How to contact prospects

How to contact prospects

I’ve seen and sent out a lot of ‘applications’ for work in my time, with a fairly high success rate. Here are some of my tips:

1. Warm leads over cold emails.

Seeking out the people you want to work with because you have shared values or specialisms is a much better approach than sending out hundreds of cold emails. It takes longer, but it’s targeted, so you’re more likely to find the people you’re looking for without wasting anyone’s time.

There was a point when I was project managing for two different translation companies. From time-to-time, a duplicate email from a translator would land in both company inboxes. Bearing in mind these were two very different companies, with very different services and offerings. There was just no point contacting me, and they would have realised that had they looked at the company websites first. It’s a project manager’s equivalent of being called ‘Dear resource’.

2. Do your research

Check if they actually work in your languages, then check if they work in your area of expertise.

A lot of agencies will list just about every specialism, which is fine, but tells me they have a lot of ‘resources’. That’s also fine, but I prefer to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

So I dig a bit deeper to find out more about their clients. I’ll look on their website for testimonials, logos, and things like that. If their clients look like they’re a good match for me, I’ll go ahead to the next step.

3. Find the right person

I will try and contact the right person, personally. This eliminates the chance that my message will go into the wrong person’s inbox on a bad day when they’re too busy to forward it on. I do this by looking at the ‘about us’/’meet the team’ pages, or searching on LinkedIn.

4. Keep their brand in mind

Next I explore their ‘brand’ a bit further. It gives me a bit more inspiration for my approach. Is their writing style friendly, or matter of fact? I’ll adapt. Are they funny? I can attempt to make them smile.

5. Don’t go for the hard sell

My message to them is friendly. I don’t do the hard sell, because I know that there’s a good chance they won’t need my services at that moment in time. I’d rather introduce myself and leave a memorable impression on them in case they ever need a French>English translator in the future.

6. Remember, you have a skill they need

People don’t ‘give’ out jobs. You’re offering a service that they’re probably looking for. I like to come across as confident rather than deferent – an equal collaborator.

Bonus tip: always proofread. I used to always take into account that people were often writing to me in their second or third language. But if you’re worried about making mistakes, you could partner up with a colleague in the reverse language combination to proofread each other’s sales emails and social media posts.

Three years down the line – the changing faces of my business

When this blog was in its infancy, I wrote a post about my first month of freelancing and how it all went. I don’t know what happened between now and then (I blinked), but we’re suddenly three years down the line and still going strong. Here’s a quick summary of each year, with all its ups and downs.

First year – 2022

What I probably didn’t mention after my first successful month of freelancing was that it went quite quiet after that, and I was stuck inside for most of January because we had to self-isolate. The upside was that although I had Covid, I wasn’t feeling too bad, and I had plenty of time to do some prospecting. One of my favourite brands posted a job ad on LinkedIn, and I really went for it with a creative application and later a successful test task. I passed, and started working with them as a freelancer in February (still do today).

It wasn’t always plain sailing like this. I had a lot of ‘chats’ with people, many of which came to nothing. But around March two of these chats did come to something, and I began project managing for two clients. A couple of months after that one of my now regular translation clients got in touch out of the blue and began sending me regular projects. In the space of a few months, I’d gone from nothing to everything. I realised something had to give, so I stopped working for one of my project management clients in late summer. By autumn, the translation work was still creeping up and up, and project management was intensifying. I also had a two-year-old who was not yet in nursery. I got stressed, but didn’t actually do anything about it. That was year one’s mistake.

I ended year one successfully in the sense that I’d got a few regular clients and had surpassed all my income goals, but in reality, I was a bit of a wreck and had made myself ill. I spent Christmas burnt out and horizontal. I saw the new year in with a couple of friends and they asked me what I wanted to accomplish in 2023. My kneejerk response was “work less”. The universe responded ten days later.

Onwards to 2023

My second year seemingly didn’t get off to a great start as I lost my remaining project management client at the beginning of January. I didn’t expect this to happen, so it was a major hit in income. However, to give myself credit where credit is due, I think I reacted well and took the right course of action. The first thing I did was tell my existing clients that I had more availability and they came through for me with extra work. I also upped my marketing efforts and quickly found more clients. But most importantly I had enough headspace to realise this was a blessing in disguise because I couldn’t continue the rate I was going. The first few months of 2023 were fairly low in terms of income, but also better than the year before, so I was positive.

By late spring I was working with another project management client for a few hours a week, and things were looking up. Then an agency I worked for got in touch because they liked my writing style, and asked me to write some resources for them. When summer hit I got some whopper translation projects and had my highest earning months to date. The year continued to be busy and I got another regular client in November. I learned my lesson from the previous year and managed to get to December without having a menty b. I also managed to match the previous year’s income. I’m really proud of last year’s me for getting myself back on track.

Almost through 2024

During 2023-2024 Christmas break, I got tonsilitis for the first time in my life. I’m sorry to anyone who’s tonsilitis I’ve never taken seriously before because that was horrendous. So, despite my best efforts, I didn’t go into 2024 well-rested. And a weird thing happened. After over a decade working as a project manager, I began actively disliking it. I also felt like it was holding me back from being able to take on more translation and copywriting projects. At the end of January, I decided to stop. I gave my project management client advanced notice that I would leave by March-ish.

Given the context of the year (with the threat of AI), some might say it was a bit of a risk to let go of regular work. But by then I had a couple of years of translation and copywriting experience under my belt. I rebranded myself as a translator and copywriter (instead of a translator and project manager) and I increased my rates to reflect my experience.

When I was quiet the year before, I had spent time writing articles for professional organisations for free – meaning I had a portfolio of published work to show potential clients. All this, as well as a bit of word-of-mouth, meant that direct clients began flowing in. Another unexpected way I’ve got business was by telling my existing clients about the other services I offer. A localisation/copywriting client didn’t realise I was also a translator. They’ve sent me a few projects since I mentioned this to them. Some of my translation clients are also coming to me for copywriting requests, with an added bonus for them being that I can be briefed in either French or English.

I’ve managed to keep things on an even keel this year, with a good balance between translation, copywriting, health, and home life. The year is about to draw to a close and I’m up 26% on last year’s earnings.

What have I learned from these three years combined? Everyone told me freelance life was a rollercoaster, with plenty of ups and downs. They were spot on. I also realised not to panic, because you never know what is around the corner.

