Petition against outsourcing of interpreting and translation service in the justice sector

This is our voice of against outsourcing of court interpreting and translations in the justice sector to one agency (which pays small rates). Please spare 2 minutes of your time to support the case and sign the petition.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/8290

Outsourcing means:

-much lower income for professional established interpreters,
-loss of the best professionals who will move on to different well paid
jobs,
-more frequent miscarriages of justice due to allowing inexperienced
interpreters to do court and police interpreting jobs,
-lower prestige of our profession - nobody would ever dream about
progressing as an interpreter because this means working for low rates.

Advertising is not too important

A common mistake of small business owners is spending too much time and effort on inefficient elements of promotion - advertising campaigns.

What is wrong with focusing too much on advertising?

Advertising is not the most important element of promotion of a small business.

Why?

Every trader has 3 groups of people:

1 Customers
2 Friends
3 Total strangers

The problem of ineffective action starts when we focus immensely on advertising and canvassing. This means talking directly to strangers and trying to convince them to our service or product. If we would talk to our friends (who probably know the strangers) instead, they contact them on our behalf. This way of communication is much more efficient.

Because an average human is bombarded by ads almost form everywhere, we don’t necessary trust the message and the sender. We use our friends to verify the information. This is why we should turn more to building publicity and public relations if we want to succeed.

Advertising is important too, but it makes only 20%-30% of our marketing success. It could be more than 20%-30% if the product or service which we offer is rare and we don’t have much competition.

My main marketing goal as a freelance Interpreter & Translator is informing the public who I am and what I do, and meeting new people. I’ve got this vision that everyone on my city has my business card in their wallets. This is something what really works when a job comes in. Trust me.

Interpreting for speech language therapists

Working with speech language therapists almost always means a completely different type of interpreting. Why? Because normal interpreting does not serve the purpose of an assessment. Speech language therapists what to establish how patient’s speech develops, so if during your assignment you have to say “I’m sorry, the client is mumbling” or “Interpreter is unable to understand him/her ” – this type of comment has little value to people who hired you.

You have to learn about the purpose of the assessment. This methodical approach helps to prevent errors. For instance: a therapist wants to know if a client (child) is able to communicate using at least two words - if there is one word in the source language which translates into two words in the target language (e.g., upadł – he felt), you should tell about this. It is always quite tricky to do your job well.

Usually, during a pre-session, I’m instructed to deliver the correct pronunciation in my native language by repeating the client’s words – in this way a therapist can hear how vowels and other sounds are pronounced and they are able to investigate the matter correctly.

Another frequent task could be having a conversation in your native language with the client and then answering specific questions asked by the therapist.
Obviously, as an interpreter you’re not allowed to give advice, but if you are asked specifically about language matters, in my view, you should do so by informing the other party about e.g., the length of sentences, grammar etc. Because each language has a different pronunciation, the age of a child in terms of particular sounds development varies. Often therapists will ask you if it is normal for the child to mispronounce those words. Please refrain from answering that question if you’re paid for interpreting only.

Simple recipe for prosperity in years of austerity

Do something what 98% people can’t
Use your talent, unique sett of skills, or experience. Do something what most people can’t. Learn about your own uniqueness.

Get information
Information is the most expensive “commodity” in the world. Obtaining information requires a proactive approach and sometimes careful preparation. Remember to make use of written and oral sources.
Make friends with your competitors. Obviously, they won’t tell you everything, but everything else what they will tell you could have a huge value.

Avoid working within the public sector
Now in the era of cuts only private sector gives us hope.

Consider offering slightly lower price
Just get is slightly lower. Don’t oversell yourself and don’t be too expensive. Too low price for customers could mean you are rubbish. In every industry there is a set acceptable minimum (not the total minimum). If you are good at what you do, and you go below that acceptable industry minimum, other colleagues will hate you.

Always offer something extra
This really enhances relations. In business there is always something what others need and something what you can offer. Great businessmen are masters in guessing what others need and they are super aware what they can offer. Talk to people. Maybe someone has a problem and you will know how to resolve it. If you don’t know how to fix it, maybe you know someone who will.

Right attitude
Think positive. When I work, it is good. When I don’t work, it is good too because it gives me time to study, learn something new or promote my business.

