Translation Blog

My new new office

2013-05-15T10:29:53+00:00

There�s a lot going on in my new new office. You can learn everything from accounting, French, maths, Greek literature, mechanics, and of course, this being Brighton, a lot of yoga and reiki and the like. �New new office�? I hear you wonder. Well, yes. I�ve moved again. You see, when you�re looking for a place to set down your computer and your favourite mug, it is crucial that you take your time to think about what you need and want from it in order to make the right decision. True to form, I didn�t. I saw an office and loved its modern, funky space and its location right in the middle of my favourite area of Brighton, I really liked the people, so I just got enthused and acted rashly, as I�m known to do, and took it.

I lasted four weeks. What I didn't consider was that the space was occupied by two different companies with people constantly on the phone and having meetings, and that this is actually a bit of a problem for a translator who needs to concentrate for hours on end to come up with pretty translations.

Thankfully, at the same time, four good friends were also looking for office space, and they found Brighton Junction, which I immediately loved (uh oh), and has proved to be absolutely perfect (phew). The building houses a coworking space with around 40 desks, more offices upstairs, and the friends� centre, an adult education organisation. This means that it's a busy, buzzy place, filled with a wide variety of people coming to learn about all sorts of things, and our quieter shared office has a great mix of freelancers who make the right amount of studious noise.

The lesson of this story (which I will do my best not to ignore next time I am in a similar situation): think about what you want out of an office space and don't let secondary concerns, like a great area and pleasing architecture, drive your decision, when what matters is that it allows you to do your work in the best possible conditions.

My life/work imbalance

2013-04-19T10:50:20+00:00

Was it really January last time I blogged? Even though my reappearance coincides with the arrival of a late and tentative spring, I didn�t go into hibernation in protest at a ridiculously harsh winter. In fact, I�ve been out a lot, taking in the rain, the freezing cold, the snow, the hail and whatever else the British weather decided to throw at me. Freelancers talk a lot about the famed work/life balance and how they struggle to get it right, and in my case, the balance swung wildly from �work� to �life� when I discovered golf and found that I absolutely had to play as often as I possibly could.

This is not to say that I�ve neglected my work. Deadlines have been met, and files have been duly translated from English into French, and clients didn�t notice any change in the way I dealt with their projects, but something had to give, and my online activities had to take a back seat while my new offline passion flourished. I�m fully aware that I�ve gone over the top, and that to succeed, all freelancers need to constantly work on marketing their services, but this is only temporary: the days are getting longer, and soon I�ll be able to play after a full day�s work, which will include looking after this blog and my Twitter and Facebook accounts, which are my favourite networking platforms. After a few months of putting the �free� back in freelancing, I will be redressing the balance and dedicate more time to the long-term health of my career. Soon.

Live-blogging golf picture by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Simultaneous booth interpreting

2013-01-31T17:58:53+00:00

I have a love/hate relationship with interpreting. During and after a job, I love it. Before that, I hate it. I stress over it. Have I prepared thoroughly enough? Will there be someone with an impenetrable Glaswegian accent? I�m just not good enough and everyone will know it!! Those are the thoughts that plague me. And last week, I was asked to interpret in a booth with another interpreter. As I have no experience of working in a booth and I didn�t want to let my client down, I told him that they should find someone else. He flatly refused and insisted he wanted me to do it. Flattery is a weapon that I just have no defences against, so I accepted.

I was lucky enough to work with an excellent and experienced interpreter, who showed me how the booth worked and explained how to perform a mid-talk relay: simultaneous interpreting is extremely taxing, so we were 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off. When it was my turn to speak, I realised that far from being an intimidating environment, the booth is actually the most comfortable space you can be in: you have access to volume controls, you can mute your microphone, you can have all your reference documents and consult the Internet if necessary, and you�re in a quiet environment, with just the speaker�s voice to focus on. And of course, you�re working with someone else, and I love team sports. It was great.

At the end of the first session, my colleague congratulated me on doing well on my first �sim�. I replied that it wasn�t the first time I�d done simultaneous interpreting (I�ve interpreted in many meetings, in a helicopter, on mountains of rubbish, on a tractor, on a boat and in various waste management facilities), but she told me that what I�d done before, with a microphone and headsets for the audience, was, in the industry, known as �bidule�, interpreting done with audio equipment, but without a booth. It could be literally translated by �thingy�, and I�m really not sure what the English equivalent might be.