That’s all a bit poetic, so here’s some concrete advice:

Say no if you can’t do something to the best of your ability. Saying yes and doing a half-baked job will be more damaging to your business long term.
Keep getting your name out there. Stay in touch with clients, and make sure you’re at the top of people’s mind next time they might need your services.
Get ready to change and evolve. You won’t get anywhere if you stay still.
Keep learning new skills and stay on top of your existing ones through CPD.
Start lining up clients and jobs in advance for security (I’m currently looking at ways to fill February – March).

Wishing you all the best for the end of 2024, and a successful 2025 to come!

The process of digital adoption in the translation industry

The process of digital adoption in the translation industry

After a considerable amount of time in the shadows, the translation industry has moved into the global spotlight over recent years. The world has witnessed and taken note of the exponential growth of generative AI tools (set to become a $1.3 trillion market by 2032) and their ability to refine translation tools and software.

With 72% of Fortune 500 Chief Human Resources Officers believing that AI will replace jobs in their organisation in the next three years, it looks like we’re set for change.

The question is, can we in the translation industry adapt and learn to love these new developments?

Index

In this article, I’ll cover…

What is digital adoption in translation?
A brief history of digital adoption in translation
(Fairly) recent tech developments in the translation industry
How quickly have we adopted these translation technologies?
The future of digital adoption in the translation industry

What is digital adoption in translation?

There comes a point (for most of us anyway), where we can start to feel a little bit lost. Right now, at least to me, it feels like I’m being swept up in this wave of doomsday talk:

“AI is taking over”

“Machines are flooding our profession”

“We’ll end up as mindless, underpaid machine translation prompters”

“We’re losing our value, and we’re losing it fast”

What choice do we have but to sink or swim?

In short, digital adoption is when all available tools and their features are being used and leveraged to their full extent. As someone who’s been working for Language Service Providers for a long time, I’ve always stayed on the pulse of technological development in our industry. There’s been a lot. Our everyday working lives are completely different now compared to even 10 years ago. But I think the good news is that (whether it was our choice or not), we’ve coped with and adapted to these major changes pretty well.

Let’s go back through the most significant digital adoptions in the translation industry and ask ourselves: is the onset of AI-assisted technological developments a major shift in a different direction, or is it the same old situation, playing out over again?

A brief history of digital adoption in translation

Only a decade ago, I was working as an Assistant Project Manager in a small translation agency. It was a shabby little office. The stained blue office carpet had seen better days. I say blue, but it was actually a faded pinkish-purple colour in the spots where the light hit through the dingy windows. A constant draught flowed through the sash windows, and I stashed a thick woolly cardigan in my desk drawer to wear over my clothes throughout October until May. The office was always eerily quiet, with the exception of several furiously tapping keyboards, the occasional creak of a chair when someone shuffled their bottom (presumably to prevent it from going numb from all the sitting down), and of course the sporadic bleating of the phone.

One day, sat frozen in the middle of trying to organise a complicated translation project, I heard a sudden crashing sound accompanied by a dial tone that sounded like nails on a chalkboard in the corner. I sprung up to investigate, and found a fax machine buried under a pile of folders and dust. And that’s when one of my colleagues piped up “Cor, we haven’t heard that in a while!”.

Clueless, I asked them what it was there for. To send and deliver files of course. A relic, the former hub of the office, sat there unused for several years, before the widespread adoption of email. Until that day when a random junk message rattled through its paper tray.

The fax machine wasn’t the only thing we left behind. We used to have to hand count scanned handwriting or dodgy PDFs, as we didn’t have reliable OCR software available to help us with it. We used to split the batches of paper between us, and I was always the slowest counter. When I said this out loud, my colleagues told me “Well of course, you’ve had less practice. We used to have to do it this way all the time”.

Nowadays, it’s pretty normal for a client to expect a 10k page report to get translated within days. That wasn’t always the case. Years ago, it would have been translated using a typewriter and sent via post or courier. Things are much faster now, and thank goodness for that.

And of course, there would have been something else before then. Before fax machines existed, before typewriters were used, before Gutenberg put out his printing press in 1454 even. Translation is one of the oldest professions in the world. If we hadn’t started adopting technology, we’d still be carving out symbols on clay tablets.

But I’m going to fast-forward a bit now and start talking about the more recent changes I’ve seen during my time working in the translation industry.

(Fairly) recent tech developments in the translation industry

CAT tools

Let’s start with Computer-aided translation (CAT) tools. Software programmes designed to speed up the human translation process. By splitting documents into segments and applying a Translation Memory and a Glossary, you can leverage existing translations from Translation Memories, and reuse them.

CAT tools have been around for years, but only more recently have they become an essential part of a translator’s toolkit. In 2023, a survey conducted by ProZ showed that 93% of full-time professional translators used at least one CAT tool. But here’s the thing: the same survey found that only 10.4% have been using one for over 20 years. That’s some serious translation tool uptake.

Translation Management Systems

I was around for the rise of the Translation Management System (TMS), and I can tell you that when I tried to get our regular team of translators to work in one, I was met with absolute mutiny.

In a nutshell, a TMS is a cloud-based platform that combines CAT tools, machine translation, and project management features. For a project manager like me, they were a godsend. Transforming our efficiency, and helping us drastically speed up our process – something that our clients desperately wanted.

It’s been about eight years now since many agencies like the one I worked at started adopting them, and they seem to be much more widely accepted now. At the time, some of my best translators didn’t want any part in it, having shelled out for their own CAT tool themselves, or finding them too difficult to pick up. I used to have to find a workaround so that they could still do the job, but I haven’t encountered this scenario for a good few years now. Like it or not, it’s kind of widely accepted that if you want to work for an agency, you’re going to have to use their chosen tool.

Machine Translation

Machine Translation used to be the butt of our jokes. The thought of using it in a professional situation used to be laughable. We used to secure clients on the promise that we didn’t, and would never use it.

Because it produced poor results. But then after a while it got to the stage where this was no longer a good thing. Our clients wanted the option to have quick, rough and ready translations when budgets were limited and time was tight. When we couldn’t provide that, they started to drift away from us.

But that’s probably because this all coincided with Google Translate’s announcement that they were switching to a neural machine translation system. By contrast to rule-based or statistical machine translation, neural machine translation took the whole input sentence into account when generating the output (rather than mapping individual words or phrases). In other words, it got cleverer.

And it’s still getting cleverer.

