Category Archive for: Field of translation

How to translate your very first file in SDL Trados Studio 2014

This post will walk you through your very first translation in SDL Trados Studio 2014.  I recommend doing a test run to get familiar with the basics before you take on your first paid project with Studio. There are lots of beginners’ guides and videos out there, but most are based on sample files and existing…

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A Spanish-English glossary of genetics

Following on from my recent post on genomics and personalised medicine, here is my personal Spanish-English glossary. It started as a short Excel file a few years ago when I translated a website for a Spanish company that offers genetic testing services. It has developed over time but enjoyed a growth spurt after the ITI Medical…

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Make your product « translation worthy, » and the world will follow

Want to know if your software is something special? See if your users will translate it. In doing so you get a sense of how they view your product and where to take it next. When a software company asks me if I think its new product will succeed globally, I typically respond by asking:…

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Upgrading to Trados Studio 2014 or sticking with a previous version? Would a manual help?

Do you translate in SDL Trados Studio? If so, now is a good time to look at which version you want to use for the near future. Once you’ve decided, you could also look at whether the manual written by Mats Linder might be helpful. Studio 2014 has just been launched and there are upgrade deals and…

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HOW MUCH WILL IT COST? PART II

As I noted in Part I of this post, a number of different variables determine the price a mid-sized company looking to expand into foreign markets may pay for having their materials translated: The language combination The type of text The length of the document(s) The formatting and file type(s) of the original The desired quality…

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HOW MUCH WILL IT COST? PART I

This may well be one of the first questions our hypothetical documentation manager (see “A Documentation Manager’s Questions About Translation”) asks. After all, he must present upper management with a cost estimate for this portion of the push into the US market. The answer, like that for so many other questions, is: it depends. A…

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CHOOSING YOUR TRANSLATION SPECIALIZATIONS

About 11 years ago, I went on my first informational interview with a translation company. The project manager’s first question, “What are your languages?” was one that I expected. Her second question, “And what are your specializations?” caught me completely off guard. Specializations?? You mean it’s not enough that I speak another language? Well, as…

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How translators can increase their subject matter expertise with free online courses

Have you seen the wide range of free online courses (Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs) available these days? If not, you’re in for a treat. While a high level of expertise in our source and target languages is crucial for us as translators, we also need a strong understanding of our subject matter. There…

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Translation credentials | What are they and do you need them

Here’s a very common question from my beginning translation students: “Do I need a…(Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, translation certificate, translator certification, etc.)” with corollaries such as “Am I better off getting a foreign language MA or a translation certificate?” “If I don’t have a Bachelor’s degree but I’m ATA-certified, is that OK?” and so on.…

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