So as well as learning some new industry jargon, I�m really pleased that I got over my little boothphobia, and I�m looking forward to my next interpreting challenge.

The coworking adventure continues

2012-12-18T10:27:28+00:00

Bright, airy office in central location with excellent transport links

In the new year, I�ll be changing office again, as the company from which I�ve been hiring a desk for the last two years is moving to London.

I used to be wary of change, but after 7 years and 4 different offices, I�ve learnt that moving to a different work environment every two years or so can be a great opportunity to meet different people, open new doors and learn new things. I�ve made friends in all but one of the shared offices that I�ve worked in, and I�ve learnt invaluable lessons from the designers, writers, geeky types, market researchers, environmentalists, Internet gurus and other freelancers (including another translator!) I�ve worked alongside.

So I�m looking forward to the next step in my coworking life. At the moment, after two years in a small (but lovely) space with just 3 other people, I quite fancy a busier, buzzier environment, meeting new people, making new contacts, and enriching my professional network. But then there's also the possibility of sharing a beautiful office with four very good friends, who I met in my very first coworking space back in 2005. Not many people can say that they get to enjoy spending every day in the warmth and mutual support ~~and occasional intense irritation~~ enjoyed by close friends, and it's a privilege that I find difficult to eschew, even if this will restrict my networking opportunities. Anyway, we shall see.

In the meantime, I�ll be enjoying my holidays. Have a great end of year everyone.

Calving

2012-12-13T09:18:20+00:00

This morning I learnt a new word: calving. Nothing to do with cows, all with glaciers giving birth to icebergs. I generally don't like the very overused word "awesome", but this video is... awesome. I can't wait to see Chasing Ice.

A microblog and a blog

2012-12-04T12:20:12+00:00

I haven�t shared any new translation and interpreting-related blogs in a while, mainly because these days, there are so many of them that I already struggle to follow the better ones. However, I thought I�d share two that I�ve particularly enjoyed recently. The first one is a new discovery: it�s not a blog, but a tumblr called A good speech a day keeps the doctor away and illustrates life as an interpreter through gifs. It�s hilarious.

The second has been a bit of a surprise. When my friend Beth went off to spend a year in Sri Lanka working with Volunteer Work Abroad (VSO) as an occupational therapist specialising in mental health and announced that she was going to write a blog, I expected to enjoy following her adventures, but I couldn�t have anticipated quite how brilliantly she�d convey her new life. Some of her posts are relevant to anyone who has had to adapt to life in a foreign country and learn a new language, particularly Lost in translation�s murky waters, Falling down a hole, In praise of my penguin and my favourite, Gremlins, monkeys and mischievous spirits, where she realises quite how tricky interpreting can be.

Enjoy!

Photo of Sri Lankan elephants by Beth

French golf terminology

2012-11-15T08:30:14+00:00

I�ve recently taken up golf. I know. I�m as surprised as you are, but I have to prepare myself for the day when my brittle bones will no longer be able to cope with football, and playing no sport is unthinkable. And as it turns out, it is a lot of fun and more inclusive than it used to be.

This being one of the very few sports I never had any interest in until last March, I am completely ignorant of its French vocabulary. So when my teammate asked me this weekend whether I knew what �divot� was in French, I was stumped (to use a sporting expression), and she told me that it was escalope. Isn�t that lovely? I tend to think that English is generally a more creative language, so I was all pleased that my old mother tongue came up with such a good term. Then I had a look at golf glossaries online and found another one: a virgule (comma) describes a ball that rolls around the edge of the hole before coming out. Do you want to hear another one? Ok then, a "Mulligan" is a second shot awarded after a first poor one: several theories explain this origin of this term, which has leaked into other sports, and designates a minor blunder that can be forgiven because the player is a beginner, or because it is very uncharacteristic.

Anyway, to go back to French golf terminology: it seems that most of the technical terms have been borrowed wholesale, and that very few French terms are actually used or have been specifically coined, so I may well aller directement du bunker au green pour putter un birdie en faisant attention � �viter les pitches. Or at least, I think this would be said, but never having played en fran�ais, I�m not entirely sure. Must plan a golfing weekend in France for CPD/research purposes�

Lexique du golf
Terminologie du golf

Linkrot

2012-10-16T14:00:02+00:00

Back in May, I did a bit of website maintenance and mentioned a couple of tools I used, including one that detects broken links, which happens when a site is taken offline, or when a page has moved. Not only does it affect your visitor's experience, it can also be detrimental to your Google ranking, as it is taken as a sign that your site is poorly maintained.

