eCPD Webinars and the Alexandria Project announce strategic partnership

Worthing (UK) – Emmendingen (Germany) – 24 July 2013. eCPD Webinars and the Alexandria project, both specialising in CPD services for linguists, professional interpreters and translators, announce their new partnership.

Based in the UK and run by language professionals for language professionals,

eCPD Webinars enables busy and committed professionals in language-related industries to learn from the top experts in their field and to improve their careers, all from the comfort of their home or office, by offering a programme of relevant events directly to individual linguists and by organising and promoting events on behalf of organisations and companies. eCPD Webinars is dedicated to language professionals and to anyone working in the language industry, including translators, interpreters, terminologists, project managers and those working in areas such as localisation, subtitling, and technical writing. 

Based in Germany (a sub-company of GxP Language Services) created by translators and open to both translation buyers and providers, the Alexandria virtual library offers an array of resources for translator CPD (continuous professional development), and services, such as live webinars and online courses (for now), and will soon offer various types of resources such as glossaries, videos, termbases, e-books…  The Alexandria platform also has a complete area dedicated to resources and training of language services buyers.

“The translation profession is currently undergoing dramatic changes”, says Siegfried Armbruster, owner of GxP Language Services and founder of the Alexandria Project. “For this reason, we think that translators should (re)take control of their own industry - this is one of the reasons we started the Alexandria Project, as translators ourselves: training and professional development is an essential area. Such a project can only work through international collaboration. This is a time to work together and not to be divided. We're thrilled by this partnership with eCPD Webinars, an established leader in continuous professional development for professional linguists- Unity makes strength!”

Lucy Brooks, Managing Director of eCPD Webinars, added: “I am delighted to be working with the Alexandria Project. I started eCPD Webinars three years ago to provide quality training for translators who, for one reason or another, find it difficult to attend face-to-face events. Continuing Education – professional development – is so important for practitioners of our profession, and it should be available to all. By providing easy access to on-line events, we and our partners are helping translators to achieve maximum professionalism in their work – and at a very reasonable cost in terms of time and money.  I look forward to developing our partnership with the Alexandria Project.”

Click the links for more information about Alexandria Project 

and about eCPD Webinars

To contact us please use the contact forms on either website.

 

eCPD announces new courses and webinars for next term

We finished off our summer term with a very well received demonstration of OmegaT, the free CAT tool for translators, given by its developer, Didier Briel.
We are now working hard on our autumn and winter programme. (Yes we know that south of the equator it's the other way round and our apologies to you for the inverted terminology!)

A number of brand new courses have just arrived on our calendar. You'd think we had covered every available topic by now, but we still have some terrific ideas bubbling on the eCPD stove!

We have just published details of a webinar on Transcription and Translating from Transcription to be held on December 3rd. The speaker is Lindsay Bywood of Imperial College (still). She will delve into this subject for those who would like to know more about this field.

Our popular legal terminology courses for Spanish and French translators continue in October and November, with a second set of workshops in January (Spanish) and February (French) to cover some new areas: real estate and mortgage terms, copyright, and public international law.
For translators from Japanese there is a webinar on translating Japanese contracts in November.

These are just the webinars we have published since our last newsletter in early July. For a full list of all our upcoming events, view our calendar page. How about Translating Culturally Challenging Terms? Or a course on the German legal system? We have ideas popping in our heads all the time and several more webinars and courses will be announced soon.

Do keep fully up to date with our offering by subscribing to our newsletter. It's free to join, and besides news of our own events, the newsletter contains tips, hints and industry news.

Why not come to our (free) coffee morning on 4th September to tell us what you would like to see. We promise to listen and if we agree that there is a call for your suggestion, we will do our best to put it on.

Tales of an intern

Jessie Doppler

by Jessie Doppler (@JessieDoppler) 

It’s been no less than two and a half months since I started my Social Media internship with eCPDWebinars – and it has indeed been quite the ride.

As many of you may know from your own experience, internships can often feel like taking a bet; it could turn out to be a total dream or an utter disaster where the only experience gained is on brewing tea and filing empty folders...

In my case, it felt even more like a bet.

