As the host of the Clinic, I was fortunate to attend both days and I learnt valuable tips, such as using a mouse to boost my productivity in memoQ: all this text appearing as by magic. How could I do without it before? On Sunday, there were fewer people as, sadly, some participants couldn’t join us. Lone helped me to tame Trados Studio, which I don’t use very often, by importing one of my clients’ projects and creating a new TM for future work. It doesn’t spook me as much, now. This was the NWTN’s first fully live event, and it was such a great pleasure to meet friends and colleagues face to face, some for the first time in nearly two years.

Laurence Bisot

memoQ Clinic, by Françoise Vignon

I have been using translation memory software since 2005. I started with Wordfast, but when Yves Champollion sold his business to an American company, I started to look at alternatives. That is when I attended an “Introduction to MemoQ” course/workshop led by Lone Beheshty in the ITI Milton Keynes premises; that was in 2010, I think. By the end of the day, I was converted.

So when I found out about the CAT Tool Clinic on MemoQ for intermediate to advanced users that the North-West Translator’s Network had organised with Lone on the 30^th October, I booked myself on it there and then. At the time of booking, we were asked to list what we wanted to cover specifically.

We set up our laptops in the Oppidan centre in Manchester. Lone had come prepared with the list of our requests and we worked through the various topics.

We looked at how to use the language terminal to convert InDesign files, which several attendees had been struggling with. Lone explained to us how we could manage our translation memories and termbases using the export and import functionalities. Many of us did not know what the difference is between a working memory and a master memory, but Lone put us right. We also looked at term bases and how to enter terms using wildcard characters, i.e. using an asterisk [*] or pipe [|]. I personally discovered how I could use a template for a client or a specialism to save me having to select TM’s and TB’s every single time. I don’t think I could have done it without Lone showing us what to do. 

You might think that this is quite a lot already, but that is not all we covered, we also went over how to use the filter function in the Editor to find specific words in the source or target text, or how to work, import, and export with tracked changes both in the source and target text by activating the feature using the Import with options function, and how to do a monolingual check. We then turned our attention to the QA function and to Muses and their use. I had seen the Import Folder Structure option on my MemoQ version but was none the wiser as to what it was until this session, so simple when you know!

We touched on the use of machine translation software like Deepl. I must admit that I am rather skeptical about it, but it may come in useful as a productivity tool since Deepl does some of the terminology searches for you. I am not sure whether I want to invest in such a tool, but this may be the theme for my next course…

Thanks to Lone and the NWTN, I think that we all left the Oppidan having gained some knowledge and a better understanding of our MemoQ tool, so despite it being a Saturday, a great working day!

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Susie Jackson gave us the boost of confidence I think we all needed.

Upon registering for this event, we each submitted questions for Susie based around pricing our services and managing the financial side of our businesses. Susie went through our questions in detail during a live webinar and gave us plenty of chances to ask more questions that came up. It was a great opportunity to get advice on our personal areas of concern.

Susie offered some invaluable tips on how to set your prices based on how much you need/want to earn and how much time you have/want to spend in order to earn that money. I particularly appreciated the time-tracking tip and the tools Susie recommended – in fact, I’m tracking my time right now while writing this article!

We also learnt about the best ways to put together a quote, how to account for things like rush projects and other variables, and how to stand firm with the fees we quote. One sentence she said really stood out to me, “The service provider sets the rate, not the client.”

Susie gave us advice on how to raise our rates and the best time to do this.

She reminded us that everyone has different feelings about money, but that regardless of these feelings, we should take action anyway and make sure we’re earning what we need to be and what we deserve. One of her tips for giving yourself a confidence boost was to look back over your testimonials and kind words from clients and remind yourself that your work is valued and appreciated.

Susie reminded us that we are the ones in charge of our businesses, not our clients, and that we should have enough clients to be able to walk away from any one of them when we need to. “You hold the power to charge what you want to charge.”

It’s safe to say, I left that Zoom call feeling much more confident about myself and my business, and ready to implement everything I had learnt. Thank you, Susie!

