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The Influence of the Market on Translating—
Posted by words on Wednesday, July 23 @ 07:20:00 EDT (555 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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Introduction
Tt
was not until the late 1970s, to be more exact, in 1978, the year of
reform and political opening-up, that the real market-oriented
translation appeared in mainland China. By market-oriented translation
I mean a kind of translation service which every individual or
organization can access. Before 1978 China was relatively closed, only
open to socialist and Third World (Chairman Mao's term) countries.
International cultural, economic and technical exchanges were not
frequent. As a result, there was little need of translation services.
The basic pattern of the then translation market was self-sufficient in
the sense that the government departments and state-owned enterprises
had their own full-time salaried translators whose service was provided
only for their own institutions. As for the freelance translators, they
were actually part-timers and always affiliated with a certain
governmental organization doing a certain civil service work; their
number was quite limited. In one word, the market at that time was not
totally open.
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Supply and Demand Analysis of Patent Translation
Posted by words on Wednesday, July 23 @ 06:56:43 EDT (546 reads)
Topic Translation Market
| As the internet shortens the intellectual distance between countries,
worldwide patent information becomes easily accessible. In order to
protect novel inventions, it is important to file a patent in patent
offices and distribute patent information online. Since patents are
granted for innovations, patents reflect economic growth of a country
by illustrating creative activities and displaying the knowledge power
of that particular country or region. World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations
dedicated to promoting an international intellectual property system,
asserts that patent activities reflect up-to-date changes of worldwide
industries, and as a consequence, good-quality information is essential
in the understanding of current developments (WIPO, 2007h).
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Everything’s Comin’ up Roses
Posted by words on Wednesday, July 23 @ 06:41:35 EDT (493 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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(with apologies to Stephen Sondheim)
I often wonder whether the leaders (if one wishes to apply such lofty
nomenclature) of this country's numerous translator and interpreter
organizations live in some kind of blessed land of milk and honey, a
land of beautiful aromatic flowers and streams and brooks of pristine
water, a land of sunshine and smiles, where n'er a cloud darkens the
day. And if such land of milk and honey exists, I surely want to go
there.
Prices
for basic goods and services are increasing dramatically across the
board. Yet, translation prices have dropped and translator income has
remained relatively stagnant. |
Indeed,
one can voyage to this land of sunshine via the many publications
issued by these numerous translator and interpreter organizations.
Therein, the visitor from the more earthly world of translation and
interpreting will be fed with honey and sweets such as "A School Outreach Profile" or "Promoting Translation in Education" or "Translating U.S. Undergraduate Admissions into Spanish". And if your craving for honey and sweets has still not been satisfied, you can feast on the tasty grapes of "Pursuing a PhD in Translation at Kent State University" or "How a Linguist looks at Translation".
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12 Job Application Tips For Copywriters
Posted by words on Monday, October 15 @ 05:04:45 EDT (308 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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I recently advertised for freelance copywriters to work for my copywriting business and received some 200 applications. I've done quite a bit of recruiting in the past, so, from the outset, I knew exactly what sort of expertise I was after. I also knew I'd be inundated with applications, and that the applicants would come from all sorts of backgrounds with varying levels of copywriting expertise. I was very specific about the application requirements, and I had systems set up to filter and categorize applications. I thought I had it all covered. I should have known I couldn't be that lucky!
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Selling to the Bottom Line
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 09 @ 06:18:26 EDT (327 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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"Every person who has ever started a business, I imagine, thought he had a good idea. It's the smart person, and the rare person, who tries to find out the most important thing: do other people think it's a good idea?"
Bernard Kamoroff, author of "Small-Time Operator"
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Investing in existing clients pays off
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 09 @ 06:05:27 EDT (368 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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Did you know that the cost of acquiring a new client is five to seven times greater than the cost of retaining an existing one? While it clearly makes good commercial sense to look after clients well, sales activities are more often focused on winning new business and client care is not always given the attention that it deserves.
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Are you an apple, orange or a fruit basket?
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 09 @ 04:16:22 EDT (320 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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Mary Jones is a program manager at a global telecommunications firm that spends over (US) $10 million annually on localization. Her company has some additional localization needs, and Mary has been asked to get quotes from a number of localization vendors. To each vendor, Mary will send a letter and several documents that reflect a typical eight-language project for her company. The vendors will be asked to reply with cost and schedule estimates.
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Translators Are Natural Marketers, but They Don't Know It!
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 09 @ 04:08:30 EDT (356 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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Here is something you probably never even suspected: as a translator, you are also a language (or words) expert, and marketing is essentially a way of using language (or words) to persuade people to take action and because of this, the transition from translator to marketer should be nice and smooth and easy for you...
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Promote Your Translation Services Through the ODP
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 09 @ 04:05:59 EDT (338 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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Short abstract: If you want to promote your translation services get your website listed in the ODP.
Disclaimer: Although I am an ODP volunteer editor who can review translators’ web sites, I do not represent the ODP in any official capacity.
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China: A $1.3bn Translation Market?
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 09 @ 02:20:25 EDT (360 reads)
Topic Translation Market
| According to this article China's translation market is anywhere between US$1.3bn and US$2.5bn; this is according to the Translators Association of China. Also according to the assocation, there are 3,000 registered translation companies in China, although the article mentions that there could be more than 10,000 agencies (primarily mom and pop types) in all.
