Starting Work As A Freelance Translator

When you start working as a freelance translator, there are several things you need to think about. One of the most important things is to find out what you know about the world and this has nothing to do with the language degree you have just earned at university.

Before studying a language or languages, what were you good at in school? Were you good at Maths, Physics, Biology? Or were you better at amateur dramatics or at editing the school or university magazine. Are you interested in religion or in history?

Art books often need to be translated and a knowledge of art is something that can be developed and enhanced over an entire life-time.

What are your interests now, apart from languages?

It will be no good your advertising yourself as a freelance translator unless you tell the translation agencies what are your specialities.

If you have an easy writing style, you could be what agencies need for commercial and advertising translation. If you are interested in ecology and the environment, you need to study those subjects in your spare time, to keep up with the latest changes.

The same applies to technical translation, where change occurs at an ever-increasing rate. Technical translators have often been working in a particular industry for several years and have spent some of those years in a foreign country, where they learned a foreign language. They were trained as engineers but after ten or twenty years they have decided to work as freelance translators (no more boss to tell them what to do) and their previous experience and training opens the door to technical translation. Their previous working experience has taught them the correct industrial vocabulary in both languages.

Other technical translators are people whose main education was in languages but who are also interested in technical subjects - maybe as a hobby - and this can be developed.

There are other translators who specialize in medical, legal or financial translation. Here again, they have usually worked in the profession concerned, often abroad, but after half a lifetime have decided to free themselves from the organisational constraints. These people are particularly valuable to the translation industry, because they are professionally qualified as doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.

Freelance translation gives a lot of freedom on the one hand - you can choose what time of day you are going to work - and you need on occasion to work until 2 o'clock in the morning and at weekends, but the great thing is that you can decide what you are going to do and when.

When starting out as a freelancer, if an end customer or a translation agency sends you a translation which is beyond your competence (and don't worry, this also happens to translators who have been twenty years or more in the business) you should politely tell the customer that you can't do it and why. You can send the customer an email next week, showing your specialties.

This brings us to advertising. Almost all freelance translators have to advertise in one way or another. Sometimes being registered with one of the big translation institutes is enough to bring in a sufficient amount of work, but that applies mostly to people who have been in the translation business for several years. For people starting out as freelancers, it is usually better to be registered with translation and/or interpreting directories, where customers can find you and from which you can obtain a list of translation agencies in order to send emails to the agencies, showing your languages, your specialties and the customers you have worked with.

As the manager of a translation agency I usually receive anything from one to ten emails from freelancers every day and I reply, often asking for further details. If you send a CV with your email, make sure that your include on the CV your mailing address, telephone number, email address and your price per source word in one of the world currencies (Euro, British pound, US dollar). Of course, don't forget to include your specialties in your CV and a list of customer names for any large translations you have recently done.

A translation agency which is interested in your application will probably ask you to translate a short sample text, about one page of 200 to 300 words.

Some new freelancers telephone to translation agencies, looking for work, but it is usually better to use email. Agencies prefer something in black and white - they find it easier to put your details on their databases.

I don't know how many thousands or hundreds of thousands of freelance translators there are in the world today, but there is always room for another one. So keep going - send out your emails !

John Hadfield spent a lot of his life living in the Middle and Far East, working for automotive manufacturers in Greece, Lebann and the Philippines and he then lived for five years in South Korea, administrating a joint venture between one of the largest Korean manufacturers and a French construction equipment company. He started his own translation agency in 1980 in France and recently also formed a translation agency in the UK, http://www.technical-translation.co.uk

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How To Make Music Starting From Score Writing Up To Publishing At Site

All of my music is written by using a notation PC software named Score Writer, bought from Genie Soft. Every sound you heard is came from the score note instead of recording done through microphone.

