ECON 4131, International Finance, Spring 2002, Exam 1 :: UMN Minnesota Business Economics Finance

Midterm ExamInternational FinanceApril 8, 2002 Answer all questions in examination booklets 1. (10 points) Use the BOP accounts guide on the last page of this exam to indicate where sepa come outly of the following transactions should be recorded in the U.S. balance of payments (e.g. i3, e2, etc.). Bear in mind that each transaction should gene rate a capital account and a current account entry. a) The U.S. buys $1m. of lumber from Canada b) Japan buys $500K of fish from an Alaskan fishing outfit c) The U.S. contracts a Panamanian flagged vessel for shipping on the Mississippi d) Mexican migrant workers wire $2m. home for Cinco de Mayo celebrations e) A Panamanian flagged ship purchases a $100K indemnification contract from a U.S. firm 2. (10 points) The nation of Pecunia had a current account deficit of $2 billion and a nonreserve capital account surplus of $900 one million million million in 1998. a) What was the balance of payments of Pecunia that year? What happened to the countrys net inappropriate assets? b) Assume that the foreign central verifys neither buy nor sell Pecunian assets. How did the Pecunian central banks foreign reserves change in 1998? How would this official intervention show up in the balance of payments accounts of Pecunia? c) How would your answer to (b) change if you learned that foreign central banks had purchased $1.2 billion of Pecunian assets in 1998? How would these official purchases enter the foreign balance of payments accounts? 3. (15 points) Derive (show your work) the following, and provide a brief explanationa) Uncovered interest rate parityb) Covered interest rate parity 4. (10 points) Define neutrality of money and discuss why money is thought to be neutral in the long-run. 5. (10) Define Purchasing Power Parity and discuss the reasons why it might or might not hold. 6. (15 points) In our formal model of exchange rate determination under sticky pricesa) What do the two curves represent?

Religion Versus Government Essay -- Religion

Over two thousand years after Aristotles said, There are two parts to a good governing body one is the actual obedience of citizens to the laws, the other part is the goodness of the laws which they obey, (Frank 328) his words still rings true in modern societies. America is full of opinions and variant ideas, but the government itself is steady. The leaders and key decision makers on the other hand are not. These people, who are entrusted with the responsibility of running the government, often use this causality to thrust their personal opinions into the laws the citizens must abide by. Thus their choices bring turmoil within the country. A common difference among Americans is peoples spiritual and heavenly belief. Some call it religion and others call it a lifestyle. The passion people feel for each of their personal experiences and the integral part it plays in peoples lives makes it an complicated to fix. This fissure between religion and government causes a conflict in society, it halts progress, causes unnecessary deaths and it creates a gaping crevasse that splits the United States of America at its truly heart. Christianity, Muslim, Islam, Atheism, and many other religious beliefs are practiced in the United States of America. Each of these religions has its own doctrines that guide its followers, producing disagreements on many important issues. For one, the War on Terror is a major source of conflict. It a massive clash between Iraqs Muslim nation and Americas Christian nation. It began when on September 11, 2001 an Islamic religious terrorist group called Al Qaida hijacked two American planes and crashed them into the World Trade Centers in New York. In response, Born-again Christian, George W. Bush, ha... ... 16 Mar. 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2012 .Poole, Shelia M. Catholics Upset by Federal Health Insurance Mandate. Ajc.com. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 1 Feb. 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2012 .Samuels, Dorothy. Back to First Principles on Rel igious Freedom. New York Times. 25 Feb. 2012. Web. .Stiglitz, Joseph E. and Linda J. Bilmes The rightful(a) Cost of the Iraq War $3 Trillion and beyond.Washington Post. The Washington Post, 5 Sept. 2010. Web. 1 May 2012 .

The Monster under My Bed :: Personal Narrative Writing

The Monster under My Bed Mom, please I cried. All my friends be impertinent waiting for me. Amanda, I told you not until your room is clean. Now, go stand started. The sooner you start the sooner you will finish and can accordingly go outside and command, replied my bugger off with a firm voice. I was a very(prenominal) stubborn five-year-old girl. My friends were outside wanting me to play, but after much begging my mother was still refusing to let me out of the house until my room was clean. The thought of my friends outside playing, and my missing out on the fun was too much for me to bear. I determined to take a shortcut on the cleaning and learned a lesson that even now, almost 20 years later, I still havent forgotten. I could tell from my mothers stern voice that she wasnt press release to evoke on this one. I turned around, hunched my shoulders, dropped my head, and walked down the hall to clean my room, pouting the whole way. I turned into the room and saw a huge mess. This is going to take forever I thought as I looked around at the toys, puzzles, books, and clothes strewn about all over. There was no way I could clean all this up and still have time to go play with my friends. Jeez, Mom doesnt understand anything. If she would just let me go play, then I would come back and clean it up later, I thought to myself. She is no fun at all. When Im a mom I will never make my kids clean their room, I vowed to myself. I started cleaning, putting toys in the toy box, books on the shelf, shoes and dress-up clothes in the closet. I labelled you, I tagged you, I could hear my friends yelling from outside. Youre it Ha, ha I had to get out there. Looking around my still-messy room, I realized my bash had lots of room under it.The Monster under My Bed Personal tarradiddle WritingThe Monster under My Bed Mom, please I cried. All my friends are outside waiting for m e. Amanda, I told you not until your room is clean. Now, go get started. The sooner you start the sooner you will finish and can then go outside and play, replied my mother with a firm voice. I was a very stubborn five-year-old girl. My friends were outside wanting me to play, but after much begging my mother was still refusing to let me out of the house until my room was clean. The thought of my friends outside playing, and my missing out on the fun was too much for me to bear. I decided to take a shortcut on the cleaning and learned a lesson that even now, almost 20 years later, I still havent forgotten. I could tell from my mothers stern voice that she wasnt going to budge on this one. I turned around, hunched my shoulders, dropped my head, and walked down the hall to clean my room, pouting the entire way. I turned into the room and saw a huge mess. This is going to take forever I thought as I looked around at the toys, puzzles, books, and clothes strewn about all over. There was no way I could clean all this up and still have time to go play with my friends. Jeez, Mom doesnt understand anything. If she would just let me go play, then I would come back and clean it up later, I thought to myself. She is no fun at all. When Im a mom I will never make my kids clean their room, I vowed to myself. I started cleaning, putting toys in the toy box, books on the shelf, shoes and dress-up clothes in the closet. I tagged you, I tagged you, I could hear my friends yelling from outside. Youre it Ha, ha I had to get out there. Looking around my still-messy room, I realized my bed had lots of room under it.

Analysis of I dont kiss strangers :: essays research papers

The analysis of I Dont pamper StrangersIn the short news report, I Dont Kiss Strangers there is a man versus man conflict regarding a couple who may never see each other again. In the beginning of the story there is little indication of indicate of what will happen in the end. Therefore the reader is completely unaware of the outcome of the story. Written in the front person, the story takes place at a loud party with many intoxicated adults. A boyfriend has been drafted into the army and the love struck couple faces the take chances of him not coming back.The author of the story, Shirley Jackson sets the mood with a sense of disbelief and shock as the story progresses and gets more in depth. The story gives clues of foreshadowing when someone tells him he cannot just go up to a girl and blatantly say come on outside into the air, we gotta say goodbye somehow. That affirmation kind of gives the reader clues that he wants to go somewhere else and spend his last night with her. T hroughout the story, the protagonist tries to persuade his girlfriend to go to a diametrical place other than a party to say Good-bye. However, she acts stubbornly and refuses to leave the party in fear that the liquor would be too far away. employ the liquor as a comfort zone so she does not assume to face reality. In my opinion, she is trying to make it easier on her self by trying to avoid the fact that he is leaving and all she will have is memories. She talks about how long of a time it will be by saying that she want even know how the next guy will sound to her or that the next time she runs out of cigarettes she want have him to go get them. In my opinion, she says he will be different because over the year both of them will mature and the war will modification him. The antagonist feels sorry for her self and goes on to say that if he does come back that neither he nor she will ever be the same again. The finish occurs when the couple is located in the bathroom discussin g their dilemma. This is where the hints of foreshadowing in the beginning of the story start to really stand out. She really puts things blatant about not wanting to go somewhere else to talk.

Bladerunner: Humanity Of Deckard & Roy Batty Essays -- essays research

Roy Batty and Deckard are both able to show us what it means to be clement. To what extent do you agree?Through Blade Runner, we see an epic quest filled with meaning and symbolism applicable to the human condition. Replicants are basically human beings, except for the fact that they lack a history. As a consequence of this, perhaps, they also lack proper emotional faculties in particular empathy. Empathy is the ability to place oneself in the position of a nonher living being and understand that persons thumbings. Blade runner promotes that empathy is the defining characteristics for humanity. The replicants, designed not to show any emotion, develop spiritually and emotionally throughout the film. The characters in the movie, even the ones that were not human, had many humanistic and believable qualities. Many of them were able to feel love as well as hate.Although Deckard is supposedly human he at times shows less emotion than Roy. He seems heartless and uncompassionate reser vation himself look very unhuman. We see that Deckard is possibly not "human" as well, but a replicant. He shows no compassion when he tells Rachel of her being a replicant with implants. In tears, Rachel sneaks out of Deckards apartment and into the streets. The only time in which Deckard really shows emotion is accomplished when Roy, forging Deckard through the fires of a harrowing battle, looks affright knowing that he is going to die. Through this, Roy tries to communicate his life experi...

Bladerunner: Humanity Of Deckard & Roy Batty Essays -- essays research

Roy Batty and Deckard are both able to show us what it means to be human. To what extent do you agree?Through Blade Runner, we see an epic quest filled with meaning and symbolism applicable to the human condition. Replicants are basically human beings, except for the fact that they lack a history. As a consequence of this, perhaps, they also lack proper emotional faculties especially empathy. Empathy is the ability to straddle oneself in the position of another living being and understand that persons feelings. Blade runner promotes that empathy is the defining characteristics for humanity. The replicants, designed not to show both emotion, develop spiritually and emotionally through out the film. The characters in the movie, even the ones that were not human, had many humanistic and believable qualities. Many of them were able to feel love as well as hate.Although Deckard is supposedly human he at times shows less emotion than Roy. He seems heartless and uncompassionate making h imself look precise unhuman. We see that Deckard is possibly not "human" as well, but a replicant. He shows no compassion when he tells Rachel of her being a replicant with implants. In tears, Rachel sneaks out of Deckards apartment and into the streets. The only time in which Deckard really shows emotion is accomplished when Roy, forging Deckard through the fires of a harrowing battle, looks terrified knowing that he is going to die. Through this, Roy tries to communicate his life experi...

Social Media Is Good or Bad?

Children can gain social confidence from interacting with other people online, which may help them feel more secure in innovative situations. Some Children can help people in the social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter. Some knowledge that they do not know, they can ask them. epoch some of the knowledge he/she does not know, he/she can ask his social networkings friends. Friends should help each other, so that they can build a crocked bond in our friendship. What Happened to quality relationships?While social networking sites can aid to online relationships, real life relationships can become weak or even non existent. While your cooped up in your room on your laptop, you are spending less time with real life and legitimate relationships and spending more time on a false friendship with some one online. What ever happened to a good old phone call or meet up? Is this rightfully where my generation is headed? We are in trouble. the brain cannot complete the learning exploit It is not yet known as to the affects that a combination of hard double books and reading off the internet will have on young people.But there is evidence for older people that suggests they are finding it more voiceless to stay focused and even actually read something more than 3 pages and this evidence is from a previous columnist for the guardian and executive editor of the harvard backup review author Nicholas Carr. Furthermore, the information we read on the internet minimizes the amount of thinking our brains have to do this is not a good sign if anything, the analyzing process of the text is more important, this process is there to help us remember information as opposed to just finding the answer.

