CONNECTIONS No. 1

C O N N E C T I O N S
I S S U E 1 | M A Y ' 1 7
W W W . F A C E B O O K . C O M / G R O U P S / S T A N D I N G O U T M A S T E R M I N D /

'Connections'? A word from
Why
Andrew Morris
editor
lives in London and translates from
Peter
languages
Scandinavian
introduction to the history and vision of
An
Without Borders
Translators
musings of Jean-Christophe Dumaud, as
The
by Hannah Doyle
narrated
pharmacist, hobbyist writer, and
Syrian
of English to Arabic
translator
inside the SOM Freelance Translators'
Step
Club with Rosie Robbins
Book
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONTENTS
0 5
E D I T O R I A L
0 6
S P O T L I G H T O N P E T E R B O W E N
0 8
T W B I N A C T I O N
1 0
T H E U N I V E R S E & T R A D O S
1 2
S P O T L I G H T O N N O U R A T A W I L
1 5
B U S I N E S S B I B L I O T H E R A P Y

into the wonderful world of
Insights
with Patricia Brenes
terminology
husband, entrepreneur, and
Father,
in Israel, passionate about spreading
educator
life and times of a travellin' translator
The
'resident' nomad Rea Gutzwiller
with
that are less often in the spotlight.
Languages
issue: Hebrew with Perry Zamek
This
passionate and committed ENG-RUS/UKR
A
and interpreter from Ukraine
translator
the world beyond our workspace
Exploring
Nathalie Reis
with
1 7
T I T E R M T I M E
T
1 8
S P O T L I G H T O N A V I S T A I M A N
and promoting academic research
2 0
R E A O N T H E R O A D
2 2
W I D E A N G L E
2 5
G E T P R O D U C T I V E !
Top productivity tips with Rafa Lombardino
2 6
S P O T L I G H T O N L I K A K U Z N E T S O V A
2 8
O U T & A B O U T

A LOT MORE GOOD THINGS
HAPPEN WHEN YOU'RE IN A
POSITIVE STATE BECAUSE
THEN YOU SEE
O PPORTUNITIES RATHER THAN
PROBLEMS AND ARE READY TO
SEIZE THOSE OPPORTUNITIES,
EVEN IF THEY INCLUDE SOME
F RIGHTENING PARTS AND
CHALLENGES.
A N JA WAGNER

EDITORIAL
Welcome to the very first issue of Connections, brought
to you by Standing Out Mastermind (SOM).
Connections is all about building bridges, as the cover
suggests. Between languages, continents, countries,
colleagues, clients and professionals around the
world.
Throughout this magazine, there's a pronounced focus
on the human rather than the mechanical side, as a
reminder that our job is first and foremost about
people and communication.
Alongside profiles of some of our group members
answering questions – which you too might want to
reflect on – there's a host of features from SOM
members around the world presenting fascinating,
engaging and sometimes quirky insights into our
profession, plus a sprinkling of quotable quotes from
our daily discussions, ably curated by Carolina Garrido.
The main lesson for me from this endeavour is this:
when we form connections and work together, we are
capable of blasting through limits and creating truly
outstanding achievements.
I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I've enjoyed
putting it together. And if you like what you see, why
not join the group (address on the front cover) and
become part of one of the most dynamic groups of
translators online?
Happy reading!

SPOTLIGHT
get in touch with Peter, write to
To
peter@bowenmuellertranslations.com
ON
PETER
BOWEN
UK
Is there anything in your family
history that suggests you would
become a translator? Let’s
begin with the general. As a
human, I’m pretty well
engineered for communication.
Languages are essential to
humans. Only the English seem
obtusely able to forget this.
More specifically, my Mum
knows a few languages so the
door to other linguistic worlds
was always open. And going
back a few generations, a lot of
my ancestors spoke both Welsh
and English.
What do you think is the most
important health tip for
translators? We spend a long
time every day at a keyboard.
It’s important to move, to stand,
PACE YOURSELF. YOU
WILL GET BETTER
AND STRONGER
WITH TIME.
ESPECIALLY IF YOU
ARE OPEN TO AND
LISTEN TO OTHERS.