If you missed this event, take a look at Susie’s website to find out more about her and what she does, access her free resources and check out her group and one-to-one mentoring sessions.

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We spent three hours together, catching up with each other’s news and even meeting a new member we had seen only on Zoom. With conversations about vintage car holidays, learning languages with Duolingo, gardening and bee hotels, time flew in a very convivial atmosphere.

Some attendees had brought some homemade food and international treats to share, and Michaela receives a special mention for the best picnic equipment!

After catching these moments of friendly reunion on camera, some of us went to a café for a cuppa, while others had a stroll around the extensive park.

Sadly, some people could not make it in the end, but we hope to “see” more members again soon!

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Overview of CAT Tools event presented on Zoom by Silvia Terribile, on 17 April 2021.

This event, which was attended by a sufficient number of members to generate a very lively discussion, was hosted by Silvia, who is a postgraduate researcher at Manchester University. She firstly explained the key features and advantages of the various CAT tools, some of which we were given an opportunity to confirm interactively, and there certainly does appear to be a general consensus that these can in many translation sectors definitely increase speed, consistency and productivity. Nevertheless, Silvia was very thorough in responding to each and every point raised in the interactive session, including any negatives. 

Silvia then expounded more fully on some of the technical aspects such as the need to set an appropriate “fuzzy match” threshold to generate worthwhile matches (this may, for example, have to be set higher for certain languages or in case of formatting “tags/codes”, otherwise the programme may not flag up anything worthwhile in the memory) and the way in which the software now integrates with machine translation (MT). With regard to MT in particular, Silvia helpfully pointed out to some of us “more experienced” translators that it has now seen tremendous growth with the advent of neural-based translation since 2016, and so when considering MT, we should disregard its performance pre-2016! This chimed with my own personal experience, in that I was very sceptical of, for example, post editing, but have now found it to be nowhere near as bad as I feared, resulting in fact in quite a positive experience (it feels much more acceptable to have to criticise a machine’s use of language rather than a fellow translator’s…). That said, Silvia reiterated the fact that, for any post-editing, the machine-translated version has to be good enough to warrant the professional translator reducing his or her normal rate (difference, for example, perhaps between “light” and “full” post-editing). 

We then had a 10-minute break before returning to yet another very lively discussion after Silvia had provided details of the different CAT tools available, including cost, reliability, and finally their pros and cons. The discussions did tend to reveal many translators’ frustrations in particular with SDL Trados Studio, particularly those using earlier versions, which do indeed appear to have a very different basic structure to today’s version, which is more project-based and has far more similarities to the other tools available. Some of those in attendance bemoaned the lack of training in what is a very complex programme and said that the training available is often expensive and/or too simplistic (e.g. online training). Silvia included in the costs quoted the ongoing maintenance and technical support charge, which is additional to the one-off purchase cost, but which it appears might not for example resolve the issue of compatibility problems, not just between CAT tools but with other programmes such as Dragon voice recognition software. She also mentioned the discounts available to students and/or through the ITI, who may in addition offer some training in the CAT tools in future. 

Unfortunately, we did run out of time to delve into the issues in more depth and to spend more time in groups watching the reviews and/or tutorials of the different programmes and discussing them after; this was more a reflection on our enthusiasm for discussing the subject matter rather than on Silvia, who had steered the meeting extremely capably. All in all, a very worthwhile and stimulating event, and many thanks to Silvia. 

Written by Rebecca Power MITI 
Rebecca is a Manchester-based NWTN member who translates from French, German, Italian and Spanish into English. She specialises in insurance, having previously worked in this field. 

Note: The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those of the NWTN. 

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One of my particular areas of interest is interpreting, so it was great to have the opportunity to hear from real-life interpreters on the panel – as a student, I often spend so much time reading about the practice of interpreting that I forget there are actual people doing it!

It was really inspiring to hear from professionals with years and years of experience, some of whom knew from the start that this was what they wanted to do, and some of whom who were not so sure where they would end up (like myself).

