How To Be a Translator

There are so many ways from which one may make earnings, and the profession of a translator is still promising. As English ‘rules’ the world, with no limitation of space and time it is spoken all over the world, you have many chances of making money with your translation works, anywhere and at any time. Here are some tips of how to be a professional translator, both as permanent or freelancer translator.

A translator could be permanent one who is working for a certain company or bureau, or a freelancer who works independently and not tied to only one party. Permanent translators may be working for translator bureau or Publishing Company, from which they get salary monthly. They are paid regularly a certain amount of money for all the works they had been doing during the month.

While, freelancer translators are language workers who are working independently and not tied to a certain institution. They look for jobs freely and are paid based on the job volume they may have been doing during the month. Income will depend on how many works they have done. The more works finished, the more earnings they will take home.

Working as a translator is still promising today, but is not always identical with the loose competition. Publishers, especially the big ones, usually have their own permanent translators who are working on the assigned jobs the company gets from partners. Or, they have their own network of freelancers from whom they usually take the service. Anyway, freelancers are widely on demand as small-medium publishing companies spread out the country.

If you are interested in the book translating works, you may now start to make your dreams come true. Apply to publishing companies who publish books of your interest. For example, if you are so far interested in fiction then you apply to publishers who publish fictional books like novels, biographies, autobiographies and the likes.

Here are the ways that may be taken:

1. Apply to publishing companies

Application must be made in such a way so that it reflects your competence and experiences. Describe in what thing you are interested in, what you have achieved so far, and who have been taking service from you. If you have gained some achievements, you may include them to support. Like you have fairly translating records, you have been abroad for years, or have been taking long journey in the related works. Principally, here you sell yourselves to draw the first attention.

Do not forget to attach along with the application your specimen. Type your specimen in A4 with 12 font of Time New Roman double spacing. It is of 5-10 pages or one chapter. From this sample, publishers will assess you. If they think that you are the most adequate with their requirements, then they may give you trial orders.

2. Offer the works to publishers

If you have taken a book of your interest and translated it just because you think that it has high selling point, you may offer it to any publisher of the same interest. In your offering letter, tell what has encourage you to translate, selling points they may take advantages from, and estimated profits. Enclose the synopsis of your work to make it easier grabbing the contents in minutes.

3. Try as a freelancer of article translator

You may also try as a freelancer. Now online jobs are available and you can explore some of them who offer you best benefit, such as giving high payment and continual orders. Usually you are paid on per-word basis in US dollars. Works are usually on bids and within tight time to submit your translation.

Try to visit TranslatorsCafe or ProZ, an online translation service agent. Register on line, fill your profile and attach your specimen. Like an application letter, you sell yourselves here. If you qualify the requirements they are giving you trial offers. Explore some bids over there and take some offers that you think appropriate.

In Indonesia, usually you will be paid per-page basis. It is around 10.000 rupiahs per page, typed in A4 on 12 font of Times New Roman, double spacing. If a book of 200 pages, then you can figure out how much you will be paid. If you take offers from outside the country, you can be paid four times than one in Indonesia. They usually pay more than here. Why not to try?

Mojokerto, 29/07/2009

The site keeper

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Translators Will Never Die!

You may have been taking a career of a translator now, or still thinking of that for the time being. At the same time, perhaps, you let your thought overwhelmed with the anxiety of the now-existing translator software or free-online translating services like Google Translate that will take over the function of a translator and then many translators will no longer exist. There should be no reason for this fear, as dealing with languages is the matter of artistically getting involved with sense, feeling and emotion and not one of the machines.

To translate from a language to another, it is not just transferring the meaning of each word or phrase, but it is shifting one within the context. It is to transfer the contents and the ‘soul’ altogether, taking what the writer of the origin language wrote and placing it in the new frame of the target language. It is basically proclaiming the thought of the author to the language of ours, without any form of distortion.

Proficiency in the foreign language is not adequate without having the same degree of the capability in ones’ own language. The readers of the target language will comprehend the contents not in the source language, in which it was originally written by the author, but in reader’s own language. Thus, a translator translates sense with no corruption, while they are offering service to the readers, so that they understand and take meaning from what they are reading.