to exercise, and to do things other than work. I play
squash and tennis, and I cycle. I’ll be riding from
London to Paris in June to raise money for my son’s
school. Otherwise, as for anyone, if you want to keep
going, look after yourself. That doesn’t mean you
can’t have a few vices, but you need to control them
rather than them controlling you.
What advice would you give to yourself as a
translator starting out? It’s not a race. Pace yourself.
You will get better and stronger with time. Especially
if you are open to and listen to others. Translation
takes a great deal of practice. So keep practising, and
only listen to the constructive criticism. And if you
don’t like it, do something else.
Are you excited or worried about the future of
translation? Having already embraced MT to some
extent, I’m not cowed by the prospect of increasing
technification or robotisation. Machines are there to
help us. But the future doesn’t particularly excite me
either. The job will always be about language and
communication, which I find reassuring rather than
thrilling.
What is interesting about being a translator in your
country? The frequency with which people say how
useless they are at languages in the UK. This is also
frustrating and accounts in large part for the British
world view. But in some ways it makes it easier to
work with British clients as they rarely supply stupid
criticism because they have no idea whether what
I’ve written is a reasonable rendering. Of course, it
also makes me a bit of freak. You know other
languages? Hmmm.
If you earned twice as much, what changes would you
make in your life? I’d like to think I would work less
hard and be choosier about the projects I took.
However, I’m not convinced much would change.
Experience has taught me that outgoings tend to
swell to match the incomings. So a little more luxury
perhaps but not much else would change. I currently
earn well over twice what I did not all that long ago
and still have no gold taps.
What do you think are the benefits of being part of an
online community like SOM? No man is an island. We
all need connections to others. Interacting with our
peers helps us develop and makes us aware of
possibilities and opportunities. Not to mention all the
punning and incidental humour along the way.

AN INTRODUCTION
Translators without Borders (TWB) started life in
Paris in 1993 when a doctor from Médecins sans
Frontières walked into the translation agency owned
by Lori Thicke and Ros Smith-Thomas, and asked
how much it would cost to have a text translated.
Lori looked at him, looked at the text, and replied,
‘Nothing. I will translate it free of charge. Please
use the money for your projects.’
Since then TWB has translated over 43 million
words with the help of 3,900 professional
translators who provide their services free of
charge. We translate between 190 language pairs
for 550 NGOs.
The graphic below shows those parts of the world
in which TWB operates through partners.

The Vision of TWB is a
world where knowledge
knows no language
barriers.
The Mission of TWB is to
provide people access to
vital knowledge in their
language by:
• Providing aid in
humanitarian crisis
response through
translation and interpreting
• Providing translation and
simplification services that
are culturally appropriate,
accessible and opensource
• Building language
translation capacity at the
local level
• Raising awareness
globally of language
barriers
• Volunteer, either as a translator or helping with our operations
• Raise funds, there are plenty of ideas on our website
• Donate, either individually or as a corporate sponsor
• Partner with us if you are a non-profit in need of translation
How can you help?
For more information, please visit our website:
https://translatorswithoutborders.org/ or see
our videos on our YouTube channel, e.g.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=86ZQpF4zlhk
If you have questions, please contact Sue
Fortescue at:
sue@translatorswithoutborders.org.

T H E U N I V E R S E & T R A D O S
B Y H A N N A H D O Y L E
The musings of Jean-Christophe Dumaud
Lowering himself with a creak into the buttery
warmth of his chair, Jean-Christophe prised open
the lid of his laptop and gazed out the window as
he waited for the decrepit machine to rouse itself
from its weekend slumber. Outside, a little brown
bird was hopping its way over a hedge, and the
cherry blossom was swaying against a
promising sky. Another morning, another day at
the word factory, another seven hours at the coal
face of human communication.
As his trusty IBM workhorse whirred into action,
he muffled a sigh. Double-clicking on the Trados
icon, he relaxed into the software’s three-minute
start-up time, allowing his mind to wander to the
grandchildren he had watched frolic in the
garden over the Easter weekend, the soft pink
lamb he had served up, the new potatoes fresh
from the vegetable patch, the aborted egg hunt
that had turned into a rain-sodden game of
Scrabble at the kitchen table, the laughter, the
heavy silence that had settled across the house
as various family members had piled back into
their Méganes, the evening alone with the sultry
tones of the Radio FIP presenter and her New
Orleans jazz special.
Trados was up and running now, he had no
excuse. Pushing his bowl of hot chocolate to
the side, Jean-Christophe shuffled his mouse
through the collection of folders he had built up
over the past decade, carefully rejecting some
far-flung memory of an era of typewriters and
brown paper packages arriving in the post, and
trips to the library. He checked his Google
calendar. That was it: 2337 words, a
manageable amount and simple enough text for
some godforsaken English seaside town’s
tourist board. Why they thought they needed a
French translation of their paltry facilities and
self-deluded grandeur (“the world-renowned pier
[…] gorgeous, windswept landscapes”) Jean-
Christophe didn’t know, but his job as a
translator was to endlessly plough on, and if

