There are so many resources out there for translators and others who work with languages on a daily basis. Where do you start? And more importantly, where do you finish? When do you say, “Okay, that’s good for now. I don’t need any more sites to pull up, books to pull out, glossaries to create”? I’ve worked with languages for quite a while now, and I haven’t reached that point yet. But I imagine there might be a point in time where I think I have more than enough to work with. Would that restrict me though? Since the languages we work with are constantly changing, are we allowed to put our feet down and not budge another inch?
One of the greatest qualities translators/interpreters/language teachers have in common is curiosity. We’re constantly learning since our material is not the same day in, day out. We have to learn new words, new ideas as our clients, our source texts, our classes change on sometimes a daily basis. Sure, we have specialty areas, but can even the experts claim to know all there is to know and not learn another word? We are not static people by definition, so it’s my opinion that we can’t be afraid of a little change. We must be restless.
Here are just a few of my favorite sites to consult and train with routinely. What are some of yours?
Lingua Greca: Adventures in Technical Translation
They offer a weekly collection of favorite sites, lists, and articles: http://linguagreca.com/blog/
ATA: The Savvy Newcomer
Even for those who aren’t new to translation, this is a good place to gather ideas, resources, strategies: http://atasavvynewcomer.org/
Linguee:
This is a search engine for bilingual texts for single words or more complex phrases: http://www.linguee.com/
For the amor of language 