I’m delighted to announce that Marketing Translation has been nominated as one of the Top 100 Language Blogs 2009 in the Language Professional category. Special thanks goes to the readers who nominated this blog – it’s really great to know that you are enjoying the weekly posts and I feel honoured to have been nominated alongside so many well-respected translation and language bloggers.
Voting for the nominated blogs is now open and ends on 27 July 2009 so if you are enjoying the blog and find it useful, please vote for Marketing Translation here or by clicking the button below. Thank you for your support!
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by Serena on 2 July 2009
in Books
I came across Anthony Davis’ Mastering Public Relations when looking for a good introductory book on PR to read for continuing professional development (CPD) purposes. At 233 pages long, it isn’t a stuffy academic textbook; instead, it is a easy-to-read, easy-to-understand guide to public relations, providing a good overview of the differences between PR and publicity and exploring how PR differs from and complements marketing and advertising. The book also looks at PR and corporate communications, the differences between image and reputation and explores topics such as PR strategy and planning, relationship building and the relationship between PR and the media.
I particularly liked the checklists at the end of each chapter, which give a summary of the key points made. This is great for when you just want to look up specific information relating to the chapter topic, refresh your memory on a certain subject area or, if time is short, grasp the basics quickly. Short but helpful case studies also aid understanding by outlining how the key points are put into practice.
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone working in the field of PR translations or anyone who is interested in learning more about PR!
Davis, Anthony. Mastering Public Relations. 2nd edn. Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. ISBN 978-0-230-54930-2.
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I was recently asked what it’s like to work as a freelance translator and what sort of work I do as a marketing translator. Here’s an insight into a typical day’s work:
8 a.m.
My office hours officially start. 90% of my clients are based in Germany, which is one hour ahead of the UK. So it’s already 9 a.m. there and the e-mails and phone calls are starting to come in. Settle down at my computer with a cup of coffee and start to go through my e-mail inbox.
8.20 a.m.
I start proofreading 500 words of copy for a customer newsletter for an online shop. I translated it and revised it yesterday and, although it’s not due until 4 p.m., experience tells me that I am far more likely to catch any typos or other hiccups first thing in the morning.
9 a.m.
Take a five-minute break to see what’s going on in the world of Twitter this morning and to check out any useful links and resources that fellow translators have shared.
9.05 a.m.
Start preparing to translate some promotional brochures and leaflets on a new technology for washing machines, 5,000 words in total. The texts focus on energy efficiency and the environment, so I do some initial background reading on the subject and bookmark some similar promotional materials I find online – they may come in handy later.
10 a.m.
Start translating the brochures. 5,000 words will keep me busy translating for at least two and a bit days, plus the extra time needed to edit and proofread my work.
11 a.m.
Coffee break. Time to catch up on my RSS feeds – other translation blogs and marketing and advertising news. I also browse the BBC News website and have a quick read of The Guardian online.
11.30 a.m.
Back to my translation. I need to come up with some creative headings as quite a few of the headings in German involve word play that doesn’t work in English so I start brainstorming some ideas and jot them down. I’ll come back to them later because sometimes a really great headline sounds really naff when you come back to it with fresh eyes.
1 p.m.
Lunch. If the weather’s nice, then I’ll go for a walk to give my eyes a break from the computer and to recharge my creative batteries. I take some time out to read something non-business related – a chapter of the novel I’m currently reading: Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore. I come across a beautifully-worded sentence that I love so I make a note of it in my writer’s notebook, which I use as a source of inspiration and ideas.
2 p.m.
Back to the translation. Yuck. I no longer like one of my ideas for a heading. It’s a bit stilted. Back to the drawing board. It can take several drafts and much editing and proofreading until I’m totally happy with my translation.
2.30 p.m.
I’m interrupted by a phone call from a client who needs an urgent 100-word text translated by 4.30 p.m. It’s an additional couple of paragraphs for an advertising campaign description as part of an agency’s competition entry. Seeing as I translated the rest of the text, they need me to do this bit for them, too. I agree to take the job on and start working on it immediately. Marketing texts, particularly advertising texts, are frequently needed urgently so I often have to juggle longer projects with short items as and when they land on my desk.
4.15 p.m.
Three drafts later and, after one final proofread, I have handed in the urgent text. I decide to spend another half an hour on my washing machine translations before finishing for the day.
4.45 p.m.
I spend the last fifteen minutes of my day watching German-language news in a video podcast while my computer makes back-up copies of the day’s work. Unless I have made a specific arrangement with a client, my office hours end at 5 p.m. – I’m quite strict about when I work as I am far more productive and far more creative during the daytime. Some translators are night owls and enjoy burning the midnight oil but I find that I can’t produce quality work much later than 7 p.m. so I stick to my computer-off-at-5 p.m. rule whenever possible.
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by Serena on 18 June 2009
in Events
The Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP) is holding its Annual Conference at Vanbrugh College, University of York, from 13 to 15 September 2009. The presentations, lectures and seminars at this event will all be based around the topic of ‘Editing in the 21st Century’ and the programme has something for everyone working with texts, such as editors, proofreaders, translators, writers and copywriters.
Topics range from on-screen editing, grammar issues and copywriting techniques to software information and advice, e.g. tips on switching to Word 2007 and an overview of Adobe InDesign. There will also be seminars relating to various aspects of working as a freelancer, such as work-life balance, relaxation techniques, marketing yourself and the advantages of blogging. The copywriting and Adobe InDesign sessions will be of particular interest to marketing translators, particularly as a basic understanding of various DTP software packages is becoming increasingly important in our field. For more information about the conference, please visit the SfEP conference website.
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You’ve found a professional translator that you want to work with. Congratulations! But before you rush to get your documents translated and start discussing deadlines and costs, take some time to prepare any useful reference materials you can give your translator and to think about how you are going to brief them. Briefing your translator well will help to ensure that you get the best possible quality translation that is ideally suited for its intended purpose. Here’s a short checklist to help you to do this.
- What is the text to be used for?
For example: for internal information only, in a glossy printed brochure, on a website, in a newsletter, etc. If you tell the translator where the text will be used, you can be sure that they will use the right register for this purpose.
- Is your text for a specific market?
There are often regional variants of a language, e.g. UK English and U.S. English, French and Canadian French, German and Swiss German. If your text is aimed at a specific market, such as the UK, make sure that the translator is aware of this. Likewise, if your text is aimed at an international market, e.g. it is to be translated into English but is not necessarily aimed exclusively at English native speakers, make sure that you let the translator know.
- What background information can you provide?
If the text is for a newsletter that refers customers to products in your online shop, for example, can you provide links to the relevant webpages or images of the products? If the text is a letter in response to another letter, can you provide a copy of that letter? Naturally, this will not always be possible due to company policy or for confidentiality reasons. But if you can provide this kind of background information, it can really help to ensure consistency and accuracy.
- What terminology resources do you have?
What glossaries, terminology databases, translation memories, company style guides, etc. are available? For more information on terminology resources, please see Consistent branding in translation - advice for translation buyers.
- Who is going to be the contact for any queries relating to the text?
Are you happy to be contacted by the translator if they have any queries about the text? If you did not write the text, will you be able to forward any queries to the person who did or is there someone who is more familiar with the text that the translator could contact directly? Be sure to give the translator the name of at least one contact person and several ways of contacting them, e.g. a direct line telephone number and an e-mail address.
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