My Scheduler

Since there are no project management applications just for freelance translators, I'’ve had to set up my own as an Excel table. It consists of three parts:

1. A calendar (Columns A-H)
   
2. A speed calculator (Columns I and J)
   
3. A notes section (Columns K-ZZZ)
   

The calendar section turns blue when you enter a number in it. Take B21, for example. I have a job that I want to finish on Monday by 6 p.m. So I enter 209 lines (the number of lines for the job) and set aside the next hour for proofreading. The job propagates up through the table until it reaches zero.

It also warns you if you have a scheduling conflict. In E23, I'’ve inserted a job, but it overlaps with the next job down. I’'ll have to fix this later.

The Lines and Speed columns tell me if I'’m translating fast enough to make my deadlines. In the calendar, my target rate is 20 lines per half-hour. In the speed column, I've set down 25 lines per half hour. The extra 5 lines per half-hour is my planning slack.

In this case, I translated fast enough from 11:00 to 11:30, but was a little slow from 11:30 to 12:30. I did fine from 2:00 to 2:30, but I obviously was distracted or really slow from 2:30 to 3:00.

The Notes section begins at column K. I use a formula to calculate the number of lines I have left based on a character count. I also enter any pending quotes so I don'’t book time I'’ve agreed to reserve provisionally for another client.

Warning:
You can't drag and drop cells or move entire columns back and forth because of the scheduling conflict formula I had to use. Other than that, this little spreadsheet does almost everything I want.


My Schedule

If you're interested in using it for yourself, e-mail me your Yahoo address. I've got it in my Briefcase, but I need a Yahoo handle to share it. If you're in a rush, just add a comment telling me you've sent me an e-mail. I'll be sure to check my e-mail then.

Tongue-Tied? Try This Trick.

Let's say you have the tagline "Unlocking Value Through Integrated Supply Chains". Okay, this may not seem like a tough nut to crack, but try coming up with something snappy. It's harder than you might think. So what do I normally do?

First, I try coming up the basic concept (or proposition, if you want to split hairs). So I might write “We Interconnect All Your Logistics Operations So You Don’t Have To And Can Make More Money In Your Core Business.”

It’s not snappy. It’s not supposed to be. It just gives me a starting point in English. By absorbing the ideas, I spend less time trying to translate the word "unlock” and more time developing a native-sounding solution. Once I've gotten the basic concept down, often the ideas really start flowing. And the best thing is that these ideas sound American.

If that doesn’t work, I often start having fun with (or maybe making fun of) the tagline. Bear with me here. I may write, “We Want To Take Over Your Company. We Totally Rock And Everyone Else Sucks. We Will Send Your Stuff To, Like China And Stuff."

I’m not disrespecting the tagline. All I’m doing is reasserting my personality so I can write something creative and express an idea that I’ve thought. This is really good if I’m working on a high-pressure job for a high-profile client. I let off a little steam and realize, hey, it’s just another job. And haven’t I done plenty of these before? And wasn’t I happy with the results?

One last thing: I always write out my ideas. They won’t do any good in my head. I have to see it black on white, right next to the real text. Only then will these two techniques work their magic.

Let me know if you try them out - and if they work!

Ergomania!

I almost always have WorkPace on. When I'm swamped, it's usually paused. But most of the time it's worth the extra aggravation. Try it. You might like it. Or at least not totally hate it.


A real pain in the neck

I also rest my rear on the patented Haider Bioswing chair. Don't believe the marketing hype, though. It doesn't revolutionize sitting. It won't make you a genius. It's just a really good chair. A really ... expensive chair. You may have to sell a kidney to pay for it.


Aiighhh! Get this phone creature off my face!

Before I moved into a separate office, I sat on a used Stokke chair I bought for peanuts on eBay. It's still my favorite chair, and I wish I could use it in my new set-up. I have to move around more now, though, and I really need a chair with casters. Too bad.


Rock 'n roll!

I also use two monitors - one 15" and one 19". Unless you're working in the back seat of your Volkswagen Beetle after your landlord evicted you, I highly recommend doing the same. You can have your dictionaries (or Trados Workbench) open in one screen, and the text you're working on in another screen. It cuts down on mousing enormously.


Take us to your leader!

Eeek! A Mouse!

Margaret Marks beat me to the punch today. Kind of.

I was actually going to mention the Anir Optical Mouse. Again, it takes some getting used to, but it is a vast improvement over many other types of mice.


Anir Optical Mouse

The Evoluent Vertical Mouse comes in both a left-hand and a right-hand version, so you can mouse with both hands. My wife uses the left-hand model and needed very little time to get used to it.


Evoluent Vertical Mouse

I Translate, Ergo I Type

If you're an ergonomics junkie like me, you may be interested in Datahand's sale:

While inventory lasts, we are offering 50% lower pricing for DataHand® Ergonomic Keyboards: Personal $497ea., ProII $647ea. and Ten Key $247ea. The new pricing includes a 90 day limited warranty.

Since they normally cost in the neighborhood of $1200, that's actually a bargain. I would recommend the ProII version - it offers remappable keys, and with the keyboard's layout, you won't be able to use a software remapper.

The only downside is the steep learning curve. I'm finally coming to grips with my own Datahand keyboard. Before, I would give up and use my trusty ErgoElan when deadlines loomed near. Now, it only takes a little concentration. Soon, I hope to not have to think at all when I translate.

