| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | The value of translator training courses Thread poster: Ivana Søndergaard
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Steven Hanley (X) 
United States
Local time: 03:42
Spanish to English
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| I gave you my thoughts.... | Jun 13, 2013 |
...there's nothing they can teach you that you don't already know. The key are those 3 questions...that's all there is to it.
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 08:42
Member (2007)
English
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| Just back from the ProZ.com international conference at Porto | Jun 13, 2013 |
Two days of training lectures, workshops, discussions... plus all the networking opportunities that go with an international gathering of truly professional translators - I say that because the outlay for the conference itself plus accommodation and flights etc., means that it's not for the "hobby translator".
I can assure you that the speakers, almost without exception, were among the most successful translators here at ProZ.com. The reason that they aren't translating 8 hours a da... See more Two days of training lectures, workshops, discussions... plus all the networking opportunities that go with an international gathering of truly professional translators - I say that because the outlay for the conference itself plus accommodation and flights etc., means that it's not for the "hobby translator".
I can assure you that the speakers, almost without exception, were among the most successful translators here at ProZ.com. The reason that they aren't translating 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, is that they really don't need to! They've reached the top in their profession so the most natural thing in the world is to give some of that knowledge to others. Generally speaking, they've mastered all that needs to be mastered in our profession: not just the source and target languages but the hardware/software requirements, the technical terminology, accounting and admin processes, legal aspects, and yes, marketing.
I'm an "average" translator, translating 250-300 wph for about 0.12€ per word, so I need to keep my nose to the grindstone, apart from occasional investment in training. Whilst the speakers mostly kept their own figures to themselves, I did learn that 8000 words in a five-hour day was normal for one, and another probably charges over 10 times my per-word rate. These people are clearly doing a lot of things right, and I'm happy to pick crumbs from their table in the way of attending their training sessions. Believe me, most are extremely talented trainers, too, making for entertaining as well as instructive sessions.
While I'd say that perhaps some of the cheaper training courses might be borderline value for money, I think the trainers that have a high profile have generally proved their worth. But it depends what you call value for money. I spent several days on the Porto conference (apart from attendance there were all the arrangements - going anywhere from Fuerteventura isn't easy), and a frightening amount of money, and what do I have to show for it? Not an earth-shattering revelation that's going to turn my world upside-down, that's for sure. Just some snippets of information, some hard techniques and links to follow up, some good ideas to develop for my own purposes, and lots of networking contacts. Enough for me.
As for Steven's "there's nothing they can teach you that you don't already know", I don't agree. We can all learn from each other, from birth until death. Even if you already know about something, it's possible that you aren't using that knowledge fully, and a good trainer will set you thinking about how to maximise its use. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ivana Søndergaard
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:42
Member (2008)
English to Danish
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TOPIC STARTER | How positive! | Jun 13, 2013 |
Hi Sheila,
Welcome home and thank you so much for sharing your experience of the conference, it's good to read about your experiences in such detail and your thoughts about the value.
The costs involved with a conference are unfortunately too high for me at the moment. When I have attended conferences in the past (not for translators) it was only ever if everything was paid for because I was doing some work there and I was always amazed at the price tags, although it se... See more
| | | | Marta Stelmaszak (X)
Local time: 08:42
Polish to English
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| Thanks for your comment, Sheila | Jun 14, 2013 |
Sheila Wilson wrote:
As for Steven's "there's nothing they can teach you that you don't already know", I don't agree. We can all learn from each other, from birth until death. Even if you already know about something, it's possible that you aren't using that knowledge fully, and a good trainer will set you thinking about how to maximise its use.
Thanks for sharing your insights, Sheila! I'm not particularly active on this forum, but I just wanted to second your last thought, at it resonates well with what I think of all training courses. We all learn from each other, all the time.
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Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 08:42
Member (2007)
English
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| "All translators are equal... | Jun 14, 2013 |
but some translator-trainers are more equal than others", to misquote George Orwell horribly. Apologies, Mr Orwell!
Marta Stelmaszak wrote:
We all learn from each other, all the time. I learnt a lot from your session, Marta (thanks ), and I'm sure I'll find ways to pay it forward.