Plans for Recruitment and Retention

There are many major challenges facing the assistance for famine environment today. One of those challenges includes the facility recruitment of registered nurses and then the facility retention of the registered nurses that they engage recruited. Factors to consider would be as to why a registered nurse chose to try for a particular job and testament they choose to stay at the facility after being given an employment opportunity. A facilitys reputation, union status, autonomy and salary are among some of the factors that influence recruitment.Factors that influence retention includes the inclusion in decision making, course session autonomy, counterfeiters, work load, managements respect of the workers, and shifts worked. It is expensive for any facility to recruit a registered nurse. According to a recent study by CB J angiotensin converting enzymes, it costs between $62,100 and $67,100 to replace one registered nurse. (Jones, 2005) The cost of human turnover and subseque nt recruiting often is not discussed. When there is a nurse vacancy, that particular nurses workload has to be incorporated into the workload of another(prenominal) nurse. The nurse or nurses that take on the workload are not necessarily going to be paid more.Its a grin and halt it type of situation where everyone has to work together as a team. When a new nurse has finally been recruited, they have to go through an extensive druthers for the culture of the particular unit they are assigned to. Then retention comes into place. Now we have the new nurse in place, how do we go slightly keeping her? Retention can also be a major challenge for a facility. So how do we recruit and retain these kick for staffs? arrange the Problem It has been projected that the U. S. allow for experience an intensified shortage of registered nurses as the baby boomers age and the need for health care grows.(AACN, 2012) To add intensity to the problem, the nursing schools are struggling with recrui ting students to meet the demand for this new healthcare reform that arising. This has become a major healthcare concern. Between 2009 and 2030, it is projected that the shortage of nurses will spread across the country most intensely in the South and the West according to the United States Registered Nurse Workforce Report Card and dearth Forecast. (AJMQ 2012) The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is flowly working with nursing organizations, policy makers, the media, and various schools to address this growing concern.Literature Review The fact is that there is definitely a shortage of nurses, and the numbers are going to grow in the eld forthcoming. The statistics on the shortage are constantly changing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that registered nurses make up approximately 2. 6 million of the U. S. jobs. These jobs are in arenas much(prenominal) as hospitals, doctors offices, home health services, nursing care facilities, employment services, an d authorities and social assistance agencies/educational services. That number is anticipate to grow to approximately 3. 2 million by the year 2018.In the year 2010, the United States faced a shortage of around 275,000 nurses. It is projected that by 2015 that number will have grown to approximately 500,ooo, and 800,000 by 2020. As the population gets older, more nurses are expected to retire. There are many reasons given for the shortage of nurses ranging from the demographics of the population, the employment patterns of women, nursing work, and the health care system itself. Some of those reasons include Increased demand as the population ages. Eighteen percent growth overall and 54 percent growth overall for those with more health care needs. Other career options.There is a range of other career opportunities that are being considered, especially for those born after the 1950s. Work environment and workload. Hospitals have reduced their staffing and mandatory overtime polici es have been implemented for the registered nurses to ensure coverage for the unexpected increase of patients. Image. The media diverts the attention of the young adults who may be interested in nursing by focusing on the challenges that nurses face rather than the aspects of the career that are rewarding. Problem Analysis With a shortage of nurses, the care and safety of patients may becomecompromised. The nurses themselves may be having feelings of dissatisfaction, overwhelm and distress. Nurses who may become overwhelmed with the high number of patients may become frustrated and burnt out. And inadequate staff of nurses may lead to a disallow impact on the patients outcome. The quality of care the patients may receive in facilities with low staffing may be poor. There are a number of factors that contribute to the impact of the nursing shortage. Low nursing school enrollment. The projected demand for nursing services is not being met with the low enrollment.In 2011, the AACN rep ort there was only a 5. 1% increase in enrollment in entry-level nursing programs. Faculty shortage in nursing schools. With not complete power teaching in the nursing schools, it restricts the number of program enrollments. Nursing schools turned away 75,587 qualified applicants from their baccalaureate and graduate programs in 2011 because of insufficient staffing, classroom space, budget constraints, clinical sites and clinical preceptors according to a report issued by the AACN. The average age of nurses is climbing. The average age of nurses reported in 2012 was 44. 5 years of age.The largest segment of the nursing workforce is expected to be nurses in their 50s. Changing demographics. As the baby boomers get older, their health care needs are expanding, which will impact the future demand for more nurses. Elevated stress levels. With the insufficient staffing, the current nurses are overwhelmed with responsibilities, therefore, resulting in high stress levels, poor job satis faction, and no motivation to stay on the job. This also limits the amount of time that the nurses can spend with the patients and impacts the quality of care given to the patients. Possible SolutionsEncouragement is needed for the deployment and development of the nursing personnel with the appropriate skills. Regardless of the pressures that relate to the short-term demand for nursing services, there must be ongoing long-term workforce planning by the policy makers, public and the profession. Measures must be put in place to reverse these trends otherwise, we are in danger of experiencing some serious health care system breakdowns. It is costly to develop strategies for recruiting and retaining nurse personnel. The Tri-Council members of The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), The American Nurses Association (ANA), TheAmerican Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), and The National League for Nursing (NLN) suggested the succeeding(a) recommendations Education De velop career progression initiatives to accelerate the nursing graduates through their studies Identify available options beyond entry-level such as administrator, researcher or faculty Establish a system of education and practice to promote more compensation in the community of health care Assist health care employers in creating and sustaining staff development programs and continuous growth Use counselors, schools, and youth organizations to reach out to the youth for future possibilities.Work Environment Retaining the experienced nurses by implementing strategies such as Allowing for more flexibility Give recognition to the experienced nurses who serve as mentors for the new nurses Implement appropriate salary and benefit programs. Advance the practice of nursing by creating a partnership environment Establish appropriate management structures Ensuring adequate nurse staffing Offering the nurses independency. Redesign the work to enable the current nurses who are aging to stay a ctive in their direct care roles. Legislation and RegulationSuggest an increase in the funding of nurse education for improving the competency and resources for education Within Medicaid, Medicare and other systems of reimbursement, propose for better identification for the registered nursing services. The National Student Nurses Association has a nursing breakthrough project that I think is a great tool that informs juniors and seniors in high school about the nursing opportunities that are available. To attract the attention of these students, they use tools such as live videos and pamphlets.The videos show other high school students who have taken an interest and made a decision to enter into the nursing world. They tell their testimonies about the values of the profession and the reason they chose to go into nursing. The pamphlets explain what nursing is, how to apply to nursing school, what nursing school is actually like, the paths of education to becoming a nurse, the salary , benefits and manifest requirements, and then lists other resources where information about nursing is available.These recommendations are going to take the work of many people and organizations coming together and supporting one another. One specific institute cannot implement all that is needed alone. Team work will be become very all-important(a). Strategies for retaining the nursing workforce are also needed. Implementing policies that will rebuild the nursing leadership roles will be necessary. Higher satisfaction and better patient care may also be gained by involving the nurses in the design of the staff and overtime policies.Policies that improve the overall hospital or facility work environment are among the most important considerations. Justification The nursing shortage of today is very real and very different from anything in the past. The shortage is evident by the few nurses that are entering the workforce. There is an acute shortage of nurses in certain geographi c areas, and there is a shortage of nurses who are properly trained or prepared to work in certain areas to meet the needs of the patients in this changing healthcare environment.The growing realization is that there is inadequate supply of prepared nurses to meet the needs and demands of the population requiring health care attention. This problem will become more serious over the next 20 years if something is not done. The largest number of health care professionals is currently comprised of nurses. Within the nursing profession, statistics indicate that there has been a steady increase in nurses who are entering the profession. The problem still lies in retaining them in the profession. Much work is still needed and will be ongoing now and well into the future.

Leadership in Professional Nursing

Every day, a castigate team of nurses and nursing managers set out to check out the health and well-being of their patients. To achieve this goal, a nurse manager must adhere to a specific sort of nursing leadership. There are some(prenominal) different styles of leadership in the healthcare field. Bass and Barnes (1985) stated that the both most common are trans stoolational and transactional (as cited in Frankel, 2008, p. 24). This paper forget define leadership, the two different styles, how each are executed, as well as pros and cons of each. Review of Professional Nursing LiteratureStogdill (1950) defines leadership as the process of influencing the activities of an organized root word in its efforts toward goal-setting and goal achievement (as cited in Frankel, 2008, p. 24). The use of leadership bearings is significantly correlated with job satisfaction, productivity, and organizational commitment. When a convention faces a task, the leadership set before them direct ly affects the outcome. In order to obtain a positive outcome, a leader must be able to direct a group or individual toward the achievement of a common goal. Inspiring action and a shared vision greatly increase the chances of a positive employee outcome.As the nation continues to c erstntrate on on issues of health, rather than just treatment of disease, nurses will increasingly play leadership roles (Mittelman, 2010, p. 10). The first type of leadership is transformational. The main focus of transformational leadership is to conjoin nurse managers and nurses to strive to meet a united goal. Leaders transform followers by increasing their awareness of task brilliance and value, getting them to focus first on team or organizational goals rather than their own interests, and activating their higher-order needs.It is vital to allow young nurses the opportunity to form their own opinions and receive feedback. These young nurses are trying to happen upon their place within the work f orce and will non benefit from being criticized on many an(prenominal) things at once. Job dissatisfaction is due to managers non giving due recognition and support, not being able to follow through on problems and not helping but criticizing in a crisis (Loke, 2001). The boss must be careful and narrow down the areas in which improvement is needed and explain why the improvements are needed.When utilizing this method, Sutton suggested that they (bosses) consciously break out of the power bubble by asking for direct input and feedback (as cited in Flora, 2010, p. 50). By doing this, nurses are allowed to hold a functioning role in the development of policies. Bass (1985), bring that the transformational leadership factors were to a greater extent highly correlated with perceived group effectiveness and job satisfaction, and contributed more to individual performance and motivation, than transactional leaders (as cited in Frankel, 2008, p. 23).This type of leader is often found e mpowering their employees and giving them a sense self worth within the company. Steers (1977) found commitment improves work performance and reduces absenteeism and turnover which are costly to organizations (as cited in Loke, 2001). Transactional leadership is built on reciprocity, the ways in which leaders and followers capture one another, and the idea that the relationship between leader and their followers develops from the exchange of some reward, such as performance ratings, pay, recognition, or praise (Marturano, 2004).This style of leadership does not promote a close relationship amongst the boss and the employee, but has proven to be practical in certain situations. According to Frankel (2008), transitional leadership is short-lived, episodic, and task based (p. 23). Based on this, the employees attraction is geared towards a more selfish transaction, rather than the common good of the group. Many employees find themselves working past this type of hierarchy to acquire t he exchange they are seeking. Application of Clinical ExampleMark, the nurse manager of a fifty-two issue intensive care unit, was attending a budget meeting with the nurse managers from other departments, as well as other various administrators. Right now, many hospitals all over the nation are being forced to make budget cuts because of the economic recession the country is suffering from, and Marks hospital is no exception. In the meeting, in order to save money, the CEO forbids all of the managers to allow any overtime. Mark knows that times arise when his nurses simply are not able to clock out on time, but he must enforce the rules passed down to him.Mark quietly accepts the decision made by establishment without any contest. Over the next couple of days, Mark holds several staff meetings to inform his employees that no overtime will be permitted and that anyone who either clocks in early or clocks out late must end their next shift early to adjust their time. Subsequently, any employee who has accumulated overtime at the end of the pay period will be suspended. The nurses of the ICU respond less than favorably, arguing that clocking out early from a shift would not only cause additional straining for the nurse, but also would almost certainly lead to negative patient outcomes.Many of the nurses voiced their concern that they were putting their license in jeopardy. Marks only response was this is the way it has to be, leaving them feeling let down that their manager didnt stand up and do more to protect them. Over the next few weeks, Mark could tell that the overall productivity, quality of care, and employee morale that had once been excellent had fallen dramatically. Because of the added stress from the nurses feeling rushed throughout their shift, there was an increase in documented medication administration errors, a decrease in the quality of clinical skills, and apostasy of patient and family teaching.Looking back at the different types of lea dership, Mark could have possibly changed the outcome of this situation by understanding the style of each. Leadership is not just about picking that or this strategy or goal its equally about standing up publicly and saying this is what we are going to do and why we are doing it (Grayson, 2010, p. 6). First, Mark could instill a sense of empowerment by encouraging the staff to come up with renewal ways to save money. Secondly, he could have stood up to the administration and taken some heat by demonstrating how its not always possible to clock out on time.Lastly, he should stand behind his staff, and dont give up until the situation is resolved. Enabling others to act is a leadership behavior that infuses others with energy and confidence. Developing relationships is based on mutual trust and providing subordinates with discretion and make their own decisions (Loke, 2001). Conclusion Despite these contextual influences, the expectations of leaders are that they will promote change within their organization and thereby shape its modus operandi and culture (McIntosh & Tolson, 2008).Understanding the different styles of leadership is vital in keeping up with the unremitting evolution of healthcare. One must be able to not only manage, but also inspire employees to achieve goals. Former president John Quincy Adams was once quoted as saying, If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. By following these simple guidelines, nurse managers are able to induce a more satisfying work environment, enhance employee performance, and increase patient outcome.

