This page of the ATS website features various German and
English articles about aspects of the translation business likely
to interest purchasers of translations as well as
translators.
Most of these articles have already
been printed in trade journals, conference proceedings or blogs. One or two of them have been written by
freelance translators we employ.
You'll also find some social
bookmarks and links to other sites of interest such as
translators' forums ("platforms") and newsletters published by translators'
associations.
Please visit this page regularly as it is updated and
expanded from time to time.
Articles on legal aspects
Patent translation
- "Die Sprache der Patente" by Peter Thompson,
Kiel, Germany
(on the language used in patents and the difficulties such texts
present)
-
(reprinted by courtesy of Peter Thompson and ADÜ Nord. First
published in the 3rd ADÜ Nord Conference documentation, Hamburg,
2007).
Pricing translations
- Preisentwicklung und Preisgestaltung im Übersetzungsbereich.
"Reine Lockangebote..." by Axel Schmidt,
freelance journalist
(on good and bad ways of using pricing to attract
customers)
-
Reprinted courtesy of Hüthig Verlag. First printed in
Produkt Global, issue 04/08
Articles on the Web
Various Web platforms for translators also feature articles
that are directly relevant to our work. Here are just a few of
them that we visit from time to time:
Translator's Café has a series of free articles on how to do things as a translator,
such as how to market yourself, how to work with translation
agencies and direct customers, how to use CAT tools, how to go
about proofreading or localisation, and so on.
ProZ.com is another popular platform that features a large
number of articles on translation. You'll find them listed
here.
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Newsletters, magazines and blogs
Two very active translators' associations in Germany, namely
the BDÜ and ADÜ Nord, both produce free newsletters and/or
magazines for their members (which interested non-members can
buy).
The BDÜ's journal, "MDÜ", can be ordered via its website
(it's listed in the navigation bar). This contains articles,
reviews of dictionaries and details of forthcoming
workshops.
In addition to this national publication, there are a number
of local newsletters issued by the BDÜ's regional groups for
their members. These also feature articles, some of which are
written in response to members' enquiries about issues, and
summaries of local training events are included as well.
The ADÜ Nord's publication is simply called "infoblatt" and
is available in PDF or print format. To sign up for it, go to
their
website and click on "Publikationen" > "infoblatt" in the
green navigation bar on the left).
The website contains various articles as well (go to
"Archiv").
Publications including articles on topics of current interest
can obviously be discussed at local meetings or in Web forums
(like "MeinBDÜ") if translators wish.
Blogs
Blogs (= "Web logs", a sort of personal diary) are a fairly
recent form of Web 2.0 communication that can also be an
interesting interactive platform for translators to discuss their
thoughts and ideas.
Here are a few in English and German that we've come across
on the Net and can recommend. These generally also contain links
to other blogs of interest.
-
Thoughts on Translation
by Corinne McKay.
One of the many interesting posts Corinne has written here is on
whether or not to lower your translation
rates because of the economic slump. Her readers' comments on
the topic are also worth browsing through.
Corinne has also written down some essential tips about doing
proof-reading, which will be of interest to any translator
wishing to produce high-quality texts in his/her own language.
Again, her readers' comments are also helpful.
-
Swedish Translation Services' blog by Tess Whitty, a Swedish translator and editor living in the US who writes about many aspects of translation work.
-
Naked Translations by Céline Graciet (on curious aspects of
English and French).
-
Translating Patents, run by Martin Cross, who runs his own
patent translation business.
- Margaret Marks' TRANSBLAWG blog
on legal translation.
As well as writing about a host of topics, Margaret lists
various other translators' blogs in English, German, Dutch,
French, Italian and Portuguese (along with other resources for
translators).
- Kevin Lossner's
Translation Tribulations, "an exploration of translation
technologies, marketing strategies, workflow optimization,
resource reviews and other topics of interest".
Kevin, an independent freelance translator and CAT technology
consultant, wrote a review of our
website and firm on his blog on 8 May 2009.
-
The Translation Journal.
- Plus Translation
Directory's list of blogs on translation, which covers blogs
in various languages, not just English.
- Here's an intriguing blog on the use and misuse of commas in
different varieties of English: Comma
Clout.
One of the things it discusses is the serial or Oxford comma.
(The links to other blogs on punctuation and grammar here also
look promising.)
- Über-Setzer-Log -
a well-written German blog by Gabriele Zöttl (with links to a
host of other German blogs)
- There are lots of intriguing articles on another German blog
by
korrektur.de, a German proof-reading service.
The site even has its own forum about issues in spelling and
wording in German.
Social bookmarking
This is also an interesting area for translators - another
way of profiting from the community idea of Web 2.0. You can
share your own bookmarks with anyone interested in looking at
them or benefit from other translators' collections of useful Web
links.
Give us some feedback!
We'd be very interested in hearing your opinion about the
articles and information on this page. You're also very welcome
to suggest other articles or topics we might want to feature
here. Just send us an e-mail.
ATS, Amper Translation Service, Fürstenfeldbruck,
translation, editing, translation agency, language services, Carl
Carter, BDÜ, ADÜ Nord, articles, essays, resources, literature,
liability, legal aspects, blogs, prices, pricing, patents, patent
translation, newsletters, magazines, journals, Web 2.0, forums,
bookmarks, social bookmarking, proz.com, translator's cafe,
marketing, CAT, CAT tools, proof-reading, localisation,
localization
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