Introduction to memoQ in Lisbon / Introdução ao memoQ em Lisboa

From July 6th to the 11th, the summer school of the New University in Lisbon will offer a week-long introductory course for memoQ 2015, which includes:

• The functional modules of the memoQ translation environment and how these work together;
• Common workflows for translation and editing tasks;
• Making use of legacy translations and data from other environments;
• Collaboration with users of other translation environments (SDL Trados Studio, OmegaT, etc.);
• Tips for problem-solving and added value for translation customers.

The course will be taught by me an Professor David Hardisty, with whom I have spent most of this year so far exploring innovative speech recognition and editing workflows, which will also be an important part of this course. It's a pleasure to work with David, because not only does he have a strong commitment to the success of his students, but he has a marvelous talent for taking my concepts and recasting them in a way that work really, really well for undergraduate and graduate students at all levels.

The course is open to anyone (limited enrollment, 16 persons I think) and offers 24 hours of instruction in the week. It will be taught in English with summaries in Portuguese.

A description of the course in English and Portuguese is here. I am not responsible for the errors in the English. Registration information (Portuguese only, alas) is on this page. Attendees who don't read Portuguese but manage to figure out how to register nonetheless will receive a special reward during the course.

During the week, the course is offered in the evenings, leaving the days free for work or local tourism. It is recommended that translators make a pilgrimage to the monastery named after the patron saint of translation in Belém. Miracles have occurred there, carpel-tunnel syndrome has been healed and dead text has even come to life, but not even the intervention of St. Jerome can save a machine pseudo-translation. You might learn that trick from us, however. Or not.

On August 3rd a course on project management with memoQ will be offered on a similar plan.

The Great Translation Rate Conspiracy in France!

The French Society of Translators (SFT) is conducting another of its periodic rate surveys. Although the American ATA treads fearfully in matters of rates, deferring to corporates who prefer to keep everyone in the dark, afraid and focused on more important matters like the Kramer vs. Kramer spectacle of TransPerfect and the latest venture capital conquests of Dopeling's Stormin' CEO, European organizations occasionally pander to the masses like the sleazy socialists we all know them to be and do these surveys that injudiciously gather and publish real data from real translators in inconvenient contradiction to the usefully manufactured figures of the Common Nonsense Advisory which aforementioned corporates employ as their rightful negotiating bludgeon to keep 'em down in The Bulk Market Bog that is the world to all those who think that translation is mostly about proZtitution for the sake of Larry the Language Lizard at thepigturd and other industrial luminaries of word sausage.

The survey from those cheese-eating surrender monkeys includes 25 questions and is expected to take 20 valuable minutes of your time which might be better spent translating political propaganda praising Robert Mugabe for Translators Without Borders for free or registering to pay Lionbridge for the privilege of receiving lowball bulk market offers to churn words into sausage to feed their better bottoms' line.

The survey is open to anyone who can puzzle out its French, and those who foolishly believe in the value of free information in a free society for free-thinking translators to make informed decisions with a knowledge of current compensation statistics can support this leftist plot by clicking the link below and not selflessly sacrificing their futures for the good of their Big Bog betters:

http://sondage.sft.fr/index.php/765913/

The lightning passed.

The difference between the right word
and the almost right word
is the difference between
lightning and a lightning bug."
- Mark Twain

RIP Chris Irwin, a friend and example to many

Known by some by his business pseudonym Textklick, Chris Irwin was an extraordinary man in his quiet way. His unexpected death recently has left many shocked and grieving for the loss of a friend and colleague whose wit, kindness and good judgment were usually understated but of a quality seldom surpassed. In over a decade, he enriched my life in ways I will remember to its end.

One of his qualities I appreciated most was his reluctance to take sides in a fight and his consideration that a human being is a complex construct, one we should judge with care. I do not, however, think anyone will decry a lack of care in judging him a good one and an example to follow in many ways, both professionally and personally. The many entries in his Kondolenzbuch attest to just some of the ways in which he will live for a very long time in the memories of those who knew, loved and respected him

In the last week I have thought a lot about how, despite challenges he faced, he never forgot the importance of savoring life's vintage, even the sour notes, and he remained an active part of our professional community with his good wife through all the good times and those which were less so. Life is good. Enjoy it to the last drop. Even the lees.