Writing evolution with laughter

 

[skeleton of hand*]

What goes around, comes around. For many years I quietly laughed at my father, an old journalist, as he did his “hunt and peck” routine around the typewriter. He was reasonably fast at it but it looked so inefficient. Maybe as a bit of ultimate justice, for many years my wife has quietly, most of the time, laughed at me as I went back and forth from the mouse and keyboard, “stubbornly” refusing to learn and use keyboard shortcuts. Grabbing the opportunity to right a wrong, I just participated in a paid two-hour webinar sponsored by the proz.com, a leading translators site,  entitled “Keyboard shortcuts and more to skyrocket your productivity”. In it, Joachim Lépine enthusiastically demonstrated a plethora of shortcuts for Windows, Word and Excel, to name a few platforms. The amount of material was overwhelming but fortunately he provided a nice file to follow along and help us refresh our memory afterwards. I have to say that it was money well spent.

What I learned is that I should, can and will apply these keyboard shortcuts and significantly increase my speed. Clearly, I will not be able to nor do I strive to compete with these keyboard racers just I don’t try to pass sports cars. I am sure that even many people native to word processing are unaware of many of these options, making it no shame to sit and learn them. I took my wife’s advice and identified ten of these shortcuts to learn and apply in the immediate future. I will even share them with you on the hope you also may them helpful.

However, first, I would like explain my background in word processing technology. Born in the 1960’s and possessing terrible handwriting (in three alphabets, no less), I have witnessed and used most of means of writing in the last 60 years. I learned on a manual typewriter, reaching 60 wpm, a respectable speed. I then used electronic typewriters as well as correcting electronic typewriters. I immediately fell in love with the first DOS-based word processers (…/2p for double space) as they eliminated the need to type all documents twice. I relished the speed of the Commodore 64 at least until an important document was erased by accident when a magnet got too close to the audio memory tape. I graduated to the first true text writing programs, including WordPerfect, before settling into Microsoft word. I have yet to use any speech-to-word programs on the formal basis that I share my office with my wife and talking out loud would disturb her but I do not reject that technique out of hand. So, while far from native, I am willing and able to try technology, at least up to a certain point.

Looking over the 10+ pages of shortcuts, it is clear that my benefit from this webinar will only be partial. I find it quite difficult at my age to remember so many similar combinations even if there is a certain logic to them. It is probably true that age is not the only factor as even my academics in their 20’s are neither aware nor interested in becoming keyboard focused. As in all skills, easy and difficult are highly subjective terms. That said, I strongly believe that with sufficient motivation and effort any person can become decent in any skill. Thus, I will strive to absorb as many of the tips.

As for the ten ones I have marked for special effort, I will share them with you:

Shortcut	Function
Win+Tab (release)	Previous task/document
Win+E	Show file explorer
Ctrl+Shift+N	Create and name new folder
Win+Spacebar	Change keyboard language
Win+.	Emojs and special characters
Ctrl++F6	Switch between documents that are open
Alt+W+H	Side to side documents
Click left side of a row in a table	Add rows
Click left side of a row in a table then press backspace	Instantly delete row
Ctrl+Click	Select one sentence

 

If you find these terribly obvious, you can freely (but quietly please) laugh at me. I deserve it as just punishment for my previous sins. If any are new to you, enjoy. If you did not know any, I suggest taking some kind of course or webinar to improve your knowledge. The process is exhausting but evolution, however belatedly and slowly, is part of living and makes us better in countless ways, always punctuated by a little laughter, of course.

* Picture captions allow the blind to fully access the Internet.

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Good wine and translation – Marketing the unknown

 

[bottle of wine*]

Being allergic to grapes, I am far from a connoisseur of wine despite my French mother. Still, from time to time, I have to go to the store and choose an appropriate bottle of wine to bring as a gift or use in a boeuf bourguignon. As a non-expert, I look at the labels, the bottles and the price and make an uneducated guess which is ordinary vin de table and which is a distinguished vintage. Likewise, purchasers of translation and similar services must look for clues to somehow distinguish the risky providers from the ones they can trust. These service providers can learn much from the wineries in how to market their products and attain higher prices. Specifically, it is important to understand the similarities in market niching, messaging, framing and pricing.

