15 Black Friday Deals for Translators

Will you be doing your Christmas shopping on Black Friday this year? How about buying things for your business? Black Friday (and its online cousin, Cyber Monday) may have originated in the US, but it’s been embraced around the world in recent years. This year, Black Friday will be on 29 November, as it is always the day following Thanksgiving – although Amazon is luring in shoppers with an eight-day black Friday event, with discounts starting on 22 November. 

As we do every year, Tomedes has been scouring the internet for the best Black Friday deals for translators. Our translators are a core part of the business that we provide. That’s why we take so much care over how we recruit our translators and maintain our network of expert linguists. Part of that is supporting our translators to have access to great translation tools – such as those listed below! 

Further reading: Five Brilliant Books to Inspire a Love of Linguistics.

As well as looking to buy cut-price products, will you also be offering Black Friday deals to your customers this year? You don’t have to be the size of Walmart in order to offer clients a discount, so why not take advantage of the boost in business that holiday spending can provide? A quick Black Friday promotion could see you stacking up work throughout the holiday season! 

Most Black Friday deals aren’t revealed until the day itself, or at most a couple of days before, so we’ve rounded up the best tools to keep an eye on this year in the hope of serious discounts. 

Ok, are you ready to start saving money? Then let’s jump straight into our list of the best Black Friday translation tools. 

Computer-Assisted Translation Tools 

Computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools can help translators to work more efficiently. When it comes to freelancing, the faster you can work (without compromising on quality), the more you can earn. As such, it’s important to use tech to your advantage in order to become as productive as you can. Each of the CAT tools below should help you do just that. 

Don’t fancy reading? Luckily for you, we turned this article into a fact-filled video!

 

MemoQ

Let’s start with MemoQ. Last year this leading CAT tool offered an impressive 30% discount to Tomedes translators! We’re waiting on confirmation of the 2019 discount details and will update this article to include them 2-3 days before Black Friday – so watch this space! 

Further reading: Ten Best Translation Tools for Translators. 

SLD Trados Studio

SDL Trados Studio is another powerful CAT tool to watch as Black Friday approaches. More than 250,000 translators around the world rely on it to help them work more efficiently and ensure consistency in their work. 

Fluency Now Professional

A relative newcomer, Fluency Now Professional, which costs $9.95 per month, provides built-in proofreading and document statistics. This is a CAT tool with big ambitions. It’s suitable for both PC and Mac users, so why not check it out on Black Friday to see if there’s a discount available?

Memsource

Of course, there’s always Memsource, if you prefer. Featuring translation memory, editing and terminology management, this is a great project-management tool that comfortably handles jobs of any size and shape. 

Localization Tools 

Smartling

Have you tried out Smartling yet? Its efficient automation and management mean that you can translate and localize content faster. It’s well worth checking out if you’re looking to reduce the time you spend on these tasks. 

Transifex 

Another great localization platform is Transifex, so keep an eye on it for any discounts this Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This is one of the most agile systems we’ve encountered, thanks to its cloud-based global content repository. Its versatility means that it suits a wide range of uses, so it’s well worth investigating if you provide translation and localization services for a living. 

Lokalise 

Lokalise is also well worth checking out. It’s one of the fastest growing translation management systems and is ideally suited to big translation projects with multiple elements, such as website, app and marketing translation and localization combined. 

Black Friday Tech Deals

Apple iPhone 8

Every freelancer needs the right tools to hand if they are to deliver an impeccable service. That includes a decent quality phone for handling everything from calls to emails to banking. For Black Friday 2019, Amazon has already discounted the Apple iPhone 8 (64 GB) from its usual price of £599 to £479 – a significant saving for those looking for a high-level spec smartphone. 

Tablets 

Amazon also looks to be a good choice for those buying tablets on Black Friday. In 2018, it knocked £55 off the price of the Fire HD10, taking it from £149.99 to £94.99. Healthy discounts are usually available on other tablets too, so keep your eyes peeled! 

Laptops

Those looking for larger pieces of kit would do well to check out Dell’s Black Friday deals, which this year include some early offers. Discounts range from desktops and laptops to monitors and other accessories. You can also sign up to receive details of special Black Friday 2019 offers. 

Productivity Tools

Notability 

There’s more to being a more productive translator than using CAT tools alone. If you’re looking for a fantastic note-taking app, Notability should be your first port of call. You can blend photos, sketching, typing and handwriting for the ultimate note-taking experience, helping you to get organized like never before! 

ToDoist

If you’re the sort of person who writes lists, then ToDoist is the app for you. You write down your tasks and it cleverly organizes them, including creating diary entries and reminders. It’s already cheap ($36 per year to unlock the premium features), but why not keep an eye on it on Black Friday, just in case you can make a saving? 

Further reading: Five Productivity Tools for Translators.

Trello

Another favourite with many freelancers is Trello. The free version is already superb, but the additional features (which start at $9.99 per month) are even better news. It’s one of those apps that the more you use it, the more you realise you need it. A great way to stay on top of everything from your workload to your marketing activities. 

Website Translation Tools

WPML

Our final potential bargains to keep an eye on this Black Friday relate to website translation. The first is the WPML plugin tool. This multi-lingual plugin is ideal for those working on WordPress translations, covering everything from pages and posts to tags, categories and even entire themes. 

Poedit 

Finally, we have the fantastic Poedit. If you’re working on apps or sites with gettext, this is the tool for you! It’s easy to use and even checks your progress and validates your translation files. Who could ask for more? 

Black Friday Deals

While Black Friday deals aren’t confirmed until the last minute, we think that all of these are worth keeping a close eye on this year. Using the right products can make a serious difference to your productivity and your overall job satisfaction, so why not invest in everything you need this Black Friday, ready for a hugely successful year of translation in 2020? 

And if you happen across any Black Friday deals that we’ve not covered, why not share the details in the comments so that your fellow translators can also benefit?