Here are links to 1000s of posts by the translation and language industry’s most experienced minds, on all aspects of the profession and languages.
I’ve focused on English language blogs for maximum reach, but a non-English list might well be a useful addition at a later date!
I recommend adding these to an RSS reader for automatic alerts on new posts, as well as the ability to scroll through back-catalogues.
The list is up-to-date as of April 2020. I noticed while checking the validity of each that there is a trend for less blogging in recent years. Whether that’s to do with the boom of social media groups and feeds, or just a coincidence, I don’t know. What I do know is that there is a lot of very good knowledge shared in these blogs and would be an excellent starting point for someone researching the industry as a career option. As well as of course all those already involved and looking to improve in any number of areas.
Years ago I also created lists on Twitter of translators. I’m sure there are better ones by now, but they might be a good starting point for your social media needs, alongside the #xl8 hashtag mentioned below. It’s split into two lists because at one point Twitter didn’t allow more than 500 people on a list.
If you add all of those translators to the list here we’d be in the 800s or more, but this page is reserved for blogs.
I know I will have missed some key blogs. Hopefully they will be pointed out immediately. My sincerest apologies in advance. Happy to add any missing if you’d just let me know via the Discord chat group or footer at the bottom of the page. Same goes for corrections etc.
Sadly, final note, many of the blogs I used to follow from the early to mid 2000s have ceased to be. Their site is now a landing page for some domain reseller or similar. This bitrot is a real shame and hopefully some work can be done to gather posts back from archive.org and present them once again, in some form, to newcomers and industry vets alike!
Final, final note; as a good net citizen, I have tried to use https or SSL links where possible.
The Top 75 Translation and Language Blogs
- About Translation Riccardo Schiaffino’s well established blog with a cellar full of posts from 2005 to present. link
- Academic Language Experts blog, offering views on the latest trends in language services in academia. link
- Catharine Cellier-Smart’s frequently updated blog from La Réunion has been highly rated for the best part of a decade. link
- B.J. Epstein (Ph.D.) has posts ranging back to 2006, all neatly tagged and ready to browse. link
- Caroline Alberoni’s site features hundreds of posts on the industry in English and Portuguese (BR). link
- Charlie Bavington’s infrequent yet in-depth posts of note. link
- Claire Cox has written “Lines from a linguist” for many years, giving well considered input on the industry. link
- Day Translations are an agency, yet one that focuses on creating interesting posts for their blog. link
- Estelle Meliodon writes in French on Anglo/French legal topics. A young blog, but one to watch. link
- Extra Speech is written by Olivier Den Hartigh on a regular basis, with 25+ years in the industry to call on. link
- Between Translations is written by Jayne Fox on the subjects of CPD and translation tools. For the most part! link
- Augustin Bugg has written Bugg’s Lawspeak since 2014 and has racked up a solid body of posts for translators to trawl. link
- Karen Rueckert’s Translator Mentoring Blog, around since 2013, has some very interesting posts on working in the industry itself and improving how you do the “business of translation”. link
- Kevin Hendzel has been a high profile translator for well over a decade, and offers timely comments on the direction of the industry and how to best position yourself. link
- eMpTy Pages is written by Kirti Vashee, currently an employee of SDL, long time blogger and translation industry insider. link
- In My Own Terms, by Patricia Brenes, is a blog focused on terminology. A subject close to the hearts of many translators, but one seldom discussed. link
- Victor Dewsbery has written at Language Mystery for a decade. With fewer posts than some of his colleagues, his posts remain of high quality and interest. link
- Rob Lunn has written this blog on legal translation and in particular the Spanish legal system since 2011. It is one I’ve meant to look into more over the years! link
- Catherine Christaki has poured tonnes of effort and love into her blog for years, and it shows. link
- Rose Newell’s Translator’s Teacup is a useful blend of translator resources and business talk. Highly recommended. link
- Love German Books is written by Berlin based translator Katy Derbyshire and has been online since 2008. With over 1000 posts there is a lot to peruse if you have some time on your hands! link
- Carol O’Sullivan is Director of Translation Studies at the University of Bristol, as well as editor of the Translation Studies journal. A blog kept up to date since 2007. link
- What blog roll would be complete without Mox’s comic strips? None, I tell ya. Alejandro Moreno-Ramos has you covered. link