get in touch with Hannah, write to
To
hannahelizabethdoyle@gmail.com
Dullsville-on-sea wanted to lavishly spread itself out
for the Gallic world to feast upon, then who was he
to disagree?
He opened the file in Trados, staring dead-eyed as
the cursor morphed into a circular waiting symbol,
and then settled into rest. The lines of English text
appeared to the left of the screen, and he pushed
up the sleeves of his Aran sweater in anticipation.
Yet something quite miraculous happened next. As
Jean-Christophe watched on in helpless, silent
excitement, the screen burst into life, line after line
bulleting past in an orgasmic, seamless blur of
action. The section on cream teas, the paragraph
on the history of fish and chips, the jovial little
description of just how easy it was to get to this
maritime paradise from London, all whisked past in
a pre-translated whirlwind of words. It seemed he
had already tackled the topic a few years before,
and as was to be expected, nothing other than the
dates of the town’s annual jamborees needed
changing.
and yet so very repetitive. The universe held its
form, time marched on, as mechanical and precise
as an automated Trados segment, with the
individual powerless to stop it. With experience and
age, enough data could be collected as to make
every new story somehow familiar. Perhaps it was
this that lay at the heart of the bittersweet emotion
that had washed over him upon seeing young
Clément and Marie springing through the
flowerbeds searching for eggs. Everything new was
yet to be discovered by them. He, Jean-Christophe,
now in his 68th year, was like a stuttering, frail
SDLXLIFF file, endlessly cycling through the same
old memories.
He clicked Save Target As…
Outside, it had started to rain.
It was, in many ways, like the passing of time itself,
Jean-Christophe thought. It was like the very
essence of human existence, varying in the detail

SPOTLIGHT
get in touch with Noura, write to
To
noura@tawil-translations.com
ON
NOURA
TAWIL
SYRIA
If you weren’t in this job, what
alternative career would you
pursue? Most probably a job
without deadlines!
What do your family think of
your job? My extended family
thinks that I can translate in my
sleep, and wonder how come I
make a very good living out of
such an ‘easy’ job. As for my
close family, I am too wise to
ask them what they think of my
job.
What one object apart from your
computer is vital to doing your
job? Without a second thought:
the battery assembly in my
office! It’s my guardian angel
during our harsh schedules of
power outages (up to 20 hours
a day sometimes).
AS FOR MY
CLOSE FAMILY, I
AM TOO WISE
TO ASK THEM
WHAT THEY
THINK OF MY
JOB.

What one object apart from your computer is vital to
doing your job? Without a second thought: the battery
assembly in my office! It’s my guardian angel during
our harsh schedules of power outages (up to 20
hours a day sometimes).
What’s the weirdest place you’ve done a translation
in? A few years ago I translated a couple of urgent
sentences in the car, on my tablet, while traveling
across the city to pick my son up from school after a
missile attack on the city.
What is interesting about being a translator in your
country? Oh, it’s full of adventures and thrill some
days! One minute you’re peacefully translating in your
office, the next you’re frantically calling family
members after hearing a distant explosion, or taking
a 20 minute car ride followed by a 30 minute walk to
pick your kid up from school because half the city has
been unexpectedly closed to traffic. You gotta love
those surprises!
What is the biggest challenge about being a
translator in your country? There are many. Staying
alive, obviously; and staying focused and optimistic.
Oh, and managing your finances in a place where
online monetary services are completely out of reach.
You need to be extra resourceful and very lucky to
find your way around this and still provide your
clients with the same flexibility regarding payment
methods as the next translator does.
How do you get in the mood for translating every
day? With a cup of black tea! On very busy days I
might also start with deep breathing exercises.
Picturing the deadline dangerously approaching also
never fails when everything else does!
If you could run another business alongside your
translation, what would it be? An ADDITIONAL
business? [Has a panic attack!]

