New Year's Resolutions

I've read quite a few blogs lately reflecting on the past year and setting out goals that the authors would like to achieve in the year to come and even some blogs explaining why they're not doing that. My own goals mostly revolve around making enough of a living that I don't have to get a job that requires leaving the house. With that, and my use of this blog as a public deadline/motivational tool, in mind I thought I would jot down a few of the things that I intend to achieve in the next year. Actually, most of them I want done in the first half of the year but we'll get to that.

First, I think I need a web site. This blog is a good start and will have a place on the site but I don't think it is enough. A web site would give me more control in how things appear and would probably be more flexible than a blog such as I have now, although I'm not sure how much I would use that side of things. But I think the most important part is that a web site would appear more professional and so more trustworthy. In a previous post I touched on an airline that I chose not to fly with because their web site was poorly translated and I think this is a similar sort of thing. Appearances count, even if we wish they didn't. 

Second, business cards. I've read a lot of suggestions that freelance translators should have business cards and I agree. Even as connected to the internet as we are, there is no substitute for person-to-person interaction, but making a good impression does no good if the other party doesn't remember your contact details when they need you. Personally, I have both received work from and passed on work to people I know. Business cards are just an extension of that for people that I don't know as well.

Third, I want to go to IJET this year. But before I do, I want my web site set up so it can be printed on my business cards. I think it would be a fantastic opportunity to meet other translators, or even other people for that matter (as I've said before, I don't get out much), meet up with friends I haven't seen in a while, assuming they go, and maybe even get some work out of it, I've heard that can happen too. If what I've read and heard is anything to go by, I really missed out by not going last year and I'd like to avoid making that mistake again.

Finally, I need to comment more on other people's blogs, etc. For the slightly cynical reason that it will improve the Google ranking of my own blog, and eventual website, and because if I can encourage people to comment on my blog as well, the quality of it may improve. My posts probably won't but the blog as a whole might.

And thus wraps up the final blog post of the year. Happy Christmas everyone.

WIPO wrap-up

So, my external contract with WIPO has ended and they have decided not to renew it for next year. This is quite unfortunate because it would've been guaranteed work with a steady income. It's a bit of a blow to my self-confidence but my ego is big enough to take it.

I thought I'd write a little about working with WIPO. A lot of this will be similar to the post I wrote when I left Switzerland, but that is hardly surprising since it is the same organisation.

Overall, I enjoyed working for WIPO. The work was interesting and covered a lot of different topics. It was easy to get in touch if I had any questions. And they worked with me and kept me update when we had banking issues. They also offered considerable feedback on the work I sent them, and there was quite a lot of it.

I think the only criticism that I have is the way the feedback was presented. The feedback and corrections were presented in a spreadsheet, which made it a little difficult to place them in context. I would have preferred annotations on my work. However, I've used the programs that they used and I understand why things are done the way they are. Annotating my work would have been impractical.

What do I do next? I start looking for work more actively. I've had the occasional small job come to me while I was working for WIPO, some of which I even did, but not enough if I intend to continue eating everyday. If the universe has any sense of narrative structure, I'll learn some lesson about the importance of family or doing your best or something and then it will all be smooth sailing. Otherwise this next bit could really suck.

Write right

I think an important aspect of translation that perhaps needs to be focused on more is that translators are also writers and being able to write effectively in the target language is as important as being able to understand the source text. I know that I have encountered quite a few situations were I have struggled with a sentence, not because I didn't understand it but because I was having trouble expressing it, only to have a more experienced writer (i.e. translator) provide a succinct and smooth sentence that was exactly what I wished I had written. I've written before that a translation fails if it doesn't help the author communicate with his audience and being able to write well gives us the tools to do that. I'm not sure that this is receiving the attention that it deserves. I've seen a lot of recommendations for translators that suggest taking a course in your field of interest or attending industry conferences and even at MAJIT the emphasis was in other areas. Whereas, effective writing is a skill that can be applied in any field, regardless of speciality.

Personally, I tend to place an emphasis on target language writing ability, even though it is something I struggle with a lot and I'm not as good as I'd like to be. Whenever I am asked about translating, I am always make a point of telling people that it is important to be able to write well in your native language, which is most people's target language. I collect reference books on writing in English (I was ridiculously excited when my copy of Strunk and White arrived and recommend it to everyone), which I am almost constantly using. I even once took a class in effective writing as an elective (although, I've also taken classes in music history and astronomy, so it's probably not worth much).

I'm not in a position to be sure but I suspect that here is a big part of the difference between being a good translator and being a great translator.