Join the initiative – Translators on…

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The translation industry is not short of professionals who want to pass on their expertise and experience to the next generation and to their current colleagues. Nor is it short of outlets that disseminate this kind of advice.

But we’ve reached a point where there is now such a diffuse range of information channels for translation students, for those starting out in the profession and even for experienced translators that we often feel oversaturated and it can be confusing knowing what to focus on and what to trust.

There are tonnes of articles around with ‘X number of ways to improve your translation business’ and blog posts telling you to ‘do this’ and ‘don’t do that’, but we often read these and accept them as the word of god, instead of adopting a healthier approach and challenging the ideas and advice shared by even the most renowned professionals in our industry. After all, we are the masters of our own careers and our own businesses.

This means there’s a real need to provide a comprehensive source that brings together a wide range translation professionals to share their knowledge on various practical aspects of working as a translator. The aim is to give authority and credibility to this source by involving a consortium of translators, rather than a single preacher, as all of our knowledge and experience is as equally valid as the next translator’s.

That is why I would like you to take part in this initiative and share your ideas on certain issues that you encounter in practising as a translator.

Presentation

The idea is to present this information in a series of online posts, each entitled ‘Translators on [subject]’. Rather than being presented in an interview format, the posts will consist of concise points, grouped under topics and sub-topics, following the model of my 2013 e-book, The Translator Diaries.

This will allow readers to take on board the advice shared in order to form their own opinions on the profession and how they improve run their translation business, getting away from the practice of talking down to colleagues and instructing them what to do.

Interested?

I’ll send you a list of topics and sub-topics and all that’s involved is jotting down your thoughts on those topics, related to practising as a translator. It would be great if you could provide your view on each sub-topic, but it’s not a problem if you find that you don’t have much to say on certain ones.

I will then collate a broad range of constructive and pertinent ideas from different translators on those topics in order to structure the series.

If you’d like to come on board and have your say, please e-mail me and I’ll send you more details.

I hope you can be a part of Translators on… as I believe we should build up a database of realistic and practical advice for our industry and give new translators and our colleagues a lot to think about. Hope to have you on board!

– Lloyd