Machine Translation Post Editing (MTPE)

And as they got more and more clever, collaborations between humans and machines became more and more common. Humans (or should I say professional linguists) can now edit AI-supported MT to produce a good quality translation. With their expert cultural knowledge and linguistic skills, translators are able to correct any mistakes and inconsistencies that the MT throws up.

It takes skill, and in order to make it financially worth your while, you have to become accustomed to a certain way of working: the end result should be accurate and functional, but there’s no time for carefully crafted words.

So far, from what I can see, not all human translators are loving MTPE work, with some opting to leave the profession altogether. The underlying feeling is that the work is not as challenging, interesting, or financially viable.

How quickly have we adopted these translation technologies?

As Renato Beninatto points out, the adoption of technology is influenced by industry-specific needs, with legal and regulatory framework having an effect on technology adoption, even when new advancements are available.

Technology doesn’t become embedded into a system overnight, it’s more evolutionary than that. You might be surprised to learn that the first machine translation tools appeared in the 1950s, and the first commercial CAT tools began to appear during the 1990s.

It took a while for these technologies to become fully adopted and embraced by the translation industry, and even in the 2010s it wasn’t uncommon for me to encounter a translator who didn’t use one. Perhaps that’s why more recent developments seem a bit scary. Alarmingly, they’re coming into the fore at a much quicker rate.

The future of digital adoption in the translation industry

The global translation services market is still growing, with Nimdzi estimating that the industry should reach $90.8 billion by 2027 (from an estimated $69.3 billion in 2023). But the industry is becoming more competitive than ever, and LSPs are leaning in on AI-enhanced machine translation and processes to improve their productivity and speed, and help them undercut their competitors. The knock-on effect is felt lower down in the chain.

Could this somewhat hostile reaction from translators towards emerging translation processes like MTPE be like all of the other times, a stumbling block on the way to fully adopting this new technology? I’m not so sure.

While I’ve seen the same kind of reactions before when it comes to adopting new technology like CAT tools and TMS, I’ve never seen it to this extent. I’ve no doubt that there are exciting times ahead in some ways, with many new education and reskilling opportunities that await us. But this time, I’m questioning whether it’s us translators, the beating heart of the translation industry, that will be the ones who truly benefit from this change.

What do you think? Are you embracing the adoption of new digital technologies in the translation industry, or feeling sceptical?

Additional references

https://www.gartner.com/en/doc/emerging-technologies-and-trends-impact-radar-excerpt

2024: the year I finally spent some money on my business

2024: the year I finally spent some money on my business

I’m not going to mislead you here. This blog is about a time/efficiency struggle I had, which I solved by investing in a project management tool. There’s an affiliate link at the end, and I’ll earn commission if you purchase anything through the link.

My starting strategy when going freelance was to only invest in the basics. Computer, software licences, CAT tool, professional indemnity insurance and professional membership subscriptions. I say the basics, but that’s a fairly big chunk of money to start with. From there on, I tightened up the purse strings and focussed on at least making my money back.

Fast forward two years, when it comes to business expenditures I’m still, for lack of a better word, tight. I avoid spending money unless I really have to.

But in actual fact, I think I’ve been losing money in other ways.

Investing time into projects and services that aren’t necessarily viable.
Making life difficult for myself when it comes to professional admin.

Pinching pennies was a good strategy in the beginning. But I’ve reached the point where I can save more money by spending my time doing paid work or marketing my services, rather than wrestling with my slightly shabby homemade systems and processes every month.

In November, a client asked me to generate an invoice for them using their CRM system (one that I’m unfamiliar with). Cue the initial panic about showing my true, technically incompetent colours.

Turns out, it was incredibly simple.

The next day, was my invoicing day. A day which should be a happy occasion. For me it wasn’t. Here’s how it usually goes:

First, I spend ages grappling with my timesheet, chuntering to myself about all the other fun things I could be doing with my time instead.
Then, I have a quick comb through my emails to check I haven’t missed anything. I remember that I got a new client this month, and they aren’t yet featured in the spreadsheet of doom.
I check and check and check to make sure I’ve typed my invoices out properly and not made a mistake somewhere.

And before I know it, it’s taken me well over an hour to issue 10 invoices.

I am a project manager, but I wasn’t being efficient at project managing my own affairs. To be completely honest, after a hard day’s work organising other people, it’s the last thing I wanted to think of. But I made a resolution to do better. I’m not technically incompetent, I’m just lacking in time.

A few days before Christmas, I was itching to get everything done, get all the invoices out, and start getting into the festive spirit. The Bailey’s was practically whispering to me through the ceiling. So I giddily signed up for a free trial of LSP.expert (a project management tool for translators and small agencies) in order to speed things along. Amazingly, I managed to get them done in 15 minutes.

Side note: I’ve used this platform before when working with another client, albeit a while ago, so I was already a bit familiar with the software.

But that’s probably because the platform is very intuitive (it was created by fellow translators, who obviously understand what we need). I’ve ended my trial now, and purchased a year’s subscription because I liked it so much.

Here are my favourite parts:

You can add in client details, including addresses, customer contacts, payment terms, and your rates for each one. This makes invoicing and adding jobs incredibly easy.
There’s a time-tracking feature. It’ll be very handy to know what activities and clients make me the most money.
It gives you reports. My data is quite limited at the moment, as I’ve only just started using it. But I can’t wait to see my performance, time, margin, and sales stats after a few months. Again, very handy in terms of strategy to know what’s going on. More generally as well, there are Turnover, Profit and Loss, and Tax Summary reports, which will hopefully make tax returns much easier.
You can create quotes, then create a job from a quote, then an invoice based on a job. This takes out a lot of project management kerfuffle and I think it will also be great to have a list of pending, accepted and rejected quotes all in one place.
Outsourcing is pretty easy. You can add suppliers and their details the same way you would add clients, labelling them according to their areas of expertise. You can also calculate your margins through this function, create purchase orders for your suppliers. As if that’s not enough, by creating an expense for every outsourced job you can keep track of money coming in and out.
I briefly touched on this on the last bullet point, but labels. Oh how I love the labels. You can stick labels on Jobs and groups, Clients, Suppliers, Quotes, Invoices, Expenses, and POs. It’s so good. I’ve labelled all of my jobs according to the services I offer so that I can get a view on what’s hot and what’s not. But it’s really up to you how you decide to organise everything.

