The Lonesome Expert’s Ballad!

Help! I feel lonely and I need some company!

I am the First and Only Expert on the Marketing of Translation Services!

I’ve been a professional translator for 35 years (since 1972!) so you can believe me when I tell you I know the industry inside out and outside in. I’ve also scoured the Net, hour after backbreaking hour, looking for my alter ego! But nothing, nada, rien, nitchevo, dara, hayhuunde, hakuna hata mmoja, etc. .

There are hundreds of experts on the marketing of accounting, lawyers’, designers’, body-builders’, car-washers’, all types of coaching, consulting, and infopreneur services!

But I have yet to meet an Expert on the Marketing of Translation Services!

Of course many books have been written on freelance translation and for freelance translators (Alex Eames, Corinne MacKay, Roger Criss, Doug Robinson, Morry Sofer, Chantal Wilford, etc.), but none, repeat not one of those books are marketing books!

I feel lonely, pretty lonesome, like the lonesome cowboy! Why don’t you join me!?

“But”, you may wonder “you must be quite happy, no competition, no contradiction, you just do your thing!”

THAT is precisely the problem: I am a social man, you see, and I love company. Niche market? This place is getting too NICHEY for my liking. Let’s get outa here

Oh Gawd, it’s so cold and lonely up here! Please join me! The more the merrier! As the French say: “Plus on est de fous, plus on rit!”

Well, maybe when my “Insider Guide to the Strategic Marketing of Translation Services” comes out, you’ll wake up, at last

Meanwhile, I am up here, lonesome, but I’m no longer sad, I’m even beginning to smile, because I have a feeling I’m soon gonna have company!

“It’s cool to be First, even if you’re a bit lonely at first!”

A.M.Sall, the First and Only (so far) Expert on the Marketing of Translation Services!

P.S. We have turned the free 7-Part PR ecourse into a free downloadable PDF and all you have to do is visit this link and instantly download it!

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Subscribe to Translator Power and successfully market your translation/interpreting services either by Email or if you prefer the feed, just look on your left and make your choice!

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Translator Resource of The Week: Two Great Ladies

After last week’s ‘Giant’ (Portuguese Translator Joao Roque Dias), we have two ‘Lionesses’. Both highly experienced freelance translators, with the same language combination i.e. English/French/Dutch. I must say I love these two sites.

Chantal Wilford’s Linguabase

and

Michelle de Raaij’s Internet Resources for Translators

Chantal Wilford

The page that will probably most interest you as a freelance translator is the one on ‘Tips for Translators’. It is based on a book by the same title, just published by Chantal. This is how she describes that page:

“This Tips for Translators page started after I had spent a few years working as a freelance translator and thought it might be useful to some translators, especially those who are just beginning their freelance careers, to read about some of my experiences and what I have found useful. It can be very difficult to get advice or opinions when starting out in the translation business – I know, I was there once, which is why I didn’t mind taking time to share my experience in the hope it would help whoever wanted to listen… I know I would have liked some of this information when I started!”

This is a long page, on which you have 12 sections including: Top Ten Tips, Where do you find work, Contracts, Tests, Soliciting work, Mailing lists, Rates, FAQ…

I found the section on “Rates” and “Contracts” quite interesting.

The other “Lioness” is Michelle de Raaij

This lady is a walking encyclopedia! The site is chock-full of really useful links.

You have various pages titled:

Discussion: Online Forums, Mailing Lists and Usenet Newsgroups

Translators’ Associations and Organizations

Schools for Translation/Interpreting/Translation Studies

Translation Tools

General/Multilingual Resources, dictionaries, glossaries

These two sites are must-visits for any translator that want to learn as much as possible about the profession.

A.M.Sall

P.S. We have turned the free 7-Part PR ecourse into a free downloadable PDF and all you have to do is visit this link and instantly download it!

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Subscribe to Translator Power and successfully market your translation/interpreting services either by Email or if you prefer the feed, just look on your left and make your choice!

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