Just sent another newsletter out, this time packed with fun and free CPD ideas for fellow translators, copywriters, and other freelancers.

One I think looks great is Tim Clare's 'Couch to 80k Boot Camp', a free podcast that'll help you flex your creative writing muscles over 48 episodes (8 weeks).

And if that one's too short for you, you could give his '100 Day Writing Challenge' a go. That'll keep you busy for just over 3 months.

I'll start listening today. Will you?

http://www.timclarepoet.co.uk/couchto80kwritingbootcamp/

Isn't it refreshing to read some lighthearted news for a change?

"When a senior executive said in 2024 that mockery around [Abrdn's] name was corporate bullying, the Financial Times responded by publishing a post that read "Lv Abrdn aln" (Leave Abrdn alone), while City AM ran with a front page that read "Abrdn: an apology - sry we kp tkng th pss ot of yr mssng vwls"."

Another vowel, please, Rachel.

PS. What were they thinking?!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz9nkeg79gyo

#BücherFrauenAkademie

"Online-Übersetzungsakademie Französisch I" mit Dr. Katja Meintel

Für Literaturübersetzerinnen und Übersetzungslektorinnen aus dem Französischen

Frühbuchfrist: 16. März

#xl8 #LiTranslators #Übersetzung #Lektorat #Fortbildung #Workshop #Bookstodon

@vfll_lektorat

https://www.buecherfrauen.de/karriere/akademie/artikel/uebersetzungsakademie-franzoesisch-i-1

#BücherFrauenAkademie

"Sommerakademie 2025 - Text- und Körperarbeit auf Sylt"

Anmeldung noch bis zum 14. März!

#BücherFrauen #Textarbeit #Körperarbeit #Sylt #Fortbildung #Workshop #Bookstodon #Autorinnen #Übersetzerinnen #xl8

https://www.buecherfrauen.de/karriere/akademie/artikel/sommerakademie-2025-text-und-koerperarbeit-auf-sylt

When the client wants 'The Birds' but doesn't have a budget... they may just get 'Birdemic: Shock and Terror' (2010)!

We're so used to watching films with reasonable budgets, acting, and production levels that it comes as a bit of a shock when one is hilariously bad.

Due to limited funds, director and "visionary writer" James Nguyen couldn't hire a full-time film crew. Instead, cast members performed these tasks. To make the film appear more professional, Nguyen later made up names for crew members in the credits.

He also couldn't afford filming permits or good special effects, so a lot of it was shot at random locations and used truly terrible CGI.

Finally, he had to advertise the film himself by putting banners, fake blood, and fake birds all over his van. Unfortunately, he misspelt "Birdemic" as "Bidremic".

This might be a good example to use when agencies want a masterpiece on virtually no budget.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1316037/

Doing a little #SelfPromotion here. You can find me at all these links if you want to know me better. Or if you might be in need of my services.

#translation #transcreation #localisation #xl8

@xl8freelancer | Linktree

https://linktr.ee/xl8freelancer?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=561b15a9-b337-472f-a7dc-964e4ce4743d

UK colleagues: a quick reminder to check and (perhaps) boost your state pension before 5th April '25.

You can 'buy back' any missing national insurance years from 2006 to 2018 until that deadline. After that, you'll only be able to buy back the last six financial years.

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

Finished a translation project and celebrated with... deep-cleaning our kitchen extractor fan. Even replaced both filters (long overdue). Really hope it doesn't blow up when I switch it on later.

"This is how the synthetic knowledge crisis unfolds. Not through outright falsehoods, but through a gradual weakening of the criteria that distinguish knowing from appearing to know."

https://jeppestricker.substack.com/p/the-synthetic-knowledge-crisis

Being bilingual can slow down the onset of dementia by just over 5 years (in comparison to monolingual individuals), according to this article.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2468853-why-being-bilingual-really-does-seem-to-delay-dementia/

UK creatives: please take a few minutes to say "NO" to giving up copyright protection. You only have until 25th February to complete the UK government's AI consultation survey.

The good news: you won't have to complete all 52 questions! Only nine are essential, and I've found some templates you can use if you don't have time to think of your own responses.

Don't make life easy for those who couldn't care less about our work.

https://againstthebox.substack.com/p/time-to-have-your-say

Starting this snowy Monday morning with note to a project manager, reminding her that it is completely normal for words in different languages not be in the same order.

#xl8

*sigh* (Sorry for the rant, friends... this project will not be over fast enough.)

For much-needed escapism, I've been watching old films on the Internet Archive. Also found some good books there (including some German ones!).

https://archive.org/
#InternetArchive

How many social media posts, websites, articles, books, and songs are truly original these days?

Let me tell you a story...

Big Radiohead fan here. I also like The Hollies. What I didn't know:

Radiohead's "Creep" was inspired by "The Air That I Breathe" to such an extent that they were successfully sued.

Btw: "The Air That I Breathe" was written by someone else (Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood). So, the liner notes of "Pablo Honey" credit them as 'co-writers' these days.

I know both songs well and I NEVER noticed the similarity until today.

Don't believe me? Listen to The Moon Loungers' lovely ballad "Creep Vs The Air That I Breathe".

Also: THIS post was inspired by one I saw on Instagram today, which in turn was inspired by Hugh Grant's scary monologue on the Radiohead vs Hollies saga in the film "Heretic".

I guess truly original content is pretty rare today, don't you? And that's not counting AI-generated copy.

#Originality
#Plagiarism
#Content #xl8 #Songs #Radiohead

#AntiAmerican sentiment can manifest in the weirdest ways. For instance, I'm currently #translating a museum exhibition & while I often suggest including imperial measurements in parenthesis for the benefit of foreign (i.e., American) visitors, the project manager and I have basically decided... meh, let's not bother.

Petty? Probably. But it's another example of the little paper cuts I think Americans will find themselves increasingly encountering thanks to their two-year-old bully.
#xl8

I'm going on vacation this Saturday, yay! I'll be visiting Ilha Grande (Rio de Janeiro), and it'll be the first time ever. I'll go back to work on Feb 24th. What are you up to this week?

Relevant für alle, die eine bestätigte (vulgo: 'beglaubigte') Übersetzung benötigen, weil sich viele Übersetzer/-innen auch bei Geschäfts- und Privatkunden preislich am auf Justizbehörden zielenden JVEG orientieren:
https://bdue.de/aktuell/news-detail/pauschale-jveg-erhoehung-und-neuregelung-der-vormuender-und-betreuerverguetung-passieren-bundestag
#xl8 #1nt #translation #interpreting

Hey, Translators! IJET 33, JAT's annual Japanese/English translation and interpretation conference, is going to be May 9-11 in Fukuoka, Japan. Registration is open, and Early Bird pricing ends Friday! Sign up now to save 5,000 yen. (Boosts appreciated!) #Japan #Translation #xl8 ijet.jat.org

International Japanese-English...

As a translator, what I mostly think about is failure. I have paralysing fear of being perceived as flawed. Maybe it comes from always having felt less than and different (I'm #ActuallyAutistic).

Maybe the question I should be asking myself is: How can I keep working as a translator?

#ActuallyAutistic #Neurodivergent #MentalHealth #xl8 #Neurodiversity #AutismResearch

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