To translate the whole contents of the text, translators must also be an artist as translation is actually also an art. They should take the role of actors like those characters playing in the context. They are also acting as the original writer of the source text, but do the same in the target language. In this way, they should be involved emotionally in the whole context as if they were the origin author, and at the same time represent thoughts the readers of the target language. This is what makes you different with a translator machine.

Now, let’s see how you are translating and how a machine is doing! Take a look to this quoted text:

There was much to admire in president-elect Barrack Obama’s speech on the economy at George Mason University on Thursday. He candidly assessed the country’s predicament, calling it a “bad situation that could become dramatically worse”. He sounded a note of confidence about Americans’s capacity nevertheless to “overcome great fear and improbable odds”. And he offered a point-to-point description of American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. (from The Washington Post, Washington DC).

In Indonesian, you may translate the text like this one.

Ada hal yang sangat mengagumkan pada pidato Presiden terpilih Barack Obama tentang economi di Universitas George Mason hari Kamis. Beliau secara terus terang menyinggung situati negara yang sulit untuk mengambil keputusan, yang ia sebut sebagai ‘situasi sulit yang secara dramatis dapat menjadi semakin buruk’. Ia menyerukan nota keyakinan akan kemampuan bangsa Amerika, sekali pun harus menghadapi kekawatiran besar yang seakan tak mungkin. Dan beliau menawarkan uraian dari poin ke poin mengenai Pemulihan Amerika dan Rencana Re-investasi.

And, this is the translation from a translating software:

Ada banyak kagumi dalam memilih presiden-Barrack Obama's sambutannya pada ekonomi di George Mason University pada hari Kamis. Dia candidly dinilai dari keadaan negara, panggilan yang "buruk situasi yang dapat menjadi lebih buruk dramatis". Dia terdengar catatan dari Amerika keyakinan tentang kemampuan bagaimanapun untuk "mengatasi ketakutan dan sangat mustahil". Dan ia ditawarkan point-to-point description of America Rencana Pemulihan dan Reinvestment.

Principally, the contents may be translated the same. But, the first style looks like more familiar to Indonesian readers who are in the use of Indonesian. Here, the translator is involving their emotion, feeling and sensibility in not only transferring the contents but also in framing it into Indonesian language.

In the second one, it appears to be in coming-from-machine style. As a machine is working on a systematically programmed-software, the target text looks like having lost ‘the humanity’. In case that it is subject to publication, some editing may have to be taken to adjust the text with the ‘Indonesian ears’.

From the outlines, it should be no more excessive worry of being defeated by the mushrooming innovated translating software in the nowadays-internet era. ‘Human translators’ are now widely needed on line, from which you may be also making some money. If you are willing to try as a freelance translator, you don’t have to leave your chair and just push on one-click mouse button. Try to visit TranslatorsCafe or ProZ. You will see not only bids of translating works, but also more things in relation to the translation worlds. Translator will never die!

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Thinking Career as a Travel Guide?

Have you ever heard working or even thinking of a career as a tourist guide? If you are proficient in any foreign language, enjoy working with people, and like taking journeys, this kind of career may best fit you. Anyway, as this position is much dealing with people and most of them are foreigners, you will have to meet the standard of performance, language, techniques, and knowledge of culture and objects. It is the way of how to make visitors enjoy their whole visit with satisfaction, security, and great impression.

According to the Constitution No. 10/2009 of the Republic of Indonesia about the Tourism, a tourist guide is anyone with certain requirements who serve guidelines, information, explanation and any other assistance that may be required by the tourists. Thus, a guide is an intermediary between the local tourist attractions and the visitors. Their main responsibility is unveiling the icon of local tourist attractions, traditions, arts and cultural particulars to them so that they may take certain values from what they have been visiting upon their coming home. They are acting like a conductor that is transferring electricity from one point of power supply to a point where an apparatus may require it to operate.