Sacha Baron Cohen sings in Polish

This is a deleted scene from the movie Borat. After Borat was asked to say a prayer before the meal he started to sing in Polish. The only mystery was what he actually sang. Because of his indistinct pronunciation Poles are divided to those who think

that his words are “Szatan nie mówi po angielsku”- Satan doesn’t speak English

and those who think that he sings “Czy mówi Pani po angielsku?” – Do you speak English mam?

English words which sound funny in Polish

The following list shows which English words which sound funny in Polish. This is not translation.

Can’t (English pronunciation) – swindle or crease
Lay – whirlpool, funnel
Ham – lout
cow - faeces
Dress – track suit
Wino – dung
Bossy - bare feet
Chef - Boss
Pippa (name) – female sexual organ
Bull – pain
Pass - belt
Baton - bar (of chocolate)
Beckham – I burp (this is why Polish TV presenters deliberately mispronounce this name)

Performance enhancements for interpreting assignments

Interpreters work under pressure often during times when their body clock prevents from providing a professional service. Here are some useful tips on boosting memory and concentration when it is needed:


Yoga

Most of the time, we forget things because of stress. To prevent from adverse effects of being under pressure consider meditation. Yoga and meditation immensely influences our brain activity. This is really something what makes us work efficiently so we can reach our full potential.

Rest

Especially if we work for the police our body clock might be deteriorated. We should try to get as much sleep as possible. Sleep depravation could compromise our career.


Quick reading

I do this exercise almost before every assignment. It is simple: we choose a very difficult text and read it very quickly. This sets our brain waves at the right frequency and makes us think twice faster. People who read news at the radio stations often do the same.

If we don’t get simultaneous jobs too often, we should exercise this type of interpreting daily e.g. when we watch tv.

Herbal supplements

Herbal supplements such as Ginkgo Biloba and Korean Ginseng are an effective memory enhancement. Similar effect on our bodies has green tea.

Before work don’t eat anything with too much carbohydrates. I know a film producer who always refuses to feed her crew with pizza because they move too slow afterwards. Eating food rich with protein, such as eggs or fish, before work makes us more focused.

Energy drinks

Energy drinks is a short term solution and should not be repeated over long periods of time. Overdose could cause dizziness and a few other conditions. If we need an energy boost quickly, one Red Bull is fine.

The problem with the energy drinks is that sometimes they could make us passing urine more frequently because of accelerated metabolism. If this is the case, we should consider the equivalent in the form of tablets.

How to avoid scams

How to avoid scams


Dishonesty and fraud affects translations just like any other industry. As in the recent years globalization gave us an opportunity to work and develop, the same portals, which offered jobs, become often misused by fraudsters preying for their victims.

In the whole variety of scams in translation we can distinguish two types:
- those which aim to poses victims money,
- those which aim to make a translator work without pay.

How can we indentify a possible scam?

The things which I will point out here are to be used as guidelines only because we can never be 100% sure who is lying. We can only suspect. However, if our suspicions were to become void, then whatever is left could be only a badly managed and poorly presented company which is not worth attention of a self respected translator.

We should be cautious if a company which advertises a job:
- doesn’t have a website,
- doesn’t provide full contact details,
- uses gmail email,
- reveals bad grammar and spelling errors while contacting you,
- is not keen to check your qualifications and experience,
- wants to pay you upfront,

If any of the above will happen then we should start cross-referencing the company. If the company is an agency, you can consider calling your fellow translator to check if they are genuine. Except this use internet browsers to check their ‘publicity’. When I do this, I type ‘company name’ + scam or ‘company name’ + blacklisted e.g., TranslationCloud + scam. Usually when someone had a bad experience and indentified a scammer, they will try to warn others.

The aim of cross-referencing is not only to check legitimacy of the company but to make sure they’re not trying to fool you by pretending to be someone else who has good reputation. The best scammers know how human perception works. Just like Frank Abagnale ‘Catch me if you can’ who knew how to use uniforms and titles to make an impression of a genuine and trustworthy person.

If you happened to have a telephone number for the company then use this website http://whocallsme.com/

If you have a website’s URL but the website seems to be badly made or without contact details, you can use this website http://www.godaddy.com/ to check who actually registered the domain.

If you know the IP address of person who sent you an email (in the header) go to http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip-lookup or download this software http://www.gotranslators.com/Upload/TraceRoute218.zip to checks this person’s real location.

