How to become an interpreter

Usually at the beginning of the year is when people take a look at what's going on in their lives and want to change. Well, one thing I've noticed is that there are more and more people interested in becoming court intepreters.

These people are usually from one or two groups. The first group are current or former translators who are thinking about becoming interpreters as another career field. The second group are those maybe just out of school or just starting in their careers and have decided to become interpreters.

Well, if you are in one of these groups and are interested in becoming an interpreter, don't fret. It can be a lot of work to get the interpreting job you want but here are some things to keep in mind when becoming an interpreter.

Quick Update

I just tried out lifeCast and I didn't like it too much right away because it added a link to their site at the end of the post.

Now I'm trying BlogWrite and so far I like it better. I really wish it had landscape typing but hopefully that will come in one of the updates.

Blogging On The Iphone

Just testing out some blogging software for the iPhone. Any translators out there have any reccomendations?

2009 Translation Goals

The new year inevitably causes us to reflect on the past year's accomplishments and failures, and it's a perfect time to look ahead and see where we can improve for the coming year.

As translators, we're not necessarily exempt from this practice and I've found that to be true in my own life. Whenever I feel like I want to improve in some area of my life, I find that I have a much better chance of accomplishing it if I write it down and make it a concrete goal.

So in that regard, here are my business-related goals for 2009:

• Find more clients that I enjoy working with - nothng saps my energy more than trying to deal with rude clients.

• Make available the second edition of The Translator's Ultimate List of Translation Agencies - This new edition will have more agencies laid out in a slightly better format.

• More content on main website. I really feel that the website has been a help to translators and it's nice to get positive feedback from others. It motivates me to add more things that will be beneficial to translators.

• Encourage other translators to start their own websites. The main cause of my success has defnitely been the website. I wish other translators could see the potential of having a focused website to bring in more business.

So those are some of my business goals. What are yours?

Spanish Slang in Action

Studying Spanish slang can be pretty fun but I think it's even better
to see it used in real life.

Where I live here on the east coast of the United States there aren't
a lot of opportunities to see how slang is used in Spanish print
media, but that changes when we go to Texas.

Our favorite place to visit is the San Antonio area and as you
probably know, there are a ton of Spanish speakers there. Well, it's
interesting to see all the things written in Spanish, whether it is
the name of a restaurant or billboard on the side of the road.

Of course not all of it is slang. Most of it is your standard variety
Spanish. However, one of the things about billboards is that they
often use interesting language and expressions to get their point
across.

Has anyone seen this in other parts of the country where they live?

Don't be afraid of things because they're easy to do

A lot of times it seems that people feel that if something is easy to do, it's not worth doing. They might feel that they have to work hard to achieve something, all the while ignoring an easy way or path that has already been taken previously by someone else.

Well, the Freelance Translator's Ultimate List of Translation Agencies has been put together to try and make life at least a little easier for translators. It took me a few long months to come up with the list of nearly 400 translation agencies looking for translators and now you can have access to the whole thing right away.

Hope you enjoy it and that it saves you time to focus on some of the more interesting aspects of being a translator, like translating.

Don't be afraid

It can be hard starting out as a freelance translator, especially when you feel like you are competing with translators that have been around the translation industry for so long. One thing that I like to remember, though, is that the need for translators is only increasing.

Too often we think of it as a pie where everyone gets a piece and when the pieces are gone there's nothing left for us.

Well, I don't think this is necessarily how it is. There's lot if work out there to do and it's mostly just a matter of making sure we're prepared when the time comes. That is what we have control over and that its the stuff we should be worried about.

Newsletter just mailed out

A new edition of Translator Techniques was just sent today. It talks
about social networking and whether or not it's beneficial for translators.

Check it out at Translator Techniques.

If you could learn another language...

...which one would you choose? What would draw you to that particular
language?