To achieve and maintain a high level of expertise as a translator/linguist, I am committed to deliberate practice. I have been working as a full-time freelance translator since 2014. I work with direct clients and LSPs from all over the world. Over the years I have consistently over-delivered, become a top-rated and preferred translator for various large translation agencies, and even get bonuses for completing challenging projects well and on time.
What is deliberate practice?
It is a focused approach to skill improvement to reach a high level of expertise. In this article, I will discuss deliberate practice dedicated to language skills, without delving into my other areas of interest much.
Goal-oriented approach to improving language and business skills
As a freelance linguist, my job is not only translating, reviewing, editing, etc, but also doing marketing, generating invoices, networking, negotiating, and so forth. In short, language and business skills.
Language skills and technical jargon:
To perfect my language skills related to the language industry, I read daily e-books related to my specialties. To structure my language training, I use a habit tracker and a timer to log how many minutes I study weekly. For my specialty related to health, I log at least 500 minutes a week of reading and to a lesser extent listening to podcasts.
The habit app I use is free of charge with no ads, you can find this app here.
Besides, reading about my specialism (medical and life sciences) I also blog on this website and I take notes voraciously on Google Docs. I use dictionaries and thesauri for practically every word I want to understand or discover its synonyms.
Regarding my tech and IT specialism, I use the Linux operating system, I create websites myself, and I know the basics of web development including HTML, CSS, JS, and PHP. Moreover, as I noted in a previous article, I am studying Dart/Flutter to build a mobile app.
Regularly engaging with complex concepts related to medicine, life sciences, and software, enables me to understand advanced technical language and accurately translate and review specialized terminology.
Nurturing business acumen
Online visibility and presence
Having a well-designed professional website and an active blog for my freelance business is essential for highlighting my skills and express myself. In fact, the actual website is the fifth or sixth iteration. I built this website all by myself and I remember that the first two did not look good.
With a professional website, I also acquired a professional email “linguist@fakhriazzouz.com” for sure it looks much more serious than a Gmail, Yahoo, or live email address.
Business development
I look for new business opportunities and grow sales, by contacting LSPs and offering my services. I negotiate my rates and offer a unique value proposition. I have all the required data ready to be shared with new business partners for faster inboarding. I follow language industry news and trends to identify new emerging opportunities, and develop new skills or learn new tools.
Deliberate practice for language and business
1- Focus and attention: I do not multitask, I only monotask. I schedule specific days for each project, that is to say I dedicated specific time slot for language skills maintenance and development, and devote time for business development or other preplanned tasks. For each task I pay attention to details and ask myself actively how I can do the task faster and better. I push the limit gradually to improve continuously.
2- Knowledge management: I always take notes, whether using Google Docs, Google Keep, or a voice recorder when on the go. More importantly I review my notes in a very regular and consistent way. I backup important data on specific dates of the year. I do weekly, monthly, and yearly review for all aspects of my business. This help me strategize and change tactics when necessary, treamline my work and manage the knowledge I am amassing by my extensive reading and training.
3- I strategize for the long term: Deliberate practice requires sustained effort on the long run; becoming an elite expert is a marathon, not a sprint.Hence, I focus on monotasking, planning, knowledge management, extensive reading, and note-taking, without forgetting about intrinsic motivation.
4- Health & well being
Furthermore, a healthy life style is essential to have a healthy body and mind to be able to deliver great results. In fact, starting from May 2024 I leveled up my physical training with more intensive exercising using weight and cycling. I log my progress and work on incremental improvement to become athletic. I have good sleep hygiene and flourishing spiritual life as a Muslim.
Conclusion
In a never-ending quest for excellence, deliberate practice itself can be improved, as I have lately discovered that there is a science for expertise. This opens the door to a whole new path for improvement.
In Arabic, we have a related saying by Imam Gazali قال الإمام الغزالي: «العلم إذا أعطيته كلك أعطاك بعضه وإذا أعطيته بعضك لم يعطك شيئاً فعليك أن تفني حياتك حتى تتعلم», it means that: “if you invest with all you have in knowledge you will get only some results and if you invest little you will get nothing, for this you have to dedicate your life to learn”.