Having obtained my MA in translating and interpreting a few years ago and currently working as a freelance translator heading up my own business, the idea of taking on an internship at this point in my career did, at first, not seem any more appealing than downing a glass of fresh kale juice (which, by the way, is allegedly a great way to start the day). Would I even find the time for an internship?

After some thought, I felt what eCPDWebinars had to offer me would add a whole new dimension to my professional experience and, since I had never really worked with social media on a professional level, what a great opportunity this could be for me to learn something new.

As it turns out, this one bet really paid off. So, to make up for at least some of the terrible internships you may have read about in the past, I have decided to highlight the best aspects of my internship experience and with this I hope to encourage others to bite the bullet.

Learning, learning, learning and more learning

Social Media

The past two months have been a steep learning curve. I’ve gone from barely understanding the basics of using social media on a professional level to creating a social media strategy. Who knew there was so much to learn and understand?

The CPD business

I have been given an insight into the online CPD business, from what it takes to organise a webinar and events, finding presenters, rehearsals, the marketing approach, what goes on behind the scenes during a live webinar to actual business-related aspects of running such a business.

Access to eCPDWebinars

As part of my internship I have benefitted from attending training sessions to boost my own freelance career.

Networking and being part of something

The internship has not only allowed me to expand my professional network but it has also given me the opportunity to be part of something. Maybe some freelancers can’t relate to this, but despite my undying love for translating and my professional independence, I for one have found freelancing to be quite a lonely profession at times. Yes, you can rent an office, join networks and associations, and sure, there are numerous other advantages to freelancing, but at the end of the day, 95% of the time it is just you vs. your source text. So, my social media work for eCPDWebinars and having regular meetings with Lucy and Maia, who have really integrated me into various processes, has really brought back a much needed balance (and sanity) into my working life, which has, in turn, increased my translation productivity. Hurray!

P.S. I hope you have also all been enjoying my posts of Facebook and Twitter. Please feel free to share any suggestions you may have.

In my mission to promote our translation industry, I recently wrote an article for the Small Business Owner magazine. It is available for iPad. If you have an iPad why not download it now?


Translations: Get them right from the start

(c) 2013 by Lucy Brooks, FCIL, MITI

How to avoid disasters like these…
 “This cat food does not contain conservatives” 
“If the front is closed please enter through the backside”
“Let part D screw in to the posterior of part C”
If you do business outside the UK, or want to publish your website and publicity material in other languages it is essential to get the translation right from the outset. Choosing the wrong translator can be expensive and damaging to your business. We laugh at the three examples above, but can you be sure that you might not be causing hilarity, or worse, offence, to readers in other languages?
Here are my twelve golden rules for choosing the right translator.

1. Before commissioning a translation take another look at what is to be translated. Is it very oriented to the home market? Does it contain references to British culture that would not be understood in, say, Japan? Consider having it rewritten to suit an international audience.
2. When you are ready to commission your translator you are faced with many options. While it might be tempting to find a language student or a local teacher this can be the route to disaster. Apart from the confidentiality issue, teaching language demands a special set of skills. But these skills are rarely the same as those needed to produce a smooth, stylish translation. The risks are even greater if you opt for student translators. Think about it! Would you get your company accounts prepared by an A-level student? Or allow a medical student to remove your appendix?
3. Your translator should hold a translation qualification. In the UK he or she should be a member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) or the Chartered Institute of Linguists – the two major professional bodies in the UK. Similar professional standards exist in most European countries.
4. Make sure that your translator will be working into his or her mother tongue. That is the only way to obtain a smooth, flowing text that sounds as if it had been originally written in the target language. Be aware that there is often a huge difference in regional variation. For example, do not get a Portuguese translator to translate a document aimed at Brazilian customers.
5. Your translator should be experienced in your business or industry and be able to show this by providing references, evidence of continuing professional development or samples of work.
6. Get to know your translator. He needs to have as much background about your company as possible. For example, if you work with an agency in France allow the translator to consult with them for terminology. You could even invite him to tour your premises.
7. Tell your translator the purpose of the translation. Translating a contract is very different from translating website marketing copy for maximum sales impact. The more information your translator has about what you are aiming for the better the results will be.
8. Finalise the text before the translation work begins. Translating a work-in-progress is always more time-consuming and thus more expensive. Having multiple versions can lead to misunderstandings between you and the translator.
9. Provide glossaries in your language to explain complex technical terms that might not be readily available to your translator.
10. Allow your translator to ask questions and seek clarification of your text. A good translator analyses every element of every sentence and may well help you to improve your original.
11. Never use Google Translate or Bing. Results are just about OK to get the gist of an email sent to you by a client. But publish the results at your peril!
12. Allow your translator to proof-read the final version before publication to check for correct hyphenations, headings, captions, etc. Do not let non-native speakers ‘fiddle’ with the text. Remember the posters in Arabic at the London Olympics? The translation was fine but the typographers printed it back to front.

