LIRE LA VERSION FRANCAISE
Knowing how to use MS Word's find and replace feature can save you a lot of time. For example, have you ever had to replace the commas "," by decimals "." for figures?
Type ([0-9]),([0-9][0-9]) in the "find what" field and \1.\2 in the "replace with" field. Make sure to click on "more" and check the "use wildcards" box.
For a more detailed explanation of how this works and more find/replace combinations, check out this article by Tibor Környei.
You want to create your own newsletter to stay in touch with your customers? Need a website? Contact Olsix for your website, marketing, and communication needs. They also offer training on how to create a newsletter and integrate into your marketing strategy...
AUTOUR DES EXPERTS
June 9
Nice
Meet more than ten accountants during these speed meetings and choose the one whose services best meet your needs. Find out more...
JCI MEETING WITH DALE CARNEGIE
June 17
La Gaude
The Pays Niçois local JCI chapter will be holding its monthly meeting at the Coupole in La Gaude. Dale Carnegie will be running a 1-hour session on how to motivate a team. This meeting is free and open to the public. Find out more...
PROZ.COM 10th ANNIVERSARY INTL CONFERENCE
July 2-5
Ohrid, Macedonia
Not only a translators conference, but a short escape into a world of rich culture, centuries long history and breathtaking natural beauty.
Find out more...
WORDFAST TRAINING - L1
September 28 & 29
Paris
Learn how to use one of the most popular translation environment tools in the world (training in French). Sign up...
WORDFAST TRAINING - L2
October 19 & 20
Paris
Increase your productivity and the quality of your translations, terminology and translation memory management (training in French). Sign up...
WORDFAST TRAINING - L1 & L2
October 27 & 28
New York
Learn how to use one of the most popular translation environment tools in the world. Sign up...
PROZ.COM TRANSLATION CONFERENCE
December 5 & 6
Nice
Translators from France and Europe gathering for four days of translation training and networking in Nice: financial translation, revision, software, creative writing workshops and more. Find out more...
Flowers, cats, Menton and more...
Dear Reader,
Summer is here and its time to get poetic. Here's an ExTra! special summer haiku just for you:
A hillside picnic,
rosé wine and summer breeze
for time out of mind.
You'll find out concise information about upcoming conferences, translation tools and more in the rest of this issue. As for Apex, we are currently in the process of creating a limited liability company. More news on that this fall!
We hope you have an excellent summer and don't forget to keep the economy rolling: buy!
Yours in Saint Blaise,
Anaïs et John Di Rico, Apex Traduction
Managing translation projects
John was recently invited to present Translation Office 3000, freelance translator software for project management, to members of the Société Française de Traducteurs at one of their regional meetings in Aix-en-Provence. 
The two key questions during this meeting were:
- Do I really need a dedicated software package for project management if I work with very few clients?
- How long will it take me to learn how to use this and configure it for my needs?
To the first question, the answer is both yes and no. No if you already have a project workflow that is simple and well-organised and that allows you to easily keep track of your billing and quoting information. However, this assumes that you don't plan to develop your clientele with translation agencies or direct clients over the medium or long term.
Yes, you should use a project management solution if you want to connect all of the information about your business (financials, customers, productivity, jobs, documents, etc.) and use it to be better. Find out who your top clients are, during which months you have the most demand so you can plan your vacations accordingly, or know which services bring in the most money and which services you should stop selling because they are unprofitable are just a few of the insights about your business you stand to gain.
Project management software designed by translators is also an excellent choice (compared to country-specific accounting solutions) because it is tailored to the needs and standards of our profession. For example, it includes the features you need to comply with the European translation standard NF EN 15038.
As for the second question, this is the eternal problem of all new software: adapting to it and adapting it to you. This could take 3 to 5 days on your own or 1 day were you to attend a training. We offer training for Translation Office 3000 so please feel free to contact us if you are interested. We've also negotiated a 
discount on the software for all trainees and will provide you with professional quoting and invoicing templates to get you up and running from day one.
In conclusion, if you already have a solution that works for you, you may not need to take the plunge. However, if you are just starting out as a freelance translator or agency, you should seriously look into what we consider to be indispendable tools created by translators, for translators: Translation Office 3000 or Projetex.
Its summer and the chalk is back in town
Most of you may remember last year's articles about the street painting festival that John helped organize in the South of France with the Junior Chamber of Pays Niçois. On May 1st, all three of us participated in the first "delocalized" Craies d'Azur event of 2009 in Blausasc just outisde of Nice.
Check out this short video on Youtube to see just how fun chalk street painting can be for the whole family.
Apex Traduction in a nutshell:
- Owned and operated by a team of Franco-American translators
- Specializing in finance, marketing, tourism, and website translations
- Accredited training center - professional development for translators
- A network of independent, qualified translators headquartered just outside of Nice, France
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