Things I’d like to try and do before the next month is up (holding myself accountable here):

CAT tool configuration. So that I can import the analysis from my CAT tool into my jobs. Again, should be good for pricing.
I want to create a professional-looking document template for my quotes and invoices. I managed to produce some nice ones during the trial period, but I think I can customise it further and make it look a bit more ‘me’.
Integration with my emails and calendar. I especially can’t wait for the calendar part as I have multiple different email addresses for different clients, so if I add jobs in, they will hopefully show up in my ‘main’ calendar, and I won’t lose track of anything (as if I would 😉).

It’s user-friendly, but I do need to do a bit of work experimenting and finding out how best I can use it. I was getting frustrated when I was invoicing because the notes I’d added kept ending up in a weird position. I ended up deleting them and adding them back in manually in Adobe before I fired it off to my clients. I’m confident I could resolve that kind of thing if I took a bit more time to learn how to use it properly.

To be fair, I was also offered help via a 30-minute online chat to iron out any of these sorts of niggles. I haven’t done this yet, so I can’t complain. There’s a plethora of information available in the Help Centre, and I always take the time out to read the helpful and interesting blogs – very happy with the customer service so far.

If you think this tool might be worth giving a go, you can do a 30-day trial for free. I paid the full amount for my subscription, and this is not a paid ad. But LSP.expert do run an affiliate program.

If I’ve tempted you in any way, please have a look using this link: https://www.lsp.expert?ref=oQ4bf8E69

It won’t change anything on your end, but I will be able to earn commission on any converted users after the trial period who came from here.

Should you share your entire work history with the world?

Should you share your entire work history with the world?

I’ve omitted almost a decade of work history from my CV and LinkedIn profile, because I wanted to keep things relevant.

But the truth is, every bit of work experience has been worthwhile, and made me the person and professional I am today.

And while they might not be linked to the language service industry, they still count.

Here’s everything I learned from the jobs that weren’t meant to mean anything.

The Garden Centre

My first part-time job was pretty unusual. It started out as three hours on a Saturday morning, £12 a week, with extra shifts over the holidays. I loved working outside in the summer, and I hated having to pick snails off the plants and lob them over the fence. They always came back.

I stuck this out for a couple of years, then left because I wanted to find something with more hours, and I was then old enough for restaurant work. But after my first year at university (after a couple of years had passed), I had an unexpected call. My former boss rang me and asked me if I would think about returning, on better pay, with better conditions and more responsibility. Sadly, a lot of people had let her down, and she came back to me because she trusted me.

It didn’t matter how useless I might have been in the face of choosing the right compost. Trust and reliability was more important than anything else. What she needed at the time was for someone to look after the place because she wanted to spend as much of her limited time left as she could with her family. I worked there for most of the summer, whenever I could. A lot of the time I was opening and closing on my own and left to get on with a list of tasks. Other times she was there too, in her happy place. We had some great heart-to-hearts while we were doing jobs, and she was very open with me. I was devastated to hear that she’d passed away a couple of years later. Grateful to have known such a wonderful person, and I still hear her talk to me whenever I’m potting up plants or weeding the flowerbeds in my garden.

Private gardening

I spent a summer gardening in a big garden near home every afternoon after working in the garden centre. It was tough work, but I loved it, and I was paid really well. I bought myself a new wardrobe and thought I was the bee’s knees. Despite my employer being a wealthy member of high society, I never felt like I was being treated as a lesser person. They set the respect bar pretty high and reinforced what I already knew from my upbringing: to treat everyone as your equal.

Bar work

I’m a September baby, which was actually pretty useful when looking for a job while I was still studying. When I turned 18, I was legally old enough to work behind a bar in the evenings, and during weekends, which fitted around school. I also had a year of experience behind my belt when I went to university, which meant I was able to snag a coveted job in the halls bar in the first week.

I occasionally do transcription jobs, which can sometimes be tricky if people are talking fast or not looking at the camera. Taking orders from tipsy people under the blaring music most definitely helped me hone my listening and memory skills. Sometimes it can take people a loooong time to reel off their round of drinks. Then you have to serve them, and punch them all into the till correctly. For anyone wondering how we do it. It’s a cocktail of listening skill, lip reading, remembering what their last drink was, and guesswork sometimes. Ever ordered a drink and the person behind the bar repeated it? They’re checking they heard you correctly.

When you’re behind the bar, your first job is to serve drinks, and your second job is to make people want to buy more drinks. I’m not talking about anything dodgy here. If someone walks into a pleasant, friendly atmosphere, with good company, then they’ll want to stay there. It’s also about reading the room. Knowing who wants to talk to you, and who just wants a quiet drink on their own.

Saying no to unreasonable behaviour and unwanted advances is a must, and it can be tough, especially when people have a physical advantage on you. But I learned to put them in their place. Also, don’t try the whole ‘But I gave you a twenty’ or ‘but there’s no vodka in here’ with me. It won’t work.

Retail and MLM

I worked at Ann Summers for a couple of years while I was studying for my MA. A small cog within a multinational company. I learned a lot about humans. Retail workers often get the brunt of people’s bad moods, and people will often try and bully you to get their own way. I got insulted more times than I can count.

But on the flipside, there were some lovely customers, and many of them opened up to me and I felt like I helped them. Yes, I was selling stuff to them, but ultimately, I wanted them to walk out the shop feeling confident and happy.

🤐 I could tell you many stories from that shop, but 99% of them aren’t professional, so I’ll save it.

Alongside this job, I worked for the same company doing ‘party planning’, a MLM scheme. It was a good practice for being self-employed and doing tax returns, but after doing my tax return I found out that I’d made £900 profit in a year as one of the top sellers in my region. Not worth it in terms of money, but it was good to get me out of my shell, driving around, and learning business skills.

From the combination of the two, I learned a lot about marketing and selling. Although I don’t look back on those years very fondly, I’m glad I did it. And to be fair, bra fitting is a life skill that I think everyone should learn.

It’s been a long time since I thought about my past work, but writing this blog has helped me realise that although my first jobs were not relevant to the translation industry, they were still important in different ways, and I’ll never write them off as ‘not proper jobs’.

Is rejection the best medicine?

Is rejection the best medicine?

I admit it. I’m slightly addicted to TikTok. As a marketing and luxury goods translator, it’s actually a really useful business tool (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it). I was recently working on a tourism translation for a French hotel, and in that there was a lot of detail about the interiors of their high-end restaurant. With no visual references, it’s hard to picture what the interiors of the restaurant looked like. So, I decided to have a look on the app to see if there were any videos of it. As luck would have it, someone had served an account of their wonderful dining experience there to me on a plate. Being able to visualise the place was an incredible help – I then set to task creating some beautiful writing with the end goal of making the reader feel like they were in the room – immersed in the cosy, comforting, luxurious surroundings.