Believe it or not, I finally managed to delete all the bad links on this site, and in the process of it, I learned that this phenomenon has a name: linkrot (or link rot). As always with technological terminology, this term has mainly been borrowed in French, or translated literally with pourrissement des liens, although a periphrasis seems more popular: le probl�me des liens bris�s/p�rim�s/obsol�tes is more commonly used.

This is certainly making me think twice about posting too many links, and instead of using a straight link to the content I'm referring to, I might now also quote the relevant passage so my blog posts don't completely lose their substance with time. For Mac users out there, I found an excellent ally against link deliquescence.

Photo by me, on the Lindisfarne causeway

The French and English credits of American series

2012-09-06T07:53:04+00:00

We didn�t have much, as I was growing up in the 80s. We didn�t have much, but we had Dallas. And L�amour du risque. And Starsky et Hutch. We all loved them, and still do. Reruns keep the flame alive, to the point that "Dallas" was my cousin�s son�s first word. That�s why I was so looking forward to last night: Dallas was back! With the original baddies and goodies! I even missed playing football to be at home and watch it. So imagine my disappointment when the credits starting rolling and� no booming voices singing DALLAS, no singing describing what a tough and sunny world it is, nothing. No singing at all. And a different music. See for yourself:

Compare this

with this

Here are the Dallas lyrics in French, with the English translation, so you can appreciate them in their full glory:

French Dallas

English Dallas

Dallas ton univers impitoyable
Dallas glorifie la loi du plus fort
Dallas et sous ton soleil implacable
Dallas tu ne redoutes que la mort

Dallas patrie du dollar du p�trole
Dallas tu ne connais pas la piti�
Dallas le revolver est ton idole
Dallas tu te raccroches � ton pass�

Dallas malheur � celui qui n'a pas compris
Dallas un jour il y perdra la vie
Dallas ton univers impitoyable
Dallas glorifie la loi du plus fort

Dallas a ruthless world
Dallas where might is right
Dallas under an unrelenting sun
Dallas only death is feared

Dallas home of dollar and oil
Dallas mercy has no place
Dallas revolver is king
Dallas where the past still rules

Dallas pity whoever doesn't understand
Dallas one day he'll lose his life there
Dallas a ruthless world
Dallas where might is right

However, I should have known this might happen. A couple of months ago, I was listening to the radio, and Stefanie Powers was mentioned. "Oh my god! That's Jennifer from L'Amour du Risque!" Blank look from my other half. I started singing the opening credits music. Blanker look, and yet, I have a lovely singing voice. I smelt a rat. After a quick search on the internet, I realised that the series' original name was Hart to Hart (clever), and that the French credits were completely different. Have a look:

Too much talking. We need more singing:

Again, the English translation of the French lyrics should give you an idea of what you've missed out on:

L'amour du risque	Hart to Hart
L'amour du risque Jonathan et Jennifer Les justiciers milliardaires L'amour du risque C'est vraiment leur grande affaire Faire la vie dure aux gangsters Jonathan Hart woh oh oh Jennifer Hart Jouent leurs atouts Et sont les rois de toute la belle soci�t� Jonathan Hart woh oh oh Jennifer Hart Les risques-tout de la justice et de l'amour L'amour pour mieux risquer Le risque pour s'aimer	The love of risk Jonathan and Jennifer Billionaires who fight for justice The love of risk They make it their business To get in the way of gangsters Jonathan Hart woh oh oh Jennifer Hart Play their trump cards And rule over high society Jonathan Hart woh oh oh Jennifer Hart Daredevils in the name of justice and love Love for greater risks Risk for greater love

What about Starsky and Hutch, I hear you ask. It's the same story:

English credits, that a gallic shrug would best describe:

BRILLIANT French siren-heavy intro, which simply drips with adrenaline:

Starsky et Hutch	Starsky and Hutch
Starsky et Hutch, Starsky et Hutch Des nouveaux chevaliers au grand c�ur Mais qui n'ont jamais peur de rien Starsky et Hutch, Starsky et Hutch Deux flics un peu r�veurs et rieurs Mais qui gagnent toujours � la fin (refrain) Quand les bandits sont tous en cavale En voiture c'est poursuites infernales Mais Huggy sait o� ils sont cach�s Pour les arr�ter Refrain Refrain	Starsky and Hutch, Starsky and Hutch The new knights with a big heart Who never fear anything Starsky and Hutch, Starsky and Hutch Two cops who like to dream and laugh But always win in the end (chorus) When the bandits are running away The car chases get crazy But Huggy knows where they're hiding And they get arrested Chorus Chorus

At first, I thought that the idea of a song in French was there as an exposition scene, to describe the setting and give us a flavour of what the series is all about. However, this theory quickly collapses with the English Hart to Hart credits, composed of a monologue by the adventurous couple's butler telling us all about them and what they do. So I can only conclude that the French love a sing along before their weekly helping of American culture.

