Things are picking up...

Since the last post, business has picked up. Hence the gap between postings!

I'm very pleased with the progress I'm making in the freelance translation sector. I've had four or five projects to work on and they've all be technical or scientific texts. Some of them have been more interesting than others (there's only so long different specifications for concrete can hold my interest!) and I've particularly enjoyed the pieces I've been asked to do about offshore oil rig construction. The end-client requested my services again for more texts on the same topic which was very gratifying as far as feedback goes.

I find it really educational doing these technical texts as they bring a bit of diversity into my otherwise language-dominated knowledge base. Thankfully I do have enough scientific background and training to grasp the concepts being dealt with, and the research skills I learnt during my literary studies have come in very handy indeed!

I've found also that my MS Word skills are coming on in leaps and bounds; I'm turning into a shortcut-key junky and my poor mouse is becoming more and more neglected!

Seriously considering getting Trados or similar translation software soon, as I think it would be a good investment. I could use it to create automated glossaries which I can in turn trade in for extended membership to some of the translators' sites I am a member of.

One of the pieces I had to translate recently was only available in hard copy or pdf. I stupidly accepted the job (and below my normal rate as well). It took me AGES extra to type from scratch rather than overwrite a word doc! Not going to make that mistake again; from now on it's word doc's only for me. I could buy an pdf converter I suppose, but it's not on my top list of purchases to make.

Until next time, keep on bloggin'