It is clear that some people are neither interested in nor can distinguish a fine wine. Thus, they are not willing to pay more for a better product and are quite satisfied with a cheap fermented-grape liquid, a bit like Google Translate. On the other hand, for reasons of pride, need or personal taste, other wine buyers seek the extraordinary and pay a premium for it without hesitation on condition that they receive value of course. Likewise, with machine translation of various types readily available and often able to produce understandable texts, many translation purchasers do not require more than a satisfactory rendition of the text and view low cost as an essential factor. On the other hand, in some fields, particularly medicine, law and marketing, accuracy and seamlessness are vital for the success of these materials. These customers seek expert translators to provide local versions of the text with the knowledge that the benefits of a solid translation far outweigh any cost. As one expert said at a conference, there are two ways to make money as a translator: work quickly or specialize. Wineries and translators must choose a path.

Faced with a wall of similar sized bottles, I depend on the labels to provide me some clues to the quality of the wine. If I see a wine that claims “made from the finest grapes”, my initial question is whether there are wines made from the poorest grapes. On the other hand, “Graced the tables of Louis XIV, Napoleon and George Pompidou” or “Grand Cru ”indicate the vintners have a strong idea of what they are doing. In short, it is important to build trust in a few words. Translators also must express their uniqueness in a few words to build trust. “15 years’ experience”, “Certified Translator by X” and “20 years of professional background in Z”, to name a few, indicate that this person is superior to others. By contrast, “expert translator and “reliable editor” merely state the minimum requirements. So, extraordinary wines and translators must define themselves and express their distinctions to the buyer.

Seemingly minor, the form of the text on the bottle creates an impression. Like clothes, design elements such as font, pictures and aesthetics create an overall impression. Simply put, a cheap label indicates a cheap wine while a fancy label hints at a fancy wine. For translators, since many translation purchasers cannot distinguish proper translation from poor translation, they notice obvious visual elements. Therefore, translators need to make sure that the formatting is neat and identical to the original (or at least as identical as relevant). Obviously, translators must make every effort to avoid spelling errors. In particular, errors in spelling names can often upset customers. It is important to relate and explain any non-translated item, include charts and screenshots. As in wine labels, a classy look indicates a quality product.

Statistically in wine and translation, there is no correlation between price and quality. Some table wines are quite good while some expensive wines do not justify their price. Still, faced with two bottles with red liquid from the same grapes, I look at the price and assume, from lack of contrary information, that the more expensive one is better. So, if I want to bring a more impressive gift, I choose the more expensive option. Likewise, when customers that require a quality product receive varying price options, they assume that the translators with the lowest ones are less capable of providing that quality. In short, higher prices not only create more income per product but also may increase volume just like with wine.

Translators and providers of similar services need to focus their market, communicate with that niche, arrange the package elegantly and price it to complete that image. Lehaim, salut and nazdorovie to all.

*Picture caption help the blind full access the Internet.

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Beautiful nothing

 

[picture of the Golan Heights from Ma'ale Gamla]

I just celebrated my birthday in a guest cabin (tzimmer in Hebrew) on the southern edge of the Golan Heights community of Ma’ale Gamla. The view from the porch overlooks a long barren slope leading down to the valley below with the fruit groves and water reservoirs and the eastern edge of the Sea of Galilee (Kinneret in Hebrew) to the left. In the far distance there are hints of Tzfat and other northern cities in Israel. Actually, due to the cloudiness and rain, everything was a bit grey and fuzzy. Aside from that, there is almost nothing there – no cars, no noise, no people and no tumult. In fact, the nearest restaurant is some 35 minutes by car. In short, aside from the fat garden cat (who has somehow avoided becoming lunch of the local wild dogs) and the resident birds, there was no action.

While for some this would be vacation from hell, for me, this is the place where merely being here makes me smile. I felt grounded there, at peace, undisturbed by the winds of real life. The nature is as unspoiled as you can get (and only 30 minutes from where I live). Bird song and cat meows filled any sound void. The quiet allowed my soul to relax. The pitterpattering of the rain on the roof was calming, reinforcing my determination not to anything forced. As for food, we brought our food, allowing us to eat whenever our stomachs so requested. As a couple, a few days away from the daily small annoyances of domestic life only reinforced why we are together. Work did not exist. As for what I did, the list is short: solved crossword puzzles, read le canard enchainé, stared at the Kinneret, slept, rested and ate too much chocolate; in short, I had a perfect weekend.

