Find the Needle in a Haystack Translation Hashtags

Translators, like many other freelancers, have been quick to catch on to the business benefits of Twitter. Networking as a means of finding new work opportunities and as a way to connect with other freelancers is an essential tool for the modern translator. 

While the world eagerly awaits the Twitter IPO scheduled for today, we look at some popular translation industry hashtags that are essential for translators who are looking to reach out to a wider group of people. 

The obvious ones

Some commonly used hashtags used by translators include: #translation, #language, #languages and #linguistics. Every translator has probably used at least one of these during their time on Twitter and many will regularly use a combination of all four. 

Combining these hashtags with others can provide excellent results. For example #translation #jobs can be used to identify potential work opportunities. 

The abbreviations

The increased usage of text speak (regardless of your views on it) has massively infiltrated the world of Twitter, in large part due to the 140 character limit. This has given rise to several abbreviated hashtags for the translation industry. Two of the most popular ones include: #xl8 and #t9n. The former is an abbreviated version of the word ‘translate,’ while the latter is for ‘translation.’

Variations on these two main hashtags are also frequently used, such as #medxl8 for medical translation.  Another popular abbreviation is #L10n, which is the abbreviated hashtag for ‘localization’ (though #localization is also commonly used). 

Industry events

The translation industry sees many events held each year, including conferences, seminars, networking days and web sessions. These can be identified through the general #xl8events hashtag, as well as other hashtags for more specific events, such as #daa11eu for the EU Digital Agenda Assembly. 

Keeping it simple

For those looking to keep their hashtag life simple, #xl8 is probably the one to stick with. This will allow you to connect widely and to keep up with news and events across the industry, as well as monitoring the latest developments and trends. 

Which translation hashtags do you use most often on Twitter? Use the comments box to share them with us.