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.
This post was originally published on听KGH Interpretation. It is reposted with permission.听 In 2022 I facilitated a session of the Language Access Caf茅 at the NCIHC Annual Membership Meeting and was asked to speak about interpreter self-care. Prior to the meeting, I decided to do an informal survey of medical interpreters asking them some questions about their mental health. I wanted to have a little bit of data that would clue me in on some of the issues interpreters were facing. While most of the results I shared during the AMM focused on stressors and supports, I also briefly shared…
Read MoreDear Savvy: Will I Go Broke as a Literary Translator?
If you read the first post in our new 鈥淒ear Savvy鈥 series, on breaking into culinary translation, you might remember that our inbox has been graced by a number of thoughtful reader questions lately. In this new column, we provide answers to your questions by asking those who know best. In this case, we recruited literary translator Lisa Carter to…
Read MoreCertification Exam Changes
Reblogged from The ATA Chronicle, with permission There are major changes ahead for ATA鈥檚 certification exam in 2017. Eligibility Requirements Education and experience requirements needed to take the exam will be discontinued in January 2017. Why? Because they failed to predict the chances of an individual passing the exam. And that was the whole point鈥攖o ensure that exam candidates were…
Read More9 Useful Questions by New Professional Translators
Qualifying is a massive part of becoming a professional translator. But once you鈥檝e finished your training, how do you get started? This article answers nine of the most popular questions by budding professional translators when they get to the end of my Spanish-to-English translation course.
Read MoreLinguist in the Spotlight: An Interview with Corinne McKay
This fourth installment of our 鈥淟inguist in the Spotlight鈥 interview series features Corinne McKay, French-to-English translator and current president of the 兔子先生 (ATA). If Corinne鈥檚 name is familiar, it may be thanks not only to her visible role in the ATA, but to the fact that she is a regular contributor to The Savvy Newcomer and also the…
Read MoreDear Savvy: I Want to Work in Culinary Translation
Recently, our inbox has seen a number of thoughtful questions from readers. In lieu of shipping off worthy advice to lone recipients, we decided these exchanges could benefit a broader audience. Without further ado, we are pleased to inaugurate our new question-and-answer series 脿 la 鈥淒ear Abby,鈥 titled 鈥淒ear Savvy鈥 (get it?). Our first reader question is on how to…
Read MoreTransitioning from Student to Freelance Translator
Reblogged from the SDL Trados blog, incl. the image, with permission from the author In November this year at ATA鈥檚 57th Annual Conference in San Francisco, Meghan McCallum and Sarah Puchner, both French to English translators, co-presented a session on 鈥淭ransitioning from Student to Translator: Strategies for Success.鈥 After the conference we reached out to Meghan to discuss this topic…
Read MoreYear-one Chronicle: My First Twelve Months as a Professional Translator
A few days before Christmas I got a thick, imposing envelope in the mail from the Washington State Department of Revenue. 鈥淎CTION REQUIRED: Business Tax Return due January 31鈥 it shouted in bold, red font across the front. Yikes! What have I gotten myself into? Inauspicious beginnings Two years ago, I didn鈥檛 even know that document translation was a real…
Read MoreATA’s First Virtual Conference Has Arrived
Did you miss out on ATA鈥檚 58th Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.? Or maybe you attended but weren鈥檛 able to make it to as many sessions you would have liked. Don鈥檛 fear! The ATA Virtual Conference is here. What is the Virtual Conference? The Virtual Conference is a collection of 49 sessions given at ATA58 in Washington, D.C. There are…
Read MoreLinguist in the Spotlight: An Interview with Frieda Ruppaner-Lind
English-to-German and German-to-English translator Frieda Ruppaner-Lind is among those intrepid linguists who count their experience not in years, but decades: in her case, three of them. Indeed, translation has existed for at least as long as the Rosetta Stone, but few would disagree that the act of translating itself has never changed more than it has over the past few…
Read MoreThe Greatest Challenge Facing Translators
Reblogged from Academic Language Experts blog, with permission from the author A friend, wishing to polish his translation skills, recently asked me the following question: 鈥渋f you had to give one tip to a new translator, what would it be?鈥 Without hesitation I answered 鈥渁void literalisms.鈥 As editor of Academic Language Experts this is the most frequent issue I encounter…
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