First version of Score Writer was published by Cake Walk. But this version is not supporting VST instruments. The version bought from Genie Soft is in version 4 which supporting VST instruments which stands for Virtual Studio Technology. To make Score Writer to be able to use VST instruments, SynthFont VST from VSTSynFont( V1.003 ) was downloaded free into Score Write VST Plug in folder. Chaos 8Mb soundfont is also downloaded as well. The combination of SynthFont VST and Chaos 8MB soundfont is making the sound given by the musical instruments really near to the sound produced by actual musical instruments. One good example is the flute. When a note is blew for quite a long period, we may heard the sound generated is "real" like blew by human. The sound heard for the one same note is not the flat same sound for the whole period. This kind of effect could not be produced by Score Writer version 1 which is not supporting VST.

Score Writer is having the feature of panning. It is the positioning of every musical instruments in the hall. We may put the piano at left side of the hall and cello at another side of the hall. The panning is ranging from negative 64 to positive 63 and zero is representing the centre of the hall.

To make the music with reverberation, Classic Reverb is imported into Score Writer VST Plug in folder as well. Classic Reverb was downloaded free. Room size could be set in Classic Reverb which makes the produced sound like the music is really played in the hall.

Music written through score note, all musical instruments are played exactly on the beat which is impossible to be achieved by human. This could be the main problem of music which written by score notes. To resolve this, humanization on the music needs to be done. That is, some musical sound need to be played a little bit late or early compare with others. A suitable instrument is selected and the whole track of its music will be made a little bit slower compared with others( slower by a Demisemiquaver - 1/32 notes for the tempo of 110 Crotchets per minute ). When the music is having one note which played by all instruments in loud( orchestra hit ), some instruments sound will be made a little bit slower. These are my two common practices in music humanization.

After completion of the notes writing, the music then is converted into music format WAV by Score Writer's "Record to File" function. To burn the music onto CD, music in file format WAV is required. Nero is used for this purpose by just selecting the WAV file into Nero.

But music file in WAV format is taking up a huge memory space( about 30Mb to 60Mb for one music with length of 4 minutes ) which is not popular for on-line. The music is converted into format of MP3 where the size usually goes down to 1/10. To do this converting, Audio MID Recorder is used.

Before using Audio MID recorder to do the converting, the required format needs to be setup. The file format of the music which needs to be converted is not the concern of the recorder. This music could be in any format. It is also means that we may convert WAV file frequency 44100 in 16 bits to WAV file frequency 32000 in 8 bits. Or converting MP3 192Kbps to MP3 128Kbps. The recorder is just recording whatever heard into the required format. This is also one option to increase the volume of the music.

To do the converting, after pressing "Record" button at Audio MID Recorder, play the music by whatever player. What we heard will be recorded into the required format. To mix any special effect into the music, just play the special effect together with the music, after recording started at Audio MID Recorder. Since the special effect is played together with music, so the special effect and music need to be played by different players. After completed the recording the required music format file will be generated into the specified folder set before the recording.

Even though MP3 is usually sold at site instead of WAV, for the conveniences of the site visitor, http://www.doublemelodies.com is also selling WAV. This article is published at http://www.doublemelodies.com/HowToMakeMusic.html

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3 Tips for Starting A Music Box Collection in 2006

For those who love to collect inlaid music boxes, musical jewelry boxes, ballerina music boxes, and antique music boxes such as disc driven cylinder music boxes, musical snuff boxes, and the like, there are many things one can look for when it comes to finding the perfect box. However, there are distinct characteristics that cause some music boxes to stand out above others. These are materials, decoration, and the date of the music box.

Materials

All music boxes are not made the same. The type of material a carousel music box, wooden music box, inlaid music box, or an antique music box is made from is what helps to create its uniqueness. For example, in the early 19th century, musical snuff boxes were made of inexpensive material from the precious metal family such as gold and silver. There were also some music boxes made of brass, which back then, was rare.