Tourist guides take a strategic position in the tourism industry as, extending to their main duties, at the same time, they are acting as the agent of marketing and public relations. They are not just ‘transferring’ but also selling the value to the same people for the next coming, or to the new visitors to whom previous visitors may have been referring. For this important role, a comprehensive coverage of knowledge, skills, and attitude should be owned by anyone who is willing to make a career as a guide.

From the point of visitors, they would like to have the whole visit enjoyable, secured and impressing. They would expect a guarantee of what they may have to pay is comparable with the values they experience during their visit. In this context, they would prefer to take assistance from a tourist guide to whom they may rely on their necessities.

Qualified trainings of all the aspects of guiding, such as the knowledge of the objects, the guiding techniques and how to treat people is also the urgent agenda. The local Travel Guides Association usually arranges all the programs required and provide adequate training schedule to all guides in the area. Upon completion of the training, participants should acquire certificate as a formal ‘fits and proper’ certification. A tourist guide should have a membership identity card from the local association, since with it he will ensure his guests. Visitors will also feel free from the worry of being abused.

The exciting aspects of serving as a tour guide that not all people have a chance to explore are, among others:

1. Experiencing more aspects

Since serving as tour guide will have wider places to visit, more various people to meet and more things from which secrecy of the past living to be uncovered, a travel guide is compiling more experiences of living. They know more things in the line with their adventurous daily works.

2. Learning more things

The role of a travel guide is to unveil the reverse side of all the objects in the resorts. Let say, visitors pay a visit to temple, externally they will see easily that it was constructed of integrated small units of stones, relief and mortar but do they know who, when, why and how it was built? It is then the task of the guide to unclose and explain the secrecy to visitors. With the assistance from a guide, they not just gain physical appearance of the object, but they will also experience ‘the souls’ as a unity. To do this, a guide should learn first about the particulars.

3. Improving languages

It is obviously undoubted that guiding is requesting someone to be talkative. In explaining the object or answering questions, principally it is how they make their guests understand comprehensively. The guides must have adequate proficiency of the spoken language. As most of them are having specialty in English, and those of other languages are still in finger figures, it will be much advisable if a guide is proficient in more than just one foreign language.

4. Obtaining wider relationship

As taking a career of a travel guide is not as that of working in a chemistry laboratory, but much dealing with people, guides will certainly have wide relationship. If guides are working in such a way, and with their service visitors think the visit is impressing, it means that good relationship has been tied together. How you entertain and color the whole visit will determine the scope of relationship. Imagine if a guide makes this good relation to each person related in this industry, what a wide relationship it is!


Now, what are the thinks that travel guide should evade in relation to the closed-relationship with people:

1) Do not sell anything to visitors or ask commission
2) Do not dispute about the faith, religion, tradition, culture, social life or
political system of the country of visitors
3) Do not tell personal affair to invite a sympathy from visitors
4) Do not blame colleagues or any party of the surroundings
5) Do not ask tips

Are you interested in this entertaining-travelers world? Please contact the local office of the Travel Guides Association, as they usually provide assistance to both of their members and the visitors.

Mojokerto, 18/07/2009
the site keeper

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Learning English in a Jungle

If you are learning English, you are usually in school, in your own room or in that of an English course. To make it comfortable, the room has been designed in such doing and equipped with air conditioning, audio-visual learning aids, or anything that will support the process of learning. Have you ever heard learning English in a jungle? It looks like strange, but if you watch a legendary film of Tarzan you see that Tarzan speaks English fluently. Is there any English course in the jungle where he has been so long surviving in the midst of animal world?

Do you know why Tarzan speaks English well? Ok, do not take it seriously. The film is only a fiction and the actor who is taking the role of Tarzan maybe a native speaker. That is why Tarzan is speaking English perfectly. But, I do not mean that, do I?

What I mean with learning English in a jungle is that we learn the way as Tarzan has been surviving in the midst of the jungle, the place where no one offers any help to his life. It is not a logic that a powerless baby can live in a juggle, without anyone else, surviving in the wild jungle where almost dangerous animal’s attacks may threaten. The most valuable lesson is that how he is learning to survive.