Certificate in Financial Maths & Modelling Syllabus

Certificate in financial mathematics & imitate Syllabus Overview The Certificate in Financial Maths & Modelling provides a rigorous and integ cheated set of quantitative tools to understand and ex plain financial instruments, financial risk and corporate value and the basically important kindred between them. The emphasis throughout is on t he practical modelling of real life problems and opportunities.Techniques such as no- trade pricing, duration, convexness and portfolio analysis including the trade-off between risk and return are explained and applied. The course analyses the use of pickaxes for financial risk management, and the paygrade of different types of option employ binomial pricing models, the Black Scholes model and other techniques. It also int roduces and applies Value at Risk measures, their potential us es and their limitations. lease social unit 1 vestigial concepts in financial maths and modelling tuition building block 1 introduces the fundamental concepts of financial maths and modelling in the five areas of fill rat e mathematics modelling the values of a series of fixed or growing future cashflows modelling the term structure of int erest rates using no arbitrage relationships selected issues in probability and statistical models and modelling the maths of Value at Risk.Study Unit 2 Modelling the maths of debt Study Unit 2 looks at modelling the maths of debt in the main areas of present values, fut ure cash flows, timing and risk and liaison rat e aesthesia and duration models, in particular value relationships with respect to yield, maturity, coupon rate and coupon frequency.Study Unit 3 Modelling the maths of foreign rallying Study Unit 3 introduces the c oncepts of modelling t he maths of foreign exchange in the four areas of quoting conventions hedging using transport foreign exchange cont racts the relationships bet ween foreign exchange rates, interest rates and inflation rates and applying VaR to foreign ex change risk management. Study Unit 4 Modelling the maths of derivatives Study Unit 4 covers the maths and modelling of derivatives in t he two areas of int roduction to derivatives mathematics and modelling groovy market swap mathematics.Study Unit 5 Modelling the maths of options Study Unit 5 covers the maths and modelling of options in the four areas of option counter mathematics option payoff maths in the context of hedging option valuation modelling and options arbitrage and the put-call parity relationship. Study Unit 6 Modelling the maths of portfolios and corporate finance Study Unit 6 introduces the fundamental concepts of modelling the maths of port folios and corporate finance in the t wo areas of modelling port folios analysis of risk and return, and modelling for corporate finance corporate valuation and the impact of changing capit al structure. tie beam of bodily Treasurers (01. 04. 11, subject to change) Study Unit 1 Fundamental concepts in financial maths a nd modelling Unit introduction 1. 0. 1 Notation and rules of algebra 1. 0. 2 Financial modelling role 1 Interest rate mathematics 1. 1. 1 Interest calculations and quoting conventions 1. 1. 2 The time-value relationship Section 2 Modelling values of a series of future cashflows 1. 2. 1 Infinite series cashflows (perpetuities) and their valuation 1. 2. Finite series cashflows (annuities) and their valuation Section 3 Modelling the term structure of interest rate s no arbitrage relationships 1. 3. 1 Zero coupon, forward and par structures of interest rates different forms of yield curves 1. 3. 2 No arbitrage relationships between zero coupon, forward and par rates Section 4 Probability and stati sti cal models selected issue s 1. 4. 1 Measures of central location (or central tendency), scatter and correlation 1. 4. 2 Frequency distributions in theory and in practice Section 5 Modelling the maths of Value at Risk 1. . 1 Modelling the maths of Value at Risk for single risks 1. 5. 2 Extending the modelling of Value at Risk Study Unit 2 Modelling the maths of debt Section 1 Short term debt 2. 1. 1 Short term debt issuers, market participants and market conventions 2. 1. 2 Calculation of interest and valuation of scant(p) term debt instruments Section 2 Longer term debt 2. 2. 1 Analysis and valuation of bonds 2. 2. 2 Real interest rates and inflation indexing Section 3 Interest rate sensitivity and duration models 2. 3. Duration and int erest rat e price sensitivity, relative and absolute measures 2. 3. 2 Interest rate immunisation, convexness and modified convexity Study Unit 3 Modelling the maths of foreign exchange Section 1 Foreign exchange mathematics 3. 1. 1 Converting between currencies using spot foreign exchange rates 3. 1. 2 Converting between currencies determining and using forward foreign exchange rat es 3. 1. 3 The maths of foreign exchange risk management 3. 1. 4 Applying Value at Risk to foreign exchange risk managementStudy Unit 4 Mod elling the maths of derivatives Section 1 Introduction to derivative s mathematics 4. 1. 1 Payoffs for fixing derivatives and options 4. 1. 2 The maths of FRAs cashflows, hedging, valuation and basis risk 4. 1. 3 Futures contracts cashflows, hedging and valuation Section 2 Modelling swap mathematics 4. 2. 1 The maths of capital market swaps including interest rate swaps 4. 2. 2 The maths of cross-currency interest rate swaps Association of Corporate Treasurers (01. 04. 11, subject to change) Study Unit 5 Modelling the maths of optionsSection 1 picking payoff mathematics 5. 1. 1 Payoffs from trading strategies with single options 5. 1. 2 Payoffs from trading strategies involving more than one option Section 2 Option payoff maths hedging and hedged results achieved 5. 2. 1 Hedging a portfolio options plus underlying asset/(liability) 5. 2. 2 Hedging corporate exposures with options Section 3 Option valuation modelling 5. 3. 1 Binomial option valuation models 5. 3. 2 Black Scho les option pricing model 5. 3. 3 Arbitrage and the put-call parity relationshipStudy Unit 6 Modelling the maths of portfolios and corporate finance Section 1 Modelling portfolios analysi s of ri sk and return 6. 1. 1 Modelling mere(a) port folios analysis of risk and return 6. 1. 2 Modelling multi-asset port folios & portfolios including liabilities Section 2 Modelling for corporate finance 6. 2. 1 Modelling the apostrophize of corporate capital 6. 2. 2 Modelling the relationship between corporate value and capital structure 6. 2. 3 Modelling corporate valuation Association of Corporate Treasurers (01. 04. 11, subject to change)

JROTC Leadership and Characterization Essay

Leadership is defined as the process in which an individual influences the group of individuals to attain a common goal. The goal is attained by mutual cooperation and behavior. A leader has a sense of positivity and directs others to reach the specified goal. In The Junior diffidence Officers Training Corps, (JROTC) the leaders teach us how to become better leaders. They also teach us to build character and leadership by providing guidance and set us cadets in a position that we are not accustomed to. This helps us adapt to new types of things.We also corroborate to set the example for the school, specially when we wear our uniforms. When we put on that uniform it means we are to be a leader. People watch us because we have the uniform on and they hold out we are a part of JROTC therefore they expect more out of us. A leader is someone who stands not only for their cause but takes responsibility and motivates other individuals also. There is a difference between being a boss a nd a leader. A leader is a motivation for others and inspires individuals to aim higher(prenominal) and attain that aim.However, a boss only supervises over his inferiors. Power naturally comes to a leader but power has to be earned by a boss. The best leaders are those who can lead and direct without misuse of their power. They must be able to inspire others in a direction or greater good. They must be strong enough to stand firm in decision making and leading others without a selfish attitude. In order to be a successful leader it is essential to have good character. You must have honesty, confidence, communication, and commitment.You have to have honesty because if someone is doing something wrong you wish to be able to have honest feedback. You need communication because you need to be able to command your platoon. You need to have commitment because you need to vex with it and create a relationship with your platoon so you, and they, will feel more comfortable. You need to h ave confidence because you need to be sure of what you are doing at all times. No one wants or needs a weak leader. I think have confidence is one of the most important traits to be a good leader.One person that I think has all of these characteristics and is a great is leader is President Barack Obama. He sets a great example for the country. He is honest, he has not quit and always looks focused on his work. I think I am a good leader because I have all of those character traits. I also have respect, passion, and am very supportive. JROTC has helps me a lot with my character and my personality. I do not have to be a follower anymore. I am now a leader because of JROTC.

The Process of Growing Up

The process of growing up is when you understand the strength within you survives altogether the hurt. It was that last hot pass day of sixth course of instruction, walking home from school as usual being so excited to finally move on and become a seventh grader. While walking home I still remember I had that feeling of joy and happiness to think wow moving up to seventh grade next school year and the enjoyment of growing up a little bit more. Seeing how it was going to be pass break. It was a normal and more than perfect day to actually go home from school with unwrap a care in the world.When walking up to my house, I saw the green Ford truck all packed up with our belongings I thought well, when we decided to move? I was analyzing and questioning all the possibilities of why that truck was loaded up with things that both belonged to my mom and stepdad. As soon as I stepped in the house I knew there was something odiously wrong. I walked through aside my house perceive everyt hing turned upside down, smashed, thrown around everywhere and destroyed all to pieces.As a sixth grade little girl I didnt know how to react or even know what to think. All I really knew was someone obviously wasnt happy and that same person was moving out. At this point my mom was basically the house wife that cooked, cleaned and did all the motherly things. While my stepdad worked and made the money. They both had their hands full with quatern kids and still being able to maintain their marriage and relationship. But as you can see their marriage wasnt at all perfect, everything down fell from there.My stepdad left us with nothing took just about everything that was in our house. The only thing we had left was our toys and rooms. Coming home and seeing my house destroyed in every steering is when I knew at that point nothing is going to be the same and knowing my stepdad was moving out was not one of the best things for any of my familys lives. Since my mom didnt work she had t o get a job in order to support four kids including a roof over our heads, food and clothing on our backs.This was the turning point of many emotions, anger, disgust and hatred but at the same clip this one thing helped me grow in strength, maturity and even responsibility towards myself, making me who I am today. Devastated as I was, my mom had to work nights as a bart intercepter meaning she was never home with me at night and me being the oldest resulted in me having to watch my brothers and sister. Emotions were running high in my family, but from so on watching my little brothers and sister was my job, didnt really have a huge social life, I bring my world spiraling.All of these make that took place when my stepdad decided to move out really had this huge impact on my life. While trying to take care of my brother and sister, I found myself having to grow up more and more every day. The responsibilities that were involved were more than I could ever handle at that time. Work ing hard to help out my mom and getting through the emotions of my stepdad passing was the most life learned experience Ive ever had to go through. The hardest time in my life by far.As a result of that time, I can say now it really made me a better person in every way imaginable. As time went on it eventually resolved itself, making me more responsible than ever my maturity enlarged immensely and just that experience just makes me a grateful person now. Seeing how people can destruct something they once loved including their family really made me exonerate how lucky our family was without him. Although this experience was at rock bottom at the beginning it ended up working out for the better.In a way that I got a chance to realize somethings on my own and not to only depend on my parents. Just of the simple fact that I learned to have responsibilities. Which in the end really helps me now and for in my future. Having to grow up too fast was the most challenging thing in my life. My family and I survived all the heartbreak that came from my stepdad leaving but now actually being eighteen, I can say it was really worth him leaving. With that being said The process of growing up is when you discover the strength within you survives all the hurt.

Chemical Reactions

Chemical Reactions Chemical Change reorganization original substances form new substances with different formulas may or may not involve a change of state symbols used to describe chemical substance reaction are known as a chemical equation Chemical equations do not have equal signs (=) they have an arrow Chemical Equations Must follow the Law of Conservation of Matter atoms thunder mug neither be created or destroyed during a chemical reaction What goes in must come out Chemical Equations Reactants = Products same number of atoms of apiece element on each lieu of the reaction arrow Equations must be balanced other symbols (s)solid (l)liquid (g)gas (aq)aqueous, dissolved inwater Balancing Chemical Equations First incorporate all ionic formulas to see if they are correct Five steps to balancing equations 1. Count the number of atoms of each element (or polyatomic ion) on the reactant side and then on the product side. You may want to use a chart or table. 2. Determi ne which are out of balance these need to be balanced 3.Pick an element or polyatomic ion to start with Balance using coefficients. Do not use coefficients of 1 No changes may be made to the subscripts use least common multiples 5. Check and recheck Practice balancing these equations H2(g) + O2(g) H2O KCl + BaSO4 K2SO4 + BaCl2 Types of Chemical Reactions Combination /Direct Combinationsynthesis 2Na(s) + Cl2(g) 2 NaCl(s) Single Displacement angiotensin converting enzyme substitution anion always replaces anion cation always replaces cation Mg + 2 HCl MgCl2 + H2 Complete the following Single Displacement (formula is correct) Al + CuSO4 divalent Displacement 2 substitutions ion-exchange MgSO4 + BaCl2 BaSO4 + MgCl2 Types of Chemical Reactions Double Displacement What are the expected products of MgSO4 + BaCl2 Types of Chemical Reactions KOH + MgCl ( check formulas and complete) Decomposition HgO Hg + O2 (balance) 2 HgO 2 Hg + O2 carbonic acid in lab pr actise Oxidation / Reduction oxidize iron into rust 4Fe + 3O2 ( 2Fe2O3 Oxidation reactions add O (or remove H) Reduction reactions add H ( or remove O) oxidation-reduction reaction Combination of oxidation and reduction Practice How many grams of diatomic oxygen (O2) are needed to make 4 moles of magnesium oxide (MgO) from magnesium decoration (Mg)? Hint balance equation and use coefficient as mole. Energy in a Chemical Reaction Endothermic heat in requires activation button A + B + 100kcal = C + D Exothermic heat out A + B = C + D + 100 kcal