Of course, it’s also led to some fantastic time-wasting. But new discoveries as well. Recently I stumbled upon a TikTok account documenting Vivienne Dovi’s self-led journey of rejection therapy. Her aim was to push herself out of her comfort zone by making almost absurd requests (Can I lie down and have a nap on this shop bed? Can I take this rabbit out for a test walk? Can I have a free upgrade?) that will almost certainly get rejected, with the end goal of self-development and desensitising rejection.

I like the idea that rejection can be a good thing. That it builds resilience. That understanding rejection can help us through our daily lives and work. If we’re rejected, is it all doom and gloom? And are we better at our jobs if we can bounce back from rejection?

Anyone that says they’ve never been rejected is lying

A rejection could be as simple as a ‘no thanks’ to the offer of a cup of tea, or it could be bigger and life-changing, like jobs.

I’ve been rejected more times than I can remember. I went to a job interview once. I was absolutely certain I was going to get it, but I received the rejection message before I’d even driven home. And I can’t lie and say that it didn’t sting, because it did. They must have known immediately that they didn’t want me. So that was that. But something good came out of it. I got the next job I was interviewed for, and weirdly that set me on the trajectory to where I am now. My first job in the translation industry came from a random encounter with a customer from that shop job, who told me to go and knock on the door of the local translation agency and introduce myself. And I nearly didn’t, because I’d already sent them an email a year before – and been rejected.

It’s normal to not hear back from most of the people you contact

When I started out as a freelance translator, it didn’t take me long to meet with some success. Yes, I can absolutely attribute some of this success to ability. But here’s my other secret. In the words of my dad – “If you throw enough socks at the wall, some of them will stick”.

What he means, of course, is that you’ll probably have to throw a lot of CVs, applications, LinkedIn requests, test translations and introductory messages out into the ether, to probably only hear back from a couple. But that’s all you need. I’ve found some fantastic clients, but I’ve contacted many more people and been ignored, or rejected.

I’ve rejected lots of translators

I find it hard to say no. Whether that be to people, or work offers. That becomes difficult with people that don’t want to take no for an answer, because they may end up leading themselves on.

And that’s where I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s ok to hear the word ‘no’. It’s ok to be rejected. It’s an everyday part of our lives in most circumstances. You wouldn’t think it was the end of the world if you asked someone if they wanted to grab a bite for lunch, but they told you they’ve already eaten as a terrible rejection, so why should we view it any differently in the world of freelance work?

After working as a translation project manager for over a decade, with a brief spell as a vendor manager, I can tell you that I’ve done A LOT of rejecting. Does it feel good? No. Did I have valid reasons? Yes.

And this has helped me understand things from the other side much better. I cannot count the amount of times I’ve said no to working with someone. I can count the amount of times I’ve said no because of quality issues: once. Once in 10 years. That’s very little.

But I have said no because I don’t have work for people. I don’t want to waste both our times by onboarding them if nothing will come of it. If their services are out of my budget. If they work in language combinations that I don’t work with. If their specialisms don’t match what I’m looking for. If our different time zones are incompatible. If they don’t, or take an unreasonably long time to reply. If they’re consistently late delivering. If I’m already working with people with the same language pairs and specialisms….

And then, every once in a while, the exact person I’m looking for pops up. And I’ll bet you anything I wasn’t the first person they contacted for work.

Open up the conversation

When I worked in retail, we were told not to just say “Hello, do you need any help?” to customers when they walked through the doors, because they’re far more likely to say ‘no’ to you. Instead, we went in with an open question: “What is it you’re looking for today?”

They’re much less likely to ignore an open question (although some did 😥). The other benefit is that you can find out what they want and help them find it. This technique really boosted my confidence at the time. Instead of getting immediately shut down, I managed to open up a lot of conversations with people.

And this is a technique that I apply to marketing my services now. By asking questions, and personalising my communications with people, I get a lot more responses. A lot of the time these responses are “not at the moment, thanks though”. But is that a bad thing? I don’t think so. They now know I exist, and they now know that I’m approachable. And if they think I might be right for them, they might contact me in future.

Keep going

Keep putting yourself out there. Don’t take the ‘no’ to heart. It doesn’t mean anything except that at that time you’re not the right person, and that’s ok. In my experience, pushing for something that isn’t right for you never ends well.

It can be frustrating when it seems like all you hear is ‘no’. But it won’t work out either if you don’t put yourself out there, try, and apply. But we’re all humans, and sometimes we need a bit of sugar to help the medicine go down. When I need to pep myself up, I go into the mental bank of compliments and positive feedback. I should really start keeping a record of that though, I think it would be a great confidence boost.

What can we learn from rejection?

Allow yourself the chance to reflect on (or even ask the person!) why you’ve been rejected, even if you feel dejected. You have the opportunity to assess your services, message and communications.

Are people seeing the real you?

Are you showing off all you can do?

Are people getting the right message from your communication?

So, can rejection be good for you?

I guess it depends how you take it. Understanding that rejection is a normal part of everyday life, especially for freelancers, is very helpful. Don’t let rejection define you. If you don’t get that job, it doesn’t mean that you’re worth any less. If you’re not what someone is looking for, that’s ok. You never know what better things might be around the corner…

Has being rejected ever put you on a different path, to better things?

If you want to check out Vivienne Dovi’s inspiring journey of rejection therapy, check out her TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@travellingwithmelanin

What to do (when you have nothing to do)

What to do

(when you have nothing to do)

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of work out there (there probably is, but it hasn’t found its way into my inbox).

Yet, I’m feeling strangely fulfilled.

Paid work has been a bit thin on the ground, but I’ve managed to fill my time with lots of other things.

So if you’re in a drought like me, here are some ideas to keep motivated and busy, and stop panicking. I’m sure there’ll be a point later in the year when this kind of peace and quiet would be a dream come true.

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Updating

I was super busy at the end of last year, and my accounting was a state. The first thing I did was make sure that everything was in order in my spreadsheet. And because I did this, I found some money that hadn’t been paid, so it was a good time to chase it up. Win!

Next, on to my CV, which hadn’t been updated in six months, and lots has changed since then. It’s ready to go now if someone asks me for it.

