Resources for the Freelancer

Every freelance translator requires some specific tools (CAT or TM tool (CAT: Computer Assisted Translation, TM: Translation Memory), Microsoft Office Tools, E-mail, etc.) and other resources (dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.) to perform their tasks.

A large amount of tools is not required. I would even want to argue that the fewer tools are used, the faster (quantity) and better (quality) can be translated if the resources themselves are of good quality.

In the following I present a small list of resources that I use myself and any newbie can use as a starting point.

Microsoft Office Tools (or compatible software)

This is a very important building block, because documents received for translation are in many cases provided as a document in Microsoft format (doc, docx, etc.). Here are my options:

Microsoft Office: version with at least the following: Word, Excel, PowerPoint. This may be a bit expensive for the beginner, therefore I recommend
OpenOffice: is fully compatible with Microsoft Office and sometimes even a bit better, and it’s free!

E-mail, domain name, hosting provider

Even if it is obvious to everyone that an email account is necessary, not everyone knows that free email providers such as Yahoo!, Google, etc., are not so welcome for privacy reasons. It is better to look for a hosting provider and set up a professional email account. This has the advantage that at the same time a professional website can be set up as a point of contact for customers and for marketing of translation services.

Namecheap: to search and purchase a domain (website address, for example www.yourcompanyname.com)
Hostgator: this provider is very cheap and reliable. This service allows to host the website and to set up an email address.
Outlook: email client from Microsoft Office or
Thunderbird: free email client from Mozilla. The Lightning add-on is very useful for managing appointments.

CAT Tool (Computer Assisted Translation)

A CAT tool is absolutely necessary for a serious professional translation service. These tools are not very cheap, but there are often reasonably priced freelance options available with limited functionality. A glorious exception is OmegaT, which is absolutely free.

SDL TRADOS: as a professional translation (CAT) software, I recommend SDL TRADOS. It contains all needed functionality and supports a wide range of file types. In addition, TRADOS is almost like a standard in the translation industry.
OmegaT: This is a free CAT tool and quite comparable with professional CAT tools such as TRADOS (see above) or memoQ. Highly recommended! In case you would like to try OmegaT, you can download my report “The Simple Way To Translation With OmegaT” (available in English only) for setting up OmegaT.

Text Editor

In some cases it is useful to have a good text editor at hand, to quickly buffer a text (e.g. copied from a website) without any formatting (font, bold, underline, color, etc.).

Notepad++: This is the best text editor I know.

Management

No matter if it is a company or just a freelance translator, there is office work like scheduling, budgeting, sending invoices, etc. to do. Here is a small selection of tools for such tasks:

FreshBooks: With FreshBooks you can easily and professionally create invoices and send them to the customer. (Free to use for up to 3 customers)
Lightning-Add-On: The Lightning add-on for the Thunderbird email client is very useful for your appointment management.

Internet resources for translation

Here are some links to internet resources that I can recommend:

LEO Dictionary: dictionaries, discussion forums, voice coach.
Linguee: Dictionary and search within 100 million translations.
The Dictionary: A quick and smart dictionary .. Just start typing and search results become immediately visible.