3 Ideas To Avoid Boredom And Stress On A Tight Schedule

Working on multiple projects is a big challenge. Each item needs your undivided attention so you'll meet your deadlines, achieve your goals, and keep clients happy. But you can only work for so long before you run out of steam, right? And, even if you have a flexible deadline, the smallest disruptions can bring about chaos. Here are 3 ideas to manage your boredom, meet your expectations, and get all projects done on time without giving in to stress or finding a way to procrastinate.

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1. Follow your schedule and rotate different tasks around

First of all, you gotta organize yourself! You can use a daily planner, a whiteboard, or an online calendar, but PLEASE plan your day beforehand to avoid any headaches. For example, I work with multiple translation projects and, besides completing my own translations, I also supervise colleagues who translate the same documents into their own language. If we didn't use a scheduling system, it would sure be a disaster―that means, missed deadlines and unhappy clients.

So, step one is setting up the slots of time you'll dedicate to each project. If it's something short and simple, it'll be over and done with before you take a break and move on to the next task. But if it's a larger project you're dealing with―let's say, a 10,000-word corporate sustainability report that is only due next week―plan yourself to dedicate a couple of hours to it here and there, intertwined with some much-needed downtime and tasks of a different nature to give your brain a break and still meet the deadline.

Using this 10,000-word translation as an example, one way to approach it is to schedule a couple of hours in the morning to get it started, take a quick break when the time is up (go get some coffee/tea/juice) and then do some unrelated task for the next half an hour or so (managing social media posts, writing a blog entry, answering emails, making phone calls...) Go back to the translation project for another hour and you'll most likely get a boost of productivity and work more easily on it, since it's now familiar to you, while still making progress on your to-do list and keeping your productivity up before it's time for lunch.

Even if you still do the same kind of task, but use a different approach, you're already allowing your brain to switch gears, restart and keep going for longer without getting tired. For instance, let's say I'm translating a long Portuguese-to-English document, so I take a break from it after a couple of hours and fit in a small English-to-Portuguese task to reboot. Otherwise, I run the risk of hitting a roadblock―my brain gets stuck―and my productivity drops.

THE KEY HERE IS TO STAY ORGANIZED and let all the pieces of the puzzle fall in the right places to make your tight schedule work. Still, don't overschedule yourself and leave room for unforeseen circumstances. Few things are really worth stressing about and sometimes it's best to just take a quick break.

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2. Find your ideal "attention buffer"

Have you ever suffered from the Watching-the-Clock Syndrome? I guess everybody has, at one time or another. It's not that you dislike the task you're working on in that particular moment―okay, sometimes you keep at something for way too long and end up getting bored! It's usually just a matter of feeling that you're not making enough progress. Sometimes you think you should have written/translated/compiled X pages and you feel like you're trapped in quicksand and not moving forward at all.

Well, besides the "take a break and switch gears" approach above, there's one trick you could try: Implement an "attention buffer!" What I mean by that is simply something that will keep one of your senses preoccupied, providing some sort of time reference, so you don't feel you're lagging behind.

Some people think it's about multitasking and are completely against having any of their senses connected to something other than the task at hand, but what I'm actually talking about here is just allowing your brain to have some sort of an escape, so you don't get tired fast.

I'll explain: if I'm translating a document from Spanish to Portuguese, I like having some Brazilian music playing in the background―especially if it's Wednesday and I get to enjoy the 100% Brazilian mix that Lumen FM plays that day of the week. (And, before you ask me, yes, we speak Portuguese in Brazil... Here's some historical reference if you're still confused about it!)

Listening to something in the language I'm writing in or translating to/from actually helps me relax and stay focused at the same time. Had I been listening to English or Italian while working on the Spanish/Portuguese language combo, then it'd certainly be a distraction! Sometimes, when I switch to an English-related task, having an NPR interview, a TV show, or a movie in the background actually works as motivation to get more mundane tasks done, including project management, scheduling, invoicing, etc. 

It also works when I'm eventually stuck on a translation task and, I have to say, more than once Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have actually helped me find the perfect word I was looking for while eloquently making their point across in some of their seriously hilarious reports. You might not have realized it, but these two and their writing staff are true word nerds. Talk about serendipity!