Finally, I did a bit of maintenance work on my spreadsheets and file structure, to better optimise my system and hopefully save time later down the line.

Continuing Professional Development

This is something that every professional translator should be doing. It’s something that I’m doing constantly, but I’ve never actually logged it before. So I did, and it turned out I’ve smashed through the recommended 75 hours without really realising (mainly thanks to LinkedIn and Lupin on Netflix).

But with a bit of extra time on my hands, I was able to go further. I’ve been learning about SEO translation, which I would like to offer in future, and I’ve been doing some more CAT tool training. I know I’m going to thank myself for investing this time when I’m translating like the wind.

Making contact

Clients don’t generally come to you, it’s normally up to you to make the first move. This is my least favourite part of freelancing. Agency clients come and go for various reasons, so we’ve got to keep making contact with people who might need our services. For some reason, I get all awkward and flustered over doing this, so I’m challenging myself to wheedle my way into 10 inboxes a week and see what effect that has on my workload. I’ve started logging who I’ve contacted and what the result is. Will let you know.

Make plans

I don’t know about anyone else, but I have to be in a certain mood to either socialise or travel, and when I’m in the thick of a busy period, going out is the last thing I want to do. I’m also not a fan of this time of year, so making a couple of plans has cheered me up. I’m looking forward to a trip abroad with my husband in a couple of months, and a hen do later in the year.

Tackle the to-do list

January was the month that I was finally able to sew on all of the club badges that have been piling up. Then my son went to his club, and got four more badges for me to sew on. I also planted some garlic bulbs yesterday. My house is pretty clean and clear. Except for Mount Ironing. Mount Ironing is the ultimate last resort. Please don’t make me do it.

Have fun

Everyone keeps telling me to enjoy it while it lasts. I know that this is great advice. It’s hard when you’re panicking about not earning enough money, but I’ve got faith that things will pick up again.

Meanwhile, I’m having fun behind the scenes, because I don’t want to chain myself to my desk and wait for jobs to appear. A watched pot never boils and all that. I’ve been going out for walks, reading books and magazines, cooking, doing puzzles… anything that brings a bit of joy to January.

After at least six weeks of at least one person in my household being ill at any given moment, I’m excited to have a quiet weekend at home this week. We’ve decided to make an ultimate cardboard castle. I’m so excited that I’ve bought a Makedo cardboard construction Toolbox so that we can screw the cardboard together rather than waste a load of parcel tape. (Here’s the affiliate link if you’re interested: https://amzn.to/3GHWYL2). It’s nice to have a non-work project to focus on, and we’re already drawing up epic plans. 🏰

Create

Quiet periods are a good time to write up some future social media posts. Even better now that LinkedIn has the schedule feature.

I’m also using the time to write blogs and articles, so that I have some in the pipeline for busy periods. When I’m busy, these things are the first to go, and they shouldn’t to be honest. They should be a priority.

I also updated my business logo and LinkedIn banner using Canva, and updated my LinkedIn profile. The blank space above my head has been annoying me for ages, so getting that done was a relief. What do you think?

www.linkedin.com/in/gillian-morris-42aa2b39

Volunteer

I’ve recently signed up to Charity Translators. It’s a volunteer network that places translators with charities or NGOs to support. You accept projects and activities as and when they (and you are available) – no large level of commitment required. Volunteering is a win-win. Help support charities and communities across the world, and gain precious translation experience.

This month, I’ve also been creating a social media calendar and content for my local museum. I love writing content about translation, localisation and culture, but it’s also been fun to write about something else for a change.

The best thing is, when you come out of a quiet period, you can look back on the good old days and think about everything you’ve accomplished. Try not to worry. Keep plodding on, work on your business in the background, and things will pick up. January sucks, not you. ❤️

My first year of freelancing – ten things 2022 has taught me

My first year of freelancing – ten things 2022 has taught me

It’s important to say no sometimes. Thanks to project management work, my income has been pretty stable over the last 9 months. But the insecurity of being a freelancer lives on. And then I start being competitive with myself. If I could just squeeze this project in, then I’ve earned more this month compared to last month. If I say no to this project, they won’t ask me to do the next one. I’ll just take on this translation, and I don’t have to worry about food shopping for the rest of the month – that kind of thing. The problem with this mentality is that you sometimes end up taking projects that are more complicated, and take more time (for the same rate). Work starts eating into the evenings and weekends that you’d planned for relaxing. This isn’t healthy, and after a few months of saying yes to everything that came my way, I’m learning to take my foot off the gas a little bit, respect my working hours and boundaries, and pay more attention to projects that are fulfilling and interesting, rather than chasing figures all the time.
Never stop marketing. Being constant and consistent with your marketing pays off. Translation clients come and go. Sometimes there’s not much work in a given language combination. Sometimes a Project Manager that you often worked with leaves the company. It’s always a good idea to stay in touch with existing clients so that you don’t get forgotten about, and approach new ones to build up a bank of clients. That way, you have the luxury of being a bit more picky with your projects (see above). My biggest takeaway from 2022: clients don’t fall into your lap. You’ve got to find them and keep them.
The power of a personal brand. I accidentally became a content creator this year and built a network of almost 7,000 people on LinkedIn. To be perfectly honest, I don’t really know what I’m doing. I started posting and interacting because I wanted to meet industry colleagues and clients. Every month or so I get a bit scared, because there’s no way on Earth I would ever address a stadium full of 7,000 people in person, but the online disinhibition effect can work wonders. But I managed to get here, and accidently built my personal brand: ‘🕵️‍♀️ Leading a not-so-secret double life as both Translator and Project Manager ✍️’. I’m really glad I did it because I’ve forged some great relationships with fellow translators, had countless knowledge exchanges, and met all but one of my clients on the platform.
Staying humble and accepting feedback. I used to be terrified of the ‘F’ word. Until I started working for a couple of clients with a heavy feedback culture. It’s a good thing. We all love a bit of positive feedback of course. I’m not going to use the word ‘negative’, because this year I learned that there’s no such thing as negative feedback. It’s an opportunity to show how you react to constructive feedback. Reacting badly isn’t the best foot forward for a freelancer (or anyone, actually). Better to use it as a learning opportunity – be that learning about a client’s preferences, or accepting and learning from a mistake. It’s all good.
Communication issues. I got served more humble pie this year in the form of communication. I hadn’t fully appreciated how privileged I am to be able to communicate in my first language almost anywhere I go. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve always felt understood. It’s taken a bit of learning on my part to address the way that I communicate (indirectly), and how it’s received working through screens with people that speak English as their second or third language. I come from a culture of people that don’t tend to say what they mean, and being faced with people that are more direct is a bit of a process. I’m still working on not talking constantly in riddles, so that I can be best understood, not saying ‘sorry’ as a reflex in almost every situation, and not taking directness to heart.
Keeping on topic. I’ve loved exploring different types of translation subjects this year, and this has hammered the message home that some translations are more time-consuming than others. I work on a per-word rate. Some translations are easy, and I can bash them out pretty quickly. Others end up taking longer. So long that my blood runs cold thinking about how much I actually earned if you look at how many hours it took. The trouble is, I enjoy going down the research rabbit holes a bit too much. And I look at the trickier translations as a learning process. But I’m going to be a bit pickier about accepting the more difficult assignments. I’ll push to take longer translations that require the same amount of research as a minimum charge job, and I’ll tell my clients what type of translations I prefer (otherwise, they’re never going to know what took ages and what didn’t).
Making money. I started the year thinking ‘if I can earn X every month, then I will be happy’. Then, like I said, I chased numbers too much. But we all want to maximise our earning potential, don’t we? I don’t think that I could possibly squeeze in any more to my schedule if I tried, so I’m reassessing the work I take on, and focussing more on projects that yield more. I’m changing my mindset from money, money, money, to professional growth, learning, and opportunity. If I’ve earned what I need for the month, it’s actually pointless pushing myself to breaking point and not enjoying it because I’m being competitive with myself.
Working hours. Not feeling tied to set working hours. This flexibility has massively helped my productivity. It turns out, that I’m much better at translating late in the afternoon, and on evenings and weekends, and I prefer to rattle through admin tasks first thing. I’ve really enjoying experimenting with different working hours over the year, seeing when and what time I’m most productive. So much better than forcing it when I’m not at my most creative, and taking twice as long.
Professional development. I had underestimated how important Continuing Professional Development is. Especially in an industry that moves so fast. I lack time in general, so I’ve found that dedicating 15 minutes here and there to unpaid professional development can be really efficient. Whether it’s learning new features on a CAT tool, looking up keyboard shortcuts, watching a video in French, or chatting with colleagues, it’s all extremely valuable professional growth.
Making time for things that matter. We’re really just visitors here – something that’s sadly hit home recently. I enjoy working so much, that it can be hard to strike a balance, but I’m going to flex my freelance freedom more in the future. I don’t normally believe in New Year’s resolutions, but maybe 2023 will be there year that I finally go whale watching, and better balance my time between interesting projects and family fun. What about you, what are your goals for the next year?

