Learn with Me! Editing Workshop in Sacramento

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School is back in session here in California — are you ready to learn something new this fall? Join me September 22, 2018 in Sacramento for a 3-hour editing workshop, hosted by the Northern California Translators Association.

We will cover every stage of the revision process, from broad-stroke decision-making to the finer points of proofreading. You’ll walk away with customizable tools for managing your professional projects and a list of further resources. No matter how long you’ve been translating or editing, I guarantee you will learn something new!

You must register in advance for this class. Details are available here.

I’m looking forward to bringing this popular workshop to my hometown area — see you soon!

Happy new year!

This past year certainly had its ups and downs here in the States. Still, I learned more about my subject matter specialty, shared information with fellow editing enthusiasts in a new format, and reconnected with language professionals here in Sacramento. Life and time marches on!
The coming year has quite a few exciting events in store already, including a book launch and more revision training options for you. Most importantly, I am finally setting aside some time to work on a personal translation – something that I picked up years ago, a project likely only a few friends and family members will read (but why not?). Just thinking about it makes me smile.

I hope you also have a moment to reflect back on all you accomplished this year and decide where you will steer yourself in 2018. What was your most memorable project this year? What project would you most love to complete in the coming months? Feel free to share your goals in the comments below.

Whatever you decide, best wishes to you for a healthy and prosperous new year!

Coffee hour, December 16th

Grab a coffee with your language-loving colleagues on December 16, 2017, in Roseville, California. I’m hosting another coffee hour for the Northern California Translators Association in the greater Sacramento area just in time for the holidays. Please join us from 10:30am–12:30pm at the Westfield Galleria for some friendly shop talk. Our gatherings typically cover everything from local restaurants to national politics. Whatever is on your mind professionally, you are welcome to share with us!

Details are on NCTA’s events page: http://www.ncta.org/events/event_list.asp

Revision Refresh Workshop – Last Chance to Register

There are just a few spots left in my editing workshop at ATA58. If you have never had formal training in copyediting or proofreading, consider signing up now for the 3-hour session on October 25th. 

You’ll get hands-on training for every stage of revision and walk away with several customized tools for your language pair(s) and subject matter specialties. We’ll discuss how to manage individual projects, long-term client styles, and team translations. There is a pre-workshop assignment you can do now, or turn it in after the live class for personalized feedback.

In this tech-focused world, quality revision makes your work stand above the machine output. Click here to register for AST-14 today: http://www.atanet.org/conf/2017/astday/ 

IRAC and Legal Translation

One of my major goals this year was to complete some intense subject-matter training. The in-person UC Davis certificate program in paralegal studies began in June. It’s been exhausting, and will continue to be up through mid-November, but I am already seeing returns on this investment.

Besides the study materials coming in handy at my day job at the law office, learning how lawyers think behind the scenes about their work has led to a major breakthrough moment in how I approach my legal translation projects!

American lawyers break pretty much every issue down to four headings: Issue – Rule – Analysis (Application) – Conclusion, or IRAC. It’s the preferred method for deciding whether to take on a case, drafting a letter or brief, and presenting an argument in court. For example:

• Issue—Can I certify this translation?
• Rule—In the US, anyone can certify a translation they produce by signing a declaration under penalty of perjury that they are qualified and have done their best work.
• Analysis—I am qualified, did my best effort, and will sign a declaration to that effect.
• Conclusion—Yes, I can certify this translation.

Now, I’ve translated quite a few divorce decrees in recent years; I know what laws to expect, the general order of the basic parts of the argument, and I know the terms of art to plug in. Last week, though, when I received another run-of-the-mill Hungarian divorce judgment, without even consciously considering what I was doing, I broke the Hungarian text down according to IRAC principles. It was like getting a new pair of prescription glasses—I thought I could see before, but it’s so much clearer now!

All of a sudden, not only do I understand what the words mean and how to render them in English, I also understand how the Hungarian judge was analyzing the parties’s request and facts to reach her decision.  In hindsight, the differences in the source text and a parallel American judgment make total sense, based on the differences I already know about the syntax of the languages. Hungarian sentences play with word order so that the part being emphasized comes first (think Yoda-speak: Hungry, I am!). The Hungarian legal argument followed a similar pattern. The basic structure is, “Regarding issue A, the conclusion is X, because of our analysis in light of Rule P.” Besides the issue, the decision is the most important thing in a court document. The American IRAC structure is turned to ICAR in Hungarian.

Figuring this out won’t outwardly change my translations—in legal translation, it’s a no-no to reorder the paragraphs—but it was certainly a fun surprise to read an everyday project in such a new way. If you’ve been on the fence about investing in some subject-matter training, dive in now!

What special training have you taken recently? How has your work surprised you lately? Share in the comments below!

 

Coffee hour, July 15

I’m hosting another coffee hour for the Northern California Translators Association on July 15, 2017. If you’re going to be in the greater Sacramento area this summer, please join us from 10:30am–12:30pm at the Westfield Galleria for shop talk. Our last few gatherings have covered everything from local restaurants to national politics. Whatever is on your mind professionally, you are welcome to join us!

Details are on NCTA’s events page: http://www.ncta.org/events/event_list.asp

 

We are all translators.

