Translators should express an interest in all parts of the process of translation, not just their own role. Maintain a proper home office, complete with a real computer, current versions of word processing software and other business applications, a fax and modem, and a proper printer which produces clean, clear, crisp, quality text and graphics. Learn how to use word processing software and the modern conventions in desktop publishing. Learn the subtle art of telecommunications and modem transmissions. Agencies and clients complain regularly about translators who can't deliver work properly to their BBS or corporate on-line account.
Translators have to be able to deliver their work in a timely fashion.
Using a modem allows the translator to deliver the job instantly, thus giving the translator more time from when they receive the work to when they have to send it out. Master the modem. Translators represent an integral facet of international communication and the emerging global village. They have to be able to talk to each other about what they do and how they do it. Letters are too slow, telephone calls and faxes too expensive.