If you earned twice as much, what
changes would you make in your life?
Help others more, and more often.
What do you think are the benefits of
being part of an online community like
SOM? Those communities keep me on
my toes! Whenever I start feeling
comfortable where I am they give me a
nudge and open my eyes to new things to
do and new endeavours to take on, to be
a better professional, and sometimes to
live a better life.
What do you like most about your
workspace? Since my office is an
extension of the living room, I can keep
an eye on the entire space and be close
to my kids while working, this setting
provides very useful flexibility. It is also
what I hate most about my workspace!
What fields do you love working on?
Healthcare, pedagogy, and sometimes
literature are very interesting to me. I also
enjoy pharmaceutical translations
although they are often rigid, because as
a pharmacist it is just awesome for me to
comfortably handle what other people
see as abstruse jargon!
PICTURING THE
DEADLINE
APPROACHING ALSO
NEVER FAILS WHEN
EVERYTHING ELSE
DOES!
What has been your biggest ever success
as a translator? Thinking of this question
on the most profound levels, I dismiss
awards and managing to carve out a
good living. The real answer is getting to
know some wonderful people from all
over the world; it has enriched many
aspects of my life. That’s a blessing, and
a real accomplishment.

get in touch with Rosie, write to
To
rosie@rosierobbins.co.uk
with Rosie Robbins
Business Bibliotherapy
Business Bibliotherapy: why freelance translators
should have our own book club What do Emma
Watson, the Financial Times and fans of Florence
and the Machine have in common? They all have a
book club, where like-minded people read
individually and share their new-found perspectives
via social media. As the SOM Book Club gets ready
to discuss its latest title, here are three ways that a
business book club is the antidote to some of
freelance translation’s biggest challenges:
1. Access to knowledge: We have CPD. We have
SOM. But when it comes to understanding a new
strategy or exploring a different perspective, can
anything beat reading a book? Despite all the
developments of recent decades, the smartest
thinkers on business, psychology, technology and
philosophy still put out their ideas in book form, and
the best part is that we can absorb it all while we’re
giving our brains a well-earned rest.
2. Motivation: SOM Book Club has read some
fascinating titles, but reading non-fiction still isn’t
one of my top 20 favourite pastimes. So willpower
alone wouldn’t have made me read three business
books so far this year, but having a date in the diary
to meet up and discuss them certainly has.
3. Socialising: As an extrovert, I’ll admit that the
hour spent chatting with likeminded, live humans
over the internet is a highlight of my week. But our
monthly Google Hangouts offer much more value
than that: talking about a book has a way of making
it memorable, and to turn what we’ve learned into a
habit.
For me, the SOM Book Club recreates what I miss
most about my former career in PR – namely
camaraderie, discipline and exposure to new ideas.
But the beauty of the freelancer life is that as
business owners, we can take those ideas and apply
them however we wish.

I'D TAKE FREELANCING OVER A 9-
5 JOB ANY DAY. THE STRESS IS
REWARDED WITH FREEDOM AND I
L IKE BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR
M Y S ELF. IF YOU'RE AT A POINT
W HERE THE DOWNS ARE SO
POWERFUL BECAUSE OF ALL THE
PERSONAL EFFORT YOU PUT IN,
Y O U'RE ALSO AT THE POINT WHERE
Y O U CAN TAKE (ALMOST) ALL THE
CREDIT FOR THE UPS AND FOR
BEING THE ARCHITECT OF THE UPS,
W HICH IS A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT.
F ELICITY PEARCE

