What Are Your Tips for Higher Productivity?

Image courtesy of Boaz Yiftach / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

     Sometimes it can be challenging to be productive. There. I admitted it. But, I know I am not alone. We all strive to be better, faster, and more productive, but it can be a challenge when there are people chatting nearby and distracting you, the person in the cubicle next door keeps asking you questions, or Facebook keeps calling you back with its siren call and tempting you to either cyberdrop (that's my new term for eavesdropping on the internet) or barrage your friends with TMI. As an independent freelancer who works from a home office, some of those distractions can be equally powerful, though different, for example: the unwashed dishes in the sink (and then after that the vacuuming that kinda needs to be done), kids, and the long open hours of...self management. With all of that in mind, I thought I would throw a few thoughts out about the strategies I use to help keep my nose to the ground (What am I, a dog?! Don't answer that.). That being said, I would really love it if you add your comments to the site below the article, or send them via email so I can add them.

Tip #1: Dress for success...but make sure success feels good.

I have heard that you should dress for the job you want, not the job you have, and I really love that concept. No matter how much we wish it were different, how we look and what we wear has an influence not only on how others perceive us, but also on how we feel and how productive we are. So, it's a fantastic idea to look great for work. However, if all you can think about is the blisters on your feet from those heels or how tight the waistband is on your dress trousers, that is not a good precursor for productivity. Make sure that you look great and also feel great so that you can focus on what needs to get done. Even if nobody else is going to see you because you work from home and conduct most of your business via the internet, it is really important that you get up and get dressed and feel like the successful entrepreneur that you are. As far as I know, nobody who is not an athlete ever achieved greatness in sweatpants.

Tip #2: Drink a lot of Water.

I sometimes have to try hard to remember to drink enough water throughout the day, not only because I know it is one of the best things I can do for my body, but also because I really believe that it helps me get my work done. If I try to sit at my desk for hours on end and bang out a lot of work, it can often be tiring and counterproductive. Yet if I am drinking water all day and taking frequent but short trips to the restroom, I feel hydrated and I have a chance to get up and stretch my legs and give my brain a two-minute break, which makes it easier to focus when I get back to my desk.

Tip #3: Work on One Thing at a Time.

I always get into trouble when I try to do too many things at once. I feel overloaded, and that can be almost paralyzing. I find it useful to focus on just one thing at a time. A useful tool for doing that is making lists with realistic tasks. For example, "get more clients" is not a realistic task, but "email the two new leads I got" is.

Tip #4: Separate Work Space for Work.

Mixing work with personal distractions doesn't work well. We all know which one usually wins. So, if you work at home, keep your office, or at least your desk, and your working hours sacred. Do not let personal business creep in. Likewise, in the office, don't make your office or desk a chatter zone or else you and you colleagues will be chattering all day. Use your work space for work, and when you just have to share a story, do it during a break time in a separate location like the office kitchen or outside.

I hope some of those tips were useful to you in some way, and if you are still reading, thank you! Go to the comment box below and add a note for me and my readers. Then...get back to work!

Reactions to the ATA Conference in San Diego

     What did I do last weekend? Thanks for asking! I was able to attend the American Translators Association's annual conference on Saturday, October 27. Unfortunately I couldn't attend the event every day, but Saturday was well worth it. I felt like this was a very fun and valuable experience, so I wanted to share my reactions.

8:30-9:30 Essential Anatomy and Physiology for Judiciary Interpreters by Jennifer de la Cruz

I am not primarily an interpreter, yet I found this presentation to be very well structured, well presented, and interesting. I am currently finishing up my translation certificate at UCSD and working on a medical specialty, so it was interesting to compare the presenter's experiences and the information she gave us with the content of the course I am currently in. I feel like I learned a few great tips and a lot of good medical terminology. Jennifer de la Cruz also followed up immediately with the emailed materials she promised.

