English is full of abbreviations that make texts easier to write. There are acronyms that are pronounced as words (UNICEF) and initialisms where every letter is pronounced individually (ECB). For simplicity, I will call them both “acronyms” here, though. Acronyms are used in many different subject areas, e.g. medicine (CT/CTA, MRI), technology (VR, AR, USB, … [Read more…]
I recently purchased a license upgrade from Trados Studio 2011 to Trados Studio 2014. That included Trados Studio 2015 when that upgrade was released. Now 2015 has also been released, and I suddenly had a lot of Trados versions on my computer. In a fit of cleaning frenzy, I started uninstalling the versions from … [Read more…]
It’s not easy for an outsider to understand what takes time and what costs money in the translation business. Sometimes I get requests to translate very short texts that often have simply been copied and pasted straight into an email. “Could you just translated this?” It’s supposed to happen quickly and the sender seems to … [Read more…]
If you don’t have work every day – don’t panic. Or at least try not to panic. When you’re freelancing you have to be aware that you won’t always have an even flow of work. Sometimes everything shows up at once, and then you might need to work evenings and weekends, and sometimes you have … [Read more…]
When I started this blog, I wrote that I was going to run it according to the pomodoro technique. That is to focus on one thing for a short period of time (corresponding to an egg timer in the shape of a tomato – pomodoro in Italian). It now seems obvious that I eat plenty … [Read more…]
You learn a lot by simply pricking up your ears and being a little attentive. I recently tried out new contacts and learned a word at the optician’s: flock. The contact felt a little uncomfortable in my eye, and the optician said that I had some “flock” under the contact and that I should rub … [Read more…]
If I told you that there is always a first time for everything, you’d start thinking about big, important things in life: the first unsteady steps, the first day in school, the first kiss. I already did those things, so here is the rather undramatic first blog entry. Things you do for the first … [Read more…]