When I lived in Oregon, many moons ago, I knew factory workers who lived for their annual hunting trip, talking about it all year round and planning it in great detail. I now understand that type of thinking much better. These blessed moments of being where we want to be may be few and far between but they justify why we put up with the annoyances of work. I am lucky in that I have created a solid work balance and enjoy my routine. Still, balancing translation and teaching can sometimes be stressful in terms of time management and tasks. The knowledge that a few times a year I can do what gives me unadulterated pleasure makes life so much better.

There are those for whom heaven is an exciting day in a big city. For me, a quiet day in nature is much satisfying. Nothing can be so beautiful.

Entrepreneurial vision and uncertainty

 

[eyes in glasses*]

It is said that business success requires vision. While essentially true, the statement is more complex than it appears because, as in intelligence, multiple types of vision exist. Since no single person is born with the perfect multifocal to have ideal sight in all matters, sole entrepreneurs are at a disadvantage as compared to companies or partnerships. Consequently, freelancers need to harness their special vision and take into account their blind spots.

[man with magnifying glass]

One type of practical vision is the ability to quickly and intuitively identify immediate solutions for short-term problems. People with this talent identify the essential elements and ignore distractors. Clearly, careful analysis can provide solutions but requires more time. To demonstrate, Israel television (sorry, I cannot remember which channel and which time) interviewed an engineering student at Ben Gurion University in the Negev in Beer Sheva with a special talent for solving problems. Disturbed by pigeons on his balcony, he created a raven robot with visual sensors and combined it with a small water pistol. Whenever, a pigeon landed on the balcony, it received a wet welcome. This is one of countless robotic solutions he had invented. None of them were technologically complicated but all were imaginative and out of the box. Thus, this vision involves intuitively creating effective solutions to defined problems.

[eye glasses in dark clouds]

While less positive in both point of view and appreciation, some individuals have the ability to foresee issues that will cause problems in the future. There was an episode in the program The Twilight Zone in 1960 entitled The Purple Testament about a soldier that suddenly received the terrible ability to identify who would die in the next battle. In his case, this sixth sense was of no use even in preventing his own death but in business it is often quite important to identify and avoid negative and expensive issues in the future by applying simple means in the present. Most people find it difficult to distinguish exaggerated fears from reasonable assessments but a few truly know how to avoid minefields.

[boy with binonculars]

Finally, some people have the incredible ability to envision the future before others. In 1950, Ray Bradbury wrote the short story There will come soft rains in which the star is an automated house in which all functions are programmed, from cleaning the house to preparing food. The irony of the story is that its residents had been incinerated by a nuclear bomb and were no longer alive. More than 70 years later, this level of automation is not only practical but also already in existence. Inventors and startups depend on this ability to imagine a completely different future. Many claim to be prophets but only a few truly have the ability to see the future.

[cat with one eye]

Clearly, a special ability to focus on any of these three types of visions (or any other) involves a certain blindness in others, putting sole entrepreneurs at a disadvantage. Companies can hire as many talented personnel as their budget allows. Partnerships create synergy as in the musical partnership of Rogers and Hammerstein (Sound of Music and King and I, et al). Freelancers may have special talent in any single area but tend to be rather less skilled in others. For example, a person may be an excellent problem solver but lack any ability to even imagine what will be in five years. Thus, the lack of multifocal vision limits the potential of freelancers.

[Mr. Magoo cartoon image]

The partial solution is to recognize weaknesses, use outsiders, strive to improve and accept imperfection. The first step in solving in any problem is recognizing its existence. For example, there is no shame for a person to admit that long-term planning is not a forte. Once a person understands that there is an issue, two solutions, not exclusive to each other, are to enlist the assistance of another person either through outsourcing or community building, and work to improve the skills by reading, listening and studying experts. While maybe the skill not become  a strength, the freelancer will then be able to better decisions on those matters. Of course,  human beings always reserve the right of resignation, i.e., emotional acceptance of the inability and its consequences. If a person lacks the ability to foresee problems and is not willing to somehow overcome it for whatever reasons, the resulting waste of time, energy and money are acceptable prices, unavoidable if you will. While not ideal, this last option is the choice of many if not most people in the face of their incompetencies.

[see-no-evil kermit threesome]

Werner Heisenberg’s theory of uncertainty postulates that it is impossible to fully focus on position and speed at the same time, i.e., one certainty is at the expense of the other. Individuals may have perfect vision in one matter but often suffer from a certain degree of blindness in other matters. For companies and partnership, synergy is the solution. For freelancers, the solution is to strive to the best possible, get help if necessary and maybe accept one’s limitations. There is always a level of uncertainty in any business vision.