Supposed we are now stranded at any place of an English speaking country, say England or USA, and without any adequate knowledge of English we have to survive over there. What will we do to preserve living? There is no other way rather than just adapting to the local basic condition, and to do this we must learn the language in use: English!

Since learning English is not just as like the one that we are doing here, and in the above illustration it is a compulsory, we are forced to learn it with no other choice. It is a matter of do or don’t. And as you must survive in the remote-far-from-homeland place, you will be leaning English faster.

Of course, we do not need to be a Tarzan and go to wild jungle, nor we are stranded in other countries. The way of learning that is valuable to take is that we should learn like Tarzan. Don’t be afraid of taking the start; don’t worry of making mistakes. It is a common practice, as a learner, if we make some errors in learning. From these ‘good errors’ we can learn to avoid the same things happen for the twice. We built the excellence from the errors, and build perfection from the limitation.

Tarzan in the real life may be similar with the street vendors who are selling souvenirs in the tourist resorts like ones in Bali or Yogyakarta. To offer the merchants and get money from foreign tourists or visitors they have to speak English; and to do this they learn the language. They way they are learning is not like what the students do, who are sitting in the class with the guidance from their teacher, but vendors do like what Tarzan does. They learn in the jungle, they learn from the wildness of living, from the resorts where they may expect for some rupiahs.

We may have been learning English for many years, perhaps from the first year we were in school until now when we had left the class. But we should be dare enough to question ourselves, is our English in proportion of sense with the long time we have taken to learn it? Or, even until now we still do not speak? Street vendors who are learning English in a Tarzan’ way, learning from the hard life, may be more capable. Not like we are who always prefer to wander in doubt of learning.

Let’s start learning like Tarzan.

Mojokerto, 15/07/09
the site keeper ( a friend of Tarzan, but not an orangutan )

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Correct English (1): Noun, Pronoun & Adjective

Contents dalam blog ini saya tambah dengan satu serial baru yang saya namai: Correct English. Dalam materi ini kita tidak membahas mengenai tata bahasa atau grammar yang njelimet, ruwet dan complicated tetapi lebih kepada tips menggunakan Bahasa Inggris yang baik dan benar, menghindari kesalahan-kesalahan umum yang sering terjadi. Seperti halnya serial English For Young Learners, kita tidak menekankan pembahasan rumus ketata-bahasaan, tetapi membahas penerapannya. Rumus-rumus grammar yang njlimet bisa anda temukan sendiri di toko-toko buku. Referensi yang saya pakai adalah buku Corect English, karangan B.A. Thytian, (1985).


Memahami Tata Bahasa

Supaya bisa memahami struktur Bahasa Inggris kita perlu memahami fungsi kata. Satu kata sederhana bisa mempunyai arti yang berbeda. Apalagi bila kata itu kemudian sudah diperluas dangan menambahkan modifier sehingga membentuk sebuah frasa (phrase).

Kita ambil contoh sebagai berikut:

He is sound.
The sound is too loud.

Dalam kalimat yang pertama kata sound adalah kata sifat (adjective) yang memberi keterangan pada subject (he). Dalam kalimat yang kedua, sound adalah jenis kata benda (noun) yang mempunyai jabatan sebagai subyek (subject).

Jenis kata ini dalam Bahasa Inggris disebut sebagai ‘parts of speech’. Mari kita coba membahas satu per satu:

1. Kata benda = nomina (noun)

Nomina fungsinya untuk memberi nama pada benda atau orang. Benda di sini bisa berupa tempat, keadaan, perbuatan, kualitas, atau konsep.

Mojokerto, farm, yard (tempat)
happiness, sadness, calm (keadaan)
works, action, innovation, invitation (tindakan)
hospitality, tranquillity (kualitas)
privacy, democracy, crime (konsep)

Ditinjau dari bentuknya kata benda ini ada yang tunggal (singular), jamak (plural), tunggal sekaligus jamak, bahkan selalu jamak.

apple, book, man, mouse, box (tunggal)
apples, books, men, mice, boxes (jamak)
fruit, sheep, fish (tunggal dan jamak)
pants, scissors, trousers (selalu dalam bentuk jamak)

Ada juga kata benda yang digunakan untuk menamai sekelompok orang atau benda disebut collective noun, misalnya : herd, group, public.

