in Germany next year.
• MICATA duties have kept me fairly busy, as well. Our headline event, the MICATA Symposium, will be held in Kansas City in late March, and feature two days of continuing education for translators and interpreters.
• Returning to paid duties, the last quarter of the year has ended up being my busiest quarter since I started freelancing in 2005. I was fully booked after returning from the ATA Conference in late October (which is why I haven't had the time to blog about what turned out to be my favourite ATA Conference) until December 23rd. Thankfully most of my clients in Germany have been out of the office since then so I've had a few days to recharge the batteries.
Looking ahead to 2012, my only goal is to try to achieve a better work-life balance. My love of translation is just as strong as it has always been, but I have spent far too many nights of late burning the proverbial midnight oil. So heeding my own advice, it's time to get this post up and spend the rest of the day relaxing with my family. The translations can wait until Monday.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, September 29, 2011
A decade in translation
This month marks ten years since my career as a full-time translator began. I finished my degree in translation and interpreting in the summer of 2001 and immediately sought an in-house position as a translator in southern Germany where my now-husband lived. By luck and good fortune, I managed to find a job as an in-house translator and journalist at a specialised publishing house in the beautiful Black Forest region of Germany.
I walked in on my first day naively believing that my degree in translation had prepared me adequately for this position. How wrong I was! The next four years proved transformative for my career: The colleague with whom I shared an office took me under her wing and helped me to become the translator I am today. As many of you know from previous posts, this company also produces Germany's leading journal for the waste management and recycling industry, allowing me to gain deep knowledge of the area that is now my primary speciality. One of the benefits of my job was that I could travel to trade fairs and conferences in France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Finland and the Netherlands. I also visited different types of waste treatment plants, from landfills to hazardous waste incinerators and e-scrap recycling facilities. I cannot understate how grateful I am for all of these experiences.
Six years ago a new chapter of my life began with a move to Kansas City. Going from working in a busy office to becoming a freelancer was an adjustment, to say the least. The quiet was deafening so I learned to work with BBC World Service playing in the background. I embraced social media, joined my local translators association, MICATA, and became a devoted attendee of ATA conferences. Over the past six years my customer base has also undergone a significant shift from being reliant on just one or two clients to becoming more diverse. As the next ten years of my career in translation dawn it is perhaps fitting that I am beginning a new role: I will become president of MICATA on 1st October. I am excited for the challenges and opportunities that it will bring, and look forward to repaying some of the kindness shown to me during the first phase of my career. Here's to many more decades to come!
I walked in on my first day naively believing that my degree in translation had prepared me adequately for this position. How wrong I was! The next four years proved transformative for my career: The colleague with whom I shared an office took me under her wing and helped me to become the translator I am today. As many of you know from previous posts, this company also produces Germany's leading journal for the waste management and recycling industry, allowing me to gain deep knowledge of the area that is now my primary speciality. One of the benefits of my job was that I could travel to trade fairs and conferences in France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Finland and the Netherlands. I also visited different types of waste treatment plants, from landfills to hazardous waste incinerators and e-scrap recycling facilities. I cannot understate how grateful I am for all of these experiences.
Six years ago a new chapter of my life began with a move to Kansas City. Going from working in a busy office to becoming a freelancer was an adjustment, to say the least. The quiet was deafening so I learned to work with BBC World Service playing in the background. I embraced social media, joined my local translators association, MICATA, and became a devoted attendee of ATA conferences. Over the past six years my customer base has also undergone a significant shift from being reliant on just one or two clients to becoming more diverse. As the next ten years of my career in translation dawn it is perhaps fitting that I am beginning a new role: I will become president of MICATA on 1st October. I am excited for the challenges and opportunities that it will bring, and look forward to repaying some of the kindness shown to me during the first phase of my career. Here's to many more decades to come!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
A ♥ for Language Blogs
Welcome to any readers visiting by way of Translation Tribulations! Judy and Dagmar Jenner from Translation Times, who I have had the good fortune to meet at ATA conferences, suggested last week that translation bloggers write a post listing their favourite language-related blogs. I noticed this evening that traffic to my blog had picked up today and soon realised that most hits had come from Kevin Lossner's blog, Translation Tribulations. In order to raise the profile of some of my favourite blogs that have not yet been mentioned, I will endeavour to follow Kevin's example. To avoid reinventing the wheel, I will not list any blogs that I have found in similarly titled posts. Here are the Exceptional Eight (in no particular order).
