Surprise, we’re back! Speaking of Translation comes out of retirement only for very special occasions; when our friends and colleagues Madalena and Veronika at Smart Habits for Translators asked us to record a joint episode about hybrid conferences, we couldn’t resist!

In this fun conversation, we discuss a topic that many of us are faced with (yet again!) this fall as many of our favorite conferences are going virtual or hybrid. As much as we look forward to returning to fully in-person events, unfortunately, we’re not quite there yet because of the pandemic and travel restrictions. But hybrid conferences aren’t quite the same thing as an in-person event or a virtual event.

So, how can attendees and speakers prepare for hybrid conferences?

Listen in to hear our thoughts on:

• What we think will be different when attending a hybrid conference vs. a fully in-person one or a fully virtual one
• Which smart habits come in handy when preparing to attend a hybrid conference
• What in-person and virtual attendees should keep in mind when attending a hybrid conference
• What speakers should be mindful of when they present in a hybrid format
• What factors we personally take into consideration when planning which conferences to attend next year

Download the audio file here.

After 13 (!!) years of regular podcasting, Speaking of Translation is going on hiatus while we pursue some new directions in our professional and personal lives. We’re planning to be back for some special episodes from time to time, and our recent archives will still be here if you miss us! Thanks to all of our listeners for your support over the years, and we’ve recorded a short “pressing pause” episode for you.

Direct link to this episode: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/speakingoftranslation/GMT20210620-164524_Recording.mp4

In this episode, Eve and Corinne discuss a favorite topic among translators: books, and what we’re reading: what genres we enjoy, how we make time for reading, how we choose new books, what formats we enjoy and don’t enjoy reading or listening to, how we track what we read, and book recommendations for our listeners!

Websites mentioned in this episode:

• Eve’s Global Reads book club
• Real Simple magazine’s best books of 2020, and 2021
• Letterfolk’s Book Passport (“another book in the books”)
• Boulder Book Store (our local, independent bookstore!)
• Librairie Gourmande, an all-cookbook bookstore in Paris
• Peppercorn, a cooking store that sells cookbooks in Boulder, Colorado
• The Tattered Cover, a large independent bookstore in Denver, Colorado
• The Read Queen bookstore and cafe in Lafayette, Colorado
• Articles on the closing of the iconic Paris bookstore Gibert Jeune, in English and in French

Our book recommendations (we are deliberately not including links, so that you can purchase them from the outlet of your choice!)

• Transformations: Harriet and Helena Scott, Colonial Sydney’s Finest Natural History Painters by Vanessa Finney
• Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey
• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
• My Life in France by Julia Child
• Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks by Keith Houston
• This Close to Okay: A Novel by Leesa Cross-Smith
• It Would be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo
• French Like Moi: A Midwesterner in Paris by Scott Dominic Carpenter
• Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career by Scott H. Young
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• Humans, by Brandon Stanton
• The Translator, by Nina Schuyler
• Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe
• L’Arabe du futur/The Arab of the Future, by Riad Sattouf
• Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, and The Mirror and the Light (Henry VIII trilogy) by Hilary Mantel
• A Place of Greater Safety, by Hilary Mantel
• Icebound, by Andrea Pitzer
• Good Words Fast, by Oliver Dirs
• Pancakes in Paris, by Craig Carlson
• All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr

Listen on the audio player below, or subscribe to Speaking of Translation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher.

Download the audio file here.

As the coronavirus pandemic drags on, self-care and mental health are increasingly important to us as freelancers, moms, partners, and friends. In this episode, Eve and Corinne discuss:

-what self-care means, and why it’s not selfish
-tools and strategies we’ve used to stay safe and stay sane during the pandemic
-self-care and mental health maintenance techniques we’d recommend to our listeners
-what to do if you or someone you care about needs professional mental health help

Links mentioned in this episode:
-Eve’s Global Reads book club
-The fitness tracker apps Corinne uses: Fitbod and My Fitness Pal
-A couple of guided meditations to try: Tess Whitehurst’s meditation to clear limiting beliefs, Jeannine McGlade’s Five minute meditations podcast, and Yoga with Adriene’s Seven-minute meditation to start the day
-If you or someone you love is having a mental health crisis, you can call (in English or Spanish) the SAMHSA national helpline 24 hours a day:1-800-662-4357

Download the audio file here, and don’t forget that you can subscribe to Speaking of Translation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher!

