I'd like to mentor a translator, what are my options?
Thread poster: Gregory Flanders
Gregory Flanders
Gregory Flanders  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:52
French to English
+ ...
Sep 10, 2018

After fifteen or so years working as an independent translator, and after receiving a great deal of help from other translators over the years, I've decided I'd like to give back a little. A few weeks ago I started a little blog (www.translatoruniversity.com), to put down my thoughts about starting out in our profession.

It is still very much a work in progress, and it made me think I mi
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After fifteen or so years working as an independent translator, and after receiving a great deal of help from other translators over the years, I've decided I'd like to give back a little. A few weeks ago I started a little blog (www.translatoruniversity.com), to put down my thoughts about starting out in our profession.

It is still very much a work in progress, and it made me think I might be better served helping real translators with real questions rather than guessing what might help someone just starting out. Does anyone have any experience with mentoring here on Proz.com or elsewhere? If you've actively mentored translators in the past, how did you set up your sessions? Email/skype?

Any suggestions are welcome, thank you!
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Nicole König
Nicole König  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:52
German to English
+ ...
Free webinar on mentoring for translators coming up Sep 10, 2018

Hi Gregory!

I love your idea of paying it forward/giving back, hats off to you!

Just my 2 cents: there's a couple of great programs on mentoring out there and maybe your expertise and enthusiasm for helping the next generation of junior translators would reach further and do more good when bundled with the power of others?

Virginia Katsimpiri started an amazing program, for example.

Coming up is a free webinar on all things mentoring for langua
... See more
Hi Gregory!

I love your idea of paying it forward/giving back, hats off to you!

Just my 2 cents: there's a couple of great programs on mentoring out there and maybe your expertise and enthusiasm for helping the next generation of junior translators would reach further and do more good when bundled with the power of others?

Virginia Katsimpiri started an amazing program, for example.

Coming up is a free webinar on all things mentoring for language pros: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/coffee-hour-webinar-8 with Virginia Katsimpiri and Paula Arturo.

Let me know if you'd like to brainstorm more.
Thank you for giving back to the community!

Nicole
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:52
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Gregory Sep 10, 2018

I mentored several junior colleagues in the past when I worked in-house but not yet on Proz. I also like the idea of giving back and there are a lot of ways of doing that besides mentoring, Kudoz being one of them. I’ve seen that you stopped helping the Kudoz network several years ago… Is there a reason?

 
Fiona Grace Peterson
Fiona Grace Peterson  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 10:52
Italian to English
No justification necessary Sep 11, 2018

Teresa Borges wrote:

I’ve seen that you stopped helping the Kudoz network several years ago… Is there a reason?


I don't see why anyone should have to justify their participation (or lack of) in Kudoz. While it is a great tool in theory, there are a lot of aspects of the Kudoz system that make it frustrating to use and have nothing to do with a lack of willingness to help others.


 
Mirko Mainardi
Mirko Mainardi  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 10:52
Member
English to Italian
No harm in asking? Sep 11, 2018

Fiona Grace Peterson wrote:

Teresa Borges wrote:

I’ve seen that you stopped helping the Kudoz network several years ago… Is there a reason?


I don't see why anyone should have to justify their participation (or lack of) in Kudoz. While it is a great tool in theory, there are a lot of aspects of the Kudoz system that make it frustrating to use and have nothing to do with a lack of willingness to help others.


Yes, but... how does your stern remark fit in here, and what's the harm in asking? The OP asked "what are my options" in relation to helping colleagues, so "kudoz" does qualify, although we might very well have different opinions about its usefulness and general setup (and I do have reservations about it myself).


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:52
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
@Fiona Sep 11, 2018

Fiona Grace Peterson wrote:

Teresa Borges wrote:

I’ve seen that you stopped helping the Kudoz network several years ago… Is there a reason?


I don't see why anyone should have to justify their participation (or lack of) in Kudoz. While it is a great tool in theory, there are a lot of aspects of the Kudoz system that make it frustrating to use and have nothing to do with a lack of willingness to help others.


It was quite an innocent question and of course no justification is necessary to stop participating. I’m quite aware of the frustrations associated to Kudoz, but for me it has been a way of helping others to the best of my knowledge. I worked 20 years as in-house translator and I miss the camaraderie we had so quite often I’m not competing for points I’m just trying to be helpful that’s why instead of proposing a translation I prefer starting a discussion: every once in awhile a brilliant idea comes out of nowhere…


Valérie Ourset
 
Fiona Grace Peterson
Fiona Grace Peterson  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 10:52
Italian to English
Proz mentoring programme Sep 11, 2018

Mirko Mainardi wrote:

Yes, but... how does your stern remark fit in here, and what's the harm in asking?


My remark "fits", because if the OP stopped contributing to Kudoz, he's obviously perfectly aware of its existence (he has been a site member for over ten years after all) and probably has very good reasons for ceasing to contribute. "Brilliant ideas" are fine - I simply think there are better and worse ways of expressing such ideas. "Kudoz is a great way of helping colleagues" comes across - IMHO - a little better than "is there a reason you stopped contributing"? Because the latter is really no-one's business but Gregory's, especially given the recent degeneration of this particular site feature, in my language pair at least.

There is the Proz mentoring programme, however I see you need to be a CPN member to mentor someone:

https://www.proz.com/guidance-center/mentoring-program
https://www.proz.com/faq/4376#4376



[Edited at 2018-09-11 11:04 GMT]


Nicole König
 
David Hayes
David Hayes  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:52
French to English
Contact other people Sep 12, 2018

There are other people doing exactly the same thing, either on their own initiative or under the supervision of a professional body. A quick internet search will come up with the more well-known examples. I suggest contacting them and asking if they'd be willing to advise you. Personally, I have no experience of mentoring.

 
Gregory Flanders
Gregory Flanders  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 10:52
French to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for your suggestions! Sep 12, 2018

I've noted the Proz.com offerings, thank you for posting them! (Not sure why I didn't find them myself in the first place). I'll look into the mentoring program and report back here if I do end up finding people to work with.

As for Kudoz, I still occasionally use the service, but I was a little turned off by the competitive nature of the whole thing. Perhaps I just ran into a few bad apples though, I might jump in and offer my help again.

I'll also be attending the "C
... See more
I've noted the Proz.com offerings, thank you for posting them! (Not sure why I didn't find them myself in the first place). I'll look into the mentoring program and report back here if I do end up finding people to work with.

As for Kudoz, I still occasionally use the service, but I was a little turned off by the competitive nature of the whole thing. Perhaps I just ran into a few bad apples though, I might jump in and offer my help again.

I'll also be attending the "Coffee Hour" about mentoring that Nicole pointed out, thanks!
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I'd like to mentor a translator, what are my options?







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