- Paul Filkin works at SDL but blogs in a personal capacity at Multifarious. The focus is on translation technology. link
- Céline Graciet has 100s of posts on translation worth anyone’s time browsing. link
- Nikki Graham has written on the industry for years, and has really covered the gamut in that time. Drop in and soak in the knowledge! link
- Craig Morris has written hundreds of posts since 2009 on all manner of language (German/English focus) and translation topics. link
- Steve Vitek’s Patent Translator blog has been extremely popular over the years, and with good reason. It continues to be updated. link
- Proz themselves keep a news page that remains up to date. Worth a look when spending time on the site for various other reasons! link
- Valeria Aliperta hosts another blog with lineage dating back to 2009, with a claimed 3000+ followers by email and some 7000 on Facebook, it might well be worth your time to join the hordes. link
- Maria Pia Montoro is the host at Wordlo, a blog that has covered the industry since 2016, with a dozen or so posts over the years. Worth keeping an eye on. link
- Emma Goldsmith has written her blog “Signs and Symptoms of Translation” since 2012 and has in that time amassed 3⁄4 of a million views. Subjects are varied, but interesting for the scientific and translation communities. link
- Slator is a professional trade publication covering industry news proper, and is worth following to better understand developments in translation business, big or small. link
- Else Gellinek has written on translation here since 2013 and presents her work well. Topics include transcreation, the business of translation, book reviews, CPD and much more. link
- Suzanne Deliscar has written on translation and law since 2013 and now teaches on the subject. Highly recommended on the subject. link
- Speaking of Translation is a blog and podcast produced by Eve Bodeux and Corinne McKay. Deep dives into all aspects of working translators, highly recommended. link
- Tomedes has written for their agency blog since 2013, and have produced a good body of posts. link
- Corinne McKay is another staple of any blog roll. Posts go back to 2008 and have of course covered most areas of the business you can imagine! link
- Jill Sommer has one of the more vintage blogs on translation, even if it doesn’t look like it at first glance, dating back to 2008. Many, many, many, interesting posts. link
- Translation Times is written by the Jenner twins, Judy and Dagmar, who have often topped the best blog rankings over the years. They have books, workshops and blog posts galore for you to check out. link
- Kevin Lossner has written at Translation Tribulations since 2008, with hundreds of posts, often covering the intricacies of CAT tools or the fallacies of LSPs. Well worth digging into when you have time. link
- Transubstantiation reaches back to the depths of 2006 with many thoughtful pieces. link
- Paul Sulzberger has hosted this great blog on the business of translation since 2011. A lot to get through, but always interesting. link
- Translation News Up to date industry news, as per Slator, but it seems to be a headline feed with little to no commentary, if that’s what you prefer. link
- Romina Bona offers light-hearted posts and merch based on themes close to all of our hearts! link
- Margaret Marks writes on legal translation, with a German/English focus. link
- A feed for a range of translation related subjects on Twitter and elsewhere, the hashtag #xl8 which I actually personally had a hand in creating back in 2009 has been a consistent source of “translation content” for over a decade.
- Brian Harris has kept a blog since 2009 on “Natural Translation”, “Native Translation” and “Language Brokering” for many years. His decorated career can be seen on his Wikipedia page. Otherwise his blog is full of interesting translation stories from history. link
- Another agency blog, but another well kept one. Vertaalt has posts dating back to 2014. ‘Nuff said. link
- Marian Dougan has placed highly on more “official” lists like this with her blog over the last decade. Less frequently updated in recent years, still a stalwart in the category. link
- Oliver Lawrence has posts on his blog going back to 2014 and keeps a solid online presence through his site, blog and social feeds. Like many on this list you probably know the name, if not the person, so definitely another to take time to dive into. link
- Michael Wahlster has run this blog since 2003 and has the honour of being the only other translator I know who posts their PGP public key on their site. He’ll know as well as I do how often it is actually used (spoiler alert: extremely rarely) but nice to see nonetheless. He just needs to serve his site by
httpsnow to prove it hasn’t been tampered with…. such a rabbit hole :D. Many, many posts. link - Percy Balemans has kept this blog since 2006 which gives it pride of place on this list, despite not totalling more than a dozen or so posts. It has still managed to accrue some 250k viewers in that time! link
- Sarah Alys Lindholm has kept this blog, “The Detail Woman”, since 2013 and has a focus around the entertainment industry, as well as the practical issues we all face.link
