The Savvy Newcomer aims to serve newcomers to the translation and interpreting professions by publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed content on a weekly basis. We strive to provide you with the answers to the many questions you face as a new or aspiring translator or interpreter.
Many language professionals start out doing their work “on the side” of whatever else they are doing in life. When people find out you are bilingual, you may be asked to do some volunteer interpreting to help out a friend, family member, or someone in need, or you may agree or be expected to do the occasional translation—and maybe even get paid for it. Volunteering and doing small side jobs are great ways to gain experience and improve your skills as a translator or interpreter. But in order to be a professional—whether you plan on doing this work part-time or…
Read MoreDon’t Just Sit and Pitch: What I’ve Learned as a Translator-Turned-Salesman
Over the past few months I’ve learned more about translations, the people who need them, and good customer service than I ever thought I would—all without translating a single word. In May, I joined Multilingual Connections, a translation and transcription company based near Chicago, as their customer relations manager. In the office, we have debates over what words really mean…
Read MoreFollowing up after the ATA conference—How to ensure your efforts and expenses don’t go to waste!
by Jamie Hartz Follow up and follow through Within two weeks Review your notes from the conference sessions and networking events. Make a to-do list of people to follow up with, and save all the business cards you collected. You can upload them to an electronic contact file, but be sure to save the business cards too in case you…
Read MoreHow to Get the Most Out of the Buddies Welcome Newbies Program at the ATA Conference
by Helen Eby This post contains some of the information we provide in a presentation for the Buddies Welcome Newbies program we hold the day before the conference (Wednesday). Our goal is to help you think about how to prepare for the conference. We hope these tips will serve you well at other networking events too. Why did we start…
Read MoreHow to prepare for the ATA conference
What sessions should I go to? What should I do to prepare? How can I find what I’m looking for? What should I even be looking for? A few days ago, one of my newbies sent me a list of great questions about preparing for the ATA conference. After writing down my answers, I started to wonder if these thoughts…
Read More3 Ways to Enhance Your Medical Interpreter Training Experience
By Erin Rosales Reblogged from Connecting Cultures with permission from the author (incl. the image) You finally did it! After months of consideration and endless prodding from family, friends, and even that guy at the supermarket, you finally enrolled in an interpreter training program. Woo hoo! Your course work will prepare you to interpret in the medical field, but there will…
Read MoreThe Savvy Social Media User—Twitter Handle & Sharing Frequency
By Catherine Christaki and David Friedman Here at The Savvy Newcomer, we often get questions from our blog readers about social media and blogging. We would like to share some answers and advice concerning some of these questions below and also to encourage you to email us your questions anytime. Our topic of discussion today is social media, and more…
Read MoreCollaborating with Other Translators
Lund Translation Team by David Friedman I wanted to find a way to collaborate closely with other translators ever since the early days of my translation career, because I thought it would open up more opportunities and would be more fun than going it alone. This is the reason I have experimented with different forms of collaboration, strategies, methods and…
Read MoreWhat I Care About
By Helen Eby What have I learned over the last few months? I care about people. María Díaz. Wow! She was one of my students in a class in Woodburn. She was a nurse in Mexico, and came to the US because her son needed medical treatment. She knew no English when she came, but she had been managing five…
Read MoreMedical Translation Regulations
By Surinder Singh Partly reblogged from The Language Blog by K International with permission from the author (including the image) Medical translation is serious business. Mistakes can be a matter of life or death. As such, medical translation is one of the most heavily regulated segments of the translation industry. Translation vendors and clients alike must navigate a complex labyrinth…
Read MoreBuddies Welcome Newbies at ATA56
By The Savvy Newcomer Team If you’re a newbie to the American Translators Association, or to translation or interpreting in general, and you’re thinking of attending the ATA conference in Miami this November, then this post is for you – so read on! The Savvy Newcomer Team would like to tell you about an event that was a huge success…
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