10:00-11:00 Creating a Website for Your Translation/Interpreting Business by Tess Whitty

This was another very good session. Tess Whitty executed a very nice presentation. I felt like I had figured a lot of it out on my own already, but I was glad to know that this is one of the websites that she recommends! I also took a few of her suggestions to heart, which you'll see in a few changes I have already made and planned to make to this website.

11:30-12:30 My Tijuana Family by Rogelio Camacho

 My favorite session! It was so FUN! The entire hour was devoted to Mexican slang, and Rogelio Camacho talked about each term and its meaning and context while we jotted down the English equivalents. It was fast, lively, and super interesting, and I now know that Abuelita de Batman! means Heck yeah! in Tijuana.

2:00-3:15 Machine Translation in Practice by Mike Dillinger

A couple of colleagues/friends and I decided to check this session out to see what the whole machine translation scene is about. Overall I found the presenter to be very knowledgeable and he did a superb job. It was nice to broaden my horizons a bit because I didn't even really know what post-editing was until after this session.

3:45-5:00 Improving Your Negotiation and Communication Skills as a Freelancer by Ioana Radoi

This was my second highlight of the day. I loved Ioana's style of deeply involving the audience. It turned into a sort of forum in which many different professionals in different stages of their careers shared tips with each other about getting work, pricing, and so much more. It was extremely informative, interesting, and fun!

Welcome to San Diego ATA Conference-Goers!

 

Welcome to San Diego, fellow translators! Tomorrow marks the beginning of the American Translators Association's 53rd annual conference. Since so many language professionals will be gathering this weekend in America's Finest City, I thought that I would provide a few tips and links to help everyone out with their eating and entertainment dilemmas. I am a native San Diegan and I currently reside here as well, so please feel free to shoot me a comment or email if you have any questions!

COMER

Kono's Surf Club Cafe is one of my friend Karen's favorites. Come here to check out a San Diego beach community, Pacific Beach, and get some great breakfast, burgers, or coffee!

If you love Thai food like I do and you also appreciate a moody culturally-rich ambiance, try Rama. The food is great AND you'll feel like you just got back from vacation when you walk outside after your meal.

Hodad's is a local favorite for giant burgers, fries, and milkshakes. You can check out their original location in Ocean Beach, or be one of the first few thousand people to savor a burger in their newish downtown locale.

Phil's BBQ is reputed to be one of the best barbeque spots in the city. I know others have their favorites, but Phil's has always treated my tasted buds with respect!

This is another local  favorite that ALWAYS draws crowds. Lucha Libre is Mexican fare with a twist...and a headlock! Be prepared to fight your way to the front of the line if you decide to eat here.

 Old Town is a great place to go if you are feeling extremely touristy. I like to walk around and get fresh cinnamon and strawberry tortillas from a street side vendor. The restaurants are mostly Mexican-American style and will definitely satisfy your craving for something cheesy (double entendre intended).

TOMAR

Café Lulu is a hip coffee shop and hookah lounge downtown. If you just want a coffee and a pastry but you want to get a little bit more local flavor and less Starbucks, try this cute sidewalk cafe.

For a glass of wine with a colleague, consider Voyou. The owner is extremely friendly, the atmosphere is very modern and clean yet intimate, and the food and wine are excellent.

Try Starlite's signature cocktails paired with a delicious dinner! 

DISFRUTAR

The Titanic Halloween Masquerade might be up your alley if you packed your costume and you like to get out and enjoy the nightlife. You're just in time this weekend to partake in not just the professional development and networking but also the disguised revelry and haunts. For other spooky events click here.

If you are still in town on Sunday and you are in the mood to get out and do something mellow, the Hillcrest Farmer's Market is the perfect option. Hillcrest is just a couple of miles north of downtown, and the Sunday market is full of great vendor options for fresh produce, gifts, prepared foods, or just to get out and see the locals.