This is a list of emails used by scammers http://www.419scam.org/419-bl-a.htm

You should never make any decisions without sufficient knowledge on the subject. If you don’t know, ask for advice people who you know. For instance, a company could ask you to purchase their expensive software as a condition of the assignment. If you never heard about this software ask for a second independent opinion on the product and cross-reference the company.

Never reveal your sensitive data such as bank details to unknown parties. The most common payment scam looks like that. “I’m sorry translator, we’ve made a payment to your account but we accidently paid you too much. Could you please wire us the difference?” After wiring the difference the translator found out that the payment for him was phony and he was scammed.

Effective Marketing in Translation

Effective Marketing in Translation


Specialisation and USP

If you are about to embark on a career in translation, it is essential to choose a specialisation and indentify your Unique Selling Point (USP). USP is a gimmick – something which could give you an advantage over your competitors. It could be something to do with your background, licenses, acquaintances, additional skills or hidden talents. Often people don’t realise if they are using their full potential, so this is something to think about. Of course your specialisation could be your Unique Selling Point – if it’s rare.

Indentifying your core client base

If you’re specialising in a particular field, your marketing is much simpler because you know who your clients are. Of course, there would be variety of types of jobs. Every translator outside of his/her main area of expertise, often translates: general texts, love letters, statements and brochures. The crucial question which you should always ask yourself while you get paid is: why do I make money? Is this because of your experience, price, lucrative deals, good referrals, location or your availability?

Marketing in Translation

Marketing in Translation is extremely difficult because translation is a niche industry and relatively very few need our service. Usually, it takes a detective work to establish who might be our potential clients, although I’ve met busy translators who didn’t even have a website, and all their workload was achieved through academic progression and referrals. This way mainly exists in Poland where a translator, after qualifying, puts a plaque “sworn translator” on his/her doors and waits for phone calls.
In the current highly competitive environment, I would advise to consider the whole range of ways to promote your service.






Ways of promoting your service:



Website

A website is your calling card. Most people get a website to look more professional and to give more information about themselves.

Except this, a website is a way of promoting service through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – making your website popular in search engine results (for chosen terms). From my own observations, 95% of translators know nothing about SEO, so even if you learnt the basics, your website would get more visits. If you want to learn more on this subject, I recommend an ebook called “How To Really Make $5,000 Per Month Online” by Court Tuttle. The ebook is about making money on blogging but the same rules apply to optimising all others types of websites. Once you studied the book, you will have the knowledge needed to get your website easily found in Google and you will save on professional, but expensive SEO fees.


Online ads

Online adverts is the option to consider. However most of online marketing experts don’t recommend this method when your website is relatively young. Online advertising is something supplementary to SEO. In order to use this method successfully, you have to make sure your website has a good conversion rate and it’s trustworthy. Otherwise, you could lose money.
To purchase and create your ad contact Google of Facebook. Underneath the page there’s a little bar which says advertising. You can limit your daily budget and decide if you want to be charged by clicks or impressions.


Sending emails

Be cautious about using emailing programs because, in most cases, your message will get to a spam box. Write real emails to real people. If it is possible try to find out the name of the person you are writing to.


Blogging and social media networks

Blogging and social media networks are great for enhancing your publicity. It’s all about getting to know more people, sharing knowledge and ideas, and doing referrals when a job comes in.

It is a bad practise if you attempt to sell stuff or service on Facebook, Twitter or Blog. Most people don’t like that. But remember that your writing needs to have a value for the reader. You will have to decide if you use social media for social purposes or for networking. For instance I use my Facebook Wall for interesting philosophical discussions or industry related thoughts, something too personal has no value and sometimes can be embarrassing.


Calling and contacting face to face your potential clients

If you can call or see a potential client, do so. This is not only a way of telling who you are and what you do, but an opportunity to verify or get precious information. Don’t rely only on the internet. Without interpersonal skills, you will be like those people who send hundreds of applications and don’t want to learn how this world really works.



Final words: never rely only on one way of promoting yourself – use all of them. World constantly changes this is why we need to adapt. Do at least one thing a day to promote yourself.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog,

I'm new to blogging (this is my first one), therefore, any suggestions are welcome. My goal is to make it useful and interesting. 

I'm a Freelance Interpreter/Translator and my first language is Polish. I'm based in the UK. The reason why I'm starting this blog, is to meet like minded individuals from the same industry. If you work in translations, you probably already know that networking is the most crucial element of our marketing.      

If you want to know more, please visit  my website:

Polish Interpreter  Polish Translator

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