Kata benda untuk menamai orang atau benda secara unik ditulis dengan awalan huruf besar: the Prime Minister, the Mount Merapi

Kata benda kadang-kadang dipakai berdampingan, yang satu menjelaskan yang lainnya, ini disebut noun in apposition (berdampingan).

Mugito Guido, the site keeper, is writing an article
Mbah Surip, the song write, is becoming rich.

2. Pronoun = promina = kata ganti

Kata ganti fungsinya untuk mengganti kata benda yang telah disebutkan sebelumnya (antecedent) agar tidak terjadi pengulangan beberapa kali.

The car hit the tree. The car is now placed at the nearby police station.
Nancy is absent now. Nancy may be at home.

Untuk menghindari pengulangan kata yang sama, dua kalimat tersebut dapat ditulis:

The car hit the tree. It is now placed at the nearby police station.
Nancy is absent now. She may be at home.

Kata ganti dapat berbentuk tunggal : I , you (kamu), he, she, it, atau pun jamak: You (kalian) , we, they.

Pengelompokan kata ganti:

1) Personal pronoun / persona / kata ganti orang: I, my, mine / he, him, his / you, your, yours / they, them, their, … dan seterusnya.
2) Demonstrative (penunjuk): this, those, that, those. Misalnya : This belongs to you.
3) Interrogative (penanya): who, whose, which, what. Misalnya: Who ate my orange?
4) Indefinite (tidak tentu): anyone, no-one, each, either, …
5) Relative (penghubung): who, whose, whom, what, which, that

3. Kata ganti = adjektive = adjective

Kata ganti fungsinya adalah menerangkan atau sebagai modifier kata benda.

Round table – meja bundar, kata sifat ‘bundar’ menerangkan ‘meja’
Red devil – setan merah, kata sifat ‘merah’ menerangkan ‘setan’

Biasanya kata sifat diletakkan di depan kata yang diterangkan:

Some terrible nights
interesting nice stories
black giant shark

Namun ada juga beberapa kata sifat yang tidak ditempatkan di depan:

The girl looks tired and pale.

Dalam kenyataanya kata-kata dalam Bahasa Inggris bisa berfungsi baik sebagai kata benda maupun kata sifat:

democracy mandate, chief officer, humidity degree

Demikian Correct English kali ini membahas secara singkat mengenai jenis kata benda (noun), kata ganti (pronoun) dan kata sifat (adjective). Kita akan melanjutkan lagi dengan jenis kata yang lain dalam pelajaran yang akan datang.

(bersambung…)

Mojokerto, 15/07/09

the site keeper

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English For Young Learners (3)

Bila kamu bercerita, pada intinya kamu melukiskan pengalaman, kegiatan, ataupun kejadian yang kamu alami di waktu lampau, waktu yang belangsung sekarang, maupun waktu yang akan datang. Dalam pelajaran yang terdahulu, kita telah mempelajari bagaimana mengungkapkan peristiwa yang kita alami sehari-hari, maupun yang tengah dialami, atau sedang berlangsung. Bagaimana, gampangkan? Ayo sekarang kita belajar bagaimana menceritakan kegiatan yang terjadi pada waktu lampau, artinya kejadiannya sudah lewat waktu kita bercerita. Kita akan membahasanya dalam Simple Past Tense.

Simple Past Tense, pola kalimatnya adalah:

Dalam membuat kalimat, subyek diikuti dengan kata kerja bentuk II atau bentuk lampau, contohnya:

           Aku menjenguknya kemarin.                            I visited her yesterday
           Ia menyapaku dengan ramah.                         She called me friendly.
           Aku pulang tengah hari.                                    I went to home at noon.
           Aku merasa bahagia.                                         I felt happy.

