Spring Cleaning!

Finally! The sun has returned (to most parts of the northern hemisphere at least)! The birds and bees are out and about, blossom is on the trees...yes it's Spring!

Not being much of a domestic goddess I don't make a big thing of Spring Cleaning around the house, but over the past few days I have turned my attention to my computer. It is, after all the single most important work tool I have and without it I'd be utterly lost, so it deserves a bit of care and attention.

So I snatched a few hours between jobs earlier this week to tackle some very basic, but very important, maintenance tasks.

IT problems can cause untold stress and frustration

Keep it clean on the outside...

Obviously for hygiene reasons, and to preserve your eyesight, you need to keep your monitor screen(s) clean. There are many different products available for this purpose, although I have to say I find a very slightly (and I mean slightly) damp, lint free screen cloth does the job just as well as any sprays and potions.

The same goes for keyboard, mouse and the outside of the computer in general. Crumbs, dust and assorted foreign bodies can cause endless irritation just when you're up against a tight deadline, so better to clean them regularly to avoid unnecessary stress.

Another important part of computer maintenance is keeping fans and filters clean. The hot summer months (here, at least!) put extra strain on these vital elements, and if it's never happened to you, you can't begin to imagine the pain of having your computer shut down unexpectedly due to overheating. If you have an air compressor, it's just the job for blasting furballs and other detritus from fans (and keyboards for that matter) - if not I'm told a hair dryer on cool/cold setting is a good alternative.

While we're on the subject of overheating, laptops are particularly susceptible to this issue as we often forget that they need good air circulation under their bottoms in order to keep cool. A few years ago I invested in a cooling pad with built in fans for extra ventilation. There are loads on the market; most are not particularly expensive but can help avoid no end of strife and suffering in the long run.

...and tidy on the inside...

 I was speaking to someone the other day (who ought to know better, so will remain nameless) who was complaining that she didn't know how to make a backup. Nowadays there's simply no excuse for losing vital data. There are endless options for backing up your files, emails, programmes, configuration etc. The emergence of cloud storage has made it even easier to recover files, access them from other devices and locations, and avoid clogging up your hard drive. I use a combination of Dropbox and JustCloud although I don't keep absolutely everthing out there in the ether - I still have my trusty external hard drive for all my old work folders, photos and videos, as well as a daily backup and complete copy of my hard drive. All of this is organised for me by a brilliant - and free - little programme called Karen's Replicator, so I don't even have to remember to press a button!

Despite this plethora of external copies and storage space...it's still important to have a good clear out of your internal hard drive(s) from time to time. Temporary files, old applications, long-forgotten downloads, and your full-to-the-brim recycle bin etc all take up space and ultimately affect how your computer performs. I like to run a defrag and a registry cleaner too, to keep everything running smoothly.

...Happy Computer = Happy you!

Those of us who depend on our computers for work know what an utter nightmare it is when it fails to respond, or worse still, dies. I have shed real tears in the past over sudden shut downs, broken hard drives and lost data... our computers work just as hard as we do and they too need a bit of pampering. So take half an hour to give it a Spring Clean and keep yours in tip top shape - it's worth it in the long run!

2 months in...

So February has come to an end, we are now in March, and before we know it it'll be time to round up the first quarter and take stock of how 2013 has gone so far.

How is the new "organisation drive" going? In my case, very well. I've completely adapted to using Translation Office 3000 for everything relating to my business, invoices, jobs, expenses, glossaries, TMs - everything easily accessible from the same interface making life so much easier. I know how much I am earning, who's paid and who hasn't, what jobs are booked in for the coming weeks, what imminent deadlines I am up against - all at the touch of a button. I can't recommend it enough. You can try it out for free here.

On a personal level, 2013 has got off to a funny old start, leading me to re-address my attitude to life a little and try to "chill out". It's often easier said than done. Which is why my next blog entry is going to be about rest and relaxation, striking a good work-life balance, and keeping sane when you work from home. Any ideas are welcome.


In the meantime, I'm off to finish up today's projects so I can rest and enjoy my family over the weekend :)

Happy Friday All!

10 years going it alone...

I have now been a Freelance Translator for ten years. The years have flown by, which must mean that I've been having fun!

It has been an amazing time of my life, both personally and professionally, with its ups and downs, challenges and successes. And as ten years feels like an important milestone, I now feel inspired to reflect on what I have learnt, how I have developed as a translator and as a businesswoman, and what advice I would give to those who are just starting out.

Taking the plunge...

I was already trained as a translator/interpreter and working in an in-house position when I decided the time had come to go it alone. It was a scary decision to make at the time - I had a new baby, I felt completely bewildered by tax and paperwork issues, and I was rather unsure as to whether or not I would actually be able to make a living... but at the same time, I knew it was what I wanted to do. This was my chance to take control of my career, and strike a balance between work and family. It was now or never.

If you are thinking of setting up as a freelance translator, my overall advice would be to GO FOR IT. Don't let niggling doubts or insecurity put you off. Nowadays there is tons of practical advice out there about how to go about it, how to get yourself noticed, different tools and software, courses, etc. All you need to do is take the plunge...

Learning on the job

Looking back at those early days I have to admit to cringing a little. I thought I knew so much. What I wasn't expecting was just how much more I needed to learn, and how fast I was going to learn it.

Most, if not all linguists soon realise that you never stop learning any language, not even your own. And this is true of the translation profession as a whole - not just in terms of obscure vocabulary and turns of phrase. Specialist subjects, customer negotiation, time management, accounting, selling yourself, keeping up to date with technology... these are all key aspects of the business, and indispensible if you are to remain competitive. Ten years on, and I am still learning about my profession. That's one of the things I love most about it.

