Andrei Shmatkov's Blog

Interpreters in Minsk and other places in Belarus

admin — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 10:07:54 +0000

A bit of advertisement self-promotion

Planning a business trip to Belarus? I can meet you in Minsk airport, take you to a hotel, arrange your meetings and interpret for you. If I am not available, I can recommend a colleague of mine. Please contact me for more details.

Client paid only a half of the contract amount

admin — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:59:04 +0000

A colleague of mine (actually my wife ) did a translation for a German agency called "tsd Technik Sprachendienst GmbH". As the deadline for this project was pretty tight, the agency split the project between two translators. My wife submitted her part in time, the agency confirmed receipt. When the payment date came, the agency wrote a message saying that "the end client is not happy with the translation" and they wouldn't pay the PO amount in full. No explanations whatsoever! So the agency ended up with paying only 50% of the invoice amount, now they do not reply to any e-mails. I decided to publish this malpractice - let it be a warning for my colleagues!

P.S. I will post updates if there is any development...

Discounts for larger translation jobs

admin — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:17:05 +0000

I am often approached by potential clients who offer me "bulk projects" at lower rates. Though I am always willing to provide discounts for larger translation jobs (with the word count of 10000 words and more), I cannot just "work more and get less". Anyway, I try to quote every project individually, so we usually find common ground with my clients.

Translations, CATs and discounts

admin — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 13:28:09 +0000

First of all, CATs have nothing to do with pets
This abbreviation stands for Computer Aided Translation tools. The majority of professional translators use these tools when working on the translations. CATs help to analyze the scope of work, provide consistency throughout different files and projects and save time (as there is no need to translate texts that have been translated before). Important note: working with CATs and translation memories has nothing to do with machine or automatic translations - all the work is still done by humans. However, all the results of this work are saved for future use.
As you see, these tools make the life of translators much easier. Well, not only for them - by saving time and efforts translators can provide good discounts to their clients, so it is beneficial for both parties involved

No slowdown in translation industry

admin — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:54:07 +0000

So far I do not experience any recession or even slowdown in my translation business (English-Russian and English-Belarusian pairs). The only thing which seems to indicate the symptoms of the global crisis is that most of the clients take longer to make a decision and give a go-ahead for their translation projects. Still I hope things would get even better further this year.

Blogging as a professional translator

admin — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:26:44 +0000

Blog is a good marketing tool that can bring new customers. What is more important it can provide a feedback from visitors and customers. In my blog I will try to answer questions that are of interest for customers who are looking for reliable partners in Russian translations and software localization. More details about blogging in translation business please read in the article of my friend and colleague Ekaterina Tarasova: Blogging as a Professional Translator and Interpreter.

Russian and/or Belarusian

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:41:07 +0000

Many customers ask me: is it a must to translate texts into Belarusian (Byelorussian, Belorussian - different spellings are used) when targeting goods and services to the market of Belarus. Well, to be honest, in most cases Russian translation would be enough because about 95% of local population speak Russian in their everyday life. So I think that Russian would be better for translating manuals, instructions, etc. However if a customer wants his/her product or service to stand out, then I would recommend to translate marketing/promotion materials to Belarusian.

Welcome to my blog!

admin — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:43:25 +0000

Here I will be sharing my thoughts on freelance translation business (specifically Russian and Belarusian translations and localization) and any other ideas and comments in this field and around it... Please feel free to comment - any sound considerations are welcomed!