helping

tranfree issue 41 - 18 October 2001

"Avoiding Mistakes & Stress"

 

Welcome to issue 41 of tranfree - the newsletter for translators.

 

Back from Holiday

Just back from a week in Egypt. With all the uncertainty in that area, we thought it would be a good time to go. Many people were canceling trips. As it happens we were right. It was a good time to go - as long as you don't mind travelling without any carry-on luggage

The air temperature was in the mid 30's°C and the water was a lovely warm 28°C - even at 30m depth. I know because I went wreck diving to 30m without a wet-suit (the boat crew lost it overnight - but it belonged to their firm - so no loss to me).

Anyone interested in scuba diving or learning to dive would do well to check out the Sinai Dive Club reservations@dive-club.com at the Hilton Fayrouz hotel in Sharm El Sheikh. Nice people and good safe diving practices.

My instructor, Nophert Elias, looked after me extremely well.

If you're interested, some underwater holiday snaps are at...

http://www.tranfree.com/holiday/

But now back to reality after a well-needed break.

 

Phil in Portugal and Spain

I'm sad to report that Phil is no longer with translatortips.com. He's decided to go travelling in Portugal and Spain. If anyone in Spain or Portugal wants to meet up with him on his travels please send him an email at...

(deleted as no longer valid email address)

[he's already back now, so there's not much point]

 

We Just Got Paid from (Company Name Deleted)

Credit agencies say that the chances of collecting a debt which is older than 6 months are very low.

We just got paid for a translation job we did a few days less than one year ago. The company in question was Company Name Deleted in London (a direct client, not an agency).

So it can be done. I think I followed up on this one 3 times and I didn't even threaten to tell 25,000 people in tranfree

But we certainly would not choose to work for them again.

Enjoy and benefit from tranfree

Alex

Alex Eames
tranfree editor, Author -
How to Earn $80,000+ per Year as a Freelance Translator

 

 

This tranfree contains...

 

Star Letter

    From: "Eandrade"
    To: "Alex Eames"
    Subject: RE: tranmail order
    Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2001 23:30:20 -0300

    "Alex,

    You are a star. Your customer service is excellent and you always goes an extra mile. I guess this is the way a brilliant translator becomes a conscientious professional.

    I was doing all my best to sort this out and to tell you the truth I was a bit ashamed of asking you again about it.

    All of a sudden your email popped up into my In-basket!

    Thank you Alex. I hope we could work together in the near future. Honestly.

    Warmest regards.

    Alfredo."

Thanks Alfredo


translatortips.com product URLs are as follows...


eBook How to Earn $80,000+ per Year as a Freelance Translator

http://www.translatortips.net/ht50.html

tranmail - system for applying for work by email at 1800+ translation agencies around the world (Newly Updated)

http://www.translatortips.net/tranmail.html

Alex Eames, tranfree editor

 

    This tranfree's Feature Articles...

  1. Nobody's Perfect - Alex Eames
  2. Stress Management - Sian Marlow

 

 

translatortips.com Linkers FREE Prize Draw

I am keen to get as many of you as possible who have your own web sites to link to the translatortips.com web site. To encourage you all to put a link to translatortips.com on your own site, I am holding a monthly prize draw for everyone who does this.

Each month all those people who have put a link on their own web site to the translatortips.com site (and let me know about it) will go into a ballot and the winner gets a FREE translatortips.com product of their choice from the following:

this winner is Denise M. Boehning - please contact me within the next 3 months to claim your prize from the above selection.

If you wish to put a link to the translatortips.com site on your site you can find instructions at the bottom of this edition.

 

 

Translation Joke

Contributed by Ana Coimbra

Here are some true stories about translation errors...

A company applying for a patent for a hydraulic ram in Russia found that they were trying to register the invention of a water sheep!

Imagine if your medical report about soft tissue rheumatism had been translated into German as rheumatism of the private parts

Would you feel attracted by a new body cream that was marketed as a cream for the corpse?

 

***End of issue 41 ***