All I know is that, if I have absolute silence while working, I actually feel uncomfortable and restless, as if I weren't making much progress on my tasks (30 minutes end up feeling like 3 hours!) and I soon get tired, distracted, and frustrated. However, there are always exceptions, of course. I usually can't have much going on in the background if I'm translating a novel, for example, because I need to be completely immersed in the universe that the author has created, as if I could see, hear, smell, taste, and touch everything that the characters are experiencing. So, in that case, music is indeed a distraction―unless it's a soundtrack mentioned by the author in connection to characters and events.

There are many naysayers when it comes to having background noise while doing creative work. Well, THE KEY HERE IS THAT DIFFERENT PEOPLE FUNCTION DIFFERENTLY, so what works for me may not work for you. I highly encourage you to find an "attention buffer" that works for you, though!

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3. Exercise to get a boost of productivity

Okay, this is definitely my favorite trick, because it not only helps me increase my productivity, but it also keeps me healthy and sane. In addition to running, I take a few group classes at the nearest YMCA every week. When people try to make a point that I'm exercising "too much," I tell them I need some endorphin to manage stress―but what I actually mean is this, this, or this!

Anyway, getting up, breathing in some fresh air, stretching and sweating a little bit is a welcome change when your work has you chained to a desk for hours on end. Gardening, walking the dog, chasing your kids around the park, going for a bike ride, dancing, and lifting weights... You can even prancersize if you want to, just get moving already! These are all great ideas to fill in your breaks with some physical activity to compensate for all that mental hard work.

When you exercise, you'll get the obvious health-related benefits, but you'll also be giving your brain a much-deserved break and possibly allowing it to solve any issues you may have encountered. In my case, it's usually a sentence that is difficult to crack, or a word that I can't quite translate naturally. People say they have their best ideas in the shower or when they're about to fall asleep; with me, it usually happens when I'm in the middle of a workout session and my brain can find an answer while working more passively.

Oftentimes you use all your energy to get the job done that you get completely drained, bored, stressed, and frustrated. So, instead of procrastinating, a better way to get things done without driving yourself mad is to get moving and push those problems to the background, so the answer can come to you more organically and without so much struggle.

In conclusion, you don't need to become a marathon runner or a triathlete to start enjoying the benefits of getting your blood flowing and your heart pumping. THE KEY HERE IS TO FIND AN ACTIVITY YOU TRULY ENJOY―otherwise, it's just more added stress!

NOTE: Article also available in Portuguese at eWordNews.com

RAFA LOMBARDINO is a translator and journalist from Brazil who lives in California. She is the author of "Tools and Technology in Translation ― The Profile of Beginning Language Professionals in the Digital Age," which is based on her UCSD Extension class. Rafa has been working as a translator since 1997 and, in 2011, started to join forces with self-published authors to translate their work into Portuguese and English. In addition to acting as content curator at eWordNews, a collective blog about translation and literature, she also runs Word Awareness, a small network of professional translators, and coordinates Contemporary Brazilian Short Stories (CBSS), a project to promote Brazilian literature worldwide.*

Taboo: Translating Into Your Second Language

It is clear for everyone to see: translators translate from a foreign language into their native language. However, there's always an exception for every rule. I was born in Brazil and grew up and went to school there for the first 22 years of my life. Then I moved away. I could already bring English and Spanish to the table, since I had been working as a translator for at least five years by then, although I was only translating into my mother tongue at the time.

The change of address also triggered a change in demand. There are few people worldwide who make a decision to learn Portuguese, and those who do so usually have a pretty good reason: personal (most likely a Brazilian spouse) or professional (working for a company that has commercial ties with Brazil). And, among these very few individuals, the amount of English speakers who end up going into translation is even smaller. That is why, unfortunately, we see a lack of foreigners translating from Portuguese to English.

As a Brazilian who immigrated to California, I started to receive requests for translations from Portuguese into English. At first, these were personal or business documents. There were many diplomas and school transcripts from Brazilians who wished to continue their studies in the United States. There were many agreements, contracts, business communications, and brochures from Brazilian companies who wished to do business with American companies.

