05
11
2018
A toute chose malheur est bon pour un traducteur

Proverb of the day: Every cloud has a silver lining

Cultures Connection deciphers the meaning of a proverb. This week, every cloud has a silver lining, even for a translator.

Translator’s Misfortunes…

Your computer won’t turn on and the project has to be delivered in an hour? The Internet connection is slow or has cut off? A customer who represents more than 50% of your invoices has decided to change service providers for their language services? You accepted a 5000 word project for tomorrow when you already had other deliveries scheduled for the same day? What translator hasn’t experienced such situations in their career?

… and elaborate tactics

In the world of aviation, errors are considered as a learning source. The translation sector should draw inspiration from this way of working. Have a second computer, used a second Internet connection, minimize the risk by having a dozen clients each representing at most 10% turnover, plan your workload and better negotiate translation deadlines with clients, these are some of the answers to the stressful situations often faced by a translator.

Any difficult and stressful work experience must be the source of learning that ultimately promotes better work organization. Your mistakes help you to provide higher quality translation services. So never forget that

“Every cloud has a silver lining!”

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This article has been written by Chloe Findlay

Languages student at Glasgow University (Scotland), she travelled a lot in Russia and is now doing an internship at Cultures Connection, as a first professional experience.