Get to know your colleagues

I would say that contact with other translators is possibly the one most important thing you can do as a freelancer. Around 80% of my new work comes to me "along the grapevine" and I too give plenty of work to my colleagues working in other language combinations. Join associations, distribution lists, translation forums, specialist websites...whatever you find keeps you connected. In addition to the job opportunities, your colleagues are an invaluable source of advice, information and companionship in what would otherwise  be a very solitary profession.

Enjoy it!

This is of course the whole point. I doubt anyone would choose to be a freelance translator unless they were excited by the prospect. Over the years I have made plenty of mistakes and had some pretty hairy moments, but these have been outweighed by the satisfaction of seeing your work in print, developing strong relationships with clients and colleagues, finally arriving at a genius translation for that one sentence that's been bugging you for hours...and, of course, getting paid for doing something you enjoy.

For the love of the job...

I was given food for thought this week by a comment made by psychologist and child development specialist Annette Karmiloff-Smith on Radio 4's The Life Scientific.

She started her career as a simultaneous interpreter with the UN (immediately my ears pricked up...hello?! Dream Job?!)... but she sounded rather dismissive of this profession, saying that a) she "learnt nothing" because she worked in so many different areas at the same time, and b) she hated not being able to have and express her own opinion.

I was a little taken aback by this view as I personally find it to be quite the opposite.

I ADORE the diversity of this work - be it interpreting or translating - and I am the envy of my friends. Far from "learning nothing", my work has allowed me to discover, and learn about in a lot of depth, certain sectors and fields which I would otherwise barely have given a second glance. Mycology. Enology. Apiculture. Soil Erosion. Castles. Wind Farms. Bridges. Grain Silos. And the list goes on...

Obviously, nobody can become a true expert in everything - and it is always recommendable, particularly in translation, to specialise in a particular area, as increases your credibility and prevents you from spreading yourself too thin - but there is always the opportunity to learn new things... if you're willing.


On Karmiloff-Smith's second point, well, I guess it's all about personal preference. I would say I'm outspoken and a good communicator, but I don't miss expressing my own opinion while I'm working. For me, it's part of the challenge - transforming someone else's words into another language and making it sound natural involves a lot of mental gymnastics and creativity at times and I focus on that and leave my soapbox at the door. Proofreading jobs offer more of an opportunity for arguing your point (or choice of words) particularly if you have a picky or stubborn client - and while I welcome the chance for some good negotiating, I actually prefer to let the original speaker/writer's words play around in my head and find the best possible translation for them than worry about having to argue all the time.

I suppose that's why I'm a translator and Annette Karmiloff-Smith isn't. Which is fine, of course. We both love our jobs and are well suited to what we do. Horses for courses and all that. It's what makes the world go round!

Getting everything in order for a productive 2013

A rather belated Happy New Year to all! I hope 2013 has started off well and that the year ahead is full of fruitful and exciting projects, both professionally and personally.

Following on from my previous blog about keeping track of how your business is doing, and in order to practice what I preach... I have spent much of the habitually rather sluggish start to the year getting up to speed with, adapting and updating my accounting and business management systems. I have found it a thoroughly motivating and refreshing experience, and I hope that my business will benefit from it in the long run.

The main area I wanted to discuss is that of specific software. There are literally hundreds of small business accounting programme out there, ranging from free to wildly expensive, and I had always been rather dismissive of them, as my own Excel spreadsheet worked perfectly well both on a daily basis and when it came to doing quarterly and annual tax returns and the like. However, in this new year I have downloaded a couple and I am trying them out to see how they fare. So far I have set up Express Accounts from NCH Software and GnuCash, both of which are free of charge for small business users and pretty straighforward despite covering pretty much all the needs of a small business for keeping the books in order. I particularly like GnuCash's different report options, which lets you generate groovy bar charts and pie charts as well as offering a clear overview of exactly what's going on for your business at any given moment.

Obviously, for many small businesses there is the option of profession-specific software. Translation is no exception.
Translation specific software includes: MultiTrans Prism, Plunet, Projetex, TOM (Translation Office Manager), or Promax, all of which have their pros and cons, but in the end I opted for Translation Office 3000 by AIT.

Okay, time to tell the truth now - I bought this  software (not at vast expense I might add) a few years ago but never really got off the ground with it as I found it time consuming to set up and rather rigid in terms of file structure. I suppose I just wasn't willing to start jumping through certain hoops in order to use something that was supposed to make my life easier rather than complicate matters more, and in the end I got fed up and returned to my trusty old system. BUT... TO3000 has been updated since then, and I was thrilled to find that its former drawbacks have been resolved, and I can now customise the folder structure exactly how I want it. Making productive use of a couple of days without any work in the diary, I got everything set up, entered (almost) all my clients on to the database and I am now using it full time. I love being able to generate quotes and invoices at the touch of a button, PLUS it comes with an extremely useful tool called AnyCount which gives you a speedy wordcount of any file(s) in seconds without having to trail back to dig out the original document or Customer PO. It offers a large selection of business reports (those groovy pie charts again!) and I have to say I'm really pleased with it! I will still need to tweak it for tax purposes (hence my foray into other accounting software) but it does allow you include a log of business expenses and keep an eye on your basic balance sheet. It has handy reminders to issue invoices and check due payments.

I am feeling so organised that I am still using my old system of jotting down jobs and invoices on a separate table and I will still use my Excel spreadsheets as a backup accounting system, but I would certainly recommend this software (or any of the others available, which I haven't tried, so cannot comment). I think it would be very useful for a beginner as well - it offers a pretty good reflection of a typical translation workflow and accommodates all sorts of potential circumstances which may not initially occur to someone just starting out on their own.

So...here's to a productive and well-organised 2013...and a business that's making money!