I had been working as a translator for several years before I decided to do an MA. I chose to do the course at that point in my career because I felt it would get me more professional recognition. I also wanted to learn more about the translation industry as a whole and people’s experiences within it.
In January I learned that Twitter has removed the cap on the number of accounts you can add to lists (it used to be 500) and the number of lists you can have (it used to be 20). This probably happened ages ago, so I’d been missing out on making the most of Twitter, since the limits were one of the major reasons why I never bothered with lists.
Now that you can add up to 5000 accounts to your lists and create up to 1000 lists, I’ll be using Hootsuite a lot more often to keep a tab on everything that’s going on.
My name is Pierre. I graduated from the Master Traduction Spécialisée Multilingue (TSM) at the Université de Lille 3 and currently work as a freelance translator from English and Russian to French.
The translation industry is unique and gathers professionals from a broad range of diverse career paths. With all its features, there is no doubt that we can describe it as a multi-faceted sector.
In this review I will show how the TSM Master’s programme at Lille focuses on this particular reality by thoroughly preparing students to enter the market right after their graduation.
A recent argument with an agency about the word count for a job handed in weeks previously has driven home just how sordid this practice of counting words really is. Thankfully, this type of situation doesn’t rear its ugly head that often, and this particular client is not one of my main sources of income. But when an agency forgets I charge by the source word because their arrangements with other translators differ, and they then send a series of short documents as they arrive from the end client with embedded text that the counter in Word doesn’t recognise, problems and tetchy emails can ensue. And I do so loathe any suspicion that I might be trying to pull a fast one by adding more words to the invoice than I am entitled to, especially when the difference we’re squabbling about is a laughably small amount.
“Not another post about Twitter dos and don’ts!” I hear you moan. Um, yes, sorry. Hopefully this post will manage to give you a different slant to previous ones on the subject. Well, that’s the plan anyway.
That depends on what you want to read. For instance, I follow lots of colleagues in the industry, as well as a few editors and copywriters, news broadcasters, politicians and political parties, charities, animal welfare, wildlife and environmental organisations, tourism tweeters, etc. Whatever and whoever floats your boat really.
First and foremost, I’d like to wish you all a happy, successful 2016. Times are hard for many across the globe and I’m sure this is no exception for some translator and interpreter colleagues, especially those living in or working for countries still suffering the effects of the great recession.
Machine translation (MT) is also increasingly impacting on our businesses, and certainly not always in a positive way. While many have embraced PEMT (post-editing of machine translation), I hope out of choice rather than necessity (it’s certainly not something I want to do), others, like myself, shy away from MT altogether. Whatever our feelings about MT, however, it is an area we need to keep an eye on and decide how to deal with. A guest post in the pipeline should help us to do just that.
Today’s guest post, the last one in 2015, and the 11th in the ongoing MA review series, is by Nicolas Montagne on the Master’s programme traduction spécialisée multilingue : technologies et gestion de projets at Université de Lille 3.
If you completed your MA relatively recently and would like to write a review for this blog of your course and how it has shaped your career, you’ll find more information and a complete list of all past guest posts here.
The TSM Master’s programme was created about 10 years ago in Lille in northern France. Even though it is quite new in the French academic landscape, this dynamic programme has gradually been making a name for itself.
Some words about my background: after a one-year Erasmus exchange in Germany during which I completed a bachelor’s degree in applied languages, I moved back to France.
In this week’s guest post four former MA students at the University of Leeds give details about the courses they studied and how getting the MA degree has helped shape their career.
Please see the postgraduate web pages of the Centre for Translation Studies (CTS) for details on the MA and Diploma courses that can be followed at Leeds.
This post is part of the ongoing MA review series on this blog. If you would like to take part and write a review of your MA, you’ll find more information and a complete list of all past guest posts here. This list includes another review of the MA at Leeds by Rachel Ball.
Carmen: We looked at the latest versions of SDL Trados Studio, memoQ, Deja Vu X, OmegaT and Passolo, which gave us a good idea of the CAT tool market and helped us to work out which features we liked and which was our favourite tool. We also got great discounts on some of the tools at the end of the year.
Carmen Swanwick-Roa graduated from the Leeds MA in 2013 and has since set up as a freelance translator specialising in medical translation and international development. Since 2014, she has also worked as a part-time tutor at the University of Leeds’ Centre for Translation Studies.
Today’s MA guest post is by David García Ruiz. You can find information on MAs in Europe and all the reviews on this blog here. And if you have completed an MA in translation or interpreting and would like to write about your experience for this series, you’ll find some basic guidelines and a full list of all the guest posts here.
I studied my MA in Translation with Language Technology at Swansea University and I would like to share my amazing experience with you.
I first published this post on Pulse, LinkedIn’s content creation and sharing platform, on 16 November this year.
You’ve probably never heard of As Pontes, a small town in the province of Galicia in north-western Spain. And you might have remained blissfully unaware of its existence if its council hadn’t made a serious error of judgement, a mistake that has put the municipality on the world map of translation gaffes.
Back in 1981 the town came up with the idea of a festival to celebrate traditional agriculture and attract visitors. That’s how the Feira do Grelo was born. Held in February during carnival time every year, it includes a competition to find the best grelo. What’s that you ask? Good question.
Tranix Translation & Editing Services 