Monthly Archives: October 2011

Podcast: interview with Xosé Castro on his presentation at ProZ.com upcoming conference in Montevideo, Uruguay Reply

by • events, ProZ.com, translation business • Tags: , , , , ,

Here’s a new ProZ.com podcast. These podcasts are designed to provide an opportunity to hear the week’s news, highlights of site features, interviews with translators and others in the industry, and to have some fun (see announcement).

On October 29 and 30 ProZ.com First Latin American Conference 2011 will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay. The goal of this conference is to provide translators with a means to stay updated on the main areas of the translation business. One of the speakers at the conference will be Xosé Castro Roig, who is a freelance translator, editor, proofreader, copywriter, TV host, semi-pro photographer and stand-up comedian. Xosé travels around the world teaching writing, translation and proofreading in Spanish. The session he will be presenting in Uruguay is entitled “Dudas ortográficas frecuentes y novedades de la reforma académica“. In this session Xosé will be speaking about common doubts about Spanish spelling and grammar translators, proofreaders and editors may have. He will also be addressing the latest reform by the Royal Academy of Spanish (RAE, in Spanish).

Xosé believes that apart from networking, acquiring knowledge and sharing experiences one of the main benefits of attending conferences about translation and interpretation is human contact. In his opinion nothing compares to meeting a colleague in person. This is the basis for building a solid foundation for a professional relationship. In his words conferences are the opportunity of putting a face to a name.

I also asked Xosé to provide a brief description on how he got involved with translation and how he chooses the varied topics of his presentations. I could not help asking him about the role humor played in his professional life and he explained that humor is a fundamental part of his life. He cannot conceive the idea of being bored with what you do and he strongly believes everything is better with a smile.

Towards the end of the interview Xosé gives a very interesting piece of advice to aspiring translators and translators trying to get established.

I feel very lucky to have had the chance to attend one of Xosé’s presentations and I highly recommend them, not only because the content is enriching and helpful but also because you will have a lot of fun. Xosé uses humor as one of his main strategies to reach his audience and his strategy never fails.

You cannot miss the opportunity to meet Xosé Castro Roig in person in Montevideo. There is still time to register for the conference in Uruguay so hurry! You will have a great time. You can see the full program here.

You can listen to the interview with Xosé here: ProZ.com podcast, 2011-10-21

If you have any suggestions for possible themes for upcoming podcasts you can send them to romina at proz.com or via Twitter @ProZcom.

To listen to previous podcasts, check the podcasts tab in this blog.

Thanks for listening!

Guest blog post: “Work/Life Balance as a Freelancer, (continued)”, by Konstantin Kisin 3

by • knowledge, Training, translation business

This is the second in a series of guest blog posts on the T.O. by member Konstantin Kisin. Konstantin has some valuable tips on communication, negotiation with clients, productivity, and striking a balance between life and work. If you have not read the first post in this series, you can see it here.

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“Work/Life Balance as a Freelancer (continued)”, by Konstantin Kisin

I hope that in the time since the last blog entry, you have had the opportunity to reflect on the question of how much you want to work, what level of income you want to have and, crucially, what you need to do to achieve this.

When I first asked myself these questions, one of the things that became instantly apparent to me was that if I wanted to make more and work less, I would have to increase my productivity.

Most freelance translators I have met at conferences and training events seem to focus their attention on things they cannot control: the low rates their clients offer, the short deadlines they impose and the difficulties of dealing with them. As in anything else, complaining is as thoroughly enjoyable as it is pointless.

Achieving a balance in your life as a freelancer requires focus on things you CAN control. Productivity is one such aspect of your work and most of us are nowhere near fulfilling our potential in this respect.

Every time I speak on the subject of productivity the same pattern repeats itself: I share with the audience my experience of becoming more productive to the point where I now translate up to 8,000 words a day while working only 4-5 hour days and the bulk of those listening react with a mixture of shock, sometimes rapidly shifting into disbelief. Yet, interestingly, there are always a handful of people in the audience who report similar or even higher levels of productivity. The only choice to be made is whether you prefer to be skeptical about their claims or inspired by their example.

In the Boost Your Productivity Now Presentation, I share a range of techniques that can help freelancers improve their daily output. One of the most important elements of productive work is the ability to focus on the task at hand.

Consider a 100 metre sprinter who runs 20 metres, then stops and waves to his mother in the crowd before running another 20 metres and then gets sidetracked into giving an interview to a nearby camera crew. No race is won (or indeed completed!) in this way because performing to the best of your ability requires complete concentration.

So, as usual some questions to think about for next time:

  • What do you do that prevents you from concentrating fully?
  • How much more productive will you be when you stop doing it?
  • How can you change your working environment (including people around you) to achieve better focus on your work?
  • What are you prepared to do to make this happen now?

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Stay tuned for the next guest blog post by Konstantin, coming soon!

Konstantin has done in-person workshops on this and other subjects, and some of his presentations can be seen in on-demand video format: