The UK and Europe: in or out? Take our poll on EU membership

Time for a poll, I think, what with David Cameron throwing the gatto among the piccioni with his planned referendum on membership of the European Union. For some of us, EU membership is a business/market access issue, for some it’s all about annoying rules and regulations, and for others it’s emotional — we feel European. A …

Translating the Zodiac: take our poll

We had a Twitter conversation a couple of weeks ago about Zodiac signs and the sort of character traits that make for good translators/editors. I thought it would be interesting — and fun — to see if there’s any correlation between a person’s zodiac sign and their choice of translation/editing as a career. So I’ve devised this …

Fees: to publish or not to publish? Take the poll! (2)

Yesterday’s post was about publishing fees on your website. I’ve had my say, now it’s your turn. Take our poll and let us know what you think! (Or — especially if you select “Other” — tell us in the comments). By Marian Dougan

Take our poll: should new clients test your skills or hire you on trust?

The Institute of Translation and Interpreting’s 25th Anniversary Conference took place in Birmingham on 7-8 May. It was a fantastic event that gave us all lots to think about and plenty of great ideas to put into practice. One of the workshops, No translator is an island, examined the sort of human interactions translators have to …

Fees: to raise or not to raise? Take our poll

Here in the UK inflation is still rising and the recent 2.5% increase in Value Added Tax will add to the upwards pressure on prices. Not to mention the mutterings about interest rate rises further down the line. If you’re self-employed and want to maintain your spending power your options are: Work smarter — make …

Oxford commas (2): Live dangerously – take our poll!

Do you use the Oxford (serial) comma? Here’s a sentence with the Oxford comma: My favourite foods are Greek yoghurt, salted almonds, cheese, and dark chocolate. Here’s the same sentence without: My favourite foods are Greek yoghurt, salted almonds, cheese and dark chocolate. And here’s one where, unless you change the order of the list …

Online newspapers: to pay or not to pay

In today’s earlier post I mentioned that The Sunday TImes will be charging users for online access, starting in June 2010. Depending, I assume, on readers’ reactions, other newspapers and magazine will follow suit. How do you feel about paying for online access to your favourite paper? And how often would you prefer to pay? …

Love your job and tweet about it? Take part in our poll

One of the things I like about Twitter (and there are lots) is that nearly all the translators I follow there seem to love their jobs. I don’t know if there’s some sort of self-selection going on here, with translators who embrace social media being more engaged with and enthused by their work. There’s the …