Beyond the credits, watching this brand new Dallas was very interesting. I don't particularly remember thinking too much about the series as I was watching it in the 80s, but it felt like a different planet for a girl growing up in a tiny working-class village in rural France. Well, the updated version of the series still feels like it takes place a different planet. After all, it centres around the life of American millionaires, who have a back garden the size of Wales, where 70 year olds look like 30 year olds (Sue Ellen actually looks a bit younger than she did in the 80s) and where every day attitudes and practices are still very removed from life in Europe.

My favourite scene was when Bobby's wife gets woken up in the night by a noise downstairs. What does she do? Call the police? Wake Bobby up? Grab a lamp to defend herself? No. She quietly goes next door, opens a cabinet and chooses amongst five or six ENORMOUS guns, the like of which I thought were only seen on battlefields, and goes to confront the intruder with her advanced assault rifle. A surreal moment.

Anyway, Dallas was fun, but I don't think I'll be missing football again, especially as I no longer get to sing along to the credits.

Translating on Your Terms

2012-08-31T12:22:48+00:00

By Dan Bradley, an independent Japanese to English translator based in Edinburgh, UK.

Having your own Terms of Service in place can be an excellent way to introduce your services to potential clients while ensuring business is carried out in the way you want. If you're lost at T&C when it comes to translator agreements, terms and contracts, read on to find out how to draft your own clear, professional and effective Terms of Service.

Why do I need a Terms of Service Agreement?

� The key to creating a focussed and effective Terms of Service is knowing why you want one in the first place. Perhaps you�ve been stung by several late-paying clients and want to ensure that the same thing doesn�t happen again, or maybe you want to set your own terms with the kind of clients you deserve. Knowing why you want a Terms of Service will help shape the structure, content and tone of the finished document.

� A detailed Terms of Service clarifies exactly what you and the client can expect from each other. This includes your language services, payment terms, client confidentiality, cancellation procedures, and how you resolve any questions and issues that may arise. An effective Terms that clearly lays out your and the client�s expectations right from the start can head off potential communication or payment problems early and allow you to focus on producing your best work.

� A polished and professional agreement shows your Ideal Client that you take your business seriously and, just like your website, blog or marketing material, is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate your writing skills.

Who is it for?

� If the majority of your clients are agencies with their own agreements in place or private individual clients who may be put off by what they see as unnecessary paperwork, insisting on a signed contract each time may lose you more work than it gets you. Instead of an agreement that needs to be printed, signed, scanned and sent by each and every new client, create a read-only Terms of Service that functions as an introduction to your business and how you operate.

� Tailor the language to your audience. Are you dealing with international legal firms in your source language country or private individuals based locally? My Ideal Client, for example, enjoys legalese about as much as I do so my Terms of Service is stripped of jargon, long sentences and passive constructions.

� Where are your clients? If you have clients in different countries, you may need to accommodate the payment system they already have in place or adhere to the payment terms that apply in that country.

� Rather than try and produce a multi-page document that targets all clients and protects against every eventuality, create a Terms of Service that outlines the basics and establishes the trust and lines of communication that will put you and the client in a position to address any issues before they become problems. I have outlined a simple framework in 'My Terms of Service' below.

Where do I start?

� Collect examples used by linguists in and out of your language pair by searching databases like ProZ, Translators� Caf� and Google. Review the things you like and don�t like about each translator�s decision and consider dropping them an e-mail to discuss the reasons behind their choices.

� You can find comprehensive templates for linguists from the ITI and the American Translators Association. It can also be useful to see how non-translators approach the same challenge. Freelance Switch, for example, a site aimed more at bloggers, writers and designers than translators, is a great resource: check out 8 things you should include in your terms of service agreement, Safer client contract and What should be included in a design contract?.