Value Isn't Real

     Value is how much someone will pay for something, but it is constantly changing. If a simple plastic bottle of water is worth $0.89 in a bulk package at Albertsons, $1.29 at a gas station down the road, $4.00 at the movie theater, $5.00 at Disneyland, $12.00 at the top of Machu Picchu, and nothing at all if it is lying on the sidewalk, what is the true value of that bottle of water? The truth is that it has no value because value isn't real. What is real is our desire for the product or service in question. Do I want it badly enough to buy it here and now or can I wait?

     This picture got me thinking about cross-cultural value. At first it's just funny to see the two different prices on the same sign for the exact same product the only difference being the languages in which the product is marketed. When you think again, though, monetary value is extremely subjective. What we spend our money on and what things and services we covet are very culturally-specific. Whether you would spend your extra money on some new rims, a gift for someone, an outing for the family, some food, or a manicure, and how much you would spend on these items...these are decisions that are positively dripping with cultural background.

      So, I understand this sign a bit better from the cultural perspective. But I am definitely going to speak Spanish when I go shopping there!

    

"This She-Wolf Is a Reward to My Kinsman."

Did you think the first known sentence in the history of the English language would be more romantic? Perhaps something like, "Thou hath killeth my father henceforth I whilst killeth you!"? Or more practical, like, "Churneth thou butter with more haste, woman!" Nope. According to Bill Bryson in The Mother Tongue, "This she-wolf is a reward to my kinsman," is the first known example of Anglo-Saxon writing in Britan. Hmm. Apparently it was inscribed on a small medallion about the size of a fifty-cent coin and was found three decades ago buried in a field. It seems that back then the payback policy wasn't you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, bro; it was you help me work my fields and I'll give you a wild killer female dog that will scratch you all over and it even has a gift tag, bro. Interesting. Although, if the Anglo-Saxons defined she-wolf in any way resembling Shakira's definition, that might not have been so bad. Anyway, The Mother Tongue is so full of interesting facts and details about English that it sent me on a web search to see what else I could find out there about the origins of my mother tongue (and my mother's tongue). One of the results was this hilarious cartoon version of the history of English, which I think linguists, clients, and friends alike will appreciate and perhaps even learn from:

Bad Chistes

 I know you think you are too good for these bilingual bombers, but I also know that you are laughing inside.

¿Por qué el mar es azul? Porque los peces hacen blue blue blue.
¿Por qué los cocodrilos son alargados, verdes y grandes? Porque si fueran redondos, rojos y pequeños serian tomates. 
¿Por qué un libro de matemáticas se quiere suicidar? Porque tiene muchos problemas.
¿Por qué los peces no van a la escuela? Porque se les mojarían los libros.

What did the fish say when he hit a concrete wall? “Damn.”
What do you call cheese that isn’t yours? Nacho Cheese.
What do you call Santa’s helpers? Subordinate Clauses.
What do you call four bull fighters in quicksand? Quatro sinko.
What do you get from a pampered cow? Spoiled milk.
What’s the difference between roast beef and pea soup? Anyone can roast beef.

ATA's 53rd Annual Conference

Register Now!

A few of the great sessions I am excited about this year:

 Best Practices for Spanish Technical Writing

Mario E. Chávez
(Saturday, 8:30am-9:30am; Advanced; Presented in: Spanish)

Español neutro: Esa lengua inexistente a la que muchos traducimos
Aurora Humarán
(Saturday, 10:00am-11:00am; All Levels; Presented in: Spanish)
Interpreting Slang and Taboo Language for the Courts
Alfonso Villasenor
(Friday, 3:45pm-5:00pm; All Levels; Presented in: English and Spanish) 

My Tijuana Family
Rogelio Camacho
(Saturday, 11:30am-12:30pm; All Levels; Presented in: Spanish)
Dilemmas in the Co-Construction of Pain Ratings among Providers, Language Interpreters, and Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Patients
Claudia V. Angelelli
(Friday, 11:30am-12:30pm; Advanced; Presented in: English)

 Intersections of Theory and Practice: Translation Studies in the Classroom
Ben Van Wyke, Rosemary Arrojo, Brian Baer, and Claudia Angelelli
(Saturday, 2:00pm-3:15pm; All Levels; Presented in: English)

Tootle Him With Vigor

Badly translated materials. They abound. And, of course, grammatical and lexical errors are hardly limited to translators; just the other day at a gas station I paid by debit card at the pump and there was a sign posted that I should push the green button if I wanted to "except" the transaction. Sigh. Well, let's just enjoy them, then, shall we? Here's a list of some infamous and hilarious translations.I hope you tootle with vigor today!

 The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention that the Spanish translation read "Are you lactating?"

      In a Zurich hotel: Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.

      In an East African newspaper: A new swimming pool is rapidly taking shape since the contractors have thrown in the bulk of their workers.

     In a Czechoslovakian tourist agency: Take one of our horse-driven city tours -- we guarantee no miscarriages.

     In a Paris hotel elevator: Please leave your values at the front desk."

     Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."

       

     Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."

     In a Tokyo bar: "Special today for the ladies with nuts."

    

     In a Rhodes tailor shop: "Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation."

       Puffs tissues tried to introduce its product in German only to learn that "Puff" in German is a colloquial term for a whorehouse.

     Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand: "Would you like to ride your own ass?"

     In a Rome laundry: "Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time."

     A hotel notice in Madrid: If You Wish Disinfection Enacted In Your Presence, Please Cry Out For The Chambermaid

      An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of "I saw the Pope" (el Papa), the shirts read "I Saw the Potato" (la papa).

       Pepsi's "Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation" translated into Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave" in Chinese.

      The Coca-Cola name in China was first read as "Kekoukela", meaning "Bite the wax tadpole" or "female horse stuffed with wax", depending on the dialect. Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent "kokou kole", translating into "happiness in the mouth."

      When Parker Pen marketed a ball-point pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to have read, "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." The company thought that the word "embarazar" (to impregnate) meant to embarrass, so the ad read: "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant!"

     In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist: Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.

      The American slogan for Salem cigarettes, "Salem-Feeling Free", was translated into the Japanese market as "When smoking Salem, you will feel so refreshed that your mind seems to be free and empty".

      Ford had a problem in Brazil when the Pinto flopped. The company discovered that the word Pinto was Brazilian slang for "tiny male genitals".

      When Kentucky Fried Chicken entered the Chinese market, they discovered that their slogan "finger lickin' good" was translated as "eat your fingers off".

      Frank Perdue was no better off. This chicken magnate's slogan: "It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken" was rendered in Spanish as "It takes a hard man to make a chicken aroused."

     In a Budapest zoo: Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food, give it to the guard on duty.

     In the office of a Roman doctor: Specialist in women and other diseases.

     In an Acapulco hotel: The manager has personally passed all the water served here.

      When American Airlines wanted to advertise its new leather first class seats in the Mexican market, it translated its "Fly In Leather" campaign literally, which meant "Fly Naked" (vuela en cuero) in Spanish.

      From a brochure of a car rental firm in Tokyo: When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn. Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles your passage then tootle him with vigor.

     Two signs from a Moroccan shop entrance:  - English well speaking   /  - Here speeching American.

     Tokyo hotel's rules: Guests are requested not to smoke and do other disgusting behaviors in bed.

     In the window of a Swedish furrier: Fur Coats Made For Ladies From Their Own Skin.

     Sign in a German hospital: No Children Allowed In The Maternity Wards.

       The sign at the concierge's desk in an Athen's hotel:" If You Consider Our Help Impolite, You Should See The Manager.

     A notice in a Vienna hotel: In Case Of Fire Do Your Utmost To Alarm The Hall Porter.

     Detour sign in Kyushi, Japan: Stop: Drive sideways.