Only Human Translators
Nov 26, 2023 |
Sometimes it’s not the landmarks you visit, it’s the journey itself that’s a landmark. 30 years ago, I travelled to France with my younger brother, Julian, in my car. I left behind my then wife and young daughter to take a trip I’d wanted to do...
Oct 23, 2023 |
This year’s MET conference, held in Mantua, Italy, had pretty much everything you could ask for: a beautiful venue, interesting people to talk to and, yes, content that seemed a great deal better than last year’s. I’m sure this last point will please...
Aug 13, 2023 |
I lost a client a few weeks ago. It’s something that always seems dramatic when it happens, but the truth is they weren’t the first client I’ve lost and they certainly won’t be the last. In fact, if you think about it, we lose clients all the...
Jun 26, 2023 |
You know that old Joni Mitchell song Big Yellow Taxi? The one with the chorus that goes “Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”? Well that’s how I’ve been feeling for the past six...
May 17, 2023 |
I think most translators would agree that our world is changing faster than we’d like it to and not always in the ways we’d prefer. And a good idea of the effect this is having on the translation community could be gleaned from last week’s BP23...
May 7, 2023 |
It’s been sometime since I posted about Standing Up, the Facebook group for translators I have been involved in running since it started in 2016. Being an admin of a group like that (there are three of us in total – sincere thanks are due to my coadmins...
Mar 21, 2023 |
When I started out in translation, I didn’t have a mentor. There was no-one to tell me how to go about things, which clients to choose and which to avoid or how to market my services. No-one, apart from the occasional client, to give me feedback on my work. I...
Feb 26, 2023 |
Nearly three years ago now, I decided to make big changes in my accounting. Over the years, I’d developed an Excel system for invoicing that had served me reasonably well. But its limitations were becoming increasingly obvious. Put simply, I was making too many...
Jan 11, 2023 |
It’s commonly said that, for freelancers, the personal and the professional are closely linked, and rarely has this been truer for me than in the turbulent year that was 2022. So for my turn-of-the-year post, instead of the usual looking back at the old year and...
Nov 23, 2022 |
Rarely has a conference been more eagerly anticipated than last month’s METM22. After all, it had taken two years to get to San Sebastián after successive COVID cancellations. It was certainly great to see so many old friends. And standing on the terrace of the...
“The Catalunya-La Pedrera has been working with Simon Berrill's translation service for some time now. Most of the jobs are translations we do for the English websites of our facilities. Right from the beginning we hve been very happy with this professional relationship, which has never let us down. SJB Translations offers a fast, effective, careful service at a competitive price.”