get in touch with Patricia, write
To
inmyownterms@yahoo.com
to
Term Time
with Patricia Brenes
Terminology Management: A lifesaver
More and more translators, experts, and clients are
becoming aware of the fact that managing your
terminology is a key ingredient in the translation
mix. It’s easy to verify this by looking at the
increase in the number of universities that offer
terminology courses in their study plans (over 200
according to TermCoord’s website). More than just
a need, it is a lifesaver. It is the lifeline that keeps
us afloat, particularly during tumultuous translation
days. But it has to be done effectively and in a
timely manner.
Right away, that’s the moment when we need to
start managing our terminology. Whether it’s an
Excel sheet or a terminology management system
(TMS), creating a simple glossary or termbase
before starting the translation is the way to go. By
the time you sit down to translate the text, you
should have your glossary by your side or your
termbase ready to roll.
Done properly, that’s how it needs to be done.
Reusability is one of the main goals of terminology
management (TM), and if you don’t do it right, your
chances of being able to reuse terms and making
the best of your preparatory work, especially in the
long term, are slim. The correct way is to use
terminology principles and standards. When we are
in a hurry, we tend to take shortcuts to meet
deadlines, such as not managing our terminology—a
mistake that you might regret later on.
For the seasoned translators, this might be obvious
but, based on my experience, I can assure you that
many of them are not fully aware of its importance
and potential. This is why I contacted Andrew
Morris: to share with you bits and pieces about
terminology and terminology management and
contribute to the efforts of raising awareness. So
stay tuned to stay updated. So much more to come!
Feel free to share your thoughts with me at the
email address below.

SPOTLIGHT
get in touch with Avi,
To
to avi@aclang.com.
write
ON
AVI
STAIMAN
ISRAEL
Name one thing you have
learned from your fellow
Masterminders The biggest
takeaway I have from SOM is
the power of positivity in
creating an online community.
Standing Out Mastermind takes
your traditional online industry
forum and turns it on its head.
Instead of a ‘communal soap
box’ where most people write
for the sake of being heard and
venting their frustration, SOM
members write positive and
constructive posts, stimulating
engaging conversation where
‘listening’ and ‘encouragement’
are critical components. This
environment creates a
cohesiveness that fosters the
growth of community, even
online.
AS A TRANSLATOR, I
AM ESSENTIALLY
PUTTING UP A
MIRROR TO THE
AUTHOR AND
REFLECTING THEIR
WORDS IN A
DIFFERENT VOICE.

If you weren’t in this job, what alternative career
would you pursue? Education. However, I believe that
there is an opportunity to educate in every profession
including translation. Over the years, I have realised
that in addition to an excellent final text many clients
want to better understand the rationale behind the
translation process. I see this as an opportunity to
conduct a dialogue on how translation works and the
factors that are carefully weighed with every word
choice.
What’s the most challenging text you’ve ever worked
on? I am currently involved in a project of translating
a play from Arabic to English. The client has asked
that the play sound ‘Shakespearean’ and be adapted
to ‘Old English’. Hopefully you will be able to see the
result on the West End!
What advice would you give to yourself as a
translator starting out? Avoid the tendency to be
over-literal. The worst feedback you can get as a
translator is that the text sounds translated. The goal
should be to create a clear and cohesive
text which reads as if it were written in the target
language while respecting the autonomy of the
source text.
How do you respond to criticism from clients?
Accepting critique can be one of the most difficult
challenges for a translator. As a translator, I am
essentially putting up a mirror to the author and
reflecting their words in a different voice. I have come
to realize that this process can be very disconcerting
for an author who has put their life work into their
writing. Maintaining an ongoing dialogue with my
clients helps bridge the gap and come to a final text
that is even better than the original.
What is the biggest challenge about being a
translator in your country? There are a lot of loaded
issues and words related to the ongoing conflicts in
the region which need to be handled with care and
sensitivity. The difference between describing
someone as a terrorist or a fighter can have serious
ramifications.

ON THE ROAD
W I T H R E A G U T Z W I L L E R
REA
How it all began
In the scorching hot summer of 2003, my last
summer as a high school student, I shouldered my
large backpack and travelled through Europe on
an InterRail ticket with my best friend. We started
out in the South of France and covered Italy,
meeting friends in Rome, before moving further up
North to Vienna, Prague and Dresden – meeting
more friends along the trip. 31 full days of
freedom.
This was a time when smartphones hadn’t even
been invented yet, people had only just started
owning mobile phones on a wider level. We knew
that planning would be a challenge, but since we
lived in different countries at the time, it was even
more difficult. We used msn messenger - go figure
that! – to discuss plans and made reservations
over the phone. If I compare this to today’s
possibilities, it was very basic. But the sensation
of freedom was so infinite and so complete, that I
fell in love with it. I wanted more.
A few shorter train trips through Europe followed,
before I went to study abroad in Australia in 2006,
a country made for backpacking and large-scale
adventures. Australia is unlike anything I had ever
seen – especially the vast drylands in the Red
Centre had caught my attention. I loved sitting at
the back of the bus, just staring out the window,
catching the first sun rays and following the
kangaroos that hopped over the road with my
eyes until they disappeared into the reddish-blue
horizon. I felt free. And it dawned on me that this
was what really made me come alive.
After graduating from the Translation and
Interpretation Faculty at the University of Geneva,
I was lucky enough to start an internship in Spain.
I was meant to be there for three months; I ended
up staying two years. I shortly considered working
at an office in Switzerland, but it was too
restrictive. The fact that all holidays for the
coming year had to be approved by the 15th of
January was a deal-breaker for my free spirited
soul, so I became a freelancer. And I never looked
back.

