Conferences, continuing education, and professional development

In this episode, Eve and Corinne discuss conferences, continuing education, and professional development for freelance translators. A very special shoutout to Alaska-based Spanish to English translator Stacy Evans, who suggested this topic in a review she left us on iTunes!

As freelancers, we’re responsible for our own professional growth, and there are so many options out there. How can we best budget our available time and money, so that we get the most out of our professional development efforts. We offer specific tips on:

• Why conferences, continuing education, and professional development are important
• How to determine your priorities when planning for your professional growth
• How to pursue professional development in the language professions and in your areas of specialization
• How to make the most of your investment when you attend an in-person event
• How to budget financially for your professional growth
• Our favorite professional development resources

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Eve’s ATA webinar on Killer networking skills for language industry professionals (recording)
• The US Small Business Administration
• Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs): Coursera (English and other languages) and Fun MOOC (primarily French)
• SDL Trados training on YouTube
• memoQ training on YouTube
• HubSpot Academy: online content marketing courses
• Gotham Writers: writing classes online and in New York City
• The University of Colorado’s mini law school: in person in Boulder, CO, or live-streamed
• The University of Colorado’s mini med school: in person in Aurora, CO, or as a MOOC
• eCPD webinars, lots of live and recorded webinars specific to the translation and interpreting professions
• Cambridge Global Payments: blog and webinars about international payment issues
• The ATA French Language Division podcast
• Athena Matilsky: personal trainer for French and Spanish interpreters

Click the audio player link to listen online

Right-click the link below to download the MP3.
Chrome/Firefox: Choose “Save Link As”
Internet Explorer: Choose “Save target as”
Safari: Choose “Download Linked File”
Conferences, continuing education, and professional development