Articles on aspects of translation

Take the time to read an article here

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 issues

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'sCafé.com

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

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).

BDÜ

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.

ADÜ Nord

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 interactive personal diary or commentary) are a form of "Web 2.0" communication that can also be an interesting platform for translators to discuss their thoughts and ideas with other readers.

Here are a few in English and German that I've come across on the Net and can recommend. (These generally also contain links to other blogs of interest.)

  • My own blog on working as a translator

    An extension of the ATS website, the blog covers a wide range of subjects to do with translation and editing work: self-marketing, training, software we use, online dictionaries and current affairs of particular relevance to translators.

  • 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.

    Corinne has also written down some essential tips about doing proof-reading, which will interest any translator wishing to produce high-quality texts in his/her own language. 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. Covers all sorts of topics and things she has personally experienced.

  • Translating Patents, run by Martin Cross, who runs his own patent translation business.

  • Margaret Marks' TRANSBLAWG blog on legal translation.

  • Kevin Lossner's Translation Tribulations mainly covers CAT topics and translation workflows.

    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.

NB: For details of blogs on CAT tools, go to the page on CAT.

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Blogs in German

  • Über-Setzer-Log - a well-written blog by Gabriele Zöttl (with links to a host of other German blogs).

  • Ü wie übersetzen - Tipps & Tricks für ÜbersetzerInnen
    by Elisabeth John
    This blog is written by a Wordfast specialist and includes industry news and product reviews. Particularly good reading for those of us interested in translation technology.

  • 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.

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Social bookmarking

Delicious - capture the Web!

This is also a promising 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 them or check out other translators' collections of potentially useful or interesting Web links.

Take a look at this one to start with:

  • translators_GL's bookmarks by Colin Quirke, who has amassed over 1,000 links to glossaries since he started collecting them here.

  • To view my own ever-growing list of translators' links, just click here or download a recent version from here.

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More stuff on translation...

Go to the "Reviews" page on our website to find out what we think about various dictionaries, manuals and literature concerned with translation. You might fancy reading or using some of them yourself afterwards.

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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