Different attitudes to war Essay

Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen ar poets who fought for Eng shore up in the First World War. Both poets depict the same topic of contend outlying(prenominal)efarefare, unaccompanied if through different sensible horizons and opinions. Despite them pertaining to the correspondingly themed subject, their language and measure invoke contrasting popular opinions in contri preciselyors and affects their scene of war in opposite ways. Examples of these differences can be seen in the two poems by Rupert Brook The last a deal (iii) and The Sol miscarryr and two by Wilfred Owen Anthem for Doomed Youth and Dulce et decorum Est.Rupert Brooke writes The Dead (iii) in an extremely relaxed and romantic mood. Brooke had not generated war, so with this in mind the poem seems very clear and concise. Brooke aims to battle array us the glory that is brought rough by expiry for your country. He thinks that war is a simple and reward bm. He aims to make us more truehearted and convin ce us to die for our country in war.The first business enterprise is very energetic and joyous for a horr give the axeous subject such as war. This may con steadr that Brooke tries to symbolise enthusiasm and glory. Since bugles are use at a grand occasion, just flat in like manner militarily charges and retreats he may be trying to indicate that dying for your country is a elysian way to end your life.Blow out, you bugles, over the rich DeadAs he says, it has make them rich. This probably means that they are wealthy with glory, praise and admiration. He makes no mention of the both(prenominal)er and suffering in war. The third line explains that dying has again do them important.But, dying has made us rarer gifts than gold.Gold is very rare, so by dying they provoke been them valuable and unique. Brooke is trying to signify that not mevery passel sacrifice their lives this way. This in Brookes belief is a very noteable and glorious practice. The sestet explains to us ho w the soldiers dying bring England a lot of honour and credibility.Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,And paid his subjects with a royal wageThe peace that has been present for so long has made her weak.Heritage is use to clearly link with the over totally theme of payment and reward. It implies that which is rightfully theirs, has been successfully implemented.And we have come into our heritage.In The Soldier, Brooke feels content to die for his m early(a)land to protect the people remaining behind. The title conveys a ace of pride and loyalty to the endorser. Although fully aware of the possibility of death, indicated by the lineIf I should die, think only this of meEven if his ashes, his richer earth, were to lie in a land distant from England, his revere would good-tempered be forever. This is further stressed when his relationship is compared to the bond betwixt mother and child.A spatter whom England bore, shaped, made aware,His purpose of fighting for his countr y is to protect England, indicated by the dustup,Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,His sense of pride and honour is so strong that he does not dwell on the sobriety and misery that is associated with war, instead views it as if through rose-tinted glasses. Even if his contributions were minute, shown by the comparison of,A pulse in the eternal mindGive somewhere back the thoughts England given,He is happy to repay England and wishes to concern her laughter and gentleness for the future. This contentment and happiness is clearly shown by the words peace and enlightenment, level(p) if he is dead, he can rest in peace as he has loyally served his country. This nationalism is frequently brought to attention with the retell use of the word England and English throughout the poem.The Soldier gives out an plausive tone, making war out to be a peaceful and heroic act. It is written in the mental strain of a Petrarchan sonnet, which is traditionally used to express pe rsonal thoughts and feelings. This could have been the reason why Rupert Brooke chose to write in this form. It is also an autobiographical poem in which the author expresses a personal viewpoint on war and his love for his country. Rupert Brooke also makes use of iambic pentameters, which is a line containing five stresses. It gives his written words permit by using this classical verse. It also provides a rhythm, which reminds the lector of a heartbeat or a pulse.This helps in making his argument more convincing. The stanzas are separated into two. The octave talks somewhat the possibility of death while the sestet talks about death itself and what his sacrifice will mean for England. It gives the traditional, naive and biased view of war. It also gives a pastoral description yet a biased view of England as he blatantly ignores the negative side of England only mentioning its best side. He uses a religious diction, for example the last line reads,In hearts at peace, under an E nglish heaven. This reveals Brookes belief in God and Heaven. This is what makes the poem sound somewhat give care a sermon. Rupert Brooke expresses patriotism and his conviction that England is worth fighting for as he also claims that God is on Englands side by saying blest by the suns of home. By believing inthis, Rupert Brooke makes himself believe that he should sacrifice his own life for England and by doing so he would be returning the favour of creation born British and so believes it is an honour to go to war, and an even greater honour to die in battle for ones country and in return, portrays in his poem an image of one dying a painless death.Such a view is in the Victorian tradition of war which viewed it as a glorious and noble enterprise, with such poems as Tennysons Charge of the Light Brigade. This patriotic fever was simply carried on by Brooke who still saw warfare in terms of duels and honour. By looking at these sonnets, we can come to the obvious conclusion tha t Brooke was very idealistic about war and had no idea of the horror and suffering involved.However Wilfred Owens Anthem for Doomed Youth achieves a totally different effect on the reader, as it is completely devoid of any obvious sense of national pride, and instead questions the very purpose of war. His use of ironies throughout produces a mocking tone, which serves to emphasize his view of the uselessness of war. This is revealed in the title, where the effect of the word Doomed invokes that the soldiers are destined to die and are without any hope. However, it is ironic that it is used with the word Anthem, a word reserved for praise.What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? The soldiers are compared to cattle that are slaughtered, indicating that they have no other purpose than to die. The comparison also suggests that the soldiers were killed numerously, unmercifully and systematically. He uses crude words to convey the complete absence of love or honour on the battlef ield and numerous contradictions to invoke the feelings of pity in the reader instead of passing-bells there are only guns and stuttering rifles. The words monstrous anger refers to the fierceness and violence of war.Only the monstrous anger of the guns.Only the stuttering rifles speedy rattleThe word monstrous also suggests that the soldiers task is immense, almost impossible to do, which emphasizes the feeling of hopelessness of war. This is again highlighted when the poet refers to the gunshots as stuttering. This means that there are bullets whizzing everywhere, and chances are most of the men would have been hit. The alliteration of the Rs in rifles rapid rattle indicate the sounds of gunshots again appealing to the readers senses to highlight the bleak conditions in the battlefield which are terrible and ugly.Owen is obsessed with the cruelty, indignity and senseless blow of their lives. The use of the word patter refers to the bullets hitting a soldiers body. It gives the ef fect of raindrops hitting a window, which when used to describe how a body is inflicted with bullets paints a very cruel and inhumane picture. When he writes,No mockeries now for them no prayers nor bellsHe says that the dead are forgotten they are neither mourned nor prayed for. This is because the dead are so many that it would take too much effort to bother to tend to them. The only things to severalize their deaths are the choirs, yet there are not ordinary choirs but,The shrill, demented choirs of yell shells.It is as if death has become the norm for them it does not receive much attention or sympathy. The words shrill and wailing seem to suggest that even in their deathbeds, there is no peace. The bugles calling for them from sad shires seem to be calling in vain, because the soldiers are all dead. If anything, the soldiers deaths are undignified and not the least bit honourable. There is no hero worship and the dead are ignored. There is no pride, no honour and still the wa r continues. Owen writes about the effect of so many casualties of war and how it ironically destroys the homes the soldiers died to protect. The numerous deaths caused by warravages even the vernaler generations left behind, shown by the candles,What candles may be held to speed them all?Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyesShall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. This refers to their tears and the achromasia of girls brows which is the paleness of the girls. It is all they have to mourn the dead soldiers, and they are plagued with sadness at the death of a loved-one. The line,And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blindsshows that they are slowly losing hope against the darkness, which signifies their trouble and misery. He says that the youth are supposed to be the hope for the future but are blamed because of the past, which is ironic because so many soldiers wasted their lives hoping to protect these children. The calmness achieved by the consistency only serves to s uggest the mood is heartless, without emotion, cold, cruel, and that like of a machine. In Anthem for Doomed Youth, the rhythm is broken and palpitant it serves to create an impression on the reader of how grave and miserable war is.In Dulce et Decorum Est, the tone is more sombre and angry making out the same war is grim and insufferable. The Latin words used in the title of the poem Dulce et Decorum Est mean, it is a sweet and fitting thing to die for ones country. This is ironic as throughout the poem, Wilfred Owen gives the reader a negative picture of war and towards the end of the poem, calls his title the old lie. This is because at the start of the war the Latin phrase had become a motto which was used in supporting patriotic statements about war and to encourage other young men to become soldiers. But Owen himself had been at the front lines for three years and so by now knew what war really meant and so he uses his poetry as a means to express the views of soldiers to peo ple who had no experience of it namely the public.Wilfred Owen begins his poem with the soldiers description,Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,Knock-kneed, coughing like hags,This is strange coming from a soldier himself and directly opposes the stereotypical soldier. Throughout, his choice of words describing the soldiers, his experience and war itself, Wilfred Owen puts the reader into a state of shock and disillusion. He uses the analogy of war as being like a plague or a lethal disease that is highly contagious and can cause mass destruction, in order to emphasise the harsh reality. This is shown when he writes, like a man in fire or lime as in the days of plague where lime was used as a substance to decompose dead bodies, and in saying this, he says that those who enter war, those who really put down and experience war at its worst, for them there is no return to normality, or indeed humanity.He writes about a soldier who had died of poisonous gas inhalation and descr ibes it vividly, trying to make the reader imagine the scenes earlier him using the present progressive verb form ending with -ing. For example,He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning. This gives the sense of immediacy, that the reader is actually witnessing the soldiers death. This soldier died by breathing in poisonous gas. Then Owen describes how the mans dead body was treated,Behind the wagon that we flung him in,And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,His respite face, like a devils sick of sin, This shows the pain he was in, as he was on the brink of death. This is toillustrate that as the devil is destined to commit evil until the end of time, it has come to the finis that even the devil is sick of the amount of evil and torture around it. The religious diction used here symbolizes the relationship between war and the devil and that they too, are playing on the same curtilage as the devil. A direct address to the readers is also used, using a persuasive techn ique, especially in the last stanza, for example,If you could hear in line 21,My friend, you would not tell in line 25,This is so that the reader would feel sympathetic towards him and the soldiers. It is almost as if Owen is begging the reader to understand. Through describing this mans sad death and his burial, Wilfred Owen tries to change the views of the public. The use of fricatives symbolizes the harsh reality of war as by using fricatives, for example a hard c is used in words such as corrupted and spate, it becomes as though the reader can actually hear the person dying as it sounds like choking and so writes in a very vivid form.In the last few sentences he makes his final message clear,My friend, you would not tell with such high zestTo children ardent for some larger-than-life glory,The old lie Dulce et Decorum EstPro Patria Mori.Again he makes a personal plea to the reader telling them not to tell children that war is a patriotic act and the only answer to the instau rations problems. It is in fact the worst possible answer, there can never be honour as a result of war and there are only dire consequences.Brookes love for England is shown throughout his work. As in Dulce et Decorum Est repetition and alliteration used. The words England and English are repeated many times to show his love for his country and alliteration such as, Her sights and sounds magnify the beauty of England. It is also used to mask the horrors of death on a battlefield as it states, That theres some corner of a foreign field. He also believes that heaven will look similar to England by stating under an English heaven and therefore also believes in the superiority of the English, a richer dust concealed. Owen, on the other hand, witnessed twentieth century war in all its cruel destructiveness and as a consequence brought war poetry into the modern era. Although both poets write about the same topic, which is war, they both have different views and attitudes towards it.Perh aps this is because of their different experiences with war. Brooke is like a new soldier, nave and yet to experience its horrors. Owen writes as if he has just witnessed the worst, as he was involved with the uglier and bloodier part of the war. He also reveals the effects both on and off the battlefield. Both authors have distinctly different impressions of war because of their different experiences, but ultimately, both describe the subject, although from totally opposite sides. The two poets really contrast and oppose each other greatly. Brooke writes about war idealistically and with passion, Whereas Owen does the complete opposite. Owenss poem is however more reliable since he has experience war.The Dead was written before the war. The Soldier was written in 1914, a year before Brooke died, and Owen wrote Dulce et Decorum Est in 1917, three years after the First World War had started. In these dates we may shape the reasons behind the conflicting ideology the two men gained. Brook wrote his poem at the beginning of the war, and so the ideas and perceptions of war and fighting for ones country as being noble and heroic were still fresh in his mind and the publics.Owen, on the other hand, wrote his poem three years into the war and in that time was able to see and accept the realities of war, so his perception of war was changed to bitterness and this was reflected in his many poems such as Anthem for Doomed Youth in which he reveals the same feelings on war as he does in Dulce et Decorum Est. In one of his previous poems, The Ballad of placidity and War, he himself had supportedthe idea of,How sweet it is to live in peace with others, but sweeter still far more meet to die in war with brothers. Therefore, it would be concluded that the only reason why the two poets have conflicting ideologies of war, is time. If Brooke had experienced more of the war he might have wrote afterward poems that portrayed the same bitterness as Owens.