1. As a German-English translator one of my absolute hands-down favourite blogs is False Friends, Good and Bad Translation, Denglisch, Tipps für Übersetzer. Don't let the lengthy title put you off. Written mainly in German by Martin Crellin and his team at Martin Crellin Copywriting and Translation, this delightful blog looks at mistranslations and offers some great ideas about how to tackle false friends and tricky terms that would trip up inexperienced translators. Impressum and Prokurist, anyone?
2. Not a language blog per se, but Craig Morris does occasionally foray into translation-related issues in his blog, Always Greener. The blog takes an in-depth look at developments in green energy policy. It also includes posts about German-American relations and reflects Craig's experiences as an American living in Germany. Craig specialises in translating texts relating to renewable energies and is director of Petite Planète Translations.
3. Next up are a couple of UK-based translators. Philippa Hammond's blog, Blogging Translator, was one of the first blogs by British translators that I came across before I started writing The Greener Word. I really enjoy the clean graphics of her blog that allow the reader to focus on the content of her posts with no distractions. She writes a lot about freelancing and provides reviews of translation events that she attends, something that I appreciate as an expat who can make it to translation conferences in the UK only on a sporadic basis. Philippa is an MITI and translates from French, Spanish and Portuguese into English.
4. Betti Moser, a fellow German translator, recently launched her new blog . Betti is also a copywriter and editor, and her first few posts show of promising things to come.
5. Another new blog comes from Ana Iaria, an English-Brazilian Portuguese translator specialising in legal translation. I first met Ana at the ATA Conference's bloggers lunch, grew to appreciate her points of view more in her postings on the ATA Business Practice's Division mailing list and bumped into her again at the ITI Conference this year. Hopefully our paths will cross again this autumn in Boston. She pulls no punches in her posts on trends and quality in translation.
7. Another legal translator with a more established blog is Margaret Marks. Transblawg is a must-read for any German translator. Her insightful posts are often interspersed with photos of her surroundings. She also has an extensive selection of links that you could lose an entire afternoon following. (I speak from experience).
8. Last, but by no means least, is the ATA Science and Technology division's blog. You will find the whole gamut here from software localisation to phototonics and patent terminology. A new post is published every month or so, and the blog's editors are always seeking submissions from translators involved in the technical and scientific fields.
So there's my eight. Feel free to comment with a link to any blogs that I didn't mention here.
1. As a German-English translator one of my absolute hands-down favourite blogs is False Friends, Good and Bad Translation, Denglisch, Tipps für Übersetzer. Don't let the lengthy title put you off. Written mainly in German by Martin Crellin and his team at Martin Crellin Copywriting and Translation, this delightful blog looks at mistranslations and offers some great ideas about how to tackle false friends and tricky terms that would trip up inexperienced translators. Impressum and Prokurist, anyone?
2. Not a language blog per se, but Craig Morris does occasionally foray into translation-related issues in his blog, Always Greener. The blog takes an in-depth look at developments in green energy policy. It also includes posts about German-American relations and reflects Craig's experiences as an American living in Germany. Craig specialises in translating texts relating to renewable energies and is director of Petite Planète Translations.
3. Next up are a couple of UK-based translators. Philippa Hammond's blog, Blogging Translator, was one of the first blogs by British translators that I came across before I started writing The Greener Word. I really enjoy the clean graphics of her blog that allow the reader to focus on the content of her posts with no distractions. She writes a lot about freelancing and provides reviews of translation events that she attends, something that I appreciate as an expat who can make it to translation conferences in the UK only on a sporadic basis. Philippa is an MITI and translates from French, Spanish and Portuguese into English.
4. Betti Moser, a fellow German translator, recently launched her new blog . Betti is also a copywriter and editor, and her first few posts show of promising things to come.
5. Another new blog comes from Ana Iaria, an English-Brazilian Portuguese translator specialising in legal translation. I first met Ana at the ATA Conference's bloggers lunch, grew to appreciate her points of view more in her postings on the ATA Business Practice's Division mailing list and bumped into her again at the ITI Conference this year. Hopefully our paths will cross again this autumn in Boston. She pulls no punches in her posts on trends and quality in translation.