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eProcurement and Translation
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 09 @ 01:31:23 EDT (359 reads)
Topic Translation Market
| Background of eProcurementThe world of purchasing took a significant change with the introduction of eProcurement systems. Unbelievable ROI was promised and the whole purchasing world was about to revolutionise, all for a mere few million investment. This would be done by rationalising the supply base to an absolute minimum and then ensuring no off contract buying was done by enforcing purchases through the system. There were additional savings in the reduction of administration from purchase orders through to invoice payment.
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The Nine Markets
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 09 @ 00:28:54 EDT (289 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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From the point of view of the translator, all the languages spoken and written in this world may be divided into three groups, although borders between groups are not always very sharp. Classifications always imply a certain degree of generalization; generalization, in any degree, entails loss of precision. However I hope the basic ideas derived from this article may be of some interest, if not of any use.
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Translation: A Market in Crisis?
Posted by words on Tuesday, October 09 @ 00:26:32 EDT (153 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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Colleagues who attended the 2002 ATA meeting complained that there was a significant reduction in the number of agencies present. Nothing wrong with the ATA itself: just a sign of the times, for our trade is in a state of crisis and the signs of deterioration are seen everywhere, not only in the paucity of participants in the ATA job exchange. Responses to the crisis have been many, diverse and often lacking in objectivity. It seems that translators, usually so logical in dealing with technical issues, tend to be a little bit emotional and subjective when the matter is money.
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Inttranews Special Report:
Posted by words on Monday, October 08 @ 23:36:57 EDT (262 reads)
Topic Translation Market
| Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union
The Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union is one of the smaller translation services of the EU, regularly translating documents in an extremely varied range of subjects into and out of all 20 official languages of the European Union.
So how does it operate? What are its deadlines? How does it meet them? What are its quality criteria? Inttranews set out to find the answers, which will no doubt be of keen interest to freelancers and translation companies alike…
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Why I don't like bidding systems
Posted by words on Monday, October 08 @ 23:34:16 EDT (308 reads)
Topic Translation Market
| I don't think many people could imagine a lawyer bidding to get a contract in reply to an ad saying, "Legal advice needed for big company, please offer your best price, no more than $ 5 an hour please." Yet this type of ad is seen every day on the main translation portals, with price being the main, if not only, selection criteria. I believe that there are a number of reasons why this focus on price is not only wrong, but also bad for the translation profession. As well as setting these out below, I also have a suggestion for pushing translation portals in a better direction.
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ESL Jobs FAQ
Posted by words on Monday, October 08 @ 23:32:42 EDT (354 reads)
Topic Translation Market
| Are there really any ESL jobs for me? Yes, there are. Rightly or wrongly, the whole world wants to learn English. People everywhere, especially young people, are convinced that speaking good English is their passport to a successful career. What is more, they are being encouraged in this by many governments. Worldwide, there are many more ESL jobs than there are native-speaking EFL teachers to fill them (though it should not be forgotten that English is also taught by perfectly competent non-native teachers). EMT (English mother tongue) teachers are in high demand in virtually all parts of the world. However, EMT teachers may find it more difficult to break into other English-speaking countries. And in general, schools in Western Europe express a preference for teachers with an EU passport as working papers are then automatic.
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How to use a GILT Job recruiter
Posted by words on Monday, October 08 @ 23:28:18 EDT (352 reads)
Topic Translation Market
| Keeping your career afloat can often feel like you’re navigating through hazardous, murky waters, especially during times of company mergers and acquisitions, downsizing, “right sizing,” and “offshoring.” Indeed, many things might lead us to reinvent our careers, and we invariably need to understand our job markets. Every career-minded person faces this reality, and the world of localization offers no exception.
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People, People Who Need People
Posted by words on Monday, October 08 @ 23:25:53 EDT (493 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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Your best sales person has just been headhunted elsewhere, your strategic account manager for your biggest client is soon off on maternity leave - or paternity, depending on where you are, there’s a large new project coming in and you’ll need to hire new project managers with a specific technical experience and German, plus an engineer, and one of the new recruits is not working out. Being a hiring manager sometimes feel like it doesn’t rain but pours.
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A Typical Translator?
Posted by words on Thursday, September 27 @ 02:41:05 EDT (352 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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Every time the American Translators Association’s Translation Services Directory Questionnaire asks me to list only five languages (plus one more in additional information), I have to persuade them that there really are those of us who translate ten or more languages, in particular Slavic language translators. There are ten Slavic languages, and for fun we generally also study something else from the area such as Hungarian, Georgian, Lithuanian, or in my case Albanian (which my landlady in Skopje spoke) and Romanian (which is close to what the Aromanians or Vlachs spoke in Macedonia).
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How to Choose a Translator Wisely
Posted by words on Thursday, September 27 @ 02:35:00 EDT (376 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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Translation clients are often buying blind. They seldom know what they are paying for, especially when buying a translation into a language other than their own. Translations are definitely not all born equal, a fact to which anyone who has experienced the pain, amusement or confusion of reading a bad one will attest.
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Seven Ways to Leave Your Translation Vendor
Posted by words on Wednesday, September 26 @ 04:01:30 EDT (352 reads)
Topic Translation Market
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A practical guide to minimizing your risk of change
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