Thanks to our friends Veronika Demichelis and Madalena Sanchez Zampaulo at Smart Habits for Translators, for asking us to record another joint episode!

Our topic this time around is boundaries and sticky situations:

• How to handle non-paying clients, especially if you know them personally
• What to do when a dream client wants to work with you…but can only pay a fraction of your normal rate
• How to respond to rude/unprofessional feedback from an editor
• What to do when you pour your heart and soul into a translation test…and you fail it
• How to handle drama and misunderstandings when you volunteer for a professional association
• How to set boundaries so that stress and negativity don’t affect your self-esteem or your personal life

Download the audio file here.

In this episode, Eve and Corinne wrap up 2020 (a truly unforgettable year by any measure!), and look ahead to 2021. We discuss topics such as:

• Highlight accomplishments of 2020, and what helped us get there
• Disappointments this year, and how our businesses have been affected by the pandemic
• How we’ve followed Eve’s motto, “Stay safe and stay sane” in this crazy year
• What our goals are for 2021

If you’d like to do this along with us, we’d recommend:

• Reviewing your accomplishments for the year, and identifying what helped you reach those goals
• Reviewing your disappointments, and identifying how you can do better in the future
• Identifying ways to stay safe and sane, within the confines of the situation
• Setting some goals for 2021

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Eve’s Global Reads book club: free, and now voting on a new book!
• Training for Translators, Corinne’s online course platform

Listen on the audio player below, or download the file by right-clicking here.

Thanks to our awesome friends and colleagues Veronika Demichelis and Madalena Sanchez Zampaulo over at Smart Habits for Translators for this very fun joint episode on handling the holidays as a freelancer! We discuss topics such as:
-How we all handle vacations over the winter holidays; and how this very atypical year is the same or different
-How to decide whether to work or not work over the holidays
-How to take a real vacation without losing clients
-How to use the holidays to your advantage, especially if you’re actively looking for work
-How to use post-holiday marketing techniques to remind clients you’re back in the office in January
-And the dreaded topic: what to give colleagues and clients as a gift!

Click the audio player to listen online

Right-click the link to download the audio file:

https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/speakingoftranslation/SoT_holidays.mp3

Eve and Corinne discuss how to make the most of LinkedIn as a freelance translator or interpreter, including:

• Tips for optimizing your profile (specifically for our industry)
• How we use LinkedIn in our own businesses
• Eve’s ongoing use of LinkedIn Premium
• Corinne’s recent experiment with the LinkedIn Premium free trial

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Eve’s Global Reads book club
• Eve interviewed by Isabella Massardo for her blog and #SmartReads newsletter
• See your LI profile as others see it and modify what they see (if you are logged in)
• Customize your LinkedIn profile URL
• Miriam Hurley’s article on LinkedIn profiles for translators
• Madalena Sánchez Zampaulo’s articles on LinkedIn profiles for translators
• 7 Ways to Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile and Gain More Leads
• These Simple Tweaks to Your LinkedIn Settings Could Help You Get More Translation or Interpreting Work
• 4 Things You Didn’t Know LinkedIn Could Do for Your T&I Business
• Article comparing LinkedIn plans
• Maeva Cifuentes’ article on LinkedIn for freelance translators
• Canva’s LinkedIn banner templates
• Corinne’s blog post on the free trial month of LinkedIn Premium

Click the audio player link to listen online

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Making the most of LinkedIn

Eve, Corinne, freelance translator Karen Tkaczyk, and freelance conference interpreter Alex Gansmeier discuss life as a freelancer during the COVID pandemic, including:

Links mentioned in this episode:

Click the audio player link to listen online

Love it or hate it, online networking is the only networking we’ve got (in the US at least) for the foreseeable future. To help you embrace the opportunities that online networking offers, Eve and Corinne discuss topics such as:

-Online training, and how to make the most of the increased opportunities we’re seeing during the pandemic

Links mentioned in this episode:

Click the audio player link to listen online