A friend of mine, Sarah, works for a media company that recently needed some transcribing and translation services, and it fell to her to locate some translators and take care of the project. Although this was her first time working with translators, her experience a) ends happily and b) might help others who may need a translator one day.
As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I had some fun translation projects and events lined up for this month.
So Wednesday 26th October was a very exciting day for me, as I had not one, but two media appearances!
When I tell people that I work from home, the general reaction is “lucky you! I wish I could!” After all, what’s not to like? No horrible commute at the crack of dawn, no awkward water-cooler chat with acquaintances about how everyone’s weekend was, and you can make important business decisions without anyone but you knowing that you are, secretly, still in your pyjamas.
Even though we’re only about 21 miles apart at the shortest point of the English Channel, France can sometimes feel like a world apart from the UK. Stereotyping both parties is almost too easy – The French think that the British drop everything to drink tea at 5 pm, while the Brits think that the French drop everything to go on strike…well, whenever they please!
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Captioning, and in particular theatre captioning, is not necessarily directly related to translation – it tends to be used to provide access to audience members who are hard of hearing. Captioning is different to video subtitling and opera surtitles (which often do have an element of translation), as captions give extra information, such as indicating who is speaking as well as sound effects, in order to give the best experience to the viewer who may not be able to hear these aspects otherwise.
It’s the ultimate dream to be your own boss, but with it comes great responsibility: not only are you managing and motivating yourself, but you have to seek your own income, do your own taxes, not forgetting to put money aside for retirement….and on top of that, any sick leave or holiday that you take all adds up to time where you’re not earning.
It should come to no surprise, then, that if a freelancer in any profession feels like their time is being wasted, they may get a little….shirty.
I hope I’m not the only person who feels this way, but I find social interaction pretty exhausting.
Don’t get me wrong; I love my friends and family, and once I’ve hauled myself out of the house and into some kind of social event, I tend to have a great time. People wouldn’t guess from looking at me that inside my brain rages a storm of social awkwardness.
Colca Canyon, Peru. © Natalie Soper, 2015
My name is Natalie, and I am a freelance translator.
It still feels weird to say to people “I’m a freelancer” “I work from home” or “I own my own business” – but I am slowly getting used to this relatively new path in my life. Maybe one day I’ll be able to swagger into a room and flick business cards at people, one-handed, like a magician, but I’m not quite there yet (and sadly, I haven’t found any marketing training that teaches business-card-tricks).
Bellingua Translations 