For a little over a year now, I’ve technically been a part-time translator—by day, I work in my industry of specialization as a legal assistant. I draft, revise, and proofread legal writing five days a week, consult with court clerks, and prepare documents for filing. Two or three nights a week (on average—we all know how variable freelance schedules can be!), I continue to translate for agency and private clients and teach my source language to a couple students.

When my career as a translator was brand new, there was a pervasive idea among language professionals that you were only a “real” translator or interpreter if it was the sole way you earned your living. At least, that was the message I gleaned from all the industry publications and professionals blogs I read. Perhaps things have changed, and just in case it wasn’t obvious: however frequently you practice your craft, as long as you conduct yourself with professionalism and obtain the requisite training to do your work well, you are a professional.

There is room enough in this industry for all of us. Translation and interpreting are increasingly growing in demand. Tech companies continue to attempt to reduce translation to machine output, and the results continue to highlight the need for human conduits between languages A and B.

As a full-time translator, I appreciated the time I had to really delve deep into vocabulary research and work on glossary projects. As a moonlighter, I love how my legal translations have improved from the interactions I have with attorneys’ work products. “Moonlighting” has allowed me to streamline my translation work so that I get to spend a greater percentage of my time on what I love: words.

I know many of my colleagues in the industry would never give up the freedom to be had in independent contracting—and why should you? But I have found my greatest artistic freedom within the so-called limits of a 9-to-5. My freelance clients continue to be happy with my work. And I don’t feel any less a translator than I ever did.

This story is in no way a defense: I hope only to inspire other translators to be true to themselves. If you love being your own boss and exploring your interests on your own terms, keep doing it. If you love the structure, stability, or socialization of an office job, get one. And if you love being a professional translator, be one, under whatever conditions you thrive upon. Your language skills are valuable, and however much you want to share them with the world in an educated, professional manner, the contribution is needed and appreciated.

We are all translators, no matter how often we can do the work.

Quality assurance training opportunity

A little bit of exciting news:

The American Translators Association is hosting a webinar with me on June 16th, 12pm (noon) EDT. I’ll present techniques and tricks for proofreading your work efficiently and effectively, plus some of the science behind why they work. Register here today!

Here’s a quick sampling of my reference materials:
Building Great Sentences, by Brooks Landon
The Fine Art of Copyediting, by Elsie Myers Stainton
The Organized Mind, by Daniel J. Levitin

For more information, click here. I hope you can join us!

Dealing with change

It has been a long while since I’ve shared my thoughts with you, and that deserves some explanation. The last year has brought some significant shifts in my private life. Something had to give. I hope you have enjoyed scouring the archives in the meantime.

Without making any promises about the regularity of future posts, I want to share some ideas that helped me keep my business growing while dealing with the heavier stuff behind the scenes. No one is immune to change, whether to their health, relationships, or goals. You have to learn to manage them—wanted or not.

1. Systems and routines minimize the energy you must spend on your business and allow you to maintain some semblance of continuity. You should decide in advance which systems are essential, and which can be let go temporarily.

I suggest keeping a bare-bones social media presence alive, a daily industry news habit, and the administrative and production tasks that regular client work demands. Everything else—seeking out lots of new business, building fun marketing campaigns, planning world domination—can probably slip a little without harming your business. Look at your own data and make the call. Think of it as part of your emergency preparedness plan.

2. A wise person once told me, “Relax. This will not be the biggest growth period in your business history, and that’s OK. That can come later. Probably sooner than you expect.” Don’t force it. Accept that the present will become the past, quickly.

3. Maintain relationships with your core group of colleagues. You don’t need to broadcast your troubles to the world, but do let some key people know why you are scaling back temporarily. Camaraderie works!

These three pieces of advice served me well in the last year. I gave a successful presentation to a welcoming group of colleagues in Chicago, joined a great group of local businesspeople in my local Chamber of Commerce, and signed on as translator of a book (much sooner than I anticipated in my 10-year plan). Hopefully, this advice helps you, too.

If you have any thoughts or tips to add about freelancing during rocky times, let us know in the comments.
Happy translating!
Carolyn

Certification for language professionals and their work

I’ll be speaking at the Hacker Lab in Sacramento, CA again! This time with a co-presenter.

Join me and Clarissa Laguardia on Saturday, April 12, 2014 from 10:30am–noon for a discussion of the laws and current practices surrounding certification for language professionals and their work here in California* (with some broader discussion of practices in the US and abroad).

Learn about opportunities for interpreter certification, translator certification for rare languages, laws about who can certify translations for use in filings, and the language used for certifying translations. For a taste of what we’ll be looking at, see this California government code.

Questions we’re planning to answer:

• What does “certified linguist” mean? Who does the certifying?

• Why would I ever need a certified translation?

• How do I get a translation certified?

• What about rare languages? How do I get certified or find a certified linguist for an uncommon language?

What else would you like to know? Ask your questions below, or send me an email at carolyn [at] untangledtranslations [dot] com!

Unable to attend? Sign up for my newsletter to get the slides as a PDF following the presentation!

*This presentation is intended for information purposes only for interpreters, translators, and those who need to hire them. It does not constitute legal advice; for questions about specific situations, make sure to consult your lawyer.