Dalam contoh di atas I diikuti dengan visited, she diikuti called, I diikuti dengan went dan I diikuti dengan felt. Visied, called, went, dan felt merupakan bentuk ke-2 atau bentuk lampau dari: visit, call, go, dan feel. Lebih jelasnya begini:

Bentuk I (present) Bentuk II (past)

                        visit                         visited
                        call                          called
                        go                            went

                        feel                          felt

Mungkin timbul pertanyaan, kenapa kata visit dan call menjadi bentuk lampau dengan hanya menambahkan ‘ed’, sedangkan kata ‘go’ dan ‘feel’ berubah bentuknya? Ya, itu pertanyaan yang cerdas.

Benar. Dalam Bahasa Inggris, kata kerja ada yang beraturan (regular) dan ada yang tidak beraturan (irregular). Untuk menjadikan kata kerja yang beraturan ke dalam bentuk II atau lampau, cukup dengan menambahkan ‘ed’ di belakang.

                mengunjungi              visit visit + ed visited
                menyapa                    call call + ed called
                berbicara                    talk talk + ed talked
                bekerja                       work wrok + ed worked

Beberapa ketentuan untuk membentuk Simple Past Tense kata kerja yang beraturan / regular verb:

• Kata kerja yang berakhiran –pe, hanya ditambah dengan ‘d’ saja

               hope – hoped
               note – noted

• Kata kerja / verb yang berakhiran – y, bila di depan huruf ‘y’ itu huruf mati (consonant), maka ‘y’ menjadi ‘i’ baru ditambahkan ‘ed’.

               belajar                         study - studied
               membawa                  carry - carried
               menjelaskan              clarify - clarified

• Kata kerja /verb yang berakhiran – y, bila di depan huruf ‘y’ itu adalah huruf hidup (vowel) dan huruf hidup itu mengikuti satu huruf mati, maka ‘y’ berubah menjadi ‘i’ dan ditambahkan ‘d’

membayar               pay                       paid
berbaring                 lay                         laid

• Kata kerja /verb yang berakhiran – y, bila di depan huruf ‘y’ itu adalah huruf hidup (vowel) dan huruf hidup itu mengikuti lebih dari satu huruf mati, maka ‘y’ tidak berubah dan ditambahkan ‘ed’

bermain                 play played
tinggal                    stay stayed

Perubahan kata kerja yang tidak beraturan (irregular verb), dapat dilihat di kamus atau di buku mengenai grammar. Biasanya disitu disertakan daftar irregular verb-nya.

Penggunaan Simple Past Tense:

• Untuk melukiskan peristiwa yang terjadi di waktu lampau dan berakhirnya juga di waktu lampau.

Sejam yang lalu aku akan pisang.        I ate banana one hour ago.
                                                                     (makannya sudah satu jam yang lalu, sekarang tidak lagi)

Ia melempar bukunya.                        She threw the book. (melempar bukunya sudah lewat,                                                                               sekarang tidak lagi)

• Untuk melukiskan dua peristiwa yang terjadi bersamaan atau hampir bersamaan di waktu lampau. Peristiwa yang terjadi pada klausa yang dimulai dengan ‘when’ terjadi lebih awal.

Aku menulis surat dan adikku menonton TV.                 I wrote a letter and my brother watched the TV. ( peristiwa membaca dan menonoton TV terjadi bersamaan)

Susunya tumpah ketika ia memecahkan gelas.           The milk spilled out when she broke the glass. (gelas pecah duluan, baru susunya tumpah)

Kita lihat hasil karya kita sejak pelajaran I dan kita tambahkan beberapa kalimat yang meggunakan semple past tense. Hasilnya seperti ini.


I get up at 5.30 o’clock every day, but I wake up early this morning. It is 5.00 o’clock in the morning now. I open the window and the stars are still shinning. Not like the stars, the moon is getting fade. As usual, I clean the bedroom and then I take a bath. I don’t forget to brush the teeth. While I am taking a bath, my mother is preparing my breakfast. It takes me around 10 minutes to get dressed. I usually have breakfast at 06.00. If I am in hurry, just take a slice of bread and drink a glass of water.

