International Translation Day 2020

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL TRANSLATION DAY!!

Believe it or not, another year has gone by and today is time to celebrate again the International Translation Day, which is also the Feast Day of St. Jerome, the patron saint of translators, archaeologists, Biblical scholars, librarians, and students.

Last year, I wrote about how things were going for the ITD; you can read my post here International Translation Day 2019

Today I want to talk about how things are after another year! In my previous ITD post I talked about starting a new long-term project with a direct client. I am happy to let you know that it has turned into a full-time translation and localization job!

That job is with #FluentU, a website/app for learning languages. I am officially their Content Localizer for English to Spanish. Despite the name of the position, my main job is to translate the interactive captions of the videos they use to teach English to Spanish speakers from Latin America.

I also support other services, like checking that the images for the words used in Spanish correspond to each word’s meaning, and that they are not offensive. I have also support, from time to time, the English, Italian, Chinese (yes, that’s right!), and Portuguese services. Right now I am supporting the Portuguese service (which is relatively new) finding new videos in #YouTube for beginner learners.

Last year I also talked about social media. In May of this year, just a year after I started my business account on Instagram, I reached 1,000 followers! I could not believe it! I wanted to hit that mark, but I didn’t think it would happen in a year’s time. Right now, I have a little over 1,300 followers and the community keeps on growing!

My Facebook Page and LinkedIn account have also grown during this past year. Not to the numbers of Instagram, but slowly I am also building two unique communities there.

I am also working on a long-term project translating materials for the US elections. Don’t get excited; it is only for School District elections! Still, I’ve learned a lot with this project, especially about how important translation is for an election, how leaders need to be understood by all the voters.

Of course, I still work daily on reaching new potential clients to grow my business. I hope one day to partner with other translators, both from my language pair and others, to collaborate and get more clients and projects.

I’m grateful for another year working as a full-time freelance translator! After two years of not being sure if this would work out, I feel blessed for finally getting there! And if I was able to make it happen, so can you!

So, what has this year been like for you? Any accomplishments you’d like to share? I’d love to hear more about your year and how you are celebrating ITD in the comments below. Don’t be shy! And remember to subscribe to my blog to get the latest posts directly in your inbox.

And before I finish, today is also the International Podcast Day! I love podcasts, especially those that have to do with translation and languages. To find out which ones are my favorite, make sure to read the post My Favorite Podcasts

Until next time, take care and stay safe!