* Picture captions allow the blind to fully access the Internet.

All pictures via Pixabay except for the Mr. Magoo image

Time and remembrance – the time limit of freelance work and its significance

 

[3 sand hourglasses*]

The one element in life influencing all work environments is the fact that a day is only 24 hours long. For freelancers of all kinds, including translators, that limitation effectively caps the potential amount of work that can be accomplished in any given period of time without outsourcing. Moreover, understanding this framework allows freelancers to create a long-term work strategy, market more intelligently and cooperate productively with colleagues.

A sustainable work day, one that will not cause extreme exhaustion and/or burn out, ranges from 6-10 hours a day. The actual working time depends on the specific assignment, with some tasks requiring more concentration and energy than others, individual capacity, which involves age, lifestyle choices,  health, manner of brain functioning and motivation, as well as outside demands, notably children, running a household and possible holding another job. Actual productivity also varies for similar reasons. As a result, there is a finite and generally predictable limit to how much any single entrepreneur can accomplish on any given day.

Given this limit, it is advisable to plan carefully, seek the most profitable work and avoid being greedy. Far too many freelancers promise the moon in terms of deadlines. Some knowingly lie but many simply are overoptimistic. The fast way to lose business in the service industry is to miss deadlines. Disappointed customers rarely offer a second chance. It is better to try negotiate the deadline as, more often than not, deadlines are not as firm as indicated.  For example, Friday afternoon is actually Monday morning is most cases. As a result, freelancers need to properly estimate the time required to deliver a finished product both in terms of hours and days and allow a sufficient margin for unpleasant surprises. Given this timetable rigidity, it is generally better to seek and take on projects involving high productivity either due to specialization or experience, thus maximizing the quantity as well as the quality of the work. Quite often, short jobs, sometimes less than an hour, are quite profitable in terms of hourly income if they can be completed with sufficient efficiency. The worst strategy is to take on any project without realistically considering scheduling issues and end up overloading the day. The results tend to suffer from many errors often accompanied by late delivery, the express route to customer dissatisfaction. Therefore, effective freelancers consider their schedule carefully before taking on any project.

Given that a sole entrepreneur cannot handle a huge volume of project, marketing become more directed, straightforward and sometimes even less expensive. A sole individual generally cannot and should not take on a massive service contract from a large company, On the other hand, a given department or geographical area may requires certain services on an more infrequent basis, which may be relevant for the individual entrepreneur. An example is medical translation where material must appear in a host of languages, far beyond the capacity of any single translator. In this case, medical translators work the specialized language agencies that manage such projects. In short, freelancers need to direct their marketing to specific niches that create a balanced situation: attainable demands by the service buyer and sustained capacity by the provider. Since freelancers can narrowly focus their marketing, the actual expense often decreases as the goals become more realistic. It is far less demanding in both money and time to reach a focused audience than aim for a wide client profile. In this way, the work limitation makes it possibly to economically and efficiently market services.

Finally, since work capacity of a freelancer is by definition finite, there is enough work of all colleagues in a given niche to work. It is not a zero-sum word, i.e., my colleague receiving a project does not mean I will not receive work. This approach allows colleagues to cooperate and help each other in terms of knowledge, encouragement and work. A productive approach is that sharing knowledge and techniques is not helping the enemy but building a community. As it is impossible to be expert in all aspect of a business, it is very useful, even vital, to have expert sources. Because giving and receiving are closely linked, it is important to establish that community before the hour of need arrives. This community not only provides knowledge but meets the emotional need of understanding. Too many freelancers are alone, socially and/or professionally. Given that every business has its ups and downs, it is calming to have people to whom to complain that not only understand the situation but maybe can offer a positive vision. Colleagues may not be close friends but they often comprehend the entrepreneur situation better than life partners. Finally, since the nature of freelancing is too often feast and famine, it can be mutually benefit to pass on extra work to a colleague. Not only are clients grateful that they don’t have to locate another service provider, the colleague may be suffering a down period. Since no one is immune from such occurrences, we do get by with a little help from our friends. There is generally enough work for everybody, making it possible and profitable to cooperate with colleagues.

A sole freelancer is not a company. There is a limit to what can be done in any given day or week. It is vital to remember that since time is limited, schedule carefully, market wisely and share generously. A working day is finite in terms of time, a fact that should be remembered.

* Pictures helps the blind fully access the Internet.

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