get in touch with Rea, write to
To
rea.gutzwiller@reatranslations.com
Since 2010 I have travelled through four
continents or more than a dozen countries and
visited countless cities and discovered beautiful
landscapes. I have learnt amazing new things,
from Chinese up to upper-intermediate level to
how to drink coffee in Vietnam (with condensed
milk!), from understanding Argentinian Spanish
and drinking mate to mastering Japanese train
schedules. But how do I actually make it happen?
to make to fit it all into your schedule, what you
get out of it is extremely precious. I remember a
University professor once explaining, that we all
needed to expand our world knowledge in order to
be good translators. She was right – the more I
travel, the more I learn and this helps me find
solutions for tricky bits in my texts and lets me
understand a lot better what the text is really
trying to convey.
How can I be this free, all while working full-time
on my translations? Does it sound too good to be
true to you?
Can you imagine yourself at a desk overlooking
the ocean one week and a few days later sending
out your translations from a hipster café in a busy
Based on a few short articles published in SOM,
this series will show a different aspect of how to
metropolis? Wishful thinking you say? Far from it.
Watch this space.
be a freelance translator, giving the “free” in
“freelancer” a face, an inspiration.
Basically, it all comes down to letting go, planning
and being organised. But whatever effort you need

WIDE ANGLE
H E B R E W
W I T H P E R R Y Z A M E K
Pour moi, c'est de l'hébreu ('It’s all Greek to me!')
The Hebrew language originated in the Middle
East, as the language of the Hebrews, the
descendants of Abraham.
Written Hebrew uses an alphabet of 22 letters, of
which five have specialised forms, that appear
only at the ends of words. The letters are all
consonants. Vowels are determined by context,
with the result that the same string of consonants
may represent different words (these may be
different parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, or
adjectives). A written vocalisation system (vowel
points) entered the Hebrew language later.
Hebrew books, particularly the Bible and the
Talmud, were among the first to be printed after
the introduction of movable type printing, and
almost from the outset there were at least two
fonts – a square font for the principal text, and a
quasi-cursive font (often called Rashi script) for
the surrounding commentaries.
Although Hebrew was the language of the Bible
and of the Jewish religion, it fell into disuse some
two thousand years ago, as the majority of Jews
resided outside of their own land. It was only in
Jewish religious texts that Hebrew remained an
“active” language. The modern revival of Hebrew
began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
and accelerated with the establishment of the
State of Israel, with terminology being created
from ancient word roots to fit modern needs.
It is sometimes appropriate to differentiate
between the Hebrew language and Hebrew script.
The latter is used for other Jewish languages:
Yiddish (a Judeo-German dialect), Judeo-Arabic,
and Aramaic as used in Jewish religious texts,
such as the Talmud. Consequently, some
agencies or clients may ask a Hebrew translator
to translate a text in “Hebrew,” which turns out to
be in Yiddish or Aramaic.

