Seminar for new translators

A bit late in the day, it occurred to me that I should tell you all about the above wonderful opportunity, mainly because, to my surprise, the seminar program that appears on the ITA website and has been re-posted on Facebook and elsewhere, is in Hebrew only. Since many of my readers prefer English, and since I'm taking part in the event, here goes:

Should I become a translator? Can I make a living out of it? How do I find new clients? How do I find clients in the first place?!

We will do our best to answer the above questions -- and various others you were too shy to ask or simply didn’t know whom to ask -- in the ITA’s upcoming one-day seminar (well, half-day, actually). The speakers are all experienced translators, who’ll be only too happy to share their know-how with you, so that you can make a more informed decision on these issues: Do you want to be a translator at all? (Sure you do! It’s a great occupation), and how to make a living out of it (initiative and assertiveness go a long way.)

• Sarah Yarkoni will speak on how to get started
• Yael Segal will talk about contracts
• Yael Sela-Shapiro will give a presentation called Diversify or Die
• Ruchie Avital will address common translation mistakes
• Aviva Doron and Eliezer Nowodworski explain how agency-translator collaboration works
• And I will speak about such collaboration from the translator’s point-of-view: how to choose the right agency for you, and how to make the most out of it.

This seminar is the welcome brainchild of the Israel Translators’ Association, and will conclude with meeting representatives of several agencies. You see, we’ll be saving you the trouble of looking them up and pursuing them on your own. So make sure your CV is up-to-date and up-to-scratch, and bring along a bunch of business cards, too. (You do have a business card, don’t you? Because if you don’t, it’s a little late for this occasion. Not too late for other occasions, though. Just don’t keep putting it off!)

To sign up, write to ofraflint@gmail.com, and attach your CV. And yes, it does cost money. But rather than studying for a whole year and only then deciding if it’s right for you, come to this informative afternoon/evening, get the lowdown from the inner circle, and be better equipped to make an informed choice at a bargain price.

Please note: Instead of translating the ITA's notice from scratch or rephrasing it in my own words, I asked my colleague Yael Sela-Shapiro, who’d already posted on the subject in Hebrew, whether I could give you my English version of her post. She said Sure, knock yourself out! So I did :-)

In any case -- hope to see you there!

At the ZOA House, 26 Ibn Gabirol St., Tel Aviv

July 29th, 2014, 2 p.m. – 9:15 p.m.