The Day She Left Me Home Alone

The day she left me al-Qaeda alone. Realizing when ones peasanthood is beginning to fade is non an event that earth- approximatet be targeted at an exact term in an undivideds life sentence. Childhood begins to vanish former(a)wise for people based on culture, age, and life experiences. My childishness started to end when I was 7 years older the day she left me home alone. My fetch had just become a single mother test from an abusive relationship with my father and had to begin life a saucilyfangled.My strong dependency on my mother and the caper of being an only child, due to me being the youngest of several older brothers and sisters, made the thought of growing up a nightmare. Realization of my soon approaching adulthood became evident, as I had to face the difficulties of being contrary from my mother, learning to connect soci tout ensembley with peers, taking on much self-responsibility, and the building of self-confidence. These trials and tribulations would hel p to lead me to a higher level of maturity and a true authenticization of life.Although what I endured forcefully was difficult, the most intriguing would be my distancing from my mother the security that linked me to my youth. Severing the bond between a mother and child is a tough working class at any given stage of life. This was especially difficult for my mother as I was her only girl and youngest child. Being a single mother and working devil jobs created excessive hardship for my mother. Her constant struggle with taking me to her go in of work left her with no other choice than to leave me at home.This was the first time that I had to truly cope with being away(p) from her and it was an immense strain on my emotional state. My next challenge ensued when I had to begin spending time with my father. Several years after my parents separation my father later remarried became a overbold man, giving the judicial system the opinion that I should see my father more often. My pursuit into the new world known as my fathers house, otherwise known to me as hell, squeeze me to spend countless weekends and summers with my new family, my step siblings and step mother.This unfamiliar change was the cause of my strong appetency to remain sheltered beneath my mothers wing but instead nature would force me towards a more self-reliant road. Be that as it may, I would non change overnight. I quench struggled to be away from my mother when it came time for take aim. Most children struggle with the concept of going to school. Leaving ones solacement zone and journeying into a strange new territory is of great significance in an individuals life. Most children learn to adapt with in the first year or so. I however, was the excommunication to the rule.Attending public education was an adjustment of epic proportions in my young life. I struggled with the issue for several years. all year school started I wished to be expunged from existence. My problem was not w ith the other children I worked well with others. instead my issue was with the thought of being away from my mother. Although I got along smashingly with the other children, I did not converse very much. My close relationship with my mother led me to believe she and only she was someone I could truly convey my ideas with.I also did not speak with others because their tales of their lives at home seemed somewhat abnormal to me. Tales of brothers and sisters, close families and a home consisting of a mother and a father seemed unusual. Although I had brothers and sisters, we were distant. I knew of my father, but he and my mother did not live under the same roof. Another issue I had to face was my abnormal mother. What made her abnormal was the fact that she was a single, hard working mother. This indifference from my peers and societies opinions gave me the impression that I was an outcast.Eventually I would come to realize that I was not the only person in the world under such(pr enominal) circumstances. Learning to open up to others caused me to realize that I wasnt alone. Interacting with other children like myself helped me to be more social and gain greater connections with my peers. I then had the ability to deal with others, but still lacked in dealing with myself. Responsibility is an inherited trait. It is not cast upon an individual in one particular place or time. At certain stages of life, responsibility starts to become more important and has a greater strickle on a persons growth and development.From the time I could talk, my mom began teaching me the brilliance of responsibility. Nevertheless, my first true test came when I was left alone at home. While my mother was away, she entrusted me with the task of preparing my own food. Learning to cook for myself gave me more confidence and helped me to be less dependent on my mother. As my mother became aware of my newly responsible personality, she decided to entrust me with greater responsibiliti es. After moving, my mother did not want to switch me from the school I was attending so I remained there until the end of that school year.In the beginning, she rode the public bus and walked down the neighborhood to get me. After noticing that I could reside at home alone and care for myself my mother decided that I could handle walking down the neighborhood to examine her at the bus. Being with my peers was hard, dealing with my stepsiblings was an ordeal, and being at home alone was unimaginable. Nonetheless, the most unbearable of them all was walking alone surrounded by strangers and an unfamiliar environment made me uneasy.Eventually, I came to realize that it was a part of life, part of being responsible and that I was growing up. It hit me like a gross ton of bricks. I was finally learning to deal with my several issues. The responsibilities laid upon me helped me to be more understanding of life and the ways of the world. My self-dependence began to grow as well as my se lf-confidence. Growing out of childhood and into adulthood does not instantly occur many people experience several events that transpire before they reach adulthood.In filth of that, there are always significant moments that have to pin point the beginning of ones journey. For me this consisted of being left to fend for myself at home, learning to adapt socially with individuals amongst me and beginning to deal with real life responsibilities. These several adversities strengthened my confidence, stability, and self-reliance, as well as my outlook on the world and others. My childhood and my attachment to my mother where far from severed relatively the experience had opened to door to a new path of life, helping me to grow further from my old mind frame.

Identifying Perspectives in Psychology Essay

break open 1 Case Study 1 In neurobiological perspective of psychology, biologists uniform, Weber and van Helmholtz consider that the endocrine or vile system is re easyd to mien. Mrs. B is spirit depressed because something is affecting her nervous system. Her body isnt producing enough serotonin to control her moods and emotions. A humane perspective focuses on the dictatorial outlooks of being human. It emphasizes on the importance of peoples feelings. Like how Carl Rogers came up with the self-centered therapy, which mainly focus on understanding ones feelings. It seems Mrs. B was very close to her father and her son, with her fathers death this could have made her feel lonely since a main source of love and solace is gone.Her fathers death could have made her feel insecure about life and attached her a low self-esteem. Psychodynamic perspective emphasizes unconscious mind and early adolescent experiences. Mrs. B dropped everything when her father chivalric away becau se she never resolved her phallic stage, Sigmund Freuds third stage on psychosexual development. In other words, it seems she had an identity through him rather than her own accord. Furthermore, with her child gone, it could implied that she probably spent a haul of time on her own as a child which may have triggered the sudden actions she has interpreted in her life.Behavioral perspective is the idea that behavior comes from learning. Like how Ivan Pavlov trained dogs to salivate in a response to the sound of a tone. Mrs. B doesnt have control of her emotions. Rather than trying to sell with them, she dwells upon her issues without trying to resolve them. It seems that her self-esteem lowered when her father and child gone. Since she has never experienced this before, she feels overwhelmed and lonely.Cognitive prelude focuses on the importance of storing and receiving information and ones way of thinking and reasoning. The only reason she is behaving equal this is because of th e unfortunate events of her father dying and her child leaving home. It is stressful to deal with these unfortunate events that lower her pauperization to teach and be herself.Case Study 2 In the neurobiological approach, Barry is feeling guilty because the want of serotonin. His concentration and his attention to time is affected too from the lack of this chemical in the body. With a humanistic perspective, it seems Barry has a void in his love life and work life. In Abrahams Maslows hierarchy of of necessity, the grassroots needs must be met before higher ones are satisfied. Furthermore, since Barry didnt reach his basic needs which were to go on a date with his co-worker it reflects his on higher need to go to a professional lever. This goes back to Maslows hierarchy of needs since he couldnt fulfill the love expound of his life he couldnt fulfill the esteem part in his job.In a psychodynamic approach, Barrys behavior comes from his childhood or unconscious conflicts. Barry m issed his project date because he is unconsciously feeling overwhelmed from coming to his blind date late and not apologizing. He is putting himself down because he feels that he is a terrible person for making her think she got stood up. In a behavioral approach, Barrys behavior comes from learning.John Watsons experiments of classical aversive conditioning say learning from an unpleasant stimulus. He utilise to his daily routines, spending time with his mother and his computer. The fact the he has something new in his life, which was going on a date with his friends co-worker and coming late, affected him. With a cognitive perspective, Barry is behaving like this because his is trying to punish himself by affecting his job because he feels guilty for coming to his date late and not calling her, apologizing for coming late.Part 2 Both the evolutionary perspective and social-cultural might exempt the use of corporal penalisation. The evolutionary perspective focuses on how Darwin s theory of natural selection shapes ones behavior. In biology, there is fitness, meaning the strongest survive. In this perspective, corporal punishment on children makes a stronger child and allowing them to spread their strong gene. The social-cultural perspective emphasizes on how different cultures affects behavior. Different cultures use corporal punishment on children is used to show authority, it shows children must respect their elders. It is also used to show children from right or wrong, teaching children what they should or shouldnt do.

Can Technology Dehumanize Our Society Essay

Technology can dehumanize our society including our school/s. Its because in the advancement and modernization of things which to be manipulated by the people(gadgets etc. ), life has to be somehow be at rest and easier but we should also look on the side that technology can remove skills and qualities of people in dealing with things around them and they wont find any alternatives or options if technology is always present.For instance, in school/s, particularly in a classroom setting, if all of the students have their own personal computers, they volition rely and be much independent through vi moulding websites that could provide answers on their research minded(p) by their teacher, the negative result of this is that, yes, they surely easily access information by just clicking adept at a time but the traditional way of finding and acquiring information from books(more blameless information than those of the websites) or any reading materials that could somehow develop their reading skills is already gone.Indolence and laziness may occur also. The negative result of technology is that people will just have to sit all day long and will have to be dependent on technology. As ive heard also, some people are just infront of their laptops having thisonline schooling and if you could accomplish the length of time needed, youll be having/ given a diploma . For me, of course it isnt bad but the essence of formal schooling(attending school. world evaluated and monitored by a mentor is already gone). Despite of all the advancement of technology, we became a society of faineant people relying so much on it.