get in touch with Perry,
To
to perryza@actcom.net.il
write
Hebrew is written from right to left (RTL), and
the advent of computers raised a number of
issues: how will Hebrew text be encoded, in
what order will the text be stored, and how to
print Hebrew from right to left, especially where
it appears in the body of English text.
Over the years, various encodings were adopted
for Hebrew: for example, two early encodings
placed the Hebrew letter aleph at 96 and 128
respectively, with the rest of the letters in
sequence. The advent of Microsoft Windows
only added to the confusion, for two reasons:
1. In its early versions, Windows was not well
adapted to RTL languages, and so needed
specialised add-ons to deal with RTL languages;
and 2. specialised code pages were needed to
encode the characters.
One side effect was that e-mails encoded in
Hebrew could become corrupted as they passed
through intermediate mail servers, arriving as a
string of question marks, or as a string of
gibberish English characters.
However, the introduction of Unicode has
simplified matters, since Hebrew (and Arabic)
characters, including the vowel symbols, now
have their own permanent, uniform values.
CAT tools, too, were initially based on LTR
languages; it was only later that they were
adapted to work with RTL languages,
specifically Hebrew and Arabic. The major CAT
tools, SDL/Trados, MemoQ, and Wordfast, now
all handle Hebrew as a source or target
language, and many improvements in their
handling of these languages have been the
result of feedback from dedicated users in
Israel.
Most Hebrew translators only deal with modern
Hebrew as their source or target language.
However, there is still a call for translating
Hebrew documents written outside Israel, in
which terminology and style reflect traditional
rabbinic usages. It’s become a specialty of mine
– many other Hebrew translators would simply
say, “Pour moi, c'est de l'hébreu!”

F O L L O W I NG UP(ON YOUR
I NITIAL PITCH) IS PART OF
THE LEAD NURTURING
PROCESS... IT'S BASICALLY
ABOUT STAYING IN TOUCH
W HILE PROVIDING VALUE TO
Y O UR PROSPECT.
D O MENICO TRIMBOLI

get in touch with Rafa, write to
To
RLombardino@WordAwareness.com
Productivity tips with Rafa Lombardino
Organise Yourself!
Do you remember watching the Olympics last year
and wondering how much time those athletes have
invested in training and dedication to get where
they were at? Translators aren’t much different than
athletes in that sense. We spend years studying
and perfecting our craft as we climb each step of
the way towards our career goals.
Olympic athletes go through detailed worksheets to
analyse their performance and progress.
Translators must find a way to organise themselves
and keep an eye on their productivity as well, so
they know what they’re doing right and what needs
to be improved.
You can do it the old-fashioned way, writing
everything down, pen to paper, or take a more
modern approach and track your performance the
digital way. No matter what you do, you must
measure your daily, weekly, and monthly output
somehow, so you can organise yourself better.
Whenever I talk to my students about organisation, I
recommend that they use something like Google
Calendar, which is free and allows users to create
several calendars for both business and personal
purposes, so they can plan their day.
On the very same screen, I have access to my own
calendar, which includes doctor’s appointments and
lunch with friends, for example, as well as my
children’s calendars, my translation calendar, my
freelancers’ calendar, and a deadline calendar―that
way, I can always remember when clients expect to
get their project back. I color coordinate everything,
so a quick glance allows me to say, “Yes, I can
return the translated files to you by X date.”
This kind of organisation, combined with your
average output―which I’d like to talk about in the
near future―are crucial tools to help you plan your
work day and keep stress away.
EDTOR’S NOTE: This article was originally published in
Portuguese in Metáfrase – an official publication by
the Brazilian Translators Association (ABRATES)

SPOTLIGHT
get in touch with Lika, write
To
anzhelika.kuznetsova@ukr.net
to
ON
LIKA
KUZNETSOVA
UKRAINE
What was your first ever
contact with a foreign
language? At about the age of 9,
I found my dad’s organiser, with
the English alphabet printed
alongside the Russian letters. I
tried writing several Russian
words with those foreign letters
and showed them to Dad, and
he laughed and said that it
doesn’t really work that way. At
school, he said, they would
teach me all about it. And they
did:)
What do you think are the benefits
of being part of an online
community like SOM? A
community like SOM can be a
valuable resource to a professional,
seeking improvement, on a number
of levels. For me, SOM is about the
opportunity to exchange ideas and
experience, but perhaps even more
about inspiration and the wowmoments
that come with it.
AS A PSYCHOLOGY
GEEK, I LOVE
EVERYTHING
THAT HAS TO DO
WITH HUMAN
NATURE; IT’S
SOMETHING THAT
NEVER CEASES TO
SURPRISE ME.