In both cases, these translations can be done fairly easily, especially with the help of the Internet―when I started translating back in 1997, Google still didn't exist and it would only take flight in Brazil during the turn of the century. Nowadays, it's easy to research the curriculum of several universities to learn more about the classes they offer and, consequently, be in a better position to compare the subjects studied by a Brazilian and those taken by foreign students in the same area of interest. And, when it comes to corporate communications, many translations from Portuguese to English can be done (almost) with your eyes closed, considering the amount of English jargon and style that is either kept or adapted into Portuguese in this segment.

But, what about book translations? In 2010, I started to diversify my portfolio because literary translation is what had first attracted me to this industry. That was when I created a project dedicated to translating Brazilian short stories into English. And what a pleasure it was―and still is! What a great way to exercise my creativity, after it had been pushed to the far corners of my mind!

And, what about the challenge? The challenge was even bigger! What can you do when you come across a diversity of voices, styles, and slangs that exist in a country with continental dimensions, such as Brazil? The way I found was to research equivalent expressions exhaustively, always trying to get as close as possible to what had been said by the author. That certain Brazilian flavor may get lost sometimes, but the feelings and emotions experienced by readers is somehow conveyed in English.

In addition to these short stories, I also translated several books by Brazilian authors who wished to have their work available in English. These translations, while equally rewarding, are way more intense. Short stories are ready in a short amount of time; books take months until they're finally ready to go. And, when you're translating into your second language―no matter how fluent you are in that foreign tongue―you are always prone to having more questions than you'd have in your mother tongue, that language that provides you that “gut feeling” deep down that tells you, “This is right! But that's not cool. This reads very naturally! Now, this looks like Translationese.”

Prepositions... These are the true villains when you translate into English. These short, little words can be a huge pain in the neck! In, on, at, out, off, up, away. Use the wrong preposition, and you'll change the entire meaning of a sentence. Instead of putting out the fire of desire, you actually put off your reader. And, if you no longer have the reader's attention, you're doing a disservice to authors, who hunched over their manuscript for months or years, trying to find just the right word. Well, that is true of any language, though.

And what happens when you hit a roadblock? That's when you have to be resourceful and grab a “native” to help you in your translation cause. I turn to my husband and ask, “How would you say XYZ in English?” I send out a text to a friend, writing a sentence and leaving _____ in the middle of it, so that she can fill in the blank with a verb or preposition she would use if she were writing it in English, her native language. I sometimes play charades when I have friends over, just to clear up some term that may have been pending.

We try things out, make things up and learn something new. And this kind of learning doesn't always come on demand. Sometimes you're watching a movie, a TV show, or listening to the radio in the car and then it clicks. It's a constant exercise in capturing an instant in that language to preserve it in your mind, just in case you might need it later.

Book translations are made of sensations: imagination, colors, flavors, and smells. When you catch one of these sensations just like that, while it's hanging up in the air, you must cherish it and incorporate it, so that one day―whether it's a distant or near future―you can make it fit like a glove in one of your translations to trigger that same sensation you've experienced in the language you started learning from the time you heard the first sound from the outside world. After all, in order to translate into your second language, you must live in it with both feet on the ground, but with your heart back in your homeland, always.

NOTE: This article was originally written in Portuguese as a guest post for Brazilian blog Ponte de Letras.

Thanks Jane Lamb-Ruiz for the constructive criticism!

RAFA LOMBARDINO is a translator and journalist from Brazil who lives in California. She is the author of "Tools and Technology in Translation ― The Profile of Beginning Language Professionals in the Digital Age," which is based on her UCSD Extension class. Rafa has been working as a translator since 1997 and, in 2011, started to join forces with self-published authors to translate their work into Portuguese and English. In addition to acting as content curator at eWordNews, a collective blog about translation and literature, she also runs Word Awareness, a small network of professional translators, and coordinates Contemporary Brazilian Short Stories (CBSS), a project to promote Brazilian literature worldwide.*

Interview on ATA's Source

The Summer 2015 issue of Source, the electronic publication edited by the Literary Division with the American Translators Association (ATA) features an interview with me (cover and pages 7-14) about the changing role of translators in the age of self-publishing.

That was also the subject of my recent talk at the 6th Translation Conference organized by the Brazilian Translators Association (ABRATES) on June 5-8, and two webinars hosted by Proz.com in November 2014 and February 2015.

Have you ever worked with self-published authors on a book translation? Have you ever translated a book in the public domain and/or self-published your own material? If so, I'd love to hear about your experiences!

Why should translators combine skills and technology?

