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)
Saturday, 30 July 2011
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, 7 July 2011
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.
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.
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