Blog Archive

Typical Kinds of Translation Agencies

For people who aren’t involved in translation, it is often unclear what distinguishes one translation agency from another. After all, they all do the same thing, i.e., translations. At times, however, they may have less in common than a dentist and a cosmetologist. No one asks a masseuse to fill a tooth or a veterinarian […]

What is Translation?

Oleg retired from the Housing DepartmentBecause he was tired of unclogging blocked drains.He wanted the money without having to strain,So he became a translator. When you speak to someone who’s not into publishing industry it is sometimes difficult to explain how much nuance is required to produce a well-published text. Over the many years that […]

Freelancing: How to Manage Clients, Deadlines, and Payments

Freelancing is often not taken seriously and considered to be a side job; an additional source of money on top of a main salary, or a temporary cash aid until a full-time job is found. Working as a freelancer is the format of a fully-fledged professional activity. A real freelancer is a self-employed entrepreneur. Freelancing […]

Freelance: Hermit’s Daily Routine

There is a widespread belief that Sir Walter Scott was the first to use the term “freelancer“ meaning “freelance“, in his novel Ivanhoe: —I offered Richard the service of my Free Lances, and he refused them. Although Ivanhoe was published in the early 19th century, freelancing as a format is a rather new phenomenon. Today, a growing number of experts […]

Translation Quality Assurance Tools

In this article, we will talk about the tools used by translators, editors, and managers of translation agencies, for translation quality assurance. We will review their functions, their strengths, and limitations, as well as common misconceptions about their efficiency How it works Software products, for translation quality assurance purposes, are tools that assist in identifying […]

How to Destroy a Successful Company

In this article, we will tell you how to destroy a prosperous company whilst having the best intentions. By following business coaches’ tips, but ignoring corporate values and culture, anyone can fall into this trap. The following situation can arise in any business but is particularly crucial for companies whose major asset is qualified staff. […]

Project Managers in a Translation Agency — What Is Their Role?

Clients and translators do not always fully understand the role of a project manager within a translation agency. It may seem to others that a project manager, or PM, is just a dispatcher who gets files from a client, sends them to the translators, and then sends the translated files back to the client, thus […]

The Human Factor in Translation Projects: Why Being a Good Translator Is Not Enough

In this article, we will talk about communication between a translation agency and translators, and how it affects their cooperation In our experience, at least in 30% of cases, relations between a translation agency and a translator are suspended because of a mutual misunderstanding, or difficulties in cooperation, even when the main criteria, such as […]

Translation Tests: Different Viewpoints

Test translations are one of the most disputed matters in the translation industry. Clients use them when selecting a translation agency and the latter uses them to hire translators. Some people think tests are a necessary evil; others believe they are compulsory; while some question their usefulness altogether. Let’s consider this phenomenon from different points […]