7. Another legal translator with a more established blog is Margaret Marks. Transblawg is a must-read for any German translator. Her insightful posts are often interspersed with photos of her surroundings. She also has an extensive selection of links that you could lose an entire afternoon following. (I speak from experience).
8. Last, but by no means least, is the ATA Science and Technology division's blog. You will find the whole gamut here from software localisation to phototonics and patent terminology. A new post is published every month or so, and the blog's editors are always seeking submissions from translators involved in the technical and scientific fields.
So there's my eight. Feel free to comment with a link to any blogs that I didn't mention here.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Disposal: A loaded word
This post was prompted by an e-mail exchange I had last week with a project manager at a translation agency. The PM had previously assigned me a job to edit the translation of a brochure that a waste management company intended to use at trade fairs and industry events. The text was fairly straightforward, but raised an issue that I have had to deal with on a number of occasions, namely how to translate the German verb 'entsorgen' when the target audience is industry insiders. For those of you whose working languages do not include German, 'entsorgen' means nothing more than to manage waste. The noun, 'die Entsorgung', is typically rendered much more easily as waste management.
In this instance, the translator chose to use the verb 'dispose of'. For instance, company ABC disposes of more than XYZ tonnes of waste each year. My contention was and is that this linguistic choice falls short, especially given the target audience and purpose of the translation. To find out why, we need to delve a little deeper into the definition of disposal in a waste management context.
Waste management processes fall into two categories: recovery operations and disposal operations. A joint questionnaire on waste conducted by the OECD and Eurostat defined recovery as "any waste management operation that diverts a waste material from the waste stream and which results in a certain product with a potential economic or ecological benefit." The primary methods of recovery are recycling, energy recovery, composting and re-use.
Conversely, waste management operations are considered as disposal operations only when the material and energy resources contained in the wastes are not used. The main disposal operations are landfilling and other methods of permanent storage as well as incineration without energy generation.
From these definitions it should be clear that any waste management company that, like the business in question specialises in recycling and composting services, will not want their name and brand associated with landfilling and incineration without energy generation. I suggested that the agency might want to consider 'handle', 'process', 'manage' or even 'take care of' instead.
Notwithstanding these comments, it is important to note that 'dispose of' might be a sound translation for 'entsorgen' in some settings. This is especially true when translating texts destined for the general public when the meaning of 'entsorgen' is to 'get rid of' waste.
Another anecdote: In my former life as a journalist for a recycling and waste management journal I visited a number of trade fairs and received a large number of brochures like the one that I was editing. One that sticks in my mind over seven years later was a glossy, colourful brochure from an organisation that provides collection and recycling services for scrap electrical and electronic goods. Its slogan was "Wir entsorgen Ihre Abfälle" in German. The translation into English? "We dispose your waists" (sic). Ouch.
In this instance, the translator chose to use the verb 'dispose of'. For instance, company ABC disposes of more than XYZ tonnes of waste each year. My contention was and is that this linguistic choice falls short, especially given the target audience and purpose of the translation. To find out why, we need to delve a little deeper into the definition of disposal in a waste management context.
Waste management processes fall into two categories: recovery operations and disposal operations. A joint questionnaire on waste conducted by the OECD and Eurostat defined recovery as "any waste management operation that diverts a waste material from the waste stream and which results in a certain product with a potential economic or ecological benefit." The primary methods of recovery are recycling, energy recovery, composting and re-use.
Conversely, waste management operations are considered as disposal operations only when the material and energy resources contained in the wastes are not used. The main disposal operations are landfilling and other methods of permanent storage as well as incineration without energy generation.
From these definitions it should be clear that any waste management company that, like the business in question specialises in recycling and composting services, will not want their name and brand associated with landfilling and incineration without energy generation. I suggested that the agency might want to consider 'handle', 'process', 'manage' or even 'take care of' instead.
Notwithstanding these comments, it is important to note that 'dispose of' might be a sound translation for 'entsorgen' in some settings. This is especially true when translating texts destined for the general public when the meaning of 'entsorgen' is to 'get rid of' waste.
Another anecdote: In my former life as a journalist for a recycling and waste management journal I visited a number of trade fairs and received a large number of brochures like the one that I was editing. One that sticks in my mind over seven years later was a glossy, colourful brochure from an organisation that provides collection and recycling services for scrap electrical and electronic goods. Its slogan was "Wir entsorgen Ihre Abfälle" in German. The translation into English? "We dispose your waists" (sic). Ouch.