Finally, how do you find a translator? The two institutes I mentioned above have online directories. The Institute of Translation and Interpreting (ITI) and the Chartered Institute of Linguists (CIoL). Simply enter the language combination you want and search.
If your project consists of several languages at once you may be considering finding a translation company. My advice here is to research potential translation agencies. The best way to do this is simply to Google ‘translation companies’ + ‘your industry’. You might find that you can relate to a small to medium-sized company rather than a huge international one. Small language service providers are much more likely to use the same translator for your work. Such an arrangement ensures consistency and that your translator is always familiar with your products.
Follow these simple rules and avoid the pain, expense and trauma of the disastrous howlers shown at the beginning of this article.

In my last post I suggested that a quick visit to the Code of Conduct buried somewhere in your office could prove beneficial.
Here are some posers for you.

Should you, as a freelance translator, sub-contract work to another translator. Indeed, is it permissible at all to do this, and in what conditions? What safeguards should you put in place?

In some circumstances you might find yourself accepting a job that requires particular specialist skills and knowledge. You find yourself slightly outside your comfort zone. What should you do?

I’d be very interested to hear what you think.

I'll prepare some answers of my own for next time.

We have moved to: http://www.ecpdwebinars.co.uk/blog/. Why not bookmark the new page now?
Thanks for your interest.

We're moving. Wir ziehen um. Nous déménageons. Nos trasladamos

I have decided to move this blog to a new host at the eCPD website and to bring in the company blog previously written by Sarah Dillon to the same place.

To see our new home, simply click this link 

I intend to continue posting articles here, but eventually will move everything over to our new home.

Dusting off the Code of Conduct

When I became a Chartered Linguist five years ago I attended a gruelling interview at which, among other searching questions, I was presented with an imaginary* ethical dilemma for a translator and then asked to tell the interviewers what I would do in the circumstances of the scenario I was given.


I cannot remember the scenario now, and probably wouldn’t divulge it or my answer, even if I could remember. I was given five minutes to think about the dilemma and how I would deal with it. To prepare for the interview I had studied the Chartered Institute of Linguist’s code of conduct. I read it and re-read it, and dissected every clause in my mind. I practiced scenarios and dreamed up ever more unlikely situations in anticipation.
In my own working life I have been presented with few real ethical dilemmas. The majority of the work that comes my way was and continues to be bog standard commercial stuff, raising no problems with my conscience. And my clients are all bona fide businesses, trading correctly.

But dilemmas do happen, and that’s why we have a code of conduct to help us solve them.

Read this example of the kind of thing that we might come across as translators:
Ethical dilemmas from the Translation Times
Or this more recent posting from the same source.

Of course if you are an interpreter, especially working in the public sector or community, you will come across dilemmas on a daily basis: the defendant who asks for legal advice, the client who insists on giving you a gift.
At eCPD webinars we ran a webinar with Sue Leschen, a solicitor and highly qualified public service interpreter (known as community interpreter in the US), on ethical dilemmas faced by public service interpreters. It is still available on demand at this link.

If you belong to a professional association you will have signed up to its code of conduct. So here’s my CPD advice tip for today: Dust off your copy and read it through again. Think about every clause and verify that you really do adhere to the code you signed up to.

And if you don’t yet belong to a professional association, I recommend doing so as soon as you can. See my earlier post on this topic.

*Actually it was probably not so imaginary. I’m sure it had happened to someone, somewhere. And for the interest of accuracy, I am no longer a chartered linguist since I no longer translate a sufficient number of words to satisfy the scrutinising committee, but have since become a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Linguists.