How to get on agency books: a guide for freelance translators

How to get on agency books: a guide for freelance translators

I know, I’ve written something a bit like this before. But now I’m a Community Manager, and I’ve got some other advice up my sleeve.

For anyone that doesn’t follow me on LinkedIn, I have a few irons in the fire at present. Alongside translating and localising, I work for a Translation Agency as a Community Manager and Project Manager. It’s quite a cool agency as it happens, so we get lots of emails from translators asking to work for us.

Who makes the cut, and what’s the best way to find jobs?

Emailing agencies

Well, firstly, I’m going to say that if you don’t make it onto someone’s books, or end up working with them, then it doesn’t automatically mean that you’re a bad translator, and it doesn’t mean that your marketing techniques aren’t up to scratch. At the end of the day, we can only give out work when it’s available.

That’s why I’m not a fan of firing off a blanket of CVs to multiple agencies at once. I’m not saying it doesn’t work, but a lot of this is situational. If a client is perfectly happy with the quality and quantity of the colleagues they have available, then it’s unlikely that they will ‘need’ any more.

But! Your application might arrive at a time when they’re specifically looking for someone, and you might fit the bill.

Which brings me to my next point: your correspondence has got to be memorable. It’s unlikely that there will be a job ready and waiting for you if you email an agency out of the blue.

Get into our heads.

Come up with something creative either in your application message, or your CV. Even if there’s no room for more translators in the pool, every once in a while, I might stumble upon an outstanding CV or a memorable conversation, and I can’t resist wanting to work with this person.

In the same way that translators don’t like to be treated as ‘just another resource’, we don’t want to be treated as ‘just another agency’. Unpersonal emails to undisclosed recipients don’t go down well. It makes us think that you don’t really mean what you’re saying about working with us, because you’re obviously saying the same thing to everyone.

A lot of people have some sort of template letter that they use – that’s understandable as the whole process is time consuming – and it isn’t always in your first language. But if that’s what you do, spend a bit of time researching the company first, addressing it to the correct individual, and writing a line or two of personalised detail.

Tip: make sure it’s all in the same size and font, so that it’s not completely obvious that you’ve copy-pasted a generic message.

Whatever you write, keep it simple and clear, so that clients can find what the information they need on an initial first scan.

✔️ Personalise your email and the heading, differentiate yourself clearly.

✔️ Highlight your specialisms separately, don’t bury your expertise in a paragraph.

✔️ Put your language combination clearly somewhere so we don’t have to hunt for it.

Networking

I’m a huge fan of networking as a marketing strategy for freelance translators. It can be a lonely job sometimes, and getting to know your translation colleagues can make you feel less isolated. It might also bring you new work opportunities. Sometimes when freelancers go away for periods of absence, they hand over clients to trusted colleagues. This helps their client, and might give them peace of mind that they’ve left the work in capable hands. I have received offers of work off the back of referrals from people I’ve met in real-life or online.

As a Project Manager, it’s not only a nice feeling to give work to people you’ve met before – it also makes good sense. I’ve met people at networking or social events, or spoken to people socially on LinkedIn for a while, and these exchanges have in some cases ended with me offering people work. I can only benefit from getting to know people and what their strengths are, putting me in a good position to match up clients’ jobs and translators harmoniously.

Which brings me to….

Building your online presence

If I need to find a translator, and don’t know of anyone suitable to hand, or if I receive an interesting application, the first thing I do is check them out. I go and try and find their website/LinkedIn profile/ProZ profile, etc. to verify that they’re real. Some people asked me recently if it’s off-putting if someone doesn’t post regularly on LinkedIn. Honestly, no. That’s not for everyone. But make your online presence (on whatever platform or media that may be) detailed, keep your contact info up to date, and be mindful of your activity on there. I’m put off by people that are constantly getting into arguments with other people for no reason on social media – it doesn’t make me want to work with them.