I go to school at 06.30. I often take the same route to go to school. But yesterday I took another way, as there was an accident in Jl. Antasari, the way I usually go through. I car hit a motorist from the behind. Since the motorist wounded seriously, some nearest residents sent him to the hospital. When I passed the location this morning, no more people crowded. They all went away.

There are many things to do in school. I learn to read, write, draw and sing. I listen to the teacher when she explains the lessons. Sometimes, she does not allow us to write anything while she is explaining the difficult subject. Yesterday, Ms. Anne got upset because while she was explaining, some students talked to one to another.

I go home at 12.00 and arrive at home at 13.00. After I take a rest for a few minutes, I have lunch. In the evening, I help my mother, study and watch the television. I go to bed at 21.00. When I went to bed yesterday, my mother was still watching the television and my father was reading a newspaper. Tonight they went to bed earlier; I got so tired. I did may works the whole day.

Dengan menambahkan satu tenses lagi dalam cerita itu kini ceritanya menjadi lebih hidup. Jadi semakin lengkap kamu memahami tenses, maka selain menulis lebih gampang dan lancar, cerita yang kita tulis juga lebih hidup dang manarik. Baiklah kita cukupkan sampai di sini dulu pelajaran kali ini, kita akan melanjutkan dengan pelajaran yang lain mendatang.

Selamar belajar.
the site keeper

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English Language: It is the part of my life!

I have been dealing with export- import documentations, banking negotiation and rules related to the international trade for the last 17 years, subsequently for three different companies. From one company to the other, 80 percent of my tasks is dealing with English language. With such a long dealing, and as working with the main charge is handling export documentation, English seems to have been not secluded from life. English is not just a hobby-related matter; it has been the part of my life, the part of livings. Is there anyone else who is still thinking of making English for livings?

If you are selling your products at domestic markets, you will receive payment when you deliver the goods to your buyers or at the maturity date if you are selling on tenor or you grant them a credit. It is not as simple as selling one at local markets when you are selling abroad or, as it is commonly famed as exporting. Exporting goods to other countries is more complicated in both delivery procedures and payment receivable.

The problems are because of the different country of the exporter (seller) and the importer (buyer), different currency, political situation, and different regulations. As the buyers are in different countries, we do not know exactly about their credibility. Furthermore, exporters and importers have different currency in use, different political situation and each authorities may differently regulate the flow of foreign currency or import commodity entries to their customs area.

In relation to the payment for the exported goods, exporter will have not just to deliver the goods and receive payment like one of local sales. They have to prepare a certain sets of documents required by the buyers for the cargoes release at the port of destination. These kinds of the documents are, export or shipping documents as people usually refer to, all in international-standardized English. As the staff preparing the export documents are in the demand of qualifying this international standard requirements, in both their knowledge of the type of duties and the respective language, proficiency in English is a must, or at least, it is more than just an average.

Staffs working for the export-import department are not only dealing with the export documents. Further to this clerical works, they must also get in touch with internal related departments and external institutions, such as customs, shipping lines, government institutions, embassies, consulates, and other related parties. Like preparing the documents, communicating with these institutions will also not keep apart from English.

When we are exporting the goods, when will we get payment from customers? It depends on the terms of the sales itself. If the term is payment in advance, of course we get fund prior to shipment. If the term is open account or document collections, we will get it after we ship the goods; depending on how many days we give them tenor.

Most exporters, however, prefer to sale under documentary letter of credit as this is considered as the most secured method of payment. Having prepared all the shipping documents required by the respective letter of credit, exporter will present the documents to their bank. As long as all of the documents comply with the letter of credit stipulations, bank will negotiate (pay first) the clean documents, while they claim to the opener bank of the letter of credit for reimbursement thereafter.

The other interesting job of an export-import staff is having calls or emails from customers or, sometimes, from other related parties. With their calls or emails, customers usually inquiry us for certain requests, or even, complain us for something that is not of their convenience. Often, they are upset for certain services that are not satisfactorily. In respond to all their dissatisfaction, we must be cool and calm. Customers’ complaints are not always correct, of course. Anyhow, we should treat them wisely as despite their hard complaints, they are our valuable assets.