Monday, April 11, 2011
$80 and a t-shirt
Futurallia, an international business-to-business networking event for professionals, will be held in the United States for the first time ever next month. The location just happens to be the city where I live, Kansas City. I found out that this event was coming to town several months ago when searching for events geared towards the international business community. It is truly a great win for Kansas City to serve as the host for this event. Just last month, the International Trade Council of Greater Kansas City was among four groups that created the OneKC World Trade Center as part of efforts to position the city as a centre for exports. Having Futurallia in Kansas City is certainly a good step in that direction.
With business professionals from 30 countries said to be attending, interpreters will certainly be a must and, indeed, the event's promotional video states that "fully qualified interpreters" will be in attendance. So you will understand how disappointed local professional interpreters were to be offered the following for one day's work at Futurallia:
· a unique and beneficial networking opportunity;
· a stipend of $80 for each day (8am to 5pm) of participation;
· a lanyard with your name;
· a t-shirt to wear while interpreting and yours to keep;
· lunch, snacks and parking provided while interpreting:
· 10 business cards with your information to use for networking opportunities;
· your name and contact information in the Futurallia catalog;
· a certificate recognizing your contribution as an official interpreter/moderator for Futurallia;
I'm not sure which is most insulting: the stipend or the t-shirt that's yours to keep? Behind the scenes, local interpreters describe this offer as a joke, and I can only agree. The rate offered is not only barely above minimum wage in our state, it is also well below the hourly rate charged by any serious professional interpreter. And as for the ten free business cards, what serious interpreter doesn't have his or her own cards?
Acting as a bridge between people of different cultures, professional interpreters have invested in the training needed to deal with the many complex language issues that can arise when people of two completely different backgrounds meet. They know their culture's business etiquette, aren't fazed by tough situations and perform painstaking terminology research in advance so that they can handle any tricky terms that might arise during meetings. Using foreign language students or any random bilingual speakers that the organisers can track down will certainly not provide the high-class experience that the organisers promote in their videos. With registration starting at over $1,000, it does not seem to be a budgetary issue, but rather an unfortunate case of trying to cut corners where it matters most.
As one local interpreter wrote: "Attendees are going with the expectation of being provided with professional services (interpretation is mentioned as one of the items included in the packages that people buy). They will go in assuming that they will have an opportunity to expand their international business, as that is the whole idea of this event and the reason for going there, but what they don’t know is that most likely they won’t be able to properly communicate or, even worse, they will miscommunicate while being under the impression that they have been understood. There could be long-term financial and business repercussions for them. Not to mention the attendees who are paying for travel from overseas and will have the same expectations."
Our local ATA Chapter, MICATA, is writing to the organisers of Futurallia, asking them to reconsider their approach to hiring interpreters. I can only hope that they choose to invest in professional service providers and don't squander this unique opportunity to let Kansas City shine in the international spotlight.
With business professionals from 30 countries said to be attending, interpreters will certainly be a must and, indeed, the event's promotional video states that "fully qualified interpreters" will be in attendance. So you will understand how disappointed local professional interpreters were to be offered the following for one day's work at Futurallia:
· a unique and beneficial networking opportunity;
· a stipend of $80 for each day (8am to 5pm) of participation;
· a lanyard with your name;
· a t-shirt to wear while interpreting and yours to keep;
· lunch, snacks and parking provided while interpreting:
· 10 business cards with your information to use for networking opportunities;
· your name and contact information in the Futurallia catalog;
· a certificate recognizing your contribution as an official interpreter/moderator for Futurallia;
I'm not sure which is most insulting: the stipend or the t-shirt that's yours to keep? Behind the scenes, local interpreters describe this offer as a joke, and I can only agree. The rate offered is not only barely above minimum wage in our state, it is also well below the hourly rate charged by any serious professional interpreter. And as for the ten free business cards, what serious interpreter doesn't have his or her own cards?
Acting as a bridge between people of different cultures, professional interpreters have invested in the training needed to deal with the many complex language issues that can arise when people of two completely different backgrounds meet. They know their culture's business etiquette, aren't fazed by tough situations and perform painstaking terminology research in advance so that they can handle any tricky terms that might arise during meetings. Using foreign language students or any random bilingual speakers that the organisers can track down will certainly not provide the high-class experience that the organisers promote in their videos. With registration starting at over $1,000, it does not seem to be a budgetary issue, but rather an unfortunate case of trying to cut corners where it matters most.
