Redesigned site and new blog name for Lingua Greca
We missed a lot of great conferences this year and traveled less than usual. A lot of exciting developments kept us in Athens and it is our pleasure to share them with you.
Lingua Greca Translations
First of all, we are now a company! That was a long journey. Officially, we were incorporated in March 2012. But, we needed to fix our office (our world headquarters, as Christos says!). It was in bad shape, so it took about 5 months to make it look decent. The first time we ‘officially’ worked in our new office was in August.
At first, I wasn’t sure I’d get used to getting up every morning, putting on ‘business’ clothes and driving 5 minutes to the office. I always loved working at home in my pajamas, having the freedom to take a nap, have a shower and generally do as I please day in day out. But it turned out great! We have lovely neighbors (first time I’ve felt the sense of community), our cat Ozzy comes with us some days and since we have no boss we still work whatever hours we want to.
The most important change though is the working hours and environment. There aren’t as many distractions at the office (except from shopping, now everything is right next door!), so our productivity is higher. We spend less time for lunch and finish much earlier in the evenings. We have that sense of wanting to go home and relax. Plus, it’s easier to go out for dinner, everything is within walking distance.
Nothing much has changed in the way we work or the clients we work with (agencies), but we’re planning to make a bigger effort in marketing and finding direct clients in 2013.
Our blog
Our baby turned one on August 4. Can’t believe it’s already been almost a year and a half and we’ve managed to keep it somewhat like what we’d initially envisioned. I was worried that it would take too much time to write and publish posts every week, but the time required isn’t that much and the pleasure from writing is far bigger than I thought.
Sometime in October, we surpassed 50,000 views and our 2 most popular posts since the beginning (August 2011) are the following:
Translator-Interpreter memes
The ideal translation agency
New services
Our planning to find direct clients got us thinking that we need to find out more about the application/software localization process. In other words, everything from start to finish except from the translation/editing part. We turned to our dear friend Stefan Stoyanov, owner of The iMind, for help (that was our first ever business trip as company owners!) and that led to the start of a cooperation between our two companies.
The only thing missing now are the clients to offer them the full package of services!
New baby
A few months ago we found a sick kitten on the street near our office and thus we became cat parents once again! We named him Rocky (because he’s a fighter), he’s 100% healthy now and loves playing with his brother Ozzy.
Tell us your news! How was this year for you? Christmas is around the corner and I know you’re thinking about your New Year’s resolutions. Ours is to focus on our marketing efforts and expand our clientele. Many new ideas to apply, I’m sure we’ll do many mistakes along the way, but that’s where all the fun is, right? 🙂
About the author
Catherine Christaki has been a full-time English-Greek translator since 2001 and co-owner of Lingua Greca Translations since 2012. She specializes in Information Technology, Medical, and Technical texts and loves writing for the Adventures in Technical Translation blog. She regularly shares her experience and insight on social media and blogging for translators, giving interviews and presenting at conferences. Connect with her on Twitter @LinguaGreca.
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Wow, so many news! Best of luck to you in finding new super-awesome direct clients and applying your (for now) hidden skills.
I do also have some Resolutions, will blog about them soon.
Thanks Marta 🙂 Looking forward to reading your resolutions!
Great to hear that Rocky made it! 2012 was indeed a great year! I hope we all survife the armagedon on 21.12 😉 and Carry on to another great 2013. Have Fun in Vegas!
Thanks Tommy! We’ll be celebrating the 21.12 Armageddon in style at Judy’s 🙂
Congratulations! Your new office looks great. Good luck in 2013!
Congratulations Catherine! You’ve got a great office! Love your kittens 🙂 May 2013 be even better for you than 2012!
Great stuff! I love your small fridge because I’ve been working without one for like a year and miss it badly 🙂
On a more serious note, I agree that working in an office is the right move for you or any other translator, for that matter. When I have to work from home occasionally, my concentration drops by 30% and productivity by probably 50%.
Take care,
Roman
http://www.velior.ru/blog/en
twitter.com/veliortrans
Thank you so much for your kind words Marta, Olga and Roman 🙂 Best wishes to all of you as well for a very successful 2013!
Wow. Double and triple WOW. Congratulations, and heartfelt wishes of luck (and lots and lots of business flowing your way). Plus, my best Season’s Greetings, extensive to Ozzy and Rocky of course.
Congrats on your new office and a(nother) successful year!
Though it’s still in my home, I recently finished renovations on my office and feel so much more creative and productive in this great, organized space.
Wishing you both only and always the best in 2013.
Thank you so much for your kind wishes Nelida and Lisa! All 4 of us really appreciate it 🙂
Congrats on the new, totally awesome digs. And Rocky is totally adorable, but you already knew that. So excited you are here in Vegas, and yes, the end of the world party (12/21) is this Friday at our house! See you there!
Congratulations to all the developments. Your office looks great! I hope to see more of you next year, perhaps in Greece or Stockholm. All the best for 2013!
Thanks Tess! There’s a chance for you to come visit us in Greece?? That would be awesome! At the very least, we’ll see each other at the ATA conference, we’re not missing another one! Happy Holidays 🙂
Congratulations, Catherine and Christos!
Your new World HQ is terrific! The new kitten is handsome, and perfect for new office.
I look forward to the new developments – I would be willing to bet they are just around the corner. What odds does Christos give me? 🙂
Al
Thank you so much for your kind words Al 🙂 Christos is too busy winning poker tournaments (ok, he only won one but it was the first one he’s ever played!). Many hugs and holiday wishes!