For years now, translators have been worried that they may soon be replaced by computers. Personally, I hardly believe it will happen in our lifetime―or in my kids' lifetime―but that doesn't mean that translators should shun away from technology altogether. Once you see technology as your ally, you'll notice how much easier your job gets. By combining technology and your sharp translation skills, you can become the most efficient translator you could ever be!

For example, I've been using the same computer-assisted translation (CAT) tool since 2008. It's called Swordfish and the reason I migrated to it after using another tool for about four years was the fact that it's a cross platform solution. What does that mean, exactly? Well, it means that regardless of the operating system you use (Windows, Mac OS, or Linux) you can run this tool without the need for any “magic” (i.e. emulators to “trick” your computer into thinking it's something that it is not, just because some software may have been designed with a certain operating system in mind.) We use Linux in our offices by the way, or the Ubuntu distribution to be more precise, and Swordfish has eliminated our need to have a Windows computer, making our company's operations more reliable, virus-free, and with minimal bugs and downtime.

By using the same CAT tool consistently, I'm able to keep my translation memories (TMs) organized. These TMs are databases where you record your work, so you can use it later on―days, weeks, or years down the road―without the need to remember how you've done it before or go through old files to locate that same sentence you feel like you've translated in the past.

I decided to create different TMs, one for each client, in order to keep things separate. Should one of these clients ever request a copy of their dedicated TM, I could send it to them without breaching the non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) we've signed. In other words, I could send Client A a TM containing past translations completed for them without disclosing any confidential information about Client B, because the latter's content won't be mixed up in the same TM.

THE CAT BASICS

Actually, let me take a step back to talk about how TMs work. First of all, it's important to say that no, CAT tools don't do the work for you. All a CAT does is separate a file into segments, which can be sentences, titles, headlines, photo captions, or any other complete line of text and have it ready for you to translate it. You basically see the original segment on the left (or on the top, depending on your settings) and then have a blank field on the right (or the bottom) where you'll type the respective translation. Once you're happy with this source + target combination, you save the translation unit (TU) to your TM.

If you work for the same client very often, or translate the same subject time and time again, you can “leverage” your past translations when working on new material. Think about legal translators who work with contracts that have very similar clauses, dispositions and wording. Once they translate a sentence and record it to the TM, they can use that same translation―with some adaptation, when needed―whenever a similar new sentence comes up.

MATCHES AND REPETITIONS

The best part of it is that good CAT tools actually highlight or somehow indicate exactly what needs to be changed while comparing the current segment to your legacy material. Then, all you have to do is use your past translation and change a couple of words to make sure your current translation is faithful to the source text.

When this wonderful thing happens, you have what we call a “match.” Using some complicated computer equations that we don't need to dwell on, these matches can be classified as having a 50-99% similarity between the source and target sentences. When you get a 100% match―jackpot!―that means the sentence you are about to translate is IDENTICAL to a sentence you've translated in the past, and the CAT found it for you.

Just to make it clear, that can only happen if you have been consistently working with the CAT and feeding your TM with your work. As I mentioned before, CATs won't do the work for you, but they'll remind you how you translated something in the past.

CATs will also identify what we call “repetitions,” which are similar to 100% or exact matches. The only difference between them is that repetitions only exist inside the document you're translating. In other words, they don't refer to a TU that has been previously recorded to a TM; they refer to a segment that repeats itself several times throughout your current project.

GLOSSARIES GALORE

Everything I've talked about so far refers to the translation of the source text itself. TMs will recall TUs based on the sentences you've translated in the past, but they'll only be able to provide recommendations at the word level if you create a glossary, or terminology database (TB), and feed it as well. In my particular case, I have a single multilingual glossary to which I can add terminology in all my work languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian) and it allows me to cross-reference them in a central location.

Different CATs work differently, but what I do on Swordfish is pretty much highlight the source term, then highlight its counterpart in the target segment, and use a hotkey to record it to my TB. That way, I don't have to research the same terminology several times. When that same term shows up on a different segment, the CAT will display your glossary entry and―if it matches the context―you can use it again.

