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'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 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.
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.
Social bookmarking
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.
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.
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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