How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator

How to Succeed as a lay offlance person vocalisation Corinne McKay How to Succeed as a Freelance Translator by Corinne McKay ISBN 978-1-4116-9520-7 First Edition 2006 by Corinne McKay. entirely Rights Reserved. Published by Two Rat Press, a division of Translate publish, Inc. No part of this incur whitethorn be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any tuition storage or retrieval system, except by a reviewer who whitethorn quote brief passages in a review, with bulge permission in paternity from the author. For information, contact emailprotected com.Disclaimer This apply is published by Two Rat Press and Translate issue, Inc. , who ac fellowship wholly trademarks. solely information contained in this confine is believed to be correct at the cartridge clip of printing. How invariably, readers argon advised to sample professional advice where necessary, as the information in this al- Quran is based on the authors experiences. The author of this book is not profession exclusivelyy engaged in providing legal, financial or race provision advice. Please send comments or corrections to emailprotected com. For Dan, Ada and my pargonnts, who sweeten perpetuallyy(prenominal) mean solar day. Contents Introduction Acknowledgments 9 15 An overview of the version personal line of credit 17 1. 1 What is a interpretive design? .. 17 1. 2 What does it take to become a spokesperson? . 18 1. 3 Improving your lyric poem skills . 21 1. 4 A representatives drop deading environment 22 1. 5 What kinds of motion do representatives do? . 25 1. 5. 1 Softw ar kettle of fish . 27 1. 6 Who do voices guide for? . 28 1. 6. 1 Working for displacement agencies . 28 1. 6. 2 Working for accost leaf nodes .. 30 1. A bit ab step to the fore interpreting .. 31 1. 8 How do translators fate their order? .. 33 1. 9 original connectors 34 1. 9. 1 Ameri fag Translators comp anionship . 34 1. 9. 2 topic Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators .. 35 1. 9. 3 Translators and Interpreters Guild . 35 1. 9. 4 Ameri hatful Literary Translators Association 35 1. 9. 5 Federation Internationale des Traducteurs 36 1. 9. 6 International Association of Conference Interpreters 6 1. 10 documentation for Translators 36 1. 10. 1 American Translators Association . 38 1. 10. 2 Federal mash Interpreter Certification Examination Program 39 1. 10. 3 State Court Interpreter Certification . . . . 41 5 CONTENTS 2 Starting and Growing your Business 2. 1 Preparing for your job essay . 2. 1. 1 The basics of writing a deracination assume . 2. 1. 2 A new resume for a new c atomic number 18er . 2. 1. 3 The structure of your resume 2. 1. 4 Your visit . . 1. 5 Your succinct of qualifications . . 2. 1. 6 The body of the resume . 2. 1. 7 What active a cover letter? .. 43 43 43 44 45 46 47 49 50 2. 2 Finding your initi totallyy customers .. 51 2. 3 Building up your patronage 56 2. 4 Starting a part- season rendition backup . . 59 2. 5 Business skills youll desire .. 61 2. 6 cathode-ray oscilloscope up your portion and your barter . 63 2. 7 Maximizing productivity 5 2. 8 For contriveings p argonnts .. 67 3 Home office setup 3. 1 Preparing for your berth office . 3. 2 The ups and downs of hold uping from sign . . . . 3. 3 Necessary office equipment 3. 4 Organizing your personal credit line 3. 5 Translation home office applied science 3. 6 Non-Western character sets 3. 7 Speech recognition packet 3. 8 Translation memory package . 69 9 69 71 73 75 78 79 80 Trados 82 3. 8. 1 3. 8. 2 SDLX .. 83 3. 8. 3 Deja Vu 83 3. 8. 4 Wordfast 83 3. 8. 5 Heart al more or less . 83 3. 8. 6 OmegaT 84 3. 8. 7 WordFisher . 84 3. 8. 8 across .. .. 84 3. Choosing a computer system . 85 CONTENTS 7 4 Rates, contracts and terms of renovation 4. 1 Setting your sportswoman order 4. 2 Rate sheets .. 4. 3 Contracts or induce for lo ck agreements . 4. 4 Terms of service .. 4. 5 Researching your emf clients 4. 6 Standard devote a bun in the ovenment terms and methods 4. 7 Setting the stage for give right smartment 4. When things dont go as planned 4. 8. 1 Arbitration and dispute resolution 4. 9 Cash draw issues .. 5 Setting up your calling for growth 5. 1 Incorporating and planning for taxes 5. 1. 1 Corporate Entities 5. 1. 2 Tax planning .. 5. 2 Key Questions Before the Project Starts 5. 3 How to Raise Your Rates 5. 4 Ten ship canal to please a description client Re line of descents Glossary Index 87 87 91 92 95 99 101 102 104 108 109 111 112 114 115 117 120 121 125 133 139 Introduction I decided to write this book because I love my job, and because so a couple of(prenominal) bilingual people be aware of the tall tame demand for qualified translators and interpreters, or of the lifestyle benefits of being a voice communication entrepreneur. In 2002, I was expression for a new career af terward octette years as a high tame French teacher, and hoping to find a bailiwick-from-home job using my manner of speaking skills. I thought back to a definition internship that I had d one(a) in college, and remembered how a great deal I had enjoyed it.At the time, I had al on the dot about no knowledge of the variant diligence nor any job contacts, so I started out by calling every company citeed under Translators and Interpreters in the local yellow pages. Over the next few months I became pertain with my local translators intimacy, the American Translators Association (ATA), and began thumpting some calls for interlingual rendition fashion. A year and some four one C resumes later, I passed the ATA enfranchisement exam in French to English displacement, and my business continued to grow, age placid kicking me to hunt from home on a flexile schedule, earning a wellnessy income and go acrossing lenty of time with my family. Although I pass to the hig hest degree of that first year market my fledgling business, the effort stipendiary off after ternary years as a freelance translator I earned my highest gross income ever (including when I worked full-time as a teacher) season works 20-30 moments a week from home. I actual specializations in legal, financial and marketing interpretation, edited my local translators tie-in newsletter, presented seminars at the annual conference of the American Translators Association and often found myself exclaiming, This is so interesting eyepatch operatives on a variantin short, I had found my niche. At the equivalent time, the path from that day with the phone book to the day I told a client, Sorry, Im booked for the next both weeks 9 10 INTRODUCTION was harder than it had to be, because at that place is a real shortage of training materials on how to run a definition business. just about translators enter the bailiwick because they love wrangles and writing, not because the y love marketing and book confirming, plainly some(prenominal) translators businesses fail because they lack basic business skills.If youd homogeneous to succeed as a freelance translator, its in spades classical to pursue training in translation techniques, translation software system product, and other tools of the trade, but these types of gos are easier to locate. Part of the reason I decided to write this book was because, having never run my own business before, I struggled so ofttimes with these basic business questions how and where to find prospective clients, how to pursue translator proof, how to decide whether expensive computer software would help my business, how to set my translation rates, and so on.This book is based on the article Getting Started as a Freelance Translator, which first appeared on my website and was picked up by some(prenominal) translation websites. Later, I expanded that article into an online course that has continued to be very popular with aspiring translators. Following the success of the course, I realized that on that rank must be many much people out there wondering how to use their wording skills to break into the translation industry, and the thinker for this book was born. The unspoiled news about translation If youre considering a career as a translator, theres a lot to look forward to.Given the global reach of businesses in the 21 st century, translators are employed in al to the highest degree every conceivable business sector, from banking to museums to health care to high-tech. If you subscribe to a special skill or interest in addition to being bilingual, youre nigh authentic to find clients who give comprise for your go, and youll get to work on materials that interest you. Overall, the coupled States Bureau of application Statistics http//bls. gov sound foreseeions that job prospects for translators and interpreters will increase faster than the average until at to the lowest de gree 2014.Translators are ordinarily advantageously paid for their work, with the most recent compensation survey by the American Translators Association newspaper publishering 11 that the average self-employed full-time translator earns over $50,000 per year. Most translators, thus far so if they work 40 hours a week or more than than, cognise a very self- broadcasted lifestyle and can tailor their work day around other interests or commitments such(prenominal) as families. The hot news about virtual(prenominal) work In publicizing their work-from-home newsletter The Rat Race Rebellion, the e-entrepreneurship specialists Staffcentrix http //staffcentrix. om estimate that There is a 30 to 1 scam ratio among home-based work opportunities. Although there are definitely some unscrupulous translation clients out there, translation itself is a capital employment of a legitimate work-fromhome opportunity. The vast majority of translators in the U. S. work from home, so tran slation agencies are used to this business model, and dont think its odd to employ translators who work from home. Home work has a lot of advantages for you as the home worker, and for your community as a whole.By working from home, youll probably experience greater job satisfaction and slight stress, since a relatively minor shift wish a dentist appointment or furnace repair wont derail your entire work day. Most of the time, youll be able to structure your work day around your peak energy times and your familys needs, quite than your employers policies. Your commute will be as long as it takes you to walk from your bedroom to your office and chivvy up the computer fleck still in your pajamas. Not surprisingly, most home workers experience a greatly improved timbre of life. likewise, working from home often has a very commanding matter on your community and the world as a whole. Less commuting means less transaction congestion, less fuel usage and less need for parking a reas. Home-based workers are around during the day, foregoing them to volunteer for school and community activities and to be available for their families. A study by the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC) found that home-based workers are absent from work less than half as often as officebased workers, leading to greater work productivity in general. 12 INTRODUCTIONIs freelance translation for you? Despite all of these positive reports, its very all important(p) to do some realistic self-assessment to determine if a career as a freelance translator is for you. Translators need a lot of skills besides fluency in at least two languages translators need to be excellent writers in their inbred language and need to be interested in and versatile at lyric research using both paper dictionaries and the Internet. Translators too need to be avid readers in their native Australian and non-native languages in order to keep up their language skills and their knowledg e of world events.Equally important, and the domain that well focus on in this book, is a translators ability to run a business. When you work full-time for an employer, you assume one job title. When you work for yourself, youre not sole(prenominal) the translator, but withal the department doubtfulness for sales and marketing, technological support, customer relations, accounting and facilities maintenance. Unless youre willing and able to pay someone to do these tasks for you, youll be doing them yourself, in addition to your continual job. Before you launch yourself into a ranslation career, its important to ask yourself a few questions. atomic number 18 you the type of person who is often described as highly motivated, driven, a go-getter or do you have trouble following through on a plan once the exciting thought outgrowth stage is over? Are you consistently able to meet deadlines with near no supervision or direction, or do you head off to shopping websites as cu rtly as the boss disappears? Do you have the multi-tasking skills necessary to manage multiple clients and deadlines at once, or does this type of work leave you contact overwhelmed and wondering where to start?In addition, its important to factor in a start-up peak of at least sestet months to a year when launching your freelance business. Of course this is just an estimate, and the length of everyones startup period will neuter, but for translators who work in a relatively third estate language pair (for example French, Italian, German, Spanish or Portuguese paired with English), its best to budget on at least six months of doing a lot of marketing and working less than full-time. For some people, for example parents 13 f humiliated children or full-time students who are looking for some supplemental income, the spotty hard silver flow of a startup period may not be a huge concern. If youre planning on translation as your full-time income, youll need to every continue your current employment while your translation business gets up to speed, or plan on financial backing off your savings or a bring during this time. It can help to focus on the fact that with a consistent and reasonably aggressive marketing effort, youll have years to enjoy your freelance lifestyle and income after your startup phase ends.So to all of you out there wondering, What exactly does someone with a degree in foreign languages do for a living? , I wish you happy reading, and hopefully, happy translating Acknowledgments Very few books are truly solo endeavors, and this book is no exception. Special thanks go to the people who lent their enthusiasm to this project when it was just an idea to toss around over coffee or e-mail Eve Lindemuth Bodeux, Beth Hayden, Thomas Hedden, Bruce McKay, LaNelle McKay and KarenMitchell for their insights and encouragement, and the students in the first two sessions of my course, Getting Started as a Freelance Translator for their excellent feed back on the course materials that this book is based on. My colleagues in the Colorado Translators Association, the American Translators Association and Boulder Media Women, and the readers of my e-newsletter Open Source Update are an ongoing source of knowledge and inspiration that every translator and writer should be so well(predicate) as to have. And Dan Urist where to start pent more hours than a recovering computer systems administrator should have to on the layout, design and editing of this book, learning at least two new pieces of software in the process and lovingly hounding me until the last ledger was written. 15 1 An overview of the translation business 1. 1 What is a translator? In a nutshell, a translator is a human being who changes written quarrel from one language to another. If this sounds obvious, take another look First, its important to note that although computers play an important role in translation, professional translators are humans, not computers.Seco nd, a translator works with written word of honors, unlike an interpreter, who works with utter words. If youre new to the industry, youve learned something important right here that the phrase speaking through a translator, contradicts itself, since translators work in writing. While some people work as both translators and interpreters, most concentrate on one or the other. Translators are in addition, by definition, fluent in more than one language. In the industry, these are referred to as the source, or from language(s), and the design, or into language, which is around al expressions the translators native language.So for example, a translator who is a native English speaker unit and learned Portuguese and Spanish might translate from Spanish and Portuguese into English. If you work in the most common language pairs, such as English paired with French, Italian, German or Spanish (known as FIGS in the translation industry), chances are that you will never translate into y our atomic number 16 or third language. If you work in a less common language pair, you might find yourself as the exception to this rule.A client might need a document translated from Thai into English, a job that would usually be handled by a native English speaker who has Thai as a atomic number 42 or third language. However in practice, its often easier to find a native Thai (or 17 18 AN OVERVIEW OF THE commentary argumentation Lingala, Malayalam, Fulani, etc) speaker who has English as a second language since there are many more native Thai speakers who also speak English than the other way around. In this case, the job might be handled by a native Thai speaker, and then see to it by a native English speaker.In the United States, most translators work from one or two source languages its extremely common for translators to have only one working language pair, like Spanish into English, or Japanese into English. In other areas of the world where foreign languages are more w idely studied, most translators work from at least two source languages, and often many more. Its not at all unusual to find Europe-based translators who work, for example, from English, Spanish and French into German, or from Norwegian, Swedish and English into Danish. 1. What does it take to become a translator? Being multilingual isnt the only skill a translator needs, but its certainly the most important. Translators learn their languages in many different ways many grew up in bilingual households or countries, some learned their second or third language in school and then pursued experience abroad, some took intensive language courses or worked in a foreign country for some(prenominal) years, and it is also quite common for translators to become freelancers after working as military or giving medication linguists.Almost all translators working in the U. S. have at least a Bachelors Degree, although not necessarily in translation. As a rule, most professional translators have at least some experience working and/or living in a country where their source language or languages are intercommunicate many translators lived and worked in their source language country for many years, or pursued higher preparation in their source language(s).In-country experience is a big asset for a translator, since translation work involves astute not just the structure of the language to be translated, but the cultural framework that surrounds it. This isnt to say that schoolroom study doesnt produce excellent translators, but its important to realize WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME A adapter? 