Sarah's Archives

an archive of content from ≈ 2005 - 2015, relating to international business, translation, freelancing, and working online.

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The Great TM Debate

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“Which TM should I use?” It’s a question I often hear translators ask. But we’d be much better served if we asked ourselves what we needed a translation tool to do, and then worked backwards from there. That way, we know we are getting a tool that we’ll actually use and not leave sitting on our virtual shelf gathering cyberdust. Jeffrey Treem over at Inside the Cubicle put it nicely when he says:

… communicators need to be channel/tool agnostic – Stop getting hung up on names and technology and start with business goals and work backwards. Do not paint yourself into a corner where you need to fit the tools you are comfortable with into your work environment.

Hear, hear. (Of course, he was speaking about how companies are using social media as part of their communications strategy, but I reckon it’s relevant to technology adoption in any field.)

Thanks Jeffrey.

Best blogs round-up: for translators

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Here’s a couple more to add to the pot. It’s a bit of a mixed bag this time (much like my metaphors). There are lots of great sites out there, but the exciting things about blogs is that they’re immediate and personal. They’re also a lot more interesting than static websites as they have the potential to become dialogues as you can chip in with a comment and add your tuppence worth.

The Masked Translator: fairly new as only started in February 2007, but is already looking to cut a dash through the translation blogosphere. I usually prefer to keep an eye on new blogs for a while before recommending them, but The Masked Translator has already covered lots of interesting topics that I haven’t seen addressed elsewhere. Let’s hope it can keep tapping into those rarely discussed issues in an non-bitchy way, and without letting its masked status go to its head.

Language Realm blog*: a blog devoted to language, translation, interpreting, language learning and linguistics. So far so the same, but what makes this blog especially interesting is that Roger Chriss discusses the kind of day-to-day things that happen around and about the day of a translator but that still have an impact on our working lives (check out his Language Realm website for more static but still extremely informative info). So for example, there are posts in there about multi-language keyboards, about newly coined terms and best of all, about language learning for advanced learners. Something for everyone, but especially if you have Japanese or Chinese as a source language.

Lingua Franca: this is kind of a cheat as it’s actually a blog for a podcast which you can also listen to via your browser. Published every Saturday, this show runs for approx. 15 minutes and looks at all aspects of language through interviews and prepared talks with various experts who analyse a single topic of interest. The show is run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation so has an obvious bias to people and issues Down Under, but the topics discussed are relevent to anyone with an interest in the popular culture of English speaking countries.

Freelance Writing for Nonprofits: OK, another sideball but bear with me. Billed as a blog with tips and ideas on publications, marketing and PR, I reckon this baby has plenty of gems for the freelance translator too. Check it out and let me know what you think.

* UPDATE 08/09/07: My link to the Language Realm blog was actually incorrect (oops) and when I went back to doublecheck it, I found it’s been shut down. There does seem to be a new blog which can be linked to via the Language Realm website however, so I’ll keep my eye on that and may review that in my next blog round-up.

Corpora: a new take on an old tool

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I was pretty excited when I saw that one of the sessions at the recent ITI Conference was to look at how corpora can be used as a resource for translators (it’s true – I don’t get out very much). Corpus analysis has a special place in my heart ever since I did a small project on MonoConc in 1997 as part of my first language degree and I was looking forward to seeing how things had changed since then.


I must admit to being slightly put off at first by the session write-up in the ITI programme, where it claimed that corpora were “a new resource for translators”. Now, I don’t consider myself to be anything more than moderately technically aware, and even with my undergraduate experience aside, I knew that corpora had been freely available for use in the field of translation for a long time… Thankfully, the speakers quickly redeemed themselves with their experience and obvious enthusiasm for the tools they were speaking about.

Overall, I felt that not much has changed since my days as a MonoConc student. But small office and home PCs are obviously more powerful, which is probably why corpora are seeing a bit of a revival in the field of translation tools. Basically, any translator who has used Google to research a term, concept or subject area is already familiar with the ways in which a corpora can be useful. Dr Serge Sharoff and Dr Jeremy Munday demonstrated how corpus-based tools can offer the translator a more targeted take on the Google approach by enabling us to search within a carefully defined collection of texts. I think they may have intended this to be a more interactive session than it actually was, but given the unexpectedly large conference attendance and the fact that it is very difficult to “explain” software, I think they did admirably well. I’d like to have heard them speak a bit more about how this could apply to more experienced translators however. I thought Serge was quite an amusing speaker, and it was good to put a face to Jeremy Munday’s name – anyone who has studied translation in the past 15 years or so is probably well aware of him through his books on translation theory.

Dr Ana Julia Perrotti-Garcia suggested that translators could ensure even more reliable results by building their own customised corpora, and then analysing them using any of a number of free tools. She also outlined the steps involved in creating a customised corpora. There were some practical tips in this session, but again, it would have been good to hear her speak more about how she used her customised corpora to develop her skills in her area of specialisation, rather than just her English (second) language skills.

Overall, the message was clear: analytical tools such as MonoConc, WordSmith or AntConc are of particular interest to trainee translators and those who translate into a non-native language (yes, I know that’s against the ITI’s Code of Conduct, but it’s a reality for many translators due to the country in which they live). However, these tools also offer the more experienced translator a great way of further developing and improving their translation skills, and I’d love to see someone offer a session in this area in the future.

Anyone interested in checking out more information about corpora, I’d recommended starting with this excellent site, which also contains an up-to-date list of free and low cost tools. There will also be a more detailed write-up of this session in the next ITI Bulletin.

LifeHacks for Mobile Translators

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Another cracker from Jed Schmidt – this time a presentation called LifeHacks for Mobile Translators. I love the freedom of being freelance, but Jed has taken it to a whole new level. He explains how he’s managed his translation career so he’s not tied down to any particular office, town or indeed country. Even if you decide being this footloose and fancy free is not for you, his tips and advice are invaluable for any freelance translator planning their office setup (or indeed any kind of knowledge-cum-teleworker).

In summary, Jed explains:

  • how to optimise your environment to ensure seemless integration between your home office and coffee shop, whether that be down the road or on the other side of the world (hint: think self-managed virtual office)
  • how to minimise the amount of clutter you need, while still doing a professional job
  • how to make the most of the sometimes bewildering array of telecommunication services that are out there

Excellent stuff, but it should come with a health warning: You WILL want to follow your itchy feet after reading this! Now if only it was as easy to virtualise, synchronise and minimise my personal life in this way… 🙂

Integrating our real life and virtual networks

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How exciting – as if train travel in France wasn’t glamorous enough, they’ve now come up with a way to meet real people along the way too. A great development in the move towards integrating our real-life and virtual networks.

But would this work in good old Blighty? I just don’t think it would measure up. Nursing a paper cup of luke-warm tea on the draughty London – Birmingham Silverlink train service, or knocking back an espresso on the Paris – Lyon TGV – I know where I’d rather have my real-life social networking encounter!