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?