� The Terms should focus on building trust by foregrounding the importance of the project, client confidentiality and meeting their expectations, and by highlighting your accountability, transparency and professionalism.

My Terms of Service

Bearing these points in mind, I start my Terms of Service with my full contact details and the times I can be reached. If you or your client are put off by a long document, you could draw up a simple checklist or letter stating your essential services and conditions. My Terms then begins with a simple summary: This Terms of Service details the definitions of services, client confidentiality, procedures for payment and for cancellation of language services provided by Dan Bradley, hereafter referred to as 'the Translator'. I then use the following section headings to separate the material in a clear, logical way:

Definitions: Explain your different services, confirm the delivery format, dates and whether or not you will subcontract.

Confidentiality: Who owns the copyright? How will you handle client information and supplementary documentation supplied by the client? Do you reserve the right to remove your name from the translation if you�re unhappy with post-project changes?

Payment: Explain the rate structure for your different services, payment methods and terms, who will bear transaction fees, specify terms for advance payment, late charges, long-term projects and any additional fees incurred.

Cancellation: Outline what will happen if things don�t go to plan. This may depend on whether the client drops out, you fall ill or there are other reasons outside of your control.

Signature: I conclude the agreement with a personalised summary inviting the client to get in touch with any further questions about my services, experiences, rates and availability.

Rep�chage

2012-08-05T10:00:40+00:00

If, like me, you�ve been glued to the television watching the London Olympics for a week, you will have heard an intriguing-sounding word used by the commentators: rep�chage. It�s a word borrowed from French which refers to a last-chance race in which the runners-up in qualifying heats face each other to gain qualification for the finals. It dates back to 1925-30 and comes from rep�cher, to fish out again (re + p�cher, to fish).

Major Periods of Borrowing in the History of English

World loanword database

Loanword classification tree

Fishes by Richard Ling

Interpreting during cultural clashes

2012-07-06T16:04:45+00:00

This bottle of Burgundy we shared with friends at the weekend reminded me of a major cultural clash that I observed during a meal with French and English partners working together on a project a few years ago. A busy day was to be followed by dinner and since some of the English partners didn�t speak French, and vice-versa, I stayed on to help communication.

It was all going well until the waiter brought the wine list. One of the Frenchmen took it and said: �I assume everyone wants to drink Burgundy?� Half of the Frenchmen nodded vigorously, while the other half pursed their lips, in a show of politeness over outrage. What followed was a passionate debate on the merits of Burgundy versus Bordeaux that lasted all evening.

This was impossible to interpret in a traditional way, so it was a very different challenge from my usual role: thankfully, I know a bit about wine, and so I was able to turn into a cultural interpreter and help the English understand the context of the argument through a heady mix of interpreting, summing up and off-tracking completely into topics such as traditions and heritage. As a translator and an interpreter who generally prefers working with the written word, this is where interpreting delights me: you never quite know what is going to be thrown at you, and I like having to think on my feet.

However, the real challenge was to remain neutral, and to resist the temptation to slip in that Bordeaux wines are obviously vastly superior to Burgundy wines, especially as being born in the South-West of France, I am genetically programmed to think so. That�s utter professionalism and neutrality at work for you.

Translating "vous" and "tu" in English

2012-05-10T14:16:26+00:00

I think I can trace back my love of translation to one particular passage, discovered while studying a French text and its translation in English side by side. Unfortunately, I can�t remember which novel it was, or the exact phrasing, but I do remember that during a conversation, one of the characters moved from using "vous" to using "tu" to address a troubled young man in need of comforting. As there is no lexical equivalent in English, the translator used a technique called compensation, where something that can�t be translated in one part of the text is expressed somewhere else, in a different way. It went something like this:

"Mais �tes-vous certain de vouloir nous quitter?"
"J�ai bien peur de ne pas avoir le choix."
"Tu vas me manquer."

The switch from "vous" to "tu" indicated a shift in the relationship from formal to something more intimate and personal. This is how the English translator dealt with it:

"But are you sure you want to leave us?"
"I�m afraid I have no choice."
"I�m going to miss you," she said, taking his hand in hers.

The increasing closeness, which was expressed through language in the French text, was thus translated by a physical gesture in English. I remember thinking that this was just wonderful, and being quite taken by the cleverness of it all.