As one local interpreter wrote: "Attendees are going with the expectation of being provided with professional services (interpretation is mentioned as one of the items included in the packages that people buy). They will go in assuming that they will have an opportunity to expand their international business, as that is the whole idea of this event and the reason for going there, but what they don’t know is that most likely they won’t be able to properly communicate or, even worse, they will miscommunicate while being under the impression that they have been understood. There could be long-term financial and business repercussions for them. Not to mention the attendees who are paying for travel from overseas and will have the same expectations."
Our local ATA Chapter, MICATA, is writing to the organisers of Futurallia, asking them to reconsider their approach to hiring interpreters. I can only hope that they choose to invest in professional service providers and don't squander this unique opportunity to let Kansas City shine in the international spotlight.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Where I'm going...and where I've been
2011 has so far proven to be an incredibly hectic year on many fronts. January and February marked the busiest start to a year since I launched my freelancing business in 2005, with revenues beating the previous best by 20 per cent. Some favourite projects from those two months included a corporate social responsibility report, a couple of contracts that involved in-depth terminology research and working with a regular client on a website re-launch.
On the volunteering front, I have been devoting quite a bit of time to my role as Secretary of the Mid-America Chapter of the American Translators Association (MICATA). The Board meets monthly now as we prepare for our annual symposium towards the end of March (full information available by visiting www.ata-micata.org). As well as working to publicise the event, I have also been putting together a series of networking events for Kansas City-area translators and interpreters. The first two meetings took place at local cafes and in the next few months we will be touring the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum and Boulevard Brewery (again, for more information visit MICATA's website).
One of my main objectives for this year is to mix things up when it comes to professional development and my marketing approach. In early January, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the local chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association was holding a one-day technical conference on the southern outskirts of Kansas City. My primary objective in attending was to learn more about Kansas City's waste management infrastructure and improve my knowledge of US waste terminology. It was really eye-opening to compare and contrast where my local region is in handling its waste compared with Germany. The good news that I took away for my business was that German companies might well have room to sell their products and services in this market and thus need translation services. Indeed, an Austrian company delivered the technology for our Kansas City's first glass recycling plant just a couple of years ago.
Terminology and local insight were not the only gains from attending, though: I also landed two potential customers. Both leads came by talking to local employees of international corporations who were kind enough to pass my details on to their German offices. I have already completed one small job so attending the event has paid for itself, and I also made contacts with other companies that might allow me tour their facilities over the coming months.
I have quite a few other projects in the pipeline for this spring. In the final week of March I will be heading to northern Missouri to talk to students at a local university about careers in translation and interpreting. My website is also in the process of undergoing a fundamental overhaul. I'm excited to be finally adding a German-language version geared towards end customers in the waste management industry. I also just signed up to attend the ECPD webinar on building a website and am closely eyeing a few forthcoming webinars on using MS Word and editing.
The month of May will see me cross the Atlantic again and attend the Institute of Translation and Interpreting's Conference in Birmingham. I am also really excited to find out more about Translate in the Catskills in the summer. Later in the autumn I will hopefully be rounding off the year by heading for the ATA Conference in Boston.
The unfortunate consequence for this blog is that it has been rather neglected over the past 18 months or so. I did consider shutting down this blog altogether, but I've decided to keep it open for now in the hopes that I will have more time to devote to it in the future. For now, thanks for reading and I hope to be back soon.
On the volunteering front, I have been devoting quite a bit of time to my role as Secretary of the Mid-America Chapter of the American Translators Association (MICATA). The Board meets monthly now as we prepare for our annual symposium towards the end of March (full information available by visiting www.ata-micata.org). As well as working to publicise the event, I have also been putting together a series of networking events for Kansas City-area translators and interpreters. The first two meetings took place at local cafes and in the next few months we will be touring the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum and Boulevard Brewery (again, for more information visit MICATA's website).
One of my main objectives for this year is to mix things up when it comes to professional development and my marketing approach. In early January, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the local chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association was holding a one-day technical conference on the southern outskirts of Kansas City. My primary objective in attending was to learn more about Kansas City's waste management infrastructure and improve my knowledge of US waste terminology. It was really eye-opening to compare and contrast where my local region is in handling its waste compared with Germany. The good news that I took away for my business was that German companies might well have room to sell their products and services in this market and thus need translation services. Indeed, an Austrian company delivered the technology for our Kansas City's first glass recycling plant just a couple of years ago.
