Sarah Dillon

Weighing up translation degrees: two oft-overlooked tips

Some of the best translators I know don’t have a degree in translation, so they are certainly not a requirement to becoming a translator. However, an  increasing number of newcomers to the profession are opting to pursue a formal (usually postgraduate) qualification in the field. So when translator Lloyd Bingham put out the following call [...]

ATA Annual Conference: impressions of a first-timer

Here’s a high-level look at some of my impressions of the 53rd Annual Conference of the American Translators Association (ATA), held in San Diego 24 – 27 October 2012.

53rd ATA Annual Conference: In Pictures

I’m just back from the 53rd Annual Conference of the American Translators Association (ATA), which was held in San Diego 24 – 27 October this year. Here is a little conference round-up in images (written report to follow). In the meantime, check out the conference Twitter feed and associated quotes, links and photos here.

New beginnings: personal and professional

Well hello there! It’s been some time, as you may (or may not) have noticed. Either way I’m back, a little wiser and a lot more refreshed, and I’ll be around for a while. If you’ve been following me on Twitter or via my other business, you’ll know that I’ve been working on a Very Important [...]

Hello fellow AUSITeers

Hello to any AUSITeers who may be dropping by after my recent talk at the AUSIT QLD Mini-Conference in Brisbane. As promised, below is my presentation, Webinars: A T&I Professional’s Best Friend.

Apprenticeships for translators

The topic of apprenticeships, work placements or internships for translators interests me for several reasons, not least because I believe on-the-ground learning alongside more experienced peers is a vital part of education in any field. But it’s particularly interesting in translation because of the way in which our industry is organised. Most translators work freelance [...]

Being a translator should be hard

One of the best perks of my other job is that I get to attend some truly fantastic talks by the most interesting, inspiring and successful people in our profession. So I was delighted when Judy Jenner of Translation Times and Twin Translations agreed to talk about her approach to the ever-thorny issue of pricing. [...]

Taking advice gracefully

It’s easy to look at a piece of advice and come up with a hundred reasons why it won’t work for you. There are as many ways to be a translator as there are translators, after all. But maybe none of our professional problems are that unique. So if a suggestion doesn’t fit your situation [...]

Translators do more than "just" translate

At the AUSIT Biennial Conference in November 2010, Tineke Van Beukering shared her thoughts and practical experience of post-editing machine translation output. It was a great session so I was delighted to attend another more indepth talk by Tineke on the same topic a few weeks ago. Among other things, she covered: the role of [...]

Book Review: The Prosperous Translator

The Prosperous Translator: Advice from Fire Ant & Worker Bee, compiled and edited by Chris Durban, is simply jam-packed with wisdom. It answers questions on every imaginable scenario under the sun, including many you may recognise but would never dare to admit. It’s not a guide to translation, nor is it a manual on getting [...]