2013 account of a freelance spanish to polish translator
TRANSCRIPT
The annual account of a freelance
Spanish to Polish translator
by Anna Ratyńska
Translations
www.solecito.pl
+48 692 55 38 76
2013 was definitely a work-intensive year.
Some months were totally project-packed,
while in others I was able to spend more
time on marketing and learning.
Overall, I translated:
approx. 1200 pages = 300 000 words
in 164 translation assignments
Some examples of these include:
maritime pilotage regulations of the harbour in Algeciras, documents of the Brothers Hospitallers order, a game for mobile devices, a telemetric module installation guide, an article about civil law in Argentina, accounting rules in Costa Rica, biscuit labels and a love letter.
Compared to 2012 I’m happy to say there’s been an increase both in terms of volumes and rates.
+ and -
www.solecito.pl
+48 692 55 38 76
Here’s what makes me especially satisfied business-wise
with what I achieved in 2013:
• A large increase in the number of clients -> diversification = safety
• I raised my rates. Hurray!
• I learnt to choose clients wisely and to say NO and I had to say it A LOT.
• I now have regular international clients.
• I’m a more proficient memoQ user and can find terms I need faster = I can handle larger volumes.
• I started to appreciate my free time more (still long way to go ;).
And, as it’s not all pink and rosy, here are some things I am not quite happy about:
• Clients who don’t respect the payment terms. I’m either introducing down payments or learning how to fire a client in 2014.
• I didn’t do enough sport (a healthy translator is a happy one!)
• I’d definitely like to read more (work/free time ratio
improvement needed).
Recommendations
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+48 692 55 38 76
Some of the recommendations I received in 2013 from old and new clients:
Tłumacz godny polecenia, tłumaczenia na czas i na wysokim poziomie, bardzo dobry i miły kontakt
BT Sigma
Bardzo dobry tłumacz języka hiszpańskiego - świetnie radzi sobie z trudnymi dokumentami prawnymi, ekonomicznymi, finansowymi, dotrzymuje terminów i zapewnia płynną współpracę.
R. Drewniak, tłumacz przysięgły j. hiszp.
Pani Anna Ratyńska wykonała dla naszego biura tłumaczenie oraz weryfikację umów pożyczek z j. polskiego na j. hiszpański. Z powierzonego jej zadania wywiązała się terminowo i z należytą starannością.
ITG - International Translators Group
Eficaz, buen trabajo y buenos resultados. Trabajar con Anna ha sido un placer y no dudamos en volver a confiar en ella en el futuro.
InPuzzle España
Office redecoration
www.solecito.pl
+48 692 55 38 76
I had my homeoffice
painted green
www.solecito.pl
+48 692 55 38 76
I’m a PRO!
www.solecito.pl
+48 692 55 38 76
I was accepted into the Certified PRO Network at ProZ.com, which is one of the most important translation portals. See my profile
www.solecito.pl
+48 692 55 38 76
Romanian course Instead of going on a regular vacation this year I decided to go back to my beloved Romania and do an intensive 3-week course of Romanian at Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai in Cluj-Napoca. Met wonderful people, went on a number of trips and, most importantly, made a huge progress in my Romanian language skills (I’m B2). At the end of the stay I was even taken for a native! What better compliment than that?
And in 2013 I read my
first novel in Romanian!
Other courses
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+48 692 55 38 76
I did two MOOCs:
1. „Accounting, the language of business” in Spanish at UNED (1st edition in spring)
Contabilidad, el lenguaje de los negocios
2. „Economy for non-beginners” in Spanish at Universidad Católica de Murcia
Economía para no iniciados
A short course of Hungarian at udemy
Learn Hungarian fast
I also participated in a number of webinars at ProZ, such as „Introduction to Financial Translation” and others, mostly marketing-related.
Polish teaching
www.solecito.pl
+48 692 55 38 76
This year I also started to teach Polish via skype. I am far from considering myself a professional teacher, I simply do it for the fun of it. However, I don’t dismiss the possibility of doing it professionally one day, once I get proper training. All my students are from Spain, so that gives me an opportunity to speak Spanish every week.
Meet my students:
Herminia Páez Prado
Audiovisual translator who is really
into languages (all of them!)
www.traducinando.com
Elena Nevado
Audiovisual translator who did her Erasmus in Poznań
and has been in love with Poland ever since
www.midnightintranslation.com
Elena Cancelas
Psychologist and Spanish language teacher
who recently spent a few months in Poland
They are the best students anyone can have!
Social media
www.solecito.pl
+48 692 55 38 76
I must admit that at first I was sceptical about all this, but then I decided to give it a try and tame the social media beast. Some tweeting later I actually established new working relations and made new friends (see previous slide).
Twitter about.me
Recently I also joined..
..Facebook LinkedIn (still some work to be done;)
Plans for 2014
www.solecito.pl
+48 692 55 38 76
Get a professional website
Spend some time in Spain and get to practice my primary working language
Polish (!) my Romanian and possibly reach a decent C1 level so as to be able to use it professionally
Improve my work-life balance (spend more time with family and friends, eat healthier, exercise daily, take up a new sport)
Do a number of courses that have been on my „to-learn list”
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