Thoughts on Translation

by Corinne McKay

Corinne McKay's blog Thoughts on Translation is one of the web's liveliest gathering places for freelance translators...now available in book format! Wondering whether to charge by the word or by the hour? How to receive payments from clients in foreign countries? How to write a translation-targeted resume? It's all in here, in chunks that take just a few minutes to read. Corinne McKay is also the author of "How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator," the original career how-to guide for freelance translators, with over 5,000 copies in print. Her practical, down-to-earth tips are based on her own experience launching and running a successful freelance translation business after a first career as a high school teacher.

Genres: Nonfiction

149 pages, Paperback

First published January 24, 2013

Reviews

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good knowledge and insight on working as a freelance translator.

Loved the structure and how easy it is to follow her ideas, even though it is a collection of blog posts and maybe because of that.

[Pietro · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a good book to get into the translator mentality. Big caveat: this book is for people who are already translators and want to increase their revenue, find new clients and so on. So maybe not very useful for an absolute beginner, beacuse I think the first thing should be learning how to use a CAT. Also some chapters are only relevant for US based translators

[Andrew Kondraske · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is basically a collection of the author's lightly edited blog posts documenting her experience as a professional translator. There is some useful information, but the advice tends to be general and superficial. There are instances of multiple entries covering the same topics, with little additional insight. Most of the tips are geared towards logistical and business issues, with little attention paid to the craft of translating.

All that said, the entries are concise and readable. The author makes a genuine effort to speak to a diverse spectrum of aspiring and working translators and not assume that her personal experience will necessarily be instructive for everyone.

[Lucie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very useful read for any translator - even if you think that you are not a beginner in the industry. It only takes a day to read it and is definitely worth the time.