19 at the outset that to be a boffo professional translator, you need near-native proficiency in your source language(s) if youre starting from scratch, a few semesters of part-time language class wont be enough.As a point of reference, the U. S. Governments Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center spells a class to teach centre of attention Eastern languages to governm ent employees, and the basic political program involves 63 weeks of full-time study. umteen people wonder how to demonstrate if their language skills are good enough to work as a translator. While there are respective(a) language testing services that can tell you where you stand, probably the easiest way to get a feel for your translation readiness is to translate something.Go on the web and find a legal document, theme article or press release in your source language, then try to translate it. As well discuss later, professional translators venture constant use of reference materials such as print and online dictionaries, terminology databases, etc. , so when you look at your practice document, dont assume that you should be able to whip out a perfect translation on the spot. The key points are can you understand this document on both a word-for-word and a conceptual level, and can you convey its meaning in your target language?Translators today work in almost every conceiva ble language pair while the market in the United States has historically been very strong in Western European languages such as French, German, Italian and Spanish, there is an increasing (and increasingly lucrative) market for translation in Asian and nerve center Eastern Languages like Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Farsi, Pashto and Kurdish Central and Eastern European languages like Serbian, Czech, Slovene and Macedonian as well as the languages of comminuteder iffusion like Nepali, Hebrew or Somali. In most language pairs, the mensuration of work available is proportionate to the number of translators in the language. While there is obviously a great deal of English to Spanish translation work in the U. S. , there is a correspondingly enormous number of translators in this language gang and while there may not be a great deal of work in Indonesian to English, there 20 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS re also not many translators in t his combination, resulting in a correspondingly small amount of controversy for work. In addition to near-native source language proficiency, translators need other skills too probably the most important are excellent writing skills in their target language, in-depth knowledge in one or more areas of specialization, and business management skills. Some would-be translators are in practice not very successful because they have weak writing skills in their target language, making their translations rough or unpleasant to read.Highly alter translators are among the highest-earning members of the profession for example a bilingual intellectual property attorney, stock broker or biomedical engineer may earn many times the per-word rate of a jack of all trades translator with a B. A. in German. Some translators turn a previous career into an area of specialization, while others take additional courses in areas of specialization or learn specialized terminology from more experience tra nslators.Paradoxically, specializing can also lead to more work, not less, as the specialized translator becomes known as the go-to person in his or her area of expertise, whether its environmental engineering, textile manufacturing or stage sets. The translation industry in the United States is moving more and more toward an independent contractor model, where the vast majority of translators are self-employed and work for a variety of clients in 2005, approximately 70% of the members of the American Translators Association were self-employed independent contractors.As such, translators need business management skills such as the ability to find and retain clients, work on tight deadlines with bantam supervision or management, handle increases and decreases in work flow and cash flow and perform tasks such as bookkeeping, tax planning and computer upkeep and maintenance. In fact, most self-employed translators spend 25-50% of their time on non-translation work, largely involving m anagement of the day to day tasks of running a business, so these skills are just as important as translation-related skills in succeeding as a freelance translator.IMPROVING YOUR LANGUAGE SKILLS 21 1. 3 Improving your language skills If youd like to work as a translator but your language skills are not yet up to par, you have a few selections. The best, but most difficult, is immersion living and working or going to school in a country where your source language is verbalize. If you ask to improve your French, without a doubt the fastest way to do it is to move to a French-speaking country for a year, work or go to school with native French speakers, and speak only French while youre there.If this isnt possible for you, university programs in translation and interpretation do exist in the U. S. , although they are much less common than in other countries. However, nearly all medium or large colleges and universities will offer advanced courses in the more widely spoken foreign l anguages. The American Translators Association http //atanet . org sells several publications listing translating and interpreting programs, and also has a mentoring program for its members, although the program is geared toward professional, not linguistic, development.If youre trying to improve your language skills, be realistic although its certainly far from impossible to learn a new language at age 30, 50 or 70, its also not going to happen with a few semesters of night classes. If youre starting from a beginner level or stuffy to it, two to three years of intensive language study in a college-level program is probably a bare minimum. However, if you have a solid foundation in a second or third language, for instance you studied it in school for 10 years including several trips to a country where the language is spoken, you might be ready to start translating right away.As mentioned before, simply knowing more than one language isnt enough to guarantee your success as a tran slator. While requirements for different translation jobs vary, nearly all translators have at least a Bachelors degree, and often more education than this. If you would in conclusion like to earn certification from the American Translators Association, youll need either a Masters degree or higher, or several years of work experience as a translator. The rapid expansion of the translation industry, flexible work possibilities and high earning potential have made freelance 2 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS translation an harming career for bilingual lawyers, accountants, doctors and scientific professionals, and many translators feel that specialization is extremely important to their success. This is oddly true as the Internet has openeded up work opportunities for translators who live in countries where the cost of living is relatively low, and where educated professionals may be able to make more money by working as translators over the Internet than by practicing in t he professions they were trained for. 1. A translators working environment The translation industry in the United States is moving more and more toward the independent contractor model. In the past, many large companies and even many translation agencies had staffs of in-house translators, but these jobs are now few and far between, and when they do exist would rarely be given to a beginner. In contrast to other professions where newcomers are pass judgment to pay their dues as in-house employees and then enjoy the reward of freelancing, the translation industry usually works in the opposite way.Most translators start out as freelancers and may even remain self-employed for their whole careers, while most wellpaid in-house translators are hired with years or even decades of experience. Its important to be realistic about whether the life of a freelancer is for you. While youll have a great degree of control over where, when and how much you work, youll also give up the security of a bulletproof payroll check, benefits, paid time off, and a aid or employer-sponsored 401K. Most freelance translators in the U.S. work from a home office, and there is no discolouration attached to working from home translators who rent office space outside the home are definitely the exception rather than the rule. The vast majority of a translators work is done on the computer, using either a word processing program or text editor, and possibly a computer-assisted translation program. Translators make extensive use of reference materials such as print and online dictionaries, terminology databases, and discussion with other translators.The almost constant use of a computer A TRANSLATORS WORKING ENVIRONMENT 23 makes repetitive gillyflower injury one of the few work-related injuries that translators are at risk for. There are many positive sides to a translators work environment. Compared to other work-from-home jobs, translation can be very interesting and well-paying. Althou gh you probably wont get lavishly rich working as a freelance translator, translation industry compensation surveys report that the average self-employed freelance translator earns about $52,000 per year.Translators who are highly specialized in skilful fields, or work with in-demand language pairs may earn much more than this, and in-house translators for certain branches of the U. S. government or international financial institutions may earn $70,000 a year and up. At the same time, it is important to be realistic about the time and effort involved in reaching this level of income.Unless you work in a language pair and/or specialization that is extremely in demand, it may take a year or more to develop a regular client base that will allow you to replace the income from a previous full-time job, and you will probably need to send out several hundred resumes during that time. Before starting your freelance translation business, its important to determine if you have the financial resources, time and energy to get through the startup period to the point where you are earning a reasonable and stunner income.Starting a translation business is a fairly inexpensive proposition. If you already have a home computer and high speed Internet access, you might make do with business handbills, computerized fax service and a modest reference library, for a startup cost of only a few hundred dollars. To a large extent, freelancers can determine when and how much they want to work. While it probably makes good business sense to accept as much work as possible from your regular clients, on a day-to-day basis many translators work on their own schedule rather than from 9 to 5.A translators eight hour day might run from 730-1130 AM and 430-830 PM. This flexibleness makes translation an excellent career option for people who have young children, are semi-retired, or just want to work part-time. Today, most translation work hap- 24 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS pens remotely, and translators can live almost anywhere. The up and down character of most freelancers work loads also lends itself to using free time to take classes, pursue hobbies, travel or spend time with family. On the downside (and of course there are some downsides to all of this , as with other consulting or freelance work, some aspects of translation can be stressful and difficult to manage. Many translators describe their work as feast or famine, with months of little work and months of working every waking moment and more than a few moments that should be spent sleeping. Worldwide business acceleration has affected translation turnaround times, with agencies eager to have translations returned as soon as possible, sometimes within a few hours for a short project. Clients who pay late or dont pay at all can cause major financial problems, especially for translators who live paycheck to paycheck.Translators who work in common language combinations like SpanishEnglish may face pressure to lower their rates in order to remain competitive, especially if the client can find qualified translators in countries where pay rates are much lower. In addition, working from home has its ups and downs even for an introvert, the life of the home office can be lonely, and time spent on (unpaid) non-translation work like accounting, marketing and maintaining computer systems can become frustrating when youd much rather be translatingIf youve never worked for yourself before, succeeding as a translator demands a high degree of self-discipline. With no boss in the next cubicle and a list of household errands to finish, it can be hard to focus on your work, and if you have a family or housemates, every bit difficult to find a work-friendly time and space in your house. However, most translators enjoy their work and like to talk about what they do and how they got started. The ever-changing nature of the job appeals to many people, since no day at the office is exactly like another.Another positive aspect of the job is that most translation clients value their translators and litigate them as professionals who deserve to be fairly paid for their work. Even in the most common language combinations, the supply of qualified and capable (emphasis here ) translators often cannot WHAT KINDS OF WORK DO TRANSLATORS DO? 25 keep pace with the industrys demand, resulting in a generally positive employment picture for translators and interpreters. The United States Bureau of weary Statistics reports that employment prospects for translators and interpreters should grow faster than the average for all occupations until at least 2014. . 5 What kinds of work do translators do? As cross-cultural and multilingual communication become more important to the worldwide flow of business, translators and interpreters are employed in almost every conceivable business and government sector. From law to health care to finance, entertainment, information technology and advert ising, translators and interpreters enable global communication. Some translators, especially those with specialized professional or technical training, might concentrate on only one subject area, such as pharmaceuticals, bodied finance, computer software or legal contracts.There are even translators who specialize in seemingly obliterate areas like fisheries management, shopping mall construction, stamps, or groundwater hydrology. Still others position themselves as jack of all trades translators with concentrations in certain areas. In general, the more translators there are in a given language pair, the more specialization is required, and the smaller the translator pool, the less incentive there is to specialize. German to English translators in the U. S. almost certainly have specializations, but the same isnt necessarily true of the few Bosnian to English translators doing business in the same markets.Translators sometimes work in collaboration with other linguists, particul arly if the work involves a large project that needs to be translated in a short amount of time. Today, translation teams almost always work together over the Internet, rather than in person. The size of translation projects can vary widely, from a single line of text such as a company slogan, to an entire book or website. Most translators who are self-employed work from project to project, with the average project fetching anywhere from 26 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS n hour to several geezerhood, and some longer projects mixed in as well. Most translators working in the United States today work on business and technical documents, rather than literature. Although most translators in the U. S. are independent contractors, full-time jobs for translators and interpreters do exist, particularly in areas such as court and health care interpreting, web content translation, software kettle of fish of function, and translating and interpreting for the United States Governme nts various agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency.Translators who are experienced and/or qualified to work in more than one language pair may have a greater chance of being offered an in-house position. Literary translators (translators who work on books, poetry or short stories) make up a relatively small segment of translators in the United States. This is because literary translation is typically not very well paid, and because Americans dont tend to read literature in translation, so there is a small market for the work of literary translators in 2004, only 891 of the 195,000 new books printed inEnglish were adult literature in translation. If you translate into a language other than English, there may be a larger market for literary translation services, especially if you are qualified to work on textbooks, technical manuals, and other non-literary book projects. Localization translators are a rapidly s uppuration group in the industry. Localization, or the complete alteration of a product such as a web site, product marketing kit, software program or advertising campaign into another language, used to be confined mostly to computer software.Now, software pickle is probably the largest segment of the localization market, but its certainly not the only segment. Businesses may hire localization agencies when they want to take a new product global and need culturally-targeted marketing advice in addition to translation services. WHAT KINDS OF WORK DO TRANSLATORS DO? 1. 5. 1 Software Localization 27 A sub-specialty within the translation and localization industry is software localization, the process of translating software substance abuser interfaces from one language to another.For example, when a large software company produces multilingual versions of its applications, every piece of text displayed by the software must be translated into the target language, and in many cases the graphics must be altered as well. Software localization involves both bilingual software developers and document translators specialized in information technology, since the softwares user interface, help files, readme files, screen shots and incidental files (such as warranty information and packaging) must all be translated.Software localization is an enormous industry in its own right, largely because computer users throughout the world now front their software to be in their own language, and will naturally be more interested in purchasing software or visiting websites that they can access in their own language. Therefore, the software localization industry is a source of a large amount of work for bilingual software developers and for translators, and is presently one of the fastest-growing sectors within the translation industry as a whole. In addition, localization breeds localization a localized web browser utomatically creates a need for localized websites a localized pi ece of software demands a localized manual to go with it. Two useful resources for localization professionals are the Globalization and Localization Association. http //www. gala-global . org and the Localization Industry Standards Association http //www. lisa. org. Software localization is often completed using different tools than those that are used for document translation some computer-assisted translation tools can cross over between these two types of translation, and some cannot.So, it is important to investigate what tools will be required if you would like to look for software localization work. 28 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS 1. 6 Who do translators work for? 1. 6. 