Terminology and local insight were not the only gains from attending, though: I also landed two potential customers. Both leads came by talking to local employees of international corporations who were kind enough to pass my details on to their German offices. I have already completed one small job so attending the event has paid for itself, and I also made contacts with other companies that might allow me tour their facilities over the coming months.
I have quite a few other projects in the pipeline for this spring. In the final week of March I will be heading to northern Missouri to talk to students at a local university about careers in translation and interpreting. My website is also in the process of undergoing a fundamental overhaul. I'm excited to be finally adding a German-language version geared towards end customers in the waste management industry. I also just signed up to attend the ECPD webinar on building a website and am closely eyeing a few forthcoming webinars on using MS Word and editing.
The month of May will see me cross the Atlantic again and attend the Institute of Translation and Interpreting's Conference in Birmingham. I am also really excited to find out more about Translate in the Catskills in the summer. Later in the autumn I will hopefully be rounding off the year by heading for the ATA Conference in Boston.
The unfortunate consequence for this blog is that it has been rather neglected over the past 18 months or so. I did consider shutting down this blog altogether, but I've decided to keep it open for now in the hopes that I will have more time to devote to it in the future. For now, thanks for reading and I hope to be back soon.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Trade Journals: A Valuable Resource for Niche Translators
I began my career working as an in-house translator and journalist at a German company that publishes trade journals for a variety of industries. Nearly ten years later, this publisher is still my best client. This relationship has given me a great deal of insight into the many benefits of subscribing to journals so I thought I would share some tips today for harnessing their full potential.
Before we get to these suggestions, I should add that seeking recommendations is the way to go when deciding on which journal to spend your hard-earned money. A simple Google search simply will not typically yield the best results, but rather the company that has spent the most advertising money. Consider starting a discussion on a LinkedIn Group in your area of speciality or asking your clients which journals they prefer to read and why.
I currently subscribe to four trade journals; I have pared down this figure over the past few years given the limited amount of time I have left to read at the end of the day. Three journals arrive at my office in e-mail format and one comes via snail mail. After a full day looking at the screen my eyes are normally weary so I will occasionally print out an electronic version and read it on the sofa with a cup of tea and a highlighter. I assuage my conscience by remembering that this approach is still better for the environment than having a copy shipped to me every week.
1) Keep up to date with developments
The main reason why I started subscribing to trade journals was to keep abreast of developments in the recycling and waste management industry. One of the more magazine-like publications I receive is filled with advertising, but also has a large number of articles about new technologies. Another offers in-depth reporting on major topics that might not be found in mainstream media articles. Yet another often has scoops on behind-the-scenes happenings.
Knowing what is going on in my industry is indispensable for me as a niche translator. When company X calls me about a translation project it solidifies my image as a reputable service provider if I can let them know that I recently heard about their acquisition of company Y just a few days prior. For instance, last month I was on the phone with a potential client just minutes after I opened a journal to find front-page speculation that DSD, Germany's largest scheme for collection and recycling packaging waste, was soon to be sold. When I mentioned this to the other person on the line he expressed surprise that I had already read about these rumours even though Kansas City is thousands of miles away from Germany.
2) Find potential clients
Another great way to use trade journals is as a source of potential clients. One of the weekly publications I subscribe to even has a page listing each company that has featured in its pages, together with that firm's physical and virtual address. I tend to read through each journal with two highlighters – I use a yellow pen to mark any company that might benefit from translation services and a green pen to highlight any terminology (more on that in section four). I have an Excel file into which I enter these leads, and periodically I will select a few to contact as well as undertaking more concerted marketing campaigns close to major trade fairs.
3) Advertise
Following on from this point, I think that it is worthwhile to remember that trade journal readers are a sitting audience when it comes to marketing your services. It is definitely advisable to find out how much the publisher charges for a decent-sized advert and see if you can fit it into your marketing budget. Splash out on a colour advertisement if you can afford it. Remember: just one medium-sized translation project can recoup the cost of advertising all year long. Make sure that you also invest the money to have a professional advert designed to reflect well on your image as a niche translator.
