Some vacations are for networking

May 23

LaurentTout un métier 1 Comment

Reminder: this is only a recap of the French article. To read the full post, click on the French flag on the right.

As I was saying in a previous post, one of the main goals of these working vacations was to improve my professional network. So I managed to be in the right place at the right time: in Québec (city) on the 7th of May for a linguists afterwork organized by the ATAMESL and in Boston on the 22nd for the 14th Annual New England Translators Association Conference.

The ATAMESL is a French association from Quebec that intends to gather independent linguists to promote networking, training and information. This afterwork, in a micro-brewery in Quebec city, was organized by Valérie Bélanger (she writes a nice blog in French too) and represented a good opportunity to meet colleagues and discuss about our jobs across the world.

Other country, other atmosphere: NETA, the New England regional version of the ATA, allows its 150 members (and me) to be listed on their online directory and to have access to trainings and practical information. The NETA Annual Conference offered various sessions: Beginning as a translator, the literary translation of Joseph Perl, an introduction to localization (by a fellow French translator, Laurence Lollier), and the "Seven-figure translator" or how to translate 1,5 million words/year by Warren Smith. This Japanese to English semiconductor patent translator (no wonder he makes a good living)  developed his own successful translation process:

  1. He first records his translation on a digital voice recorder
  2. He then has it automatically transcribed by a voice recognition software (Dragon NaturallySpeaking)
  3. Finally, he gets the cheap work (editing, reviewing) done by an intern... or his wife

Only drawback to all of this networking: only translators and interpreters attended these events, and very few potential clients (which is not the case at the ATA Annual Conference). I can just hope that the word of mouth will now spread!

When Vacations meet Work

Mar 27

LaurentTout un métier 9 Comments

Some time ago, after reading Sarah Vilece’s blog Translating Berlin, I decided that I wanted to go on a working vacation (not to be mixed up with vacations spent working, says Sarah). The principle is simple: I leave my everyday life for a few weeks and I continue my regular work in a different place.

I chose to go to the United States, where part of my family has a large house: I don’t have to worry about lodging or Internet access, and the place is really nice (just think about The Ghost Writer) despite the changeable weather. Here are my motivations:

  1. My main objective is to keep on working. I’ve been here for nearly a week, and it's already been my biggest work week of 2010.
  2. I wished for a change of scenery. I love my life in Paris, but fresh air and a dose of iodine is always pleasant.
  3. I intend to practice my English, which is my main working tool, after all. I thought it needed to be refreshed.
  4. It’s a good opportunity to extend my activity on a new market: meet prospects and colleagues, attend to ATA regional conferences, etc.
  5. And, of course, a working vacation is still a vacation. It would not make sense to stay at home since I can go out, visit the ea, get some exercise, learn more about the local culture…

If you want to read more about working vacations, Sarah Vilece wrote one, two, three and four blog posts about it. Also, I discovered the CITL association can accommodate literary translators from a week to 3 months (for €20/day).

What about you? Could you go on WV or would you fear to procrastinate too much?