Trad Online

Interesting article from the New York Times on the role of linguists in counter-terrorism.

Bonjour à toutes et à tous ! J'ai besoin de votre aide, de votre perception, de votre impression : Je viens de créer un blog pour le monde de l'entreprise ! [...]

... vous pourriez augmenter vos tarifs de 39% ! ;)

L'Office européen de sélection du personnel (EPSO) organise de nouveaux concours en vue de recruter des interprètes et des traducteurs pour les institutions de l'Union européenne.

Le syndicat national des traducteurs indépendants publie son étude annuelle sur les honoraires des traducteurs indépendants, qu'il s'agisse de traduction technique, de traduction littéraire ou de traduction assermentée.

Hi All, I am currently working as an in-house German-English translator..Currently i am not thinking of working as a free-lancer, but later i DO want to start with free-lancing some time in future... [...]

This was posted over a year ago on my translation blog, but it may still be useful. Searching my Google Books library is a trick I've been using **every single day** in my translation work. Enjoy!

Hi all, I've edited a Multilingual glossary of legal language (Italian / English, French, Spanish) and I am happy to share the reduced edition here. [...]

This is a free tool I found to be very useful. I hope it is useful to you as well. :-)

Ou comment un outil présenté comme devant nous simplifier la vie peut nous faire prendre un bain de boue involontaire. Voir cet article du Figaro qui nous donne un aperçu édifiant de ce que peut être l'instantanéité, ni revue ni corrigée.

Looks promising, with a great lineup of speakers.

I reviewed a great book for freelance translators: How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator, by Corinne McKay. Although it was published in 2006, I think many of its insights are still valid in 2010. Highly recommended. Enjoy!

This is a book about the business of translation that came out earlier this year. Highly recommended and really useful for insights and practical tips about running a translation business!

In my continuing conversation with Renato Beninatto we recently talked about standards. : It is clear from this conversation that the word. standards is a source of great confusion in the professional translation world. [...]

As a translator, are you working freelance ? If so, what are the pros and cons and would you recommend it ?

I agree with your idea that it comes from pronounciation because in French this spelling variant doesn't exist - probably because in English minuscule and miniscule sound the same whereas in French you would hear the difference. Saying aloud "miniscule" is quite funny in my language, really :-) I have to imagine what a "scule" is and see myself looking at it through a magnifying glass.

I'd argue that for "high-value, life-saving information", and I'm thinking medical-related information particularly, having it translated by machines could be more dangerous than anything else, for when it's in your own language you tend to be confident that it's accurate. In 2007, in France, 4500 people were exposed to massive doses of X-rays because of wrongly-translated instructions for adjusting the device. Full story here, in French : http://www.lepost.fr/article/2007/09/13/1018000_des-notices-en-francais-c-est-imperatif.html Although I think MT could change the work of translators just like computers changed how Disney draftsmen work (in a positive way), I'm not sure that on its own MT would be so helpful and safe. But I must say that it's refreshing for once to have someone in favour of MT :-)

Interestingly, a study carried out by a French trade union for translators this year states that almost 40% of the 1000 translators who responded don't have any kind of degree in translation/interpretation, and that having followed a course in translation/interpretation does not guarantee higher prices. Even more : on average, translators who don't have such a degree have a turnover that is 16% superior to the others. Here's the original post I wrote with a link to the study http://tinyurl.com/35mutk5 - it makes you wonder whether this kind of theoretical knowledge on translation in even a plus…