Happy International Translation Day

Hello everyone.  I'm back on the blog after just a little bit of time off.  :)  What better day to come back than International Translation Day?  I have a quick story to share about in-person contact.

In this industry, it is actually rare to have met the people that you work with in person.  We work together via email on a daily basis but rarely meet due to distance.  Last summer, I took a trip to the Bay Area (see previous blog entries) because I work with a large number of translators from that area.  At the time, I had a few people ask me if I thought it would be worth the time and money to make the trip.

Fast forward to last week.  I had a client tell us they had an upcoming survey on cycling for translation.  We always try to line up translators that have personal experience with the subject matter, and from my SF trip last year, I knew that I had a translator that was once a professional cyclist in Europe.  So we managed to rearrange her workload so that she could take on that project, as opposed to someone else that didn't have as much experience with bicycles.  I mentioned it to my client, and he was very happy to hear this, and passed the info along to his end client.

The moral of the story is that we, as linguists, should be trying to bridge the distance gap as often as possible. While the benefits may not be immediate, bit by bit, they add up to make a huge difference in the quality we offer as businesses.