1 Working for translation agencies For a freelance translator, there are typically two types of clients translation agencies and direct clients. First, lets look at how translators work through agencies. A translation style, which may also refer to itself as a localization authority, translation co mpany, or translation bureau, has its own roster of clients and sub-contracts their translation work to mortal freelance translators.The agency handles the project management end of things, interacts directly with the translation client and (hopefully) pays the translator and deals with any collections issues. Ideally, the translation agency should pay its freelance translators when their invoices come due (normally 30 days after the agency accepts the translation) whether the agency itself has been paid by the end client or not. A translation agency is not an employment agency, and there is no fee involved for a translator to register with an agency.However, an agency normally cannot guarantee a steady flow of work to any one translator, and will normally pay the translator a good deal less than the per-word rate that the agency is charging the client, in many cases up to 50% less. Freelance translators are often required to sign a confidentiality and non-competition agreement whi ch states that they may not work directly for any of the agencys clients for some period of time, or may not disclose who the agencys clients are, or the nature of the assignments that they work on.Like translators themselves, translation agencies can be either very general, all languages, all subjects, or highly specialized, for instance translating only for the medical industry, or only translating between English and Korean. In the uncertain world of freelancing, translation agencies win some measure of job security. When you work for an agency, you dont normally have to communicate with the end client directly, and in many cases the agency may even forbid you from contacting the end client. Instead, you translate the documents that the agency sends you, which means that you spend your timeWHO DO TRANSLATORS WORK FOR? 29 working instead of managing the project and handling the clients questions. Also, an agency that becomes a regular client may be able to put forward you with s teady work, and will often pay you even if the client is late in paying them. A good agency project bus understands the nature of translation work, and asks the client in advance to clarify potential questions, for example should currency amounts in Euros be converted to dollars, saving the contract translators a great deal of time. Many of the best agency project managers are or have been translators themselves.Agencies also provide some amount of disaster insurance in the event that you get sick in the middle of the project, suddenly find yourself in over your head on a very technical document, or another type of unforeseen event. If something like this happens, the agency can often find a replacement translator or editor to step in, which is a responsibility that falls upon the translator if an agency is not involved. In exchange for the services the agency provides, you will give up some freedom. The agencies you work for may have fixed pay rates, or may ask you to reduce your rates to stay competitive with other translators.When an agency becomes a regular client, you want to keep them happy, so it will be hard to say No when they call you on Friday good afternoon with a big project due Monday, disrupting your planned ski trip or home rise project. Also, agencies vary in quality. While a good agency can effectively hand you work on a platter and deal with all problems that come up between them and the end client, in practice this doesnt always happen. An agency may claim (rightly or wrongly) that you did a sub monetary standard job on a project for them, and then ask for or just go ahead and take a discount on the payment you agreed on.Or, an agency may not have much cash in reserve, and might not be able to pay you if the end client doesnt pay them. Agencies also have their own set payment terms, and in most cases the terms arent negotiable. For example, agencies in the U. S. generally pay within 30 days from the date of the invoice (referred to as Ne t 30), or 30 days from the end of the month (30 Days EOM), while agencies in Europe take longer to pay, sometimes as long as 60 days from the end of the month or 30 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS 0 days from the date of the invoice. 1. 6. 2 Working for direct clients The other main option for a freelancer is to work for direct clients, meaning working directly for translation customers without a middleman involved. A direct client might be a shoe manufacturer in Sweden that wants to market its products in the U. S. , a patent law firm in Japan, a university in the U. S. with non-English speaking visitors, or an individual who wants her high school diploma translated into French so that she can study abroad.The income potential of working for direct clients is attractive in many cases double the income of working for an agency. Direct clients may also be able to provide large volumes of work if their turnaround time allows for it. Whereas a translation agency will often giv e a large project between several translators to get it done faster, a direct client might be willing to let you translate their entire 50,000 word annual report, resulting in more income and less administrative overhead for you or they might be willing to let you act as a mini-agency, subcontracting work to ther translators you know and keeping a percentage for yourself. With a direct client the translator is often more in control of the payment terms involved for example, the translator might be able to request payment in advance for certain services, an option that almost never exists when working through a translation agency. There are some disadvantages in working for direct clients as well. When you work through an agency, its the project managers job to explain the ins and outs of the translation process to the client.If the client doesnt know what source and target language mean, or the difference between traditional and simplified Chinese, or whether they want the companys name in all capital letters throughout the document, its the agencys responsibility to deal with this, not yours. When you work for a direct client, for better or worse theres no one between you and the client. In cases involving a small project such as a birth certificate translation, it might take more time to explain the process to the client than it does to complete the translation.If the client has an unrealistic A BIT ABOUT construe 31 deadline, keeps changing his/her mind about the project specifications, or wants additional services such as desktop publishing, its up to you as the translator to deal with it. If the direct client doesnt pay, theres no one else to incline on for the moneyyou simply have to handle it yourself, or hire a collection agency if things turn really sour. All of these aspects are worth considering before you decide whether to work through agencies or for direct clients.Somewhere between an agency and a direct client is a small but growing group of f reelance project managers. These individuals function somewhat like one-person translation agencies, and may be handling outsourced translation for a larger corporation. This style of business combines some of the advantages and disadvantages of the agency /direct client model. Probably the most significant item to discuss up front is what happens if the end client doesnt pay or is late in paying the project manager who hires you, since unlike a large translation agency, this ndividual probably doesnt have the cash reserves to cover a large bill that goes unpaid. 1. 7 A bit about interpreting As you explore a career in translation, its worth considering whether you would like to focus your business exclusively on translation, or include interpreting in your range of services. Like translation, the market for interpreting depends largely on your language pair(s), and unless you do over the phone interpreting, is more location-dependent than translation since you need to be in the sam e place as your clients.Interpreting has several modes, the primary ones being simultaneous, where the interpreter talks at the same time as the speaker consecutive, where the interpreter listens to the speaker and takes notes, then interprets what the speaker said and sight translation, where the interpreter reads a written document in another language, for example taking a court document in English and reading it to a defendant in Spanish. coincidental interpret- 32AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS ing is probably the most common mode, since it is used at the United Nations, in court, and in various other conference-type settings. Interpreting demands very different skills than translation. While translators are stereotypically detail-oriented introverts who dont mind spending an hour finding the perfect translation for a word, interpreters must be able to think on their feet and work with little or no advance preparation.Translators most often work alone at home, while int erpreters are often literally in the spotlight, standing next to a court witness, hospital uncomplaining or head of state and communicating for him or her. Until the advent of conference calling, interpreters had to be in the same place as their clients, and court and conference interpreting is still heavily dependent on on-the-spot(prenominal) interpreters. However, over-the-phone interpreting is becoming more popular, especially in areas where its hard to find on-site interpreters.Many translation agencies also schedule interpreters, and courts, hospitals and schools may employ in-house interpreters. One major difference between interpreting and translation is that interpreters often work in both directions of their language pair, so must be highly proficient in speaking their non-native language many high-level conference interpreters consider themselves to have two native languages, rather than one native language and one or more second languages. Interpreters are paid by the hour or by the day, and pay varies widely. In some areas of the U. S. English4-6panish court interpreters might make less than $15 an hour, while conference interpreters who are members of the elite AIIC (International Association of Conference Interpreters) might make close to $500 a day. If you are interested in interpreting, one excellent way to assess your skills is to go spend a day as an observer in court. Most courts in the U. S. are open to the public, and you can sit in the viewing area and try to interpret as the proceedings go along better yet take a notebook and make a list of words and expressions that you need to research.The major employers of interpreters in the U. S. are courts, health care settings and schools, so these are all good places to focus on if you would like to explore interpreting. HOW DO TRANSLATORS SET THEIR RATES? 33 1. 8 How do translators set their rates? Translators are generally paid by the word, with some variation in whether the word count is b ased on the source or target language, for a single word (most common in the U. S. ) or per thousand words (most common in the U. K. ), although payment is sometimes made by the line as well, with a line being comprised of a certain number of characters.For projects where charging by the word would result in a ridiculously low payment, for example translating an advertising slogan, translators are often paid by the hour. Translations of official documents such as birth certificates may be billed by the page. Many translators have a minimum charge for small projects, for example a flat fee for projects up to 250 words. Its also common for translators to add a premium for a rush project, or to offer a discount for a large project or ongoing work. The actual per-word rate depends on your language c)oamndbispe-tlz(),andsowhtyurcliensa willing to pay.Asking How much do translators charge? is like asking, How big is a ball of yarn? The variation in translation rates is enormous if you v isit online translation marketplaces such as Translators Cafe http//translatorscafe. com, or ProZ. com http //proz . com, youll see an abundance of translators willing to work for just a few cents a word, while a highly specialized medical, legal or technical translator working for direct clients might make mid-double digits (cents, not dollars ) per word.In addition, many translators are reluctant to publish or even discuss their rates for panic of being targeted by antitrust actions. If you work for translation agencies, there may not be much room for negotiation on rates, and setting your rates may be more a matter of finding agencies that are willing to pay what you would like to earn. Agencies will often ask you what your rates are, but just as often the agency already knows what it can or will pay for a typical project in your language combination, and is unlikely to give you work if you charge more than the standard rate.Some agencies will also tell you up front that 34 AN O VERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS youre welcome to keep apart your rates, but that the agency prefers to work with translators who charge less than a certain number of cents per word. Still, translation agencies as a group are not usually out to get translators to work for an absolute low price, and will usually offer a fair rate for a project. Reputable agencies may even look askance at translation rates that are more than about 10% at a lower place the average or standard rate in a certain language combination. 1. Professional Associations for Translators and Interpreters Professional associations are an excellent resource for both beginning and experienced translators and interpreters. At the international, national, and local levels, professional associations allow you to network with colleagues, pursue continuing education workshops and attend conferences related to the field. They also improve your credibility as a linguist. As one agency manager comments, If a person is a member of a professional association, it shows that he or she has a network of colleagues to draw on and is willing to invest some time and money in the profession. Especially if translator or interpreter certification isnt offered in your languages, belong to a professional association shows that youre serious about your work. Following is an overview of professional associations for translators and interpreters working in the United States. 1. 9. 1 American Translators Association The American Translators Association ht t p //atanet . org is the largest professional association for language professionals in the U. S. , and offers membership to both individual linguists and translation companies.The Association also includes various language or specialization-specific divisions that members can choose to join. Benefits for ATA members include a listing on the ATA website, a subscription to the monthly magazine ATA paid ASSOCIATIONS 35 Chronicle, reduced rates to attend ATA conf erences and seminars, and various professional benefits such as credit card acceptance, retirement programs, etc. The ATA holds a large annual conference each year in the fall, and information about upcoming conferences is also available on the ATA website.The ATA administers its own certification exams, which are probably the most widely recognized translation credential in the U. S. As of 2006, candidates for the certification exam must also be members of ATA. For more information on certification exam dates, see ATAs website. 2006 individual dues are $one hundred forty-five per year. 1. 9. 2 National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators The National Association of Judiciary Intrpreters and Translators http //najit . org is a professional association for court interpreters and legal translators.NAJIT holds an annual conference, publishes the newsletter Proteus, and advocates for positive changes in the court interpreting and legal translation professions. NAJITs w ebsite also includes a helpful list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about court interpreting. 2006 individual dues are $ one hundred five per year. 1. 9. 3 Translators and Interpreters Guild The Translators and Interpreters Guild http //ttig. org is the only national (U. S. ) union of translators and interpreters, operating as Local 32100 of the newspaper GuildCommunications Workers of America.The Translators and Interpreters Guild operates a translator referral service that is open to members, and offers additional membership benefits such as a union credit card, life insurance, and legal services. 2006 individual dues are $120 per year. 1. 9. 4 American Literary Translators Association The American Literary Translators Association http // literarytranslators. org is dedicated to serving literary 36 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS translators and enhancing the status and quality of literary translation. Members receive a variety of publications about literary translat ion, such as Translation Review and ALTA Guides to Literary Translation, and ALTA also holds an annual conference on literary translation. 2006 individual dues are $65 per year. 1. 9. 5 Federation Internationale des Traducteurs The Federation International des Traducteurs http //fit-ift . org is an association of associations for translators, which gathers more than 100 professional associations for language professionals from all over the world. FIT does not accept individual translators as members, but does old an annual conference open to translators and interpreters throughout the world. 1. 9. 6 International Association of Conference Interpreters Membership in AIIC http//aiic. net is open only to experienced conference interpreters who have worked a minimum of 150 days in a conference setting, and must be sponsored by three active AIIC members who have been in the association for at least five years. The AIIC website contains many helpful articles and link up for aspiring and experienced interpreters. 1. 10 Certification for TranslatorsAs we discussed in a previous section, for better or worse, you dont have to have any type of certification to call yourself a translator or interpreter in the United States. Various organizations offer certification, but the list of language combinations is far from comprehensive. For example, organizations in the United States offer certification only in language combinations that involve English, so if you translate or interpret German into French or Japanese into Korean, there simply is no certification available in the U.S.. steady-going and uniform certification is one of the most CERTIFICATION FOR TRANSLATORS 37 important issues facing the translation and interpreting professions today. Since no standardized certification for translators and interpreters exists, there is little agreement on what makes a conscious translator or interpreter. In some cases, linguists who have earned a certificate in translation or in terpreting refer to themselves as certified, while to others, certified means having passed a nationally standardized examination.There is a great deal of controversy over whether certification is a reasonable guarantee of a quality job, or whether non-certified translators and interpreters are to be avoided. As a linguist, especially in a common language combination such as English with French, Spanish or German, becoming certified is one way to distinguish yourself from the pack of questionably qualified people offering translation or interpreting services in these languages, and certification may be required for certain types of work.In some court systems it is now difficult to find work as an English Spanish court interpreter if youre not certified, and some translation agencies may insist that for certain end clients or certain types of translations, you have to be certified if the option is available for your languages. In addition, the American Translators Associations most r ecent compensation survey (published in January, 2006), found that certified translators earn approximately $6,000 per year more than their non-certified colleagues.On the downside, there are numerous translators and interpreters with excellent qualifications who have failed certification exams, or dont feel that they want to take them at all. As one translation agency manager comments, Certification doesnt mean that the person can meet a deadline, work well with other translators or respond to client input and questions, and all of these are crucial to winning and keeping clients. More practically, the certification exam itself represents a somewhat artificial environment in which youre asked to demonstrate your skills.For instance, although the ATA is currently pursuing the surmise of offering computerized certification exams, the exam currently must be handwritten, something a practicing translator would seldom if ever do. Hopefully, the computerized ATA certification exam will become a reality in the near future. 38 AN OVERVIEW OF THE TRANSLATION BUSINESS Following is an overview of the main certifying organizations for translators and interpreters in the United States. If you work in a language combination that doesnt involve English, an Internet search can help you find certifying organizations in a country where your languages are spoken. . 10. 1 American Translators Association The American Translators Association ht t p //atanet . org offers certification (formerly called accreditation) to translators in 27 language pairs as of 2006 passing the exam earns you the right to add the designation ATA-certified for X to X translation to your credentials. As of this writing, the available certifications are ( indicates that the test is available in eithe