Working from Home in the Czech Republic by Pearl Harris

Today we have the pleasure of a guest post from the accomplished author, second language English teacher, proofreader and editor, Pearl Harris who has recently written a book "From Africa to Bukova"

Born within sight of the red sand dunes of the Kalahari, PEARL HARRIS lived most of her life in South Africa, until taking the drastic step of emigrating with her husband, Ian, to the Czech Republic (with their Labrador and cat).

Teaching English as a Foreign Language to the Czechs—a new career for the author—has its joys and trials, which Pearl shares with the reader in "From Africa to Bukova".
You will also learn about her early childhood on an isolated South African farm and about her British Settler ancestor who chose to emigrate from England to Africa as a 19-year-old, spending the rest of his life in South Africa.

Pearl’s travel articles have been published in South African magazines, "Diversions" and "Your Family", and in Czech magazines, "Lifestyles" and "Bridge", as well as on the websites, http://www.timetravel-britain.com/ and http://www.transitionsabroad.com/

Pearl taught English at the České Budĕjovice branch of POLYGLOT from 2002 to 2007. At present, she works from home as an English teacher, proofreader and travel writer. The Czech Republic has become her permanent home.

Working from Home in the Czech Republic
by
Pearl Harris

Nearly eight years ago, my husband and I emigrated from East London to Buková, a tiny village in South Bohemia, near the Czech border with Austria.

I started off teaching English (EFL) at a private language school which was situated 30km. from Buková in the city of České Budějovice. Teaching was the last career I ever wanted to follow, but this was the only employment available to someone without the slightest Czech language ability.

English is in great demand in this country, especially since its inclusion in the EU. In former days (the communist era lasted for 40 years) only Czech and Russian were taught at school. Czechs were not allowed to travel and were totally isolated, so now there is great hunger to learn English as an international language.

In South Africa, I worked as a Radiographer and later as a Medical Transcriptionist for Radiologists. The latter work was particularly stressful as I worked under extreme pressure in a very busy X-ray dept. of a private hospital.

I had to type at such a rapid rate, for so many hours on end, that I developed osteo-arthritis in my fingers!

Before leaving S.A., Ian and I did a crash course in TEFL at the Cape Town TEFL Institute, so that, when thrown in at the deep end of teaching here, we had a slight inkling of what it involved. I taught for five years at the private language school, travelling to and from České Budějovice at unearthly hours—in snow, blizzards and pitch darkness in Winter. My students were mainly adults who attended classes either before or after work, hence the awkward teaching hours.

By 2007, deciding that I had had enough of teaching, I resigned from the school, but kept teaching a few private students who came to our home for lessons. This was so much easier! I then wanted to develop my proofreading business, which had been a mere sideline, due to the fact that I was spending most of my time teaching and travelling!

I found a great demand for English proofreading. This is because Czech to English is translated mainly by Czech speakers, there not being anything like enough English native speakers sufficiently fluent in the impossibly difficult Czech language! Therefore, the English translations are anything but perfect –as is to be expected when one is translating into your 2nd or 3rd language!

Today, one still sees hilarious translations on some restaurant Menus and online. Many translators still mistakenly consider themselves good enough not to warrant any proofreading. However, fortunately for me, there are many today who realise they do need proofreading in order to produce quality translations. This has been especially noticeable since the Czech Republic became a member of the EU and recently held the Presidency.

I began by advertising on an Expats website, which chiefly serves the expatriate community in Prague. Many employers advertise on this site for English native speakers. In this way, I slowly built up a regular clientele. The average fee for proofreading is 100Kc per norm page (1800 keystrokes) – which is about R50. For more specialised texts, the fee may be up to 180 Kc (R90) per page.

I often proofread texts for university students and lecturers. Many theses and academic papers today have to be published in English. Further, I do regular proofreading for “Statuss”, which is an upmarket mag. catering to the elite, published in Russian, Czech & English. I also proofread for an agency which publishes monthly business magazines in English.

Now that my time is my own, I have been fortunate in being able to develop my travel writing too. My articles are published on the websites: www.TransitionsAbroad.com and www.TimeTravel-Britain.com as well as in “Bridge” a Prague magazine for High School English students, and in the South African, “Diversions”. So I am fortunate in being able to combine my love of travel with earning something back after our travels.


Ian and I are both keen photographers and usually illustrate my articles with our own photos. Living in Central Europe is such a huge bonus—however, we never have enough time or money to travel as much as we would really like to!

In December, 2008, I finally went the self-publishing route and published my travel memoir, “From Africa to Buková”, through createspace.com (See details below.) The book deals with individual funny, not-so-funny & frustrating incidents during our early years as immigrants in the Czech Republic. I would ideally like to rewrite and polish it, but that will have to wait until (if ever) I get a regular publisher interested!

I send my chilled greetings to all the VAs in sunny South Africa!

Pearl Harris.


Book From Africa to Buková

may be ordered online from:
https://www.createspace.com/3359697
OR
http://www.amazon.com/ Books
OR
by contacting Pearl Harris at
ian.harris@quick.cz

ZULU TRANSCRIPTIONISTS/TRANSLATORS REQUIRED URGENT

URGENT: WE ARE LOOKING FOR A ZULU TRANSCRIPTIONIST, IF YOU CAN TRANSCRIBE/TRANSLATE IN ZULU, PLEASE CONTACT US URGENTLY.

Urdu typist.

Hi everyone, just a quickie.

Lesley is looking for someone who can type in Urdu - please contact her directly at etranscript@mweb.co.za.

