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July 09, 2007 - #010

Table of Contents

1. Unconventional Translations
2. Tool for Mac translators
3. Quote: Are you rejecting new ideas?

1. The email translator

As a translator it's easy to get sucked into the traditional way of doing translations.

Sometimes I find myself thinking that translation jobs only come in two forms, web pages and traditional documents. However, an experience I had the other day proves that translators are needed to help facilitate all kinds of communication, and translators need to be open to those different types.

I received another email through my website (thanks to the Magic of SBI) from an individual asking if I would be able to help him with some email translations he needed. I told him I could definitely do them for him and we worked it out where I would charge him a couple dollars per email (they are very short emails which only take a minute or two to translate). He was happy because he was getting a good deal and was able to expand his business without too much additional cost, and I was happy because I have another steady client.

(I'm now doing 5-10 emails per month, with the possibility of expanding to 50-100!)

I had never thought about the email-translation market before. But it makes perfect sense. People doing business overseas don't always speak the language of the people they are doing business with, and sometimes all that stands in their way is the ability to communicate via email.

So what does this mean for you? Well, take some time to figure out if there is a market for your services that you might be overlooking. Maybe one of your clients needs their emails translated, maybe their voicemails, or maybe their Power Point presentations.

Don't limit yourself to traditional translation jobs. That's a surefire way to lose out in this competitive translation industry.

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2. Tool for Mac translators

I've had an Apple MacBook for about 6 months now and I fall in love with it more and more as I use it. It has been a great tool for working on my translation website as well as doing actual translations.

While www.wordreference.com is the primary dictionary I use, there is a great Mac widget that is useful for translators, especially those that translate between multiple languages.

This widget is already included in the list of widgets. It is (aptly named) the translation widget and it comes with 12 languages.

I find it's a great tool when I'm not connected to the Internet, or I can't seem to remember the right translation of something I've translated before. Hopefully you find it useful as well.

3. Quote - Sir Peter Medawar

"The human mind treats a new idea the way a body treats a strange problem it rejects it."

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Anything you want to say? Let me know. I'd love to hear anything you've got to say, from suggestions to comments to your translation experiences. Just reply to this zine and tell me what you think!