What advice would you give to yourself as a
translator starting out? Remember to surface from
under the deadlines every now and then, to check if
you’re in a place where you want to be with your
career, and your life. Actually, I think this never gets
old:)
Would you like to be an interpreter too? Why/why
not? I was blessed with a chance to learn and do
both. As much as I love the solitude and quiet of
translation, the adrenaline rush of a sim or consec is
something I’m forever hooked on. Besides, a girl
needs an occasion to wear all those shoes:)
How do you respond to criticism from clients?
Colleagues? Well, it’s not exactly chocolate cake:) But
it’s most definitely welcome and appreciated; when
reasonable and to the point, criticism can be a
powerful driver of improvement. As with any tool, you
just need to learn how to use it, so it won’t hurt you,
or others.
What’s the best thing about being a freelancer for
you? Freedom to choose my projects and manage my
workload as I think fit. What’s the biggest challenge
about being a freelancer? Long-term planning? No
can do.
What fields do you love working on? As a psychology
geek, I love everything that has to do with human
nature; it’s something that never ceases to surprise
me. Banking is another craft I have learnt to
appreciate over the years of translating and
interpreting in the field; it often goes hand in hand
with contracts and agreements, but luckily, exploring
the legislative maze is also something I’ve always felt
comfortable doing.
What fields would you never touch with a bargepole
and why? Technical. Because I don’t have a clue. And
there’s no bargepole long enough...

OUT &
ABOUT
W I T H N A T H A L I E R E I S
Despite an emerging trend in co-working, most
freelance translators work from home and most of
their interactions are with other translators. Fact.
Translators typically spend their days at their
computer and get the information, interaction,
support and entertainment they need online. They
interact with their peers in familiar groups, chat to
other linguists via the social media platforms and
contribute to forums where everything is linked to
translation and language.
But I want to talk to you about the world beyond
the translation industry and about events
happening in your city and elsewhere. I want you
to realise what is out there and to make
connections with the wider world because I
believe it is beneficial to your career. This is how
you will find the direct clients you want to
collaborate with.
First, what do I mean by events?
Well, they might be conferences (in your fields
of specialisation), trade fairs, networking events,
training sessions, talks given by experts in a field,
or simply social gatherings. How do you find
them?, I hear you ask. A useful site – but not the
only one - is Eventbrite, at least in the UK.
All you need to do is enter a field you want to learn
more about or make contact in, add a location then
click Search. It's as easy as ABC.
For each event, be prepared because ultimately you
have your translation business in mind. Dress
appropriately, have your pitch ready and don’t forget
your business cards. After all, you're a professional.

get in touch with Nathalie, write
To
n.reis@btinternet.com
to
In March, I ventured out of my den on three
occasions: an evening spent at a networking event
aimed at French start-ups, a whole day a trade fair
(The London Book Fair) and another day for a
guided talk at the V&A (admittedly organised by the
Media, Art and Tourism Network of the ITI). This
gave me a few opportunities to interact with people,
learn, share and chat.
This month I have a few events planned too: my
now monthly networking event (see below for a
brief report), a day in Coventry (MedTech Innovation
Expo) and a whole-day Masterclass on the Future
of Health organised by the New Scientist.
I want to share with you my experience at the Apéro
Entrepreneurs networking evening called “The
Battles of the Pitches” where four start-ups pitch to
get business or funding – or both. This group is
almost 100% French and that is probably why I feel
quite comfortable mingling. Over a glass of wine
and few slices of salami and cheese served with
crusty baguette (surprise, surprise), people talk
about what they do and ask questions.
A speed-dating exercise where nobody wastes any
time. I had a smile on my face all evening as I
listened to all these French people speak French
with a minimum of two English words per sentence.
It hurt my poor translator’s ears tremendously and I
was tempted to correct them, but it would have
been a) rude, b) too much work, c) a fruitless task.
“Oui, euh, alors moi je m’occupe de backer et de
mentorer les start-ups qui sont à la recherche de
crowdfunding. Euh, je les aide avec leur business
plan et leur networking."
I had to take a deep breath at times but as I was
there to network, I gave them my pitch and
answered their questions when it was my turn. This
was my second visit and I intend to continue going
because the group oozes energy, dynamism,
innovation and initiative.
What did I take away? I learned about other product
and service providers, ventured outside the
translation community, given 6 or 7 business cards,
with one person showing some genuine interest in
my services. But most importantly I broadened my
horizons and had a lot of fun!

THE LAST WORD...
BE ORIGINAL, BE OUTSIDE
THE BOX, BE AUTHENTIC, BE
USEFUL AND BE APPEALING
RICHARD MORT