@ Ivana. I'm sure one day soon you'll be able to afford conferences - remember, they're legitimate business expenses so that helps reduce the actual cost. But I think we always have to be choosy as, however much money we might have, we're all restricted to those same 24 hours each day. How to choose? That's the problem question I don't really have an answer to, but I think the Internet is doing wonderful things to sort the wheat from the chaff, and not only in terms of hotels and restaurants.
| | | | Ivana Søndergaard
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:42
Member (2008)
English to Danish
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TOPIC STARTER | Thank you Sheila | Jun 14, 2013 |
- for your kind comments I'm having a bit of a low period, which is why I was looking at training etc. I will get busy again, for sure, and it's really nice to read your comment
I think for the moment I will not take any training courses. I would love to go to a Proz conference one day, though!
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 08:42
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Why not start with this one? | Jun 14, 2013 |
Ivana Friis Wilson wrote:
I think for the moment I will not take any training courses. I would love to go to a Proz conference one day, though!
http://www.proz.com/virtual-conferences/group/11 is FREE! Not quite the same as an in-person conference, but there should be some interesting sessions. Hope to "see" you there!
| | | | Ivana Søndergaard
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:42
Member (2008)
English to Danish
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
- for the suggestion, Sheila, I have tried participating in a Proz virtual event before, but I found it so hard to focus on it, I kept checking e-mail, working on projects etc at the same time
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 09:42
French to English
| free = worthless? | Jun 14, 2013 |
Ivana Friis Wilson wrote:
- for the suggestion, Sheila, I have tried participating in a Proz virtual event before, but I found it so hard to focus on it, I kept checking e-mail, working on projects etc at the same time
Whereas at a conference that would have been so rude, you would have been forced to concentrate!
Perhaps the fact that it's free also means you thought it's worthless?
I have never been to a translators conference, for all sorts of reasons but I'm sure I would love it as I always have loved conferences in other fields. Sometimes it's the conversation with the guy behind you in a queue that proves to be the most enriching encounter.
For my part I loved having students work with me when I worked as PM/translator/proofreader in an agency. It was great to have fresh eyes looking at my work and to share tricks of the trade with eager youngsters.
As for feeling that there's not much to learn from courses... there are things you already know but don't exploit as Sheila says, and there are things you need to understand on different levels. Also, you are the only person who knows whether you can get anything out of a course. You can only learn when you are ready to listen to what the teacher says...
If you don't feel like learning about marketing, perhaps it would be a good idea to explore one of the areas you specialise in. One of my specialities is textiles, so I sometimes go along to textile trade fairs (I get invites from clients, when I ask nicely ), to learn about new trends, grab the multi-lingual brochures to see if I can learn anything from the translated texts and sometimes pick up a new direct client. It can be very enlightening.
Or if you feel like there's nothing left to learn, maybe it's time to start teaching yourself?
| | | | Ivana Søndergaard
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:42
Member (2008)
English to Danish
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TOPIC STARTER | Good thoughts | Jun 14, 2013 |
Hi Texte Style, you raise some interesting points. Re the virtual conference, I have trouble concentrating about listening to radio talk and similar in general if I am at the computer, it's just hard for me to focus, although it might very well also be because I subconsciously don't value it because it's free as you suggest
I don't know if there is anything I can learn from various courses, I certainly do't feel I know... See more Hi Texte Style, you raise some interesting points. Re the virtual conference, I have trouble concentrating about listening to radio talk and similar in general if I am at the computer, it's just hard for me to focus, although it might very well also be because I subconsciously don't value it because it's free as you suggest
I don't know if there is anything I can learn from various courses, I certainly do't feel I know everything, far from it!
I was a teacher before I started as a translator, a terrible teacher So no, definitely not time I start teaching myself!
Thanks for your comments, they gave me something to think about! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 09:42
French to English
Ivana Friis Wilson wrote:
I was a teacher before I started as a translator, a terrible teacher So no, definitely not time I start teaching myself!
I was a teacher too, and probably more terrible than I would ever realise. I certainly burnt out. I found myself admonishing a student for complaining that English verbs were hard after I reminded her that the present simple required an s in the third person. Well it was a bit rich coming from a French person (there's a whole BOOK of irregular verbs in French unlike English where you can fit them all on an A4 sheet of paper) but she was around the age I am now and I had no idea just how difficult it can be to learn your first language so late in life.
The biggest lesson I learned from that was that you can only learn when you're ready to. The fruit only falls once it's ripened as the French neatly put it.
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