Last night, I saw Monsieur Lazhar, a Canadian film (in French) which I cannot recommend highly enough, and which contained another great example of how to translate �vous� and �tu�. I actually was glad of the subtitles due to the occasional qu�becois quirk, which is how I spotted this particularly good translation. It happens when Mr Lazhar arrives at one of his colleague�s for dinner, and he says (roughly remembered - my memory isn�t what it used to be):

"Bonsoir Marie, c�est tr�s gentil � vous de m�avoir invit�."

To which Marie replies:

"Je t'en prie, on se tutoie."

The subtitles were:

"Good evening Ms. Dupont, thank you for inviting me."
"Please, call me Marie."

Clever, no?

Website maintenance tools

2012-05-08T13:09:16+00:00

Trying to keep your online house in order is important, and I�ve recently discovered two great tools to help me do this. The first one is Copyscape, which looks for duplicate content and can alert you to plagiarism or theft, which can affect your Google ranking and is just not very nice.

The second is Brokenlinkcheck, which does exactly what its name suggests. Again, bad links can affect your rankings, but they also provide a bad user experience for your visitors, so it�s best to fix them. After 11,5 years of bloggage, this site has 324 broken links. When I started deleting them, I realised that most of them are in the 4,431 comments and, sadly, lead to a host of now defunct blogs. As I wait for a project to arrive, I know what I�ll be doing this afternoon�

Photo by much0

Translators: is Twitter bad for your business?

2012-04-04T14:43:17+00:00

I love Twitter. It brings me information, distraction and an opportunity to be in direct contact with a lot of colleagues. I follow lots of translators, and we regularly exchange useful information on everything and anything linked to translation. That is why, when I received a query for work from an unknown agency in the States, I sent the following tweet:

Followed by these two:

Indeed and surprisingly, negotiations were going well. I say �surprisingly�, because the original email immediately aroused my suspicions. You see, the name of the company rang a few alarm bells, for reasons that I couldn't put my finger on at that point. Besides, there are a lot of shady agencies out there whose business models seems based on not paying their translators, and when they�re based abroad, you stand next to no chance to ever receive payment for your work. So I had every reason to be extra careful, and to ask for feedback.

Then I received the following email:

We have read your message:
**************
C�line Graciet‏@NTceline
Hello translators, has anyone heard of a US agency called ****? Got a query, but something doesn't feel quite right #xl8
**************
This is quite disappointing, to tell you the truth. If you have any doubts -- ask us. If you go public with your suspicious thoughts ("something doesn't feel quite right"), try to substantiate them in some way. We are one of the most reputable US translation companies, and your message does not send us good vibes.

Every email I send has a link to my Twitter page at the bottom, so I wasn't surprised or embarrassed that they had seen my tweet. I replied:

I regularly use Twitter to openly exchange information about translation agencies with my colleagues. As you must know, there are a lot of disreputable outfits out there, and your name reminded me of one of them - I couldn't really ask you "Are you that agency that conned one of my colleagues a couple of months back?" :)
To me, this ability to help each other out is one of the best things about social media. I hope you saw that I did say that my fears were based on nothing and that my instincts are completely unreliable, and that I confirmed that my suspicions were wrong. So all my followers now know that I was just being a bit over-cautious and that you are completely legit.

I'll be happy to put a message on Twitter confirming that you are a professional company if you wish me to do so, and I'm very sorry if I upset you.

To which they replied:

C�line: 1. You could have asked us for professional references, and I would have provided you with plenty of those. 2. You did not upset me since we deal with lots of people/companies around the world and we take things professionally, not emotionally. 3. Your apology is accepted, yet our business relationship with you ends up at this point.

Aouch. I sent this final message:

I like using my network of respected colleagues for professional information, and I see nothing wrong with it. I never said a word against your company, I just asked for information because of very vague doubts, and I would have happily confirmed that they were unfounded. To me, this is all part of protecting my business against possible complications. I'm surprised you see it as a problem, but I respect that.

So I lost a potential client, which no freelancer wants. If I could turn the clock back, I would probably not put "Something doesn't feel quite right" in the tweet, as it can be taken as a veiled accusation, which it wasn't. But I think I would still ask my colleagues for their feedback. Just because some organisations are clearly a bit cagey about social media (which I think is betrayed by the "going public" comment), it doesn�t mean that I will stop making the most of what Twitter is best at, which is obtaining clear, transparent information from trusted sources to protect my business.

What about you, dear reader? Are you careful with your professional use of Twitter? Do you censor yourself, to a certain extent?

Twitter buttons