How to use social media

It’s your personal brand. Build up your image, and reflect your values. Connect with other people in your industry. It’s a long game, and the results aren’t instantaneous.

Some of the people I’m most drawn to on social media have these things in common:

✔️ Plenty of information on their profile. Language combinations and specialisms in their tag line or about section, so I know instantly what field they work in.

✔️ Pleasant, professional interactions on here and on my feed. Gives a great insight into what a working relationship would look like.

✔️ Maintaining communication and activity. When I’m looking for a particular translator, these people stay at the top on my mind.

✔️ People that have followed up communication on here with a DM or an email to introduce themselves professionally. It feels like I already ‘know’ them.

❌ Sending me direct messages telling me to give you a job.

❌ Commenting on my posts telling me to give you a job.

❌ Asking me to be your mentor/for advice, then immediately asking me to give you a job.

The above strategies are too direct for me, and make me feel a bit used. Someone messaged me the other day and just said ‘I WOULD LIKE A JOB!’. I honestly didn’t know how to respond. So I didn’t.

Professional associations

By joining a professional association, not only do you get opportunities for networking and training, you might also be placed on a member directory. This is a great resource for clients who are looking for a particular language combination or subject to work with, as you can add your areas of expertise, which then come up in the search function. I’m a big fan of the ITI directory for its ease of use, and I have additional peace of mind knowing that I would be working with professionals from a trusted association.

Applying to posted jobs

Many translation jobs are posted online, and a lot of people I know bid for jobs on the Proz job board. In my opinion, the calibre of the jobs (and pay) posted on there has gone down in recent years, but it’s still worth keeping an eye out for hidden gems.

I recommend following companies and Project Managers on LinkedIn if you’re interested in working with them – sometimes if they’re looking for linguists, they will post opportunities to their network. If I’m a bit quiet, I’ll also check out the #findatranslator hashtag, as occasionally I’ve been able to find clients through that.

Keep an eye on company websites, and other social media announcements! Jobs might be posted on there, and some companies also prefer you to apply via a form or process on their website, rather than cold emailing.

Don’t give up!

It’s a long game, with so many moving parts. Don’t get disheartened if you don’t yield immediate results from your efforts, because so much of this is ‘right place, right time’. Keep networking, keep connecting, and build up your personal brand as a translator. When applying for jobs, focus on quality rather than quantity, and be mindful of how you approach potential clients. You will get there!

Skopos theory, and the scope of your translations

Skopos theory, and the scope of your translations

What am I doing all of this for?

I asked myself this question a lot when I was doing my MA in Translation. It’s not that I wasn’t interested in Translation Theory, I just struggled to see where these theories and ideas fitted in with real-life practice. That’s why after a decade, I’m going back to the books and considering some of the different translation theories, and how they can help me leverage my translation business.

A week writing out complicated translation briefs (in Project Manager mode), has reminded me of Skopos theory. They both link to one important idea: What is the purpose of the translation?

Summarising Skopos theory

In short, Skopos translates from Greek as ‘purpose’. Skopos theory defines a translation’s purpose, and the purpose of the action of translating. It was introduced in the 1970s by a German linguist called Hans J. Vermeer.

Vermeer was motivated to introduce a new theory into translation which set itself apart from the age-old translation debates: free vs faithful, formal vs dynamic, etc.

Essentially, Skopos theory doesn’t just focus on the linguistic side of translation. Vermeer saw and defined translation as producing a target text for a specific purpose, for a specific reader, under specific circumstances.

You can basically ask yourself ‘What is this translation going to be used for? Who is going to read it? In what context are they going to read it?’. If you know the answers to these questions, you’ll have a great foundation for an excellent, purposeful translation.*

*I’m being purposefully brief about the finer details of Skopos theory, and simply highlighting the main concept. I’ll put some good reference materials right at the bottom of this article if you want to read more about it. 👇🏻

Why focus on the purpose of a translation?

If you understand the purpose of a translation, and what it’s going to be used for, you can use this knowledge to help you define your translation methods and strategy.

It’s absolutely essential for a translator to acknowledge why something needs to be translated, and what the target text will be used for, in order to produce a good translation.

That’s why the brief, is so important!**

**In all honesty, sometimes (not for lack of trying) you won’t always receive a proper brief. It’s not always the Project Manager’s fault either. 😩 BUT, if this is the case, it might be helpful for you to consider the above questions, and write some ideas down yourself before getting started.

Putting the theory into practice

Take a step back and consider what you’re translating for. What’s the point? What’s the end goal?

Translation isn’t simply a language transferral from point A to point B.

Skopos theory differs from many of the other traditional theories, because the focus isn’t on the source text, and exactly what the source writer was trying to say. If you apply the theory, then you’re free to deviate from the source, as long as the end result is a translation that’s fit for purpose.

The linguistic choices that you make are defined by purpose. That’s the reason why the result of creative marketing translations can be very different from a user-manual in terms of how far it deviates from the source text.

And the idea that a good translation is judged on the end result of the target text, and how well it fits the target audience, as opposed to how closely and faithfully it sticks to the source text, is actually quite freeing.

Knowledge is power

This is where the translation brief fits in. How I can relate to this theory as a Project Manager, as well as a linguist. You need all of the information available, in order to achieve the best possible result.

In addition to the standard information about word count, language variant, deadline, etc., the perfect translation brief would ideally contain least some of the following information (the more the better!):

Register (formal/informal)
Tone of voice
Customer profiles (great to help linguists understand specific wants and needs)
Target market – a broader example of the type of person you will be translating for
Information about the brand/organisation
Style guide/terminology
References and visual context

⭐ Top marks to the clients who send out brand guidelines and TOV information with their job!

Most importantly, and first and foremost, you need to know what the aim, or the PURPOSE of the text is for. This might be something that you need to eek out of the client, or it might be completely obvious. Is it informational? In which case, the information needs to be portrayed accurately and clearly. Is it entertaining? Translator needs to make sure that all concepts and jokes carry across into their language and target market. Is it persuasive? Boost up your translation by using power words that urge your readers to take action, now!

Do you spend a minute assessing the purpose of the target text before you set to work? Tell me how this has helped you in the comments. ✍️

Some other places where you can find more info about Skopos theory:

‘Introducing Translation Studies, Theories and applications’ by Jeremy Munday (Routledge, 2008 edition)

https://www.iasj.net/iasj/download/3f3d13167f0b327e

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skopos_theory#Directives