Background
After completing my master’s studies in the Netherlands and Norway in the fields of European Governance and Administration, I worked as a professional translator in the European Parliament in Luxembourg.
Category: BigT news
Valentina Sarno, professional English translator
Hello, my name is Valentina Sarno and I have been translating (as well as interpreting and teaching languages for many years) since 1990!
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Jan Jug, professional Slovenian translator
A love of languages
My name is Jan Jug and I fell in love with languages really early on in my childhood years. That relentless devotion to linguistics brought me to this day, where I am proficient in several languages including English & Slovak, Slovenian being my mother tongue.
Raquel Hurtado, native Spanish translator
A mu
lticultural upbringing
I have always lived in Barcelona, but my parents’ will to make a world citizen out of me, had a large impact on my love for languages. I started learning English, French and German when I was just a child, and a strong friendship was the perfect guide to Italian. There is still room for more knowledge, there always is. When it comes to words, cultures and communication, I just can’t get enough.
Laura Dixon, native English Translator
My name is Laura. I’ve always loved languages. From the day I started learning Spanish at school, I knew I wanted to work in this field. I studied Spanish and Human Resource Management at the University of Leeds, falling in love with Spain and all things Spanish, especially when I spent my Erasmus year in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid. After graduating I was lucky enough to qualify and work as a teacher of English as a foreign language in Palma de Mallorca.
Vladimir Trkovnik, professional Croatian translator
Background
My name is Vladimir Trkovnik and I have been enjoying myself in this amazing world of translation for over 18 years now.
I am professional native Croatian translator with proficiency in English, Italian and German.
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Top Ten Translator Resources
All freelance translators have at some time experienced that feeling of sitting at a computer, staring at a text, fingers hovering the keyboard ready to work… but your mind is blank. But don’t worry, there are plenty of resources out there to help you out with that blank screen!
A translator’s Solitude… Or, the Loneliness of the Long-Distance Freelance Translator
A freelance translator sounds like the ideal job when you’re commuting to work in rush hour traffic on a cold, rainy morning, and the thought of being able to get up whenever you want, eat and drink at your desk without anyone complaining, and above all, work in your pyjamas(!) sounds very appealing. However, is being a freelance translator really all it’s cracked up to be, or does the solitude of the long-distance translator drive you crazy in the end?
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HERSEN Mechanical Engineering for Stone – Marble Machines and More!
BigTranslation recently teamed up with Hersen to help them on their quest to internationalise their business. So, how did we do this? Well, considering the markets they want to expand into, this involved translating their website from Spanish into English. We only work with native translators specialised in the field that the translation is for.
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Professional Croatian Translator: Nadira Ljevaković Garić – Part 2
Based on the few months I’ve been working with you, I can only say that you are one of the best clients I’ve ever had. I prefer long-term cooperations and BigTranslation offered me that very thing. It really is a pleasure to be a part of a professional team where you always get your questions answered and, at the same time, have the freedom to organize and decide the amount of work you accept – this is definitely something that makes BigTranslation stand out from other companies.
In what capacity do you work with BigTranslation and what was it that made you choose the company? In your opinion, what makes it stand out from other companies?
Based on the few months I’ve been working with you, I can only say that you are one of the best clients I’ve ever had. I prefer long-term cooperations and BigTranslation offered me that very thing. It really is a pleasure to be a part of a professional team where you always get your questions answered and, at the same time, have the freedom to organize and decide the amount of work you accept – this is definitely something that makes BigTranslation stand out from other companies.
What essential qualities or skills should a translator possess? What’s your ‘motto’ on translation, if you like?
In my opinion, working as a freelance translator is not as easy as it may seem. The knowledge of source and target language is essential. Translation goes way beyond being able to speak both the languages you’re working on. One needs to be able to flawlessly transfer both syntax and semantics from one language to another and make the final “product” as natural as the source it came from.
The process of translating itself aside, you need to organize your time, especially if you are working for many clients at the same time. You need to plan, communicate to clients, look for new ones and only then you do the translation work. Many people tell me that I’m having super easy time, a great job where I can work whenever I want to without realizing that I, myself, do the same amount of work which is distributed to 3-4 people in the companies they work in. My motto is: „Think, translate, fascinate“. The greatest pleasure I can have is my clients’. ☺
Imagine a world without translators. What would it be like?
I’ve recently read an interesting story. A professor from the USA was giving some lectures in Japan and started one of them with a joke that lasted a few minutes. After he told the joke in English, he waited for the translator to do his job. The translator only talked for a few seconds and the audience burst into laughter.
After the lecture, the professor asked the translator how she managed to convey all the humour from his joke in only a few seconds. She shrugged and said: “I told them our American guest had just told a funny joke and that all should laugh.”
Most things that we use and buy daily go through the process of language adapting first which is obviously done by translators. Imagine you need to cook for some very special guests and go to a supermarket to buy spices, among other things. How spicy would your lunch be if you didn’t know which spices you used? That’s just a small example how important translation is.
In the bigger picture, translators are the ones connecting the world. Be it culture, finance, politics, education or any other crucial aspect of human existence and growth – none of it would be possible without translation.