I don't know about you, but if I translate something during my first shift (let's say, between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.) then I get up, get lunch ready while watching some T.V., talk to my husband or discipline the kids... Well, my point is, when I go back to my second shift (between 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.) I'll most likely have forgotten how I translated a particular term. And, because some expressions can be translated differently―very few translations are absolute!―keeping an updated glossary, sometimes with several options for the same term, saves me a considerable amount of time when it comes to remembering how I've translated it a few hours, weeks, or days ago.

THE CAT IN ACTION

So that these concepts won't be too abstract for people who have never used a CAT before, here's a more practical example. Because I've been using Swordfish for 90% of my translations since 2008, keeping a very organized TM and recording every single sentence I type in the target language, as well as updating my TB with key terminology after proper research and context verification, my CAT helps me reuse my translations whenever needed.

The other day, I was able to complete 9,652 words on an English-to-Portuguese technical manual in only three hours of work―all before lunch time! And how did that happen? Swordfish identified several repetitions inside the same manual, as well as some matches to what I had previously translated in other manuals for the same client.

Besides translating everything that was considered “new” material―segments that I had never translated in the past―my job in this particular translation was to make sure that matches were aligned with what I had translated in the past, given the changes needed, and all repetitions were uniform across the document.

In a different scenario, had I not been using a CAT, I'd have to go back and forth through the pages of this document, and possibly have opened several other documents I previously completed for this client, so that I could cross reference everything and make sure my translation was consistent throughout the document and the length of my collaboration with this client so far. That would have taken me hours (maybe a couple extra days!) were I following a purely manual system.

THE TAKEAWAY MESSAGE

The takeaway message here is: Having sharp translation skills is a given for anyone who intends to become a professional translator. But, if you want to become efficient, effective and accurate, having the ability to improve your average output (how many words you translate per hour, day, week, or month) you must take advantage of the resources that technology makes available to you.

If you're interested in learning more about Swordfish,
check out my class at the University of California San Diego Extension

RAFA LOMBARDINO is a translator and journalist from Brazil who lives in California. She is the author of "Tools and Technology in Translation ― The Profile of Beginning Language Professionals in the Digital Age," which is based on her UCSD Extension class. Rafa has been working as a translator since 1997 and, in 2011, started to join forces with self-published authors to translate their work into Portuguese and English. In addition to acting as content curator at eWordNews, a collective blog about translation and literature, she also runs Word Awareness, a small network of professional translators, and coordinates Contemporary Brazilian Short Stories (CBSS), a project to promote Brazilian literature worldwide.*

Looking at the Translation Industry with Fresh Eyes

Today I had the opportunity to sit with my dear friend and fellow Brazilian translator Cris Silva and have an online conversation about the translation industry. Cris teaches at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and invited me to talk to her students―who are working towards their Master's Degree in Translation & Interpretation―about what it is like to be a professional translator. This informal interview was intended to give students some guidelines and ideas on how to interview a translator in their language combination in order to learn more about the reality in their market for that segment of the industry.

Among so many things, we talked about getting your foot in the door as a beginner translator, the main challenges translators have to face, how to seek continuing education opportunities and find a specialization, using social media to establish contacts in the industry, networking with clients and colleagues, building a sustainable translation business, and work-life balance (i.e. having kids and working from home.)

Even though the purpose of our conversation was to shed some light on the profession so that students could have a better idea of what's in store for them, I greatly benefited from our talk because it gave me an opportunity to look at the translation industry with fresh eyes.

Having worked as a translator for the past 18 years―first as a more sporadic activity to complement my income as a language instructor, then part time while in college, until the complete transition to full-time translator and business owner―I sometimes forget what it was like to learn the ropes and explore a new professional territory. The little things I take for granted nowadays, because I've been doing them for so long, are the same things that looked like insurmountable obstacles I was unsure whether I'd be able to overcome.

The learning curve is indeed steep, but when you're passionate about what you do, you are able to come out on the other side wiser and with a few scars you can be proud of.