Other musical boxes such as snuff music boxes were made from wood, horn, and tortoiseshell. Wooden snuff music boxes, made from material such as burr oak and burr walnut were very beautiful. Boxes made amboyna wood, which originates from Amboyna Cay, a small island in the South China Sea, were also gorgeous. For those collectors who love to collect wooden music boxes, finding a box made from one of these materials would make a wonderful asset to their collection.

Decoration

Music jewelry boxes, inlaid music boxes, children's jewelry boxes, and other types of antique music boxes are all decorated differently. The type of decoration a collector of music boxes seeks is based on personal preferences. Some music box collectors might enjoy early 19th century music boxes since many of the lids were used for decorations. For instance, the lids of many musical snuffboxes were done with miniatures painted on ivory. For a music box collector, finding one such as this would be quite a prize. In Music Boxes: A Guide for Collectors, David Tallis suggests that "A good artist to look for is Charles-Claude Delaye, who worked in France in the first half of the 19th century. One of his miniatures on a music snuffbox is fitted with a gilt copper frame, and a bevelled glass. . . If you are lucky you will find a musical snuff box whose lid has been decorated with Italian miniature mosaic. They are the most skillfully made and not too common. If you are even luckier, you will find one with a Swiss enamel miniature on the lid."

Careful research, time, and patience most likely can assist a music box collector in finding a music box whose decorations they will fall in love with.

Date of the Music Box

There are specific things a music box collector should look for when they try to assess the date of a music jewelry box, inlaid music box, ballerina music boxes, carousel music box, and other antique music boxes. A collector must carefully study its design. Once more, author David Tallis says that "Strict rules cannot of course be made, but if features of design indicate a period which is confirmed by the type of box and choice of musical programme, a fairly accurate guess can be made as to the date of the manufacture." Examples of what collectors can look when trying to date a music box, as outlined by Tallis are as follows:

Laminated comb: 1796-1810 Sectional comb in groups of 1: 1796-1820 Sectional comb in groups of 2: 1810-1820 Sectional one piece comb: 1820 onwards

Other features to look for when assessing the date of a music box include ascertaining is a cylinder is hollow or without wax. This gives a music box a metallic tone and means the box predates 1820. These are just a few examples of what collectors can seek. If a collector wants to know for sure the date of a music box, Tallis says that " There is only one way to be completely certain about the year of manufacture. If the box is silver or gold and English, it will have a hallmark which can be looked up in an invaluable book called "Guide to the Marks of the Origin of British and Irish Silver Plate", by Frederick Bradbury. This booklet shows all the hallmarks of the major assay offices from the mid-sixteenth century to the present day. Other books recommended by Tallis are "Silver Collecting for Amateurs" by James Henderson, "Hallmarks on Gold and Silver Plate" by W. Chaffers, and "Les Poincons de Garanties Internationaux pour L'Argent" by Tardy.

Lastly, Al Meekins, owner of the Meekins Music Box Company in Collingsworth, New Jersey has this advice to give for those music box collectors who are seeking the 'Stella' or 'Mira' box. Meekins says: "Look for a quality-a machine that isn't too badly worn and is in restorable condition". In addition, a purchaser can check for the craftsman's initials, which can be found at the top of the cap, on the tune card, or on a plaque on the music box.

Many lovers of collectibles enjoy collecting antique music boxes, wooden jewelry boxes, music jewelry boxes, and inlaid music boxes. Finding the right one to start a music box collection or to add to an existing one can certainly be done. Follow the above tips and start a collection today.

Copyright 2005 Monique Hawkins

Monique Hawkins is the owner of the online store http://www.my-music-Box.com/, a music box gift store specializing in products such as inlaid ballerina music boxes for ballerina rooms décor, whimsical carousel music boxes, and musical jewelry boxes. The company provides interesting information for music lovers of all ages. Monique is also the author of the blog "What You Never Knew About Music" http://whatyouneverknewaboutmusic.blogspot.com, and owner of the eBay store "Monique?s Music Box" at: http://stores.ebay.com/moniquesmusicbox/

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