L10n Academy Podcast

Pricing your language services, as a translator, is a key element to the success of your business as a freelancer, and one of the main components of “marketing mix”, a concept proposed by Edmund J. McCarthy, his 1960 book Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach. In this episode, more details and secrets are revealed about pricing strategies in the translation market, locally and globally.

LAP008: An Interview With Dr. Ahmad Ali│لقاء مع د. أحمد علي للحديث عن معايير وضع امتحان في الترجمة

Are you planning to join a local translation company in Egypt? This new episode will help you. It has pieces of advice on corporate life inside most translation companies and what you should learn before you join any translation company.

“Studying medical terminology is like learning a new language” -Janet Romich. Are you interested in starting to specialize in the medical translation industry? Great! This new episode is faithfully recorded for you. Let’s deep dive into the lexical, syntactic, and textual features of the medical genre and what would-be medical translators or potential career shifters should focus on. Useful topics I discussed in this episode: – Lexical features of the medical texts; – Syntactic features of the medical texts; – Textual features of the medical texts; – A couple of problems and solutions. If this hit home for you, if it pumped you up and got you going—I want to hear from you. Hit me up on Facebook or Twitter and tell me about it. You can also record your question by hitting Ask Muhammad on the main Podcast Page. I’d love for you to share this episode and your takeaways, so be sure to hashtag #l10nacademypodcast on every single social media platform. Also, please make sure to give me a review on Facebook and feel free to add your valuable comments below. Thanks for Listening!

Hey colleague! I am really excited to do this episode and to have a conversation about the nitty-gritty of actually honing your soft skills as a freelance translator. In this episode, I shed light on the top ten soft skills, from my own viewpoint, that will make you a superhero for any client in the translation and localization industry. Useful topics I discussed in this episode: – Communication skills; – Punctuality; – Time management; – Fast Learning; – Flexibility; – The proactive translator; – Problem-solving; – Working under stress; – Team working; – Negotiation skills. I’d love for you to share this episode and your takeaways, so be sure to add the hashtag #L10nAcademyPodcast and tag me on Facebook – L10n Academy. Also, please make sure to give me a review at https://www.l10nacademy.com/lap005. Let’s dive in!

Get ready to start your translation training in this episode in which I analyze a political text entitled ‘Greece: EU members should share refugee burden or face sanctions’. The text is analyzed lexically and syntactically to help translation students and trainees understand every single step when translating from English into Arabic. Plus, I’m so thrilled to have Mr. Ahmed Al-Ashry Al-Gamal on the show today. Mr. Ahmed is a leading voice in teaching Arabic Syntax & Morphology and he is an instructor of both disciplines at the American University in Cairo (AUC). Useful topics I discussed in this episode: – Some translation techniques when translating from English into Arabic; – What is meant by Subject & Predicate? – Content words vs. Function words; – What is meant by function shift and when to use such a technique in translation? – Different types of sentences; – How to deal with long sentences. I’d love for you to share this episode and your takeaways, so be sure to hashtag #l10nacademypodcast on every single social media platform. Please check the training text below in the PDF format and you can also download it after hitting the Dropbox icon here . Also, please make sure to give me a review on Facebook and feel free to add your valuable comments at https://www.l10nacademy.com/lap004. Thank you so much for listening to this episode!

You are an experienced freelance translator and you would like to scale up your business? Hurray! This episode is recorded for you because I will be shedding some light on one of the well-known freelancing websites for language service providers all over the world, ProZ.com. With ProZ, you can increase your visibility, searchability, and sales of language services. And not only that, but you can add HUGH VALUE to your professional career. In this episode, I am dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s of this platform and how to stand out from the crowd. This podcast episode is not a quickie, and it is absolutely packed with valuable tips and tactics that will help you start successfully on ProZ. So plug in your headset and turn up the speakers. Useful topics I discussed in this episode: – An overview of ProZ website; – Why ProZ is different from any other freelancing websites; – How to get started at ProZ.com; – Different types of memberships and how paid membership matters; – A quick overview of profile creation and what you should focus on; – A bunch of advice on how to enhance your ranking on ProZ as a freelance LSP; – Best practices to hunt for language-related projects; – What is KudoZ Community and the best practices to stand out?; – KudoZ Help Network and how to make use of terminology and glossaries; – Opportunities to learn through webinars, training courses, articles, etc; – ProZ Certification and why it is important for freelancers and LSPs.

Is a potential shift to the translation career profitable? When should a freelance translator scale up his/her business in language services? Is the translation career profitable for all? I am really excited to do this episode and to have a conversation about the nitty-gritty of actually building a successful and sustainable translation business. In this episode, I’ll give you a recipe for making this career profitable. Useful takeaways in this episode: – Some figures about the size of the translation market; – A quick overview of local and global rates; – What is scalability? and when to scale up your translation business; – A quick look at a freelancer’s cost structure; – What is productivity? And how it is essential for a profitable business; – What is meant by translation business sustainability? – The success triangle of this competitive industry; I’d love for you to share this episode and your takeaways, so be sure to tag me and your translation community on Facebook. Also, please make sure to give us a review in the ‘comments‘ section at the website https://www.l10nacademy.com/lap002. Let’s dive in!

Hey colleague! In fact, before you decide to start your career in the translation and localization industry, you should take a bird’s eye view of many aspects related to the local and/or global market. Since the market is very competitive, I’ve shed some light on 15 aspects you should consider during your journey to professionalism. Enjoy listening to the episode and all your comments and suggestions are appreciated in the ‘comments‘ section below. Important topics I discussed in this episode: Language services you should be aware of when starting you translation career; A quick overview of the linguistic, computer, and soft skills necessary for would-be translators; Areas of expertise that are highly required; A quick overview of productivity and how you can maximize it; The importance of documenting your experience; A quick look at rates and pricing, locally and globally; Potential risks translators might have; The importance of getting certified; When and Where to join memberships; A quick overview of payment methods; A quick look at Pro bono work for translators; Why marketing matters; Ergonomics for translators. Useful links I mentioned in this episode: Proz website: www.proz.com Translatorscafe website: www.translatorscafe.com Skrill: www.skrill.com PayPal: www.paypal.com Translators Without Borders Website: translatorswithoutborders.org Austrian Standards: www.austrian-standards.at Dragon Naturally Speaking: www.nuance.com/dragon This roadmap is necessary for any translators, newbies, and career shifters. If you are interested in attending my training session ‘Translation Career Roadmap: How to start your career as a freelance translator’, do not hesitate to click here.

Being a freelance translator isn’t easy and there are always significant hurdles along the way. So, I thought of this type of content, the L10n Academy Podcast, to help students of translation and linguistics, fresh graduates, and translation newbies, start their successful career in the translation and localization industry. Important topics I discussed in this episode: – The L10n Academy Podcast: What and Why? – The main types of content on the L10n Academy Podcast; – How trainees and visitors can interact with the published episodes; – How trainees can add their questions, suggestions, and translated texts to the Podcast section. Plus, if you’re looking for help on starting your translation career, how to plan for a successful career, or even if you’re a translator but you are struggling to stand out, that’s where to go. Thanks for Listening! To share your thoughts, please leave a note in the comment section below. Also, If this hit home for you, if it pumped you up and got you going—I want to hear from you. Hit me up using the ‘Ask Muhammad’ button and you have 3 minutes to record your questions, queries, and/or suggestions.