RAFA LOMBARDINO is a translator and journalist from Brazil who lives in California. She is the author of "Tools and Technology in Translation ― The Profile of Beginning Language Professionals in the Digital Age," which is based on her UCSD Extension class. Rafa has been working as a translator since 1997 and, in 2011, started to join forces with self-published authors to translate their work into Portuguese and English. In addition to acting as content curator at eWordNews, a collective blog about translation and literature, she also runs Word Awareness, a small network of professional translators, and coordinates Contemporary Brazilian Short Stories (CBSS), a project to promote Brazilian literature worldwide.*

Jost Zetzsche: "We Are Doing A Great Job In Telling Poor Stories About Ourselves As Translators"

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During the 55th Annual Conference organized November 5-8, 2014 by the American Translators Association (ATA) in Chicago, I attended a session entitled Why We Need to be Good Storytellers, presented by Jost Zetzsche, tech-savvy English-to-German translator, editor of The Toolbox Journal, and co-author of Found in Translation (read review here).

Jost started out by highlighting the power of translators and translations in worldwide communications, mentioning two fascinating examples:

  • the Inuit people needed to create a word for Internet, considering their lack of technology use, and came up with ikiaqqivik, which means “traveling through layers”
  • the Chinese had to create a special character for “God” that would be a gender-neutral and match their all-encompassing philosophical interpretations

The speaker then moved on to point the finger at the translation community: “We are doing a great job in telling poor stories about ourselves as translators,” he pondered. “Disagreements are fine, and there are great reasons to have disagreements, but we don't do it in public. We're not helping each other when being so critical.”

He was referring to discussion forums and social media posts in general, in which translators seem to be always complaining and being negative about everything related to our industry―from prices to competition and especially technology.

Jost then highlighted a couple of headlines that support his idea that we must tell better stories about ourselves as professionals, and as the translation community as a whole. “Success demands that we harness the power of telling a killer story,” he read from Psychology Today. “Telling stories is the best way to teach, persuade, and even understand ourselves,” he read another headline.

"We need to present ourselves well and be aware of who we are. 
We identify ourselves with St. Jerome, who wasn't really
tech-savvy when he translated the Bible."

For more positive stories about translation, check out "Found in Translation," Jost co-wrote with interpreter Nataly Kelly

For more positive stories about translation, check out "Found in Translation," Jost co-wrote with interpreter Nataly Kelly

He moved on to talk about how the media is covering stories related to translation. For example, he mentioned the first Skype translator demo and emphasized that it was kind of a fiasco. “But the press loved it, so the story was positive,” he stated. “The press was really interested in translation; maybe not just the type of translation that we want to talk about.” As a contrast, he indicated that for 350+ articles found online about the Skype translator demo, there were only 13 articles on the International Translation Day. “The latter is not an attractive story,” he concluded.

“We are right now in the process of a supernova”

The speaker reminded those who attended his session how there wasn't much of a translation industry before the 1980s. Back then, there were mostly individuals offering their services, but then translation technology came along and things really changed.


Here's the time line Jost presented to the audience:

  • 1980s ― Translations (Documents, paper) > 10 languages
  • 1990s ― Localization (Software, digital) > 25 languages
  • 2000s ― Globalization (Simship, static web) > 40 languages
  • 2010s ― Integration (Integration in enterprise systems, dynamic web) 6 < > 60 languages
  • 2020s ― Convergence (Embedded in every app, on every screen, personalized) 150 < > 150 languages

“We, individual translators or small business owners, can't offer what large corporations have to offer, because we're using different technology,” he explained. “But the demand for boutique-style specialist translation businesses could grow. We're no longer an industry; we're a supernova!”

Where do we tell stories?

In the last part of his session, Jost listed a few ways translators can tell better stories about themselves and our collective activities.

  • Professional websites and blogs
  • Social media posts: “You can create a good on-line persona with 100 tweets; but it only takes 1 tweet to kill that persona!”
  • Other forms of electronic outreach: podcasts, YouTube channels, Tumbler, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.
  • Industry-specific engagements: conferences such as the ATA's
  • Not-for-profit engagements: Translators Without Borders's take on how translators have helped spread news about ebola
  • Talks: sharing your knowledge with peers or educating potential clients
  • Publications articles, books, etc.
  • Any kind of communication with potential clients

Jost's Recommended reading on positive stories that shed a light on the translation industry:

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RAFA LOMBARDINO is a translator and journalist from Brazil who lives in California. She is the author of "Tools and Technology in Translation ― The Profile of Beginning Language Professionals in the Digital Age," which is based on her UCSD Extension class. Rafa has been working as a translator since 1997 and, in 2011, started to join forces with self-published authors to translate their work into Portuguese and English. She also runs Word Awareness, a small network of professional translators.