After a thorough justification, we may clarify what have actually happened or, in case that the complaint is acceptable, we apologize and offer improvements for the next with certain compensations for the lost. To treat complains comfortably requires a skill of good public relation, as this may reflect the company image to them.

Working for export-import documentation as above described will require special skills and dealing with English is likely intact in day-to-day activities. Thus, English is not just a matter of hobby; it has been the part of life. Anyone who is now learning English language may also be thinking of this as an option of career. Not only does it give you prestigious position, but vacancies for qualified export-import staffs are now also widely available. Are you interested in?

Mojokerto, 08/07/2009
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How to Catch Ideas For Writing

Some people say that writing is easy, whereas others still stay at their contradictory. Advanced writers have likely been experiencing a long journey prior to their current writing world, and that is why they say that writing is easy to do. In this case, perhaps they do not remember again all their pains they might have been facing during their long road of journey. They are harvesting what they have planted long before, and writing seems to have been coming easy. Writing has been one of their hobbies and it has been intact in life. How is about the beginner writers? From which side should they start writing? Catch the ideas first!

Most beginners are likely not in the line opinion with the seasoned writers. They still find it difficult to write; it is hard to spill their idea into the subsequent powerful sentences on paper. Some people say that there are unlimited ideas that we can catch everywhere at any time, at any occasion. In fact, beginners - like me- do not always grab this idea easily and often do not see any idea. We feel blank.

In order to know from which side we should write and how we may catch the ideas and engrave them in the form of subsequent words, these ways may be useful.

1. Be alert to catch up the ideas

It is true that there are unlimited ideas around. They may come to us at a sudden, in spontaneous, and unpredictable fixed time. Ideas may be coming from stimulus when we are in the use of five human senses of touching; tasting; smelling; visioning; hearing. They may also vanish in a twinkling, so we must always be ready to catch them and to ‘stick’ them on paper. When ideas are suddenly coming, write them down on paper or type it on computer without any delay before they jump up.

2. Find ideas by experiencing whatsoever at surroundings

Ideas are rampant at our surroundings. The problem is that we are not accustomed to see them and take them out. We are not sensible enough to discover these veiled ideas. Many people may be taking some trips, visiting certain places or meet someone to make a little bit of interview. By developing the sense of ‘investigation’, we unveil the disguised valuable ideas to write down. From the long journey we may record what we have seen and felt, which are not only valuable ideas for writing but it may be valuable learning process of living.

3. Read supporting sources to develop ideas

When we have caught an idea from the surroundings, it may be just a plain and simple one, which is not at all attractive to anyone. Then, it is the next step to develop this idea into one that is interest capturing and reliable, so that when it is presented in the form of writing it will evoke readers’ interest. What we are writing will not only show readers the contents; it will further represent how far our insight about the topics is. So, read related sources to enrich and support the idea.

4. Make reading a habit

To be a visionary, as a writer should be, it seems that reading is not a separate activity from writing. As a beginner writer, at first stage, we may start reading whatsoever of our preference. Then, step by step, we have to develop reading as our daily needs, like our body needs food and drink to survive. At the later stage, reading is not just a habit but it is the part of life. As in fact, reading is the part of writing; it will shape and color what we would like to write.

5. Start writing

Like ammunition of a mortar, people will not know how powerful it is until the weapon launches and it explodes, hitting the targets. How brilliant your idea is, just like ammunition, it does not give any effect to others unless you write it down. That is why writing should be directly commenced soon after we catch the idea, without fail. Write it down before it vanishes from us. Do not think that our writing will be automatically perfect from the beginning, it will come as a result of many practices or rehearsals. Our writing will be getting smooth and perfect in the line of how much practices we have been doing, so start writing from now and at any time.

This blog will not justify how perfect the articles are, but it is more likely a forum where I myself, and anyone who may concern to English learning, can spill out their ideas, a place for free expression of viewpoints and opinions.

Mojokerto, 07/07/2009
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