Terra Incognita » Uncategorized

WiFi, what WiFi?

Angela — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 21:12:12 +0000

Last night, I returned from Denver, where I attended two full days at the annual conference of the American Translators Association (ATA). I connected with clients and colleagues, attended seminars and lectures, and enjoyed socializing with linguists from all over the world. As always, the conference was organized, sessions started promptly, and technology was in place for the speakers. During the first seminar, a so-called pre-conference seminar, I pulled out my laptop to take notes and opened the window showing available wireless networks. Nada. No WiFi. I thought surely they are behind in setting this up, so I patiently waited a few minutes, half an hour, one and a half hours. During the break, I walked over to the ATA information booth to inquire what was going on and was told the WiFi network would not be set up until the following day.

Is it really possible that whoever was in charge of scheduling the WiFi network for the conference thought it would be just fine not to offer translators a connection during the pre-conference seminars? Would anyone have thought 20 years ago that it would be ok not to have payphones available at any type of conference so people could stay connected to clients, friends and family? Does offering pre-conference seminars somehow fall under a different category of needs for those attending? Does the ATA not understand that many of us actually work on projects while we are at the, yes, "pre"-conference? I think it’s time to wake up and smell the 21st century.

Celebrating 15 Years of Translation Service

Angela — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:57:27 +0000

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my clients, past and present, for growing with me over the last 15 years, and I look forward to seeing many at the ATA Conference in Denver this week. I took my first baby steps as a translator with just one client, back when very few people had e-mail and most companies did not have a Web site. Luckily, my client was not too far from my home office, so driving over to deliver a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk was not a huge task. Today, I work with dozens of clients all over the world, delivering quality work with a decade and a half of experience in the industry.

Terra Incognita – Into the Great Unknown

Angela — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:05:00 +0000

(click on image to see full map)

Why did I call my blog Terra Incognita? First of all, I am a cartographer at heart, and I love maps. I also took 7 years of Latin in school and this had to be good for something.

The idea of calling my blog Terra Incognita came to me at about 2:30 in the morning last Tuesday night. I woke up and was sure I had a name. The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea, because blogging is still the great unknown to me.

I am excited about exploring it and I look forward to meeting the natives…