Is ‘bitterwood’ one word or two?

I went back to work yesterday. The mounds of snow that fell on Lincoln (and the rest of NE) are melting. Too bad, because some industrious folks have made some beautiful creations with their snow, elaborate artforms beyond a simple snowman.

Yesterday I received a break from translating e-mails when I was assigned the translation of a chart, fifty-something pages in length. It’s bizarre but I love this kind of project. Time-consuming, requiring research, lengthy, unexplainable to outsiders.

Without revealing unnecessary details, some issues came up during my work:

• Do you spell bitterwood as one word or two? Trust me, it makes a difference.
• There’s no such thing as ácido peráctico, is there?
• How many terms are out there for quassia?

I have also been checking my profile at ProZ.com. They are implementing some changes for spring. I am not sure yet whether I like them.

Technorati tags: translation, ProZ.com

WebTranslators.com

I found a link to WebTranslators.com. In their own words:

WebTranslators.com is a portal for the translation & interpretation industry. We maintain a collection of useful information for language professionals including news about the industry, available tools and upcoming events.

The news are not very recent (headlines appear as though they were last updated in October 2005). However, the list of dictionaries is quite through. Who ever imagined there would be a demand for a French-Quechua dictionary?

Technorati tags: translator resources

An adequate source of translation jobs

I am checking craigslist.org for job leads. It is rather tedious, as a search must be conducted in EACH city. Plus, it appears that craigslist.org is fertile ground for all sorts of jobs, but not necessarily for Spanish translators.

I am going to approach this the same way I approach shopping for clothes at the Salvation army. You can’t go in thinking, “OK, I will get the perfect pair of black pants there”. Instead, I go in there, trying to forget all clothes have been worn by other people, and focus on sorting the gems (a cashmere sweater for $3! Or more likely, a bright green corduroy dress for my daughter for that amount) from the dirt (what’s with all the polyester dresses? Who is buying them in the first place?).

Technorati tags: craigslist.org, translation

ForTranslators.com is having a sale

I received an e-mail from the ForTranslators.com website, informing me of their upcoming sale. Featured titles include: The Translator’s Handbook and a Multicultural Spanish Dictionary (although it evades me why it is listed as a Multicultural Spanish Business Dictionary).

Technorati tags: ForTranslators.com, dictionaries, translation

Bidding at proZ.com

Today I put a couple of bids over at the job board at ProZ.com.

Another possible source of translation jobs: Elance. Not as abundant as I would like, but worth checking.