Translation Confessional

A few weeks ago, on episode 27, I talked about using social media to our advantage as professional translators and interpreters. I mentioned how I emphasize on etiquette when brainstorming ways my students can add social media to their marketing strategy, because it’s important to me that they understand that being behind a screen doesn’t change the fact that we must interact with others respectfu...

Do you have an Amazon Music account, by any chance? Well, if you do, you must have noticed that they added podcasts to their library recently. Translation Confessional is there, so you can now subscribe to this podcast and get new episodes every Thursday inside your Amazon Music account. Visit http://bit.ly/tc-amz to go straight into my podcast page inside Amazon Music. It’s easy to remember. TC s...

Today’s episode will perhaps feel a little different from what you’ve listened to so far at Translation Confessional, so please bear with me. This episode is being released five days before the 2020 election in the United States. I thought I should record it now because it feels very timely.  I’m afraid that, depending on the election results and how the electoral process takes place this tim...

I’m releasing this quick episode today because we are exactly one week away from the end of the 2020 elections in the United States right now. Earlier this month, I was interviewed by Slate Magazine for their “What Next” podcast, because they identified me on social media as a first-time voter and wanted to share my story in their series dedicated to exactly that: people who are voting for the fir...

Just the other day, I was talking to a friend about our kids’ education. Reflecting on my academic experience through elementary, middle, and high school got me thinking: I’ve always been a nerd and loved learning new things. So, yes, I’m an advocate for lifelong learning, and I do learn new things every day while doing my job. But I’m also an advocate for matching the right people with the right...

Because I’ve been working as a translator for 23 years now, the way I research my languages has definitely changed, considering the technology I had available then, and what we have available now. Join me as I talk about the dictionaries I used to use back in the late 1990s and how my researching techniques have changed once Google came into play. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-...

Today I wanted to drill down into the differences between “working languages” and “fluency.” Throughout the years, many people have told me to stop saying that I “don’t speak Spanish and Italian.” After all, I translate from both, so it’s obvious that I “speak them” at some level. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to understand the material I translate, transcribe, or subtitle. I wouldn’t be able to r...

This is definitely my longest and most self-indulgent episode so far, but I do hope you find it entertaining and informative. Join me as I go down memory lane and talk about how Italian has always been part of my life. Besides always being aware of a distant relative from Italy with a crazy story on how he moved to Brazil at the turn of the 20th century, I ended up marrying someone with Italian ro...

Happy International Translation Day, everybody! And, guess what, it’s International Podcast Day, too! What a better way to celebrate it than being interviewed by a fellow podcaster AND language professional? That’s exactly what happened to me today, so I’d like to invite you to check out “ Brand the Interpreter ,” a podcast by Mireya Pérez . She interviewed me and we talked about different aspects...

Hi, everybody! This is a quick message for the lady translators and interpreters out there. Have you heard about Riveter? It’s a community for working women, as well as allies of any gender identification, and it’s named after the classic icon Rosie the Riveter.  It’s where we can get together to share our professional experiences, ask questions, and support each other. Especially if you are...

Hi everybody! This is a quick note about the Translation Confessional newsletter. Every month, I send out a summary of what happened on the podcast and ask for feedback from listeners, so I can address different topics of interest in upcoming episodes. If you'd like to receive a copy of the newsletter by email, you can go to RafaLombardino.com and leave your name and email address on the form you...

Last week I talked about translating non-fiction books. Today, I wanted to address the more “creative side” of book translations. I didn’t know I wanted to be a translator when I was little―I had no idea that was even an option―but as I started reading books while being aware that they had been originally written in a different language, I remember getting this restless feeling inside, like “I wan...

Looking at my current book translation portfolio―see link below if you want to check it out―I’ve translated more non-fiction than fiction from Portuguese to English, which is the language pair I work with the most when it comes to book translations. Okay, among currently published titles, it’s 11 versus 10, with two more that are ready and awaiting publication, but it’s still indicative of what I...

Five years ago, I wrote an article in Portuguese for Ponte de Letras , a collective blog created by four translators I admire, who translate books in Brazil. The subject they wanted me to write about was something that many people still consider a mortal sin in translation: translating into your second language. According to the “urban legend,” a translator can only translate into their native lan...

Here’s a question: Do you send one message after another when prospecting or saying “hello” to old clients? If you said yes, here’s another question: Why do you waste time writing and rewriting the same thing so many times when you put your marketing hat on? *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Here are some YouTube videos to give you more context about this episode's subject: Cov...

Hi everybody! While we wait for a new episode to drop this Thursday, I just wanted to let you know that I’m creating a Telegram channel dedicated to Translation Confessional! Telegram is a whole new world to me―I actually just found out it’s owned by Twitter. But after reading more about it, I realized it’s a powerful tool to keep in touch with listeners and find out what you want to hear about he...

Chasing clients can be extremely exhausting and frustrating. It’s like running a marathon every day! But the truth is that all freelancers must go through what most of us call the “feast or famine” conundrum. The best we can do is make the most of our “famine” to review our business plan and rethink our goals. Do you want to work with more agencies? Do you want to find more direct clients? Do...

Let's talk about something that is not related strictly to translation―nor is it confessional in nature―but it's a subject that we all must worry about: Poor ergonomics. It can lead to repetitive strain injury, which is what happens when we move our body a certain way over and over again and it creates inflammation of tendons and nerves. Considering our daily activities as translators, it happens...

As language people, we all have our pet peeves, those expressions that we cringe at when we hear them. As translators and interpreters, these pet peeves may be multilingual―not only because they can come in all our working languages, but because they may cross languages as well. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* CHECK OUT THIS EPISODE'S SPONSOR: ONLY OFFICE an attractive altern...

Last week, I talked a little bit about subtitling and highlighted an unpleasant experience I had with a client who didn’t really seem to take the role of subtitling seriously. Today, I wanted to go behind the scenes and talk about what can happen when you’re subtitling entertainment content. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* CHECK OUT THIS EPISODE'S SPONSOR: VIDEO CONVERTER , v...

Subtitling is something that I always wanted to do since I got started as a translator. But, even though I’ve been translating since 1997, I only started subtitling around 2010 or so. That's because it takes a different set of skills to actually become a subtitler. Translating is one thing, subtitling is something else entirely different. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* CHECK...

I have very few clients who are based in California. Most of them didn’t even bat an eye at our collaboration since AB5 went into effect―check back episode 2 for info on AB5. They understand my company, Word Awareness, offers business-to-business (B2B) services, so the new law did not apply to what we have going on. But, then, there was one client, though, who insisted on making things more diffic...

If you missed the live webinar sessions I had last week to celebrate my 40th birthday, you can watch the recorded versions now! Here's a link to the newsletter I sent out as soon as the videos were available and choose if you want to watch the presentation in English or in Portuguese. I hope you enjoy the material I had to share about diversifying your services as a language professional and, if y...

Here's what happened when an author contacted me to try to get her book copyedited after a "friend" translated the original... *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* CHECK OUT THIS EPISODE'S SPONSOR: AUDIO CONVERTER , audio made simple *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* By the way, if you're interested in checking out "Tools and Technology in Translation," here ar...

In episode 3, I addressed this very subject while talking about “impostor syndrome.” Here’s another take on it, based on an article I wrote back in 2015, before I realized “impostor syndrome” was actually a thing. Sometimes you have a feeling and are only able to name it once you find other people who experience it, too, you know? So, here it is, a five-year-old perspective that has remained fresh...