Wait - that didn't quite sound right.

Google Desktop - PDFs

The new release of Google Desktop Search now supports PDFs. You can also download plugins that support other formats, including OmniPage scans.

Thesaurus On Steroids

I have a new toy: the "Phrase Finder", by J.I. Rodale. According to the first page, it is

"Three volumes in one comprising

Name-Word Finder
Metaphor Finder
Sophisticated Synonyms"

And it's from 1958.

The index alone accounts for the first 200 pages.

The Name-Word Finder contains entries like this:

LEMNIAN
Lemnian refers to the island of Lemnos in the north Aegean Sea. The proverbial phrase Lemnian deeds alludes to actions of unusual barbarity and cruelty, and arose from two horrible massacres perpetrated by an entry in a book that was this long and boring. In any event, Lemnos was an island that may or may not have sunk into the sea, but I'm sure that your eyes have glazed over at this point. The second was the slaughter of all children born of Athenian mothers and Lemnian fathers and was prompted by the men's suspicion that this entry is getting duller and duller and more and more useless as time goes on. Lemnos as also the center of the cult of Hephaestus (Bill Gates), because it was on that island that the god fell when Zeus kicked him out of Harvard.

atrocious Lemnian inhumanity"

That takes up 500 pages.

Then, there is the Metaphor Finder. This beauty has entries like this:

JUDGE (v.)
weigh in the balance; weigh each side of question; preside over a court of appeal; umpire a contest; weigh in the scales of one's judgment; hold the scales; set a question at rest; weigh with a glance; measure a matter; sit upon a decision; bring up for the count; appraise by rule of thumb; weigh the pros and cons; referee a match; sit at the broad green cloth; reflect the great eye of justice; call to stand before the higher court; enroll another in the Doomsday book; bring to book; hold the scales even; administer even-handed justice; give a square deal.
(see decide, determine, doom, law, condemn, legal, lawyer, official, rebuke)

Entries like "KILL" are even better. That section takes up 200 pages.

Finally, there is the Sophisticated Synonyms section, which has entries like this:

BUSY
As busy as a one-armed goalkeeper; as busy as a cat in a butcher shop; steeped to the eyebrow; tied up; busy as pipers; up to his neck; up to his neck; was so busy that he never read the Sunday papers before Monday or Tuesday; up to their eyes in plans for; I am so busy I do not know where I am afoot or ahorseback; (and my personal favorite:) busy as a one-armed obstetrician delivering quintuplets.

(See active, work.)

That takes up 200 pages.

Don't confuse it with Hugon's "Modern Word Finder", which is so pedantic it makes Strunck & White look like Sonny & Cher. Unless, of course, you have problems keeping "perdition", "sacrifice" and "forfeit" apart. If so, you are in the wrong business.

Passive-Aggressive

Today, I'm working on an annual report for the research arm of a large organization. It's all very hush-hush, so I can't give any more information. Or if I did, I'd have to kill you.

What gets me, though, is the fact that the entire 50-page report is written in the passive form. It feels like it's sucking my soul away, one unfocused sentence after another.

Which brings me to George Orwell. He once wrote 6 guidelines for good writing. The Economist, that shining beacon of style, lists them in its own Style Guide. I've got them printed out and tacked to the wall behind my monitors. Here they are:

· Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

· Never use a long word where a short one will do.

· If it is possible to cut out a word, always cut it out.

· Never use the passive where you can use the active.

· Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

· Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

I also own the StyleWriter, an absolutely marvelous virtual editor that takes forever to use, but offers some valuable guidance on tightening up my writing style. I've also got its edicts on plain writing tacked onto my wall:

1. Plan and organize your material.
2. Keep your average sentence length low.
3. Use verbs to give your writing action.
4. Make every word count.
5. Use correct spelling, punctuation and grammar.
6. Read and revise everything you write

I particularly like No. 4, which is a more positive variation on Strunck & White's terse command, "Omit needless words."

Another book I've found extremely useful was Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, by Joseph Williams. No matter how often I read it, I learn something new every time.

Update: I just ran the Economist's article on the SATs through the StyleWriter. It rated an "Average". Maybe I should try to get my money back...

Translators: The Magazine Mavens

Any translation professional will tell you to read trade journals obsessively. What I hadn’t expected was the specificity. Doing hardware reviews? Check Anandtech. Redesigning your kitchen? Kitchen & Bath Design has some ideas. Relocating your company? Pore over Area Development and Site Selection. It wouldn’t shock me to come across a magazine for back-office hotel-management-software developers programming only in FORTRAN. Finding it’s the only real hitch.

My absolute favorites, the magazines no one told me about in college, are the free ones from manufacturers. There’s SAP Info for business-process geeks, ABB Review for power-generation black belts or IBM eServer for – er, people who do that stuff. Admittedly, they’re chock-full of shameless plugs and you can’t believe any of the product claims, but the buzzwords are all in there. And, if you are doing SAP-related stuff, where else should you go but the horse’s mouth?

If you’re hankering for more substance, you can even get free newsletters from PwC, Accenture and Forrester Research, which deliver more bang for your non-existent buck.

The only problem is finding time to read it. I just slip it under my pillow, in the hopes that, yes, osmosis really does work like that.