4) Harvest terminology
I wrote a separate blog post about harvesting terminology a couple of years ago. Without wishing to cover the same ground twice, I would merely note that their function as a source of terminology is one of the main reasons that I continue to subscribe to a couple of these resources. Reading articles written by specialists has helped me to solve a terminology conundrum more than once. I have also found journalists working for these publications to be more than willing to brainstorm possible translations of new terms that do not exist yet in English.
5) Work for them
Do not forget that trade journals might well need translators or proofreaders, as well. Two of the journals I subscribe to are published in both German and English. It is definitely worth dropping the editors a line to find out if they have a need for translation or editing services. You might be able to negotiate preferential advertising rates as a service provider. The trade journal that I work for is even nice enough to provide me with a free subscription to their German-language version as a side-benefit!
These are just a few ways to maximise your trade journal subscriptions. Feel free to add a comment with other ideas and I will update this post accordingly.
Before we get to these suggestions, I should add that seeking recommendations is the way to go when deciding on which journal to spend your hard-earned money. A simple Google search simply will not typically yield the best results, but rather the company that has spent the most advertising money. Consider starting a discussion on a LinkedIn Group in your area of speciality or asking your clients which journals they prefer to read and why.
I currently subscribe to four trade journals; I have pared down this figure over the past few years given the limited amount of time I have left to read at the end of the day. Three journals arrive at my office in e-mail format and one comes via snail mail. After a full day looking at the screen my eyes are normally weary so I will occasionally print out an electronic version and read it on the sofa with a cup of tea and a highlighter. I assuage my conscience by remembering that this approach is still better for the environment than having a copy shipped to me every week.
1) Keep up to date with developments
The main reason why I started subscribing to trade journals was to keep abreast of developments in the recycling and waste management industry. One of the more magazine-like publications I receive is filled with advertising, but also has a large number of articles about new technologies. Another offers in-depth reporting on major topics that might not be found in mainstream media articles. Yet another often has scoops on behind-the-scenes happenings.
Knowing what is going on in my industry is indispensable for me as a niche translator. When company X calls me about a translation project it solidifies my image as a reputable service provider if I can let them know that I recently heard about their acquisition of company Y just a few days prior. For instance, last month I was on the phone with a potential client just minutes after I opened a journal to find front-page speculation that DSD, Germany's largest scheme for collection and recycling packaging waste, was soon to be sold. When I mentioned this to the other person on the line he expressed surprise that I had already read about these rumours even though Kansas City is thousands of miles away from Germany.
2) Find potential clients
Another great way to use trade journals is as a source of potential clients. One of the weekly publications I subscribe to even has a page listing each company that has featured in its pages, together with that firm's physical and virtual address. I tend to read through each journal with two highlighters – I use a yellow pen to mark any company that might benefit from translation services and a green pen to highlight any terminology (more on that in section four). I have an Excel file into which I enter these leads, and periodically I will select a few to contact as well as undertaking more concerted marketing campaigns close to major trade fairs.
3) Advertise
Following on from this point, I think that it is worthwhile to remember that trade journal readers are a sitting audience when it comes to marketing your services. It is definitely advisable to find out how much the publisher charges for a decent-sized advert and see if you can fit it into your marketing budget. Splash out on a colour advertisement if you can afford it. Remember: just one medium-sized translation project can recoup the cost of advertising all year long. Make sure that you also invest the money to have a professional advert designed to reflect well on your image as a niche translator.
4) Harvest terminology
I wrote a separate blog post about harvesting terminology a couple of years ago. Without wishing to cover the same ground twice, I would merely note that their function as a source of terminology is one of the main reasons that I continue to subscribe to a couple of these resources. Reading articles written by specialists has helped me to solve a terminology conundrum more than once. I have also found journalists working for these publications to be more than willing to brainstorm possible translations of new terms that do not exist yet in English.
5) Work for them
Do not forget that trade journals might well need translators or proofreaders, as well. Two of the journals I subscribe to are published in both German and English. It is definitely worth dropping the editors a line to find out if they have a need for translation or editing services. You might be able to negotiate preferential advertising rates as a service provider. The trade journal that I work for is even nice enough to provide me with a free subscription to their German-language version as a side-benefit!
These are just a few ways to maximise your trade journal subscriptions. Feel free to add a comment with other ideas and I will update this post accordingly.
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