As someone on the cusp of the industry, I find that it can sometimes feel quite disjointed from the outside looking in, so I was really pleased to have the chance to meet (albeit virtually) fellow linguists – and perhaps one day fellow colleagues – who are freelancers but who all know each other and come together regularly. Whether it is at networking events, in a professional context, or just at the NWTN’s Working Lunch, I could tell that I will be welcomed into the NWTN and that it will be a network which allows me to grow professionally and be constantly supported by my peers.

Hopefully I will be able to meet some of you all in person one day, but for now, see you soon on Zoom!

Maddy O’Hara

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Sara started her presentation by showing us a particularly useful tool that gives a better idea of the impact of your profile: the SSI (social selling index). Just sign into your LinkedIn account, then visit this page https://www.linkedin.com/sales/ssi which will display your current SSI score. This score measures your profile’s performance on the site, how you engage in the network and what your rate is in your industry. You can find further help about this online, which brings me to Sara’s second piece of advice: if you need help with LinkedIn, Google it, as it will be quicker than looking for help directly on the website.

The next step is to decide which language you want as the default setting for your profile. When you view your profile, this can be found in the top right corner. It is important for linguists to have a multilingual profile, so that people can find us and view our profile in their own language. Make sure you do this first, before completing the different sections in all languages. Now let’s start with the profile itself. The top Intro section is the one that introduces you and the only one most viewers will see, so make it count! Sara told us that, according to research, the photo is a key element for people visiting your page; it should show your full face, either front on or at a ¾ angle, with a blurred or neutral background. It may be worth investing in a professional photo. The background photo or banner should illustrate who you are and what you do: you can even create a banner on Canva, for example, and add some inspiring text or logo to illustrate your specialisms.

Your title is especially important and must be explicit – mine is “English/French Translator”, followed by MA and MITI which are both recognised in the UK. On my French profile, I have put SFT instead, which is more relevant in France. It is also recommended that you use all 120 characters allowed. It is better to avoid abbreviations for the languages, and to use full words instead: they will become part of the defining keywords in your profile. It is important to understand the major role of keywords in LinkedIn, and to choose our words carefully.

Next to the title, your most recent/current employment is displayed in your list and the latest education item, with a logo. If the organisations concerned do not have a logo, they will appear with a grey design, so make sure you have a logo when you select a university, for example, or a company. Sara advised us to create a LinkedIn business page as well if we have a trading name as it is the easiest way to have a logo on display for your current employment; it may just be your name. Until I have one (I am currently working on rebranding myself), I have moved up a main client’s company listed in my Experience section so that I can show a logo, as my business name does not have one. My next task will be to create a business page on LinkedIn and a personal logo using Canva!

The rest of your profile should be full of relevant information for potential clients, which means using their words, what they are looking for – the term “technical translator” is often used in searches – so it would be wise to include it in your information, for example. The About section allows 2,000 characters, which means there is plenty of space for describing what you do and how it fits with your interests. The other sections should also contain more keywords aimed at the people who may visit your profile.

The Skills section allows you to add 50 skills, and according to Sara, LinkedIn likes it to be full. I have just revised mine by adding a few new ones related to my specialisms and deleting some that are not relevant anymore. At the same time, I have started to endorse some of my contacts’ skills. In return, some of them have already endorsed mine, and most importantly, some of the new ones. I find it more difficult to ask for recommendations, but it is an opportunity to enhance your profile further.

The Volunteer experience section is another opportunity to place some valuable keywords about you, your interests and your experience. Again, organisations listed in LinkedIn with logos are the best.

Finally, as LinkedIn is increasingly becoming a social platform, I have started to be more active on the feed, as well as liking posts and following companies and groups which relate to my work and where I want to take it. Have you joined the NWTN group? Don’t forget to turn on the notifications so you don’t miss any of our posts.

Ideally you should create original posts with the right #hashtags to improve your visibility, but I am not there yet! These few pieces of advice summarize what I took away from this webinar, and what I can do to enhance my LinkedIn profile. It is a start, but the few tweaks I have done since the webinar have already improved my SSI rating! So, go and try a few, and see what happens!

Written by Laurence Bisot
NWTN Chair
English to French translator

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