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Helga Lemiere wrote:

Just passed through the forum posts and stopped on yours

You seem to be very skilled, I just give some statement about your evaluation tab of the TestDaF (I copy and paste it)

TestDaF: Leseverstehen 4, Hörverstehen 5, Schriftliche Ausdück 3, Mündliche Ausdruck 4

Schriftliche Ausdück 3 should be schriftlicher Ausdruck 3
Mündliche Ausdruck 4 should be mündlicher Ausdruck 4

Kind regards

Helga

Alex Lago wrote:

Hi

Overall it looks like a nice site, however I did notice your contact details at the bottom of the 3 language page say "CV and rates available on request (Englisch, Detusch)", this should be (English, Deutsch), you should make sure to run a spell check in case there are other spelling mistakes.

As regards the layout, on the page with all the languages I think mixing all 3 languages on one page makes the page look messy and clustered.

Also all the fields to the right of your photo are only in English, all these fields are important so they should also be in the other languages as should your contact details at the bottom of the page which only appear in English.

Finally why have the FAQ only in English after all if you translate from Japanese and German most of your clients won't speak English so it would make sense to have the FAQ in the other languages as well.

Emma Goldsmith wrote:

Good start, Sarai!

- One solution to the mixed languages in your overview page would be to use a table format for your fields of specialty.

- In addition to listing specialties, I think it would be good to say what sort of texts you translate, e.g., case reports, adverse drug reactions, clinical trial protocols, medical devices, surgical procedures, guidelines, etc.

- The social media buttons are enormous. Trim them down a bit!

- A link to your blog would be good because you talk about your work there, whereas the link to your YouTube channel isn't so good because potential clients can see how you blow dry your hair (yes, it was fun to watch!) and that isn't very relevant, since you don't translate hairdressing texts (or do you??).

- As Alex has mentioned - re-read the whole thing and get rid of every typo (gyneacology, "no learned" are two that jumped out at me)

- I personally wouldn't thank people for their patience. It sounds a bit apologetic.

Good luck!
Emma

Amel Abdullah wrote:

Congratulations on your new website! Overall, it looks nice, and it is clear that you are a highly qualified professional translator.

This is just a brief comment, but I find it hard on the eyes to look at all three languages at once (on your overview page).

My suggestion is to make your home page a "splash" page that allows visitors to choose the relevant language. After that, keep each language separate from the others.

I also think you should direct visitors to this page first rather than to the overview:

http://www.shanzi.info/p/english.html

Actually, I would recommend combining this page with the overview so that all the information is on one page.

You may also wish to have a separate contact page.

Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz wrote:
The use of three languages on the same page is non-standard.

Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz wrote:

1. The use of three languages on the same page is non-standard. I'm not saying it's bad. One day it might well become the new standard. However, for now it isn't really. Unless you feel like being a harbinger of change, you might want to separate the languages. However, I must say it really looks nice the way you combined English, Japanese and German for specific medical fields. That's something which already sets the reader in the right mind frame.
2. Like Emma said, a tabular layout for data fields looks professional. You could combine the neat visual alignment offered by tables with judicious use of the bold font and caps (CSS font-variety:small-caps or text-transform uppercase) or even colours.
3. I'd probably skip 'primary' language pairs and just put the most important ones in bold font at the top of a list of all.
4. I'd be inclined to replace 'experience' with something like 'translating since', 'established' (if sole-prop) etc., just to give a little more style to your copy.
5. I'd probably prefer two columns with fixed widths rather than text surrounding an embedded photo.
6. Make sure your HTML tags open and close correctly (you have a bold tag displaying on the first page).
7. I'd consider skipping 'Medical Qualifications: MBChB Degree' since that's exactly what your postnominals say.
8. Yeah, trim down the social media buttons and also the font in contact details. On the other hand, you can put your phone number at the top of the page if you want. American lawyers do that all the time.
9. Avoid slashes, IMHO. Rather, use typography to make headlines and captions stand out.
10. Take a look at Lawyerist.com and read all posts on marketing and webdesign (I have). Look around, go and see the websites of other legal marketers. Translators are like decades behind lawyers in a very similar kind of marketing. Do it like lawyers do. If you want something more translation-specific, I'd look up Marta Stelmaszak and Valeria Aliperta, but IMHO reading up on legal marketing before other translators do is the way to go.

EDIT: One more thing: I'd use a seamless background or turn off background repetition. You won't see problems in a typical laptop resolution, but large wide screens (full HD) are a different matter.

[Edited at 2013-07-19 16:59 GMT]

Samuel Murray wrote:

Yes, but I think it works well in this case, because the languages use different fonts. A previous version of my web site used that same technique -- every paragraph was repeated in the other language, with the one language always in italics and the other language always in roman. It seemed fine to me.

Here is a screenshot of what your site looks like on my computer:

Overall, I was able to find the information I was looking for fairly quickly, so from a client's perspective the web site "works well".

Grayson Morris wrote:

I'm not in a position to judge the quality of your German and Japanese text, but I will say that it is essential these be perfect. Not just grammatically correct and error-free, but well written. This is a lesson I was taught early in my career, when Dutch colleagues said the Dutch version of my site (which I had translated myself from the English I'd written) sounded really stilted. Everything was correct; it just didn't flow like native speech. I said, well, I figure clients will understand it's not my native language and not judge me on that. To which my colleagues replied, "Oh, but they will. It may be all they have to go on, and even if it isn't, they're in a much better position to judge the quality of your Dutch than your English. If the Dutch is off, they'll assume the English is, too." Even though translating into German and Japanese isn't what you offer, that text is your calling card, too.

I will also say that reading as a possible client, I would be nervous about the way you describe your proficiency in German and Japanese. I wouldn't say, "After spending time as an exchange student, I decided to learn Japanese" and later, "I opted to learn German"; instead, I'd focus on your mastery of those languages. Do you have credentials? Have you been speaking them for twenty years? Putting two years of translation together with those sentences, I would infer you hadn't been speaking either language very long, and be hesitant about your skill in either. (Not saying you aren't skilled; just trying to help avoid scaring off clients. ) Or, instead of talking about learning those languages, describe projects you've translated—something that instills weight to the claim you can translate well.

Last of all, your photo is a little dark and the shadow makes it look "home grown." If you can, get someone handy with photography to take a new one, maybe outdoors or in less of a prison-lineup-against-the-wall environment.

Hope this is of some use to you!