- Intralingo gives us a take on the literary translation front, featuring guest posts, conference wrap-ups, interviews etc. I’ve also just discovered that they interview the translator of a book I’m reading and enjoying at this very moment, The Three Body Problem, by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu, winner of the 2015 Hugo Award. link
- Kate Sotejeff-Wilson walks us through her writing-focused blog, with beautiful Scandinavian imagery throughout. link
- G. Brunner and M. Heaney have run Lonely Translations for the last decade or so, with posts on many aspects of the business of translation, “seen from the inside”. link
- Rachel Ward writes on literary translation and has done so here since 2011. Nice in-depth posts on methods and wider industry topics. link
- Susan Bernofsky also writes on literary translation, since 2010, with 100s of posts to keep you hooked until the coffee shop staff tap you on the shoulder. link
- The Linguafile A guest-post heavy blog, run since 2012, with ~4000 Twitter followers to date, one that’s full of gems to discover. Another award winning blog. link
- Marta Stelmazak hosts 100+ lessons on the business of translation, all for free, which is a fantastic resource for anyone looking to spruce up their work-life balance. link
- Ewandro Magalhaes offers his experience from the world of interpretation (chief interpreter, no less) and has done since 2013 on this site. link
- Nancy Friedman writes on the language of commerce, brands and so on, placing high on translation blog award lists several times over the last decade. Archives date back to 2006. link
- Tim Barton has kept his blog and site full of interesting posts since 2006. Tim and I studied at the same place and time all those years ago, leading us down similar career paths. A dedicated translator, if ever I knew one! link
- C. M. Mayo has a blog dating back to 2006 on literary translation and related topics. There is a new blog linked from there since 2019, however I’ll keep the old link up to access the 1000+ posts written to date as the more relevant to this list. For now! link
- Graham Pointon, former BBC Pronunciation Adviser, lecturer on phonetics and author, has written on language here since 2006. link
- Steve Dodson has written on language since 2002 and is often cited as one to bookmark. link
- Carolyn Yohn is another oft-cited translation blogger of note. Posts range back to 2012. link
- Lucy Williams and Gwenydd Jones run this well-presented and also well-stocked blog on the business of translation, as well as practical aspects for fellow translators. link
- Tanya Quintieri runs the Mrs. Divi site and blog with a handful of very useful posts. One to watch in coming months as it grows. From here you can find links to the Language and Translation Mastermind communities being set up for support, training and motivation purposes. link
- Sofia Polykreti runs Earthlang, another with awards for language content, with topics reaching out to geography, culture and maps alongside translation and linguistics. link
- Sarah Hudson has created a new translation blog, in the “one to watch” category, with posts on transcreation and “business of” topics to date. link
- Elisabeth Hippe-Heisler has run the Minimalist Translator blog since 2007 and covers the growing areas of minimalism and mindset, alongside translation and language. link
- Madalena Zampaulo blogs on the business of translation with some quite technical advice and guides, as well as course materials to improve your own business. Has featured in many of the blogs above. link
- J. D. Wisgo has written Self Taught Japanese since 2013 and is a prolific blogger. All things translation, language and Japanese lie herein. link
- Anthony Teixeira on localisation, UI, software, games and so on, since 2013. The first (other than myself) translator I’ve seen to have a specialisation in forex and cryptocurrencies. link
- Maeva Cifuentes is a translator who writes on digital business and growth. The blog started in 2019 but has already racked up an impressive number of posts. Another “one to watch”, for sure. link
- Simon Berrill has written this blog since 2014, is a former journalist and has a “refreshing, honest and engaging” blog, according to his recommender, Kevin Hendzel. link
- Tim Gutteridge is primarily a literary translator and so hosts a blog on that very subject. He takes deep dives into the specific processes and decisions made in the field, as well as writing on the business of literary translation. link
And that’s a wrap!
I’m sure the translation community hive mind can produce another 25 to make this a “top 100” post, so let me know wherever you see this posted and I’ll try to keep it up to date. For the keen-eyed, which is probably most people reading this, you may have noticed no discernable order to the list. There was one, by URL alphabetised, but then I was adding to an already numbered list and, well, the order became less important shall we say.
Thanks for reading.
EDIT: Adding 2 more from recommendations, creeping towards the 80 mark! (5/5/2020)