Re: translating jobs, my gosh, I wish I could get into them. I am almost fluent in Mandarin Chinese but I still feel like I’m leagues away from being able to translate anything other than a simple children’s book. You guys are lucky!

Also, just read over the “chef author” contract. You give up all rights and have to indemnify them, for, like, $100. Not at all cool.

There are people over there who do well and others who don’t. It depends on what you are writing about. They have changed their pay structure, so I can’t really comment on how well you would do if you started now.

Yes, applying for lots of things is part of the deal….

I have just recently begun freelancing, and started out at eLance, which I must say was one of the more soul-deadening experiences of my entire life. If writing can be made an assembly-line process, then most of the people who post jobs there are well on their way to doing so. Although I got a couple jobs there, they were the most mindless tasks I have ever had the pleasure of completing – and I worked in foodservice at one point during college, lol.

Then I found this site… LA! LOL.

The difference in quality in the jobs posted here and those posted on the freelance-bidding sites is obvious from the first glance.

Thanks to your site, I found a long-term position that’s just what I’m looking for – very part-time, very interesting. Mind you I applied for several before finding this one, but that’s part of the deal, right?

Thanks again for all you do, and please keep up the good work.

Now to get tomorrow’s work done. I live in Northern VT and was just advised there is now a tornado warning until 6pm tonight. If it’s anything like the tornado we had that they later retracted and said it was straight sheer winds, I’ll not have power for the next four days

@ Lori and Lisa: You are welcome!

@ Lisa: I had a friend from Quebec City come to visit one time and when we were talking in French, I found her accent a little difficult to understand. She kept saying something that sounded liked “des fouets” – which means whips and it didn’t make sense. Finally I clued in to the fact that she was saying “des fois” (sometimes). Maybe she found me hard to understand too…but she was kind enough not to say anything.

Funny how two people can be speaking the same language but sound so different. I guess the same thing happens when people are speaking English.

@Jodee — It’s funny that you mention the differences between Quebec and Paris French. I live in Maine, and had teachers from Quebec and France… ooh, the differences!

Thanks, too, Jodee, for the extensive and early lists of leads. I’m another one who loves to start my East Coast work days with this site, so I appreciate your work very much!

Lisa

Thanks for a great list, Jodee!

Okay — now you owe it to us… what was the forbidden phrase?

@ Ann G: I took French Immersion for six years (starting in Grade 7) and the first teacher I had would explain the difference between expressions between Canadian French and French French. We were told that even though he was explaining this stuff to us, that using those expressions would not be acceptable on a test.

He also told us a few put downs that Canadian French people use and one in particular was considered very vulgar…we were “never” to use it. Well, one day he was angry with me for something I had done and was going up one side of me and down the other (in front of the whole class) and I got angry and used the forbidden expression on him! (I figured I was in trouble anyway and you might as well just let ‘er rip. Yes, I was in a whole heap of trouble, but you know, he shouldn’t have behaved like that either.)

My former sis-in-law says the same is true of Spanish. She was born and raised in Costa Rica and now lives in London. The Spanish they speak in Costa Rica is nothing like the Spanish they speak in Spain. In fact, she recently visited with her daughter (she’s wants her to be bilingual) and stocked up on Spanish children’s books here because the ones she buys in London are teaching her daughter Spain’s Spanish and she struggles with it.

Just kidding – those jobs are great for people who have those skillsets. I often wish I had something more distinguishable about me.

Who does the translation jobs? How’d you get into it? I translated a book from English to French once, but that was years ago. I’d love to get back into it, though I’d probably be better off brushing up on my Spanish. Any advice?

Is their economy that much better?