Time

Ali and I were discussing time, or rather time constraints today and I've just come up with the following little verse:

Johnny and Baby had the time of their lives
Troy and Gabriela asked what time is it
Brad and Janet warped time ... again ...

But at Typewrite Transcription, time is measured in audio hours and minutes,
Time is of the essence: essential.

Virtual Services for the 2010 soccer world cup.

Hi everyone,

This is just a very quick call to anybody who may need virtual services during the 2010 soccer world cup in South Africa. Journalists, publications, business people, from South Africa and around the world, TAVASA is a group of VAs and transcriptionists and other professionals in South Africa and we can assist you with your virtual requirements. Everybody is welcome to contact us.

Grammar

Hello everybody,

There’s something happening in our industry that has been boiling under for the past decade or so, and every so often it raises its ugly head. In the past week, it's raised its head and shoulders too.

In many places on the internet I’m seeing posts from a certain rival virtual association organization. I have two problems with that:

1) They are telling blatant lies, particularly that they are the first VA membership organization – of course, they are not.
2) The grammar being used in these internet posts is terrible, and to me that flies in the face of what they say they are trying to achieve, and of what I know TAVASA is trying to achieve – proper standards in our industry.

I’m going to quote a forum post of theirs, which I have just come across, with every error highlighted and below I shall put comments:

They wrote: “Aaron, you are quite right. Virtual Assistants are not bound by geographical boundaries and can do work from any location for their clients based anywhere in the world. Although Virtual Assistance is one of the fastest growing industries worldwide, it is a fairly new concept in South Africa. Very few people here knows about (1) the term much less about what VA's (2) actually do.

Our organisation focus on "education/spreading the word" (3) in South Africa about virtual assistance and the benefits that it can have to clients as well as prospecting (4) VA's (2). We basically (5)
- assist people in SA who wants (6) to enter the VA industry with the necessary information on how to start their own VA business and also support existing VA's (2).

- have a database of professional SA VA's (2). Thus if someone wants to make use of a SA VA we provide a RFP service and assist them to find a suitable VA. Since VA'(2)s in SA pricing/rates (3) are not yet as expensive as VA's (2) from overseas , we receive quite a number of international requests for VA's(2).

Virtual Assistance in SA(although in its infancy) (7)is an open, growing field as more and more people with administrative experienced(8) are looking for alternative opportunities and businesses realise that outsourcing is actually a good business strategy .

Well, to make this long story short , our main focus are really (9)to build the VA industry in South Africa.”

Notes:

(1) Incorrect usage of plural – should read: “Very few people here know about …”
(2) Incorrect usage of apostrophe – an apostrophe denotes either possession or contraction. Neither is the case here. Should read: “VAs”
(3) Incorrect usage of the backslash – should read: “education / spreading the word”
(4) Incorrect usage of verb – “prospecting” refers to something one does on the mines. I assume what should have been used here is “prospective”
(5) Omission of colon – should read “We basically:”
(6) Incorrect conjugation – should read “who want”
(7) Omission of space – should read “SA (although”
(8) Incorrect tense – should be present tense and read “experience are”
(9) Incorrect conjugation – should read “our main focus is really” …

9 basic errors repeated over and over again in a short forum post – my mind boggles when I think of the fact that this organization charges VAs in South Africa to be members, when they can’t write a simple forum post grammatically. You are going to tell me that they are not native English speakers. Shame. Errors like this may be acceptable in letters or emails to friends. When they are put on a public forum, and the people posting state that they are representing the virtual industry, it’s not on. We’re professionals and we have to write accordingly.

VA Organisation Fees

Hi I want to talk very briefly about VA membership fees for organisations. Please be careful with this one, check out exactly what you will get for your membership fees, make sure it worth it for you, check out with other members of that organisation how they feel about their fees and if its worth it for them and that way you will get a good idea whether its worth it for you.
Tavasa is free for membership and will remain so, we are not here to collect and make money from you, our aim is to help and assist you as you need it, you need your money for other things within your business. Our aim is to pass what we have learnt to you to help you, weve been there, done that, so if we can stop you doing the wrong thing we will, we are very knowledgeable in this industry and share that knowledge with you.
Check organisations thoroughly before just handing them your membership fees. If you feel you cannot check out an organisation please ask us as we know most of the organisations in South Africa and overseas and know which are the best to join and those who are not.
Check out the information that these sites are offering you being a member as most information is available for free via the internet its a case of looking and finding the information and approaching more established VAs who could help you with this information for free. Tavasa is a great place to look online in our Yahoo Group we have folders of information available for free. Templates can be found via the internet and as I say above and also from established VAs who might be open to sharing her info with you. All these methods are worth trying before taking up paying membership fees.
It is worth taking up membership fees for some overseas sights which do offer Job Leads and various things, but be careful here as well and check with your more established VAs which are the better sights to join.

Regards Ali

TAVASA Daily Quiz

Hi everybody,

I'd like to invite you to come and participate in our daily quiz:

http://www.funtrivia.com/private/main.cfm?tid=93278

Play every day, and if you win the month, you become the champion and you go on the reoord as the month's winner! It's a lot of fun and a nice thing for TAVASAites to do together, come and join in and have a go.

Being a VA to the Visually Impaired by Tanya Joubert

I want to start differently to how most articles start. Acknowledgements are normally done at the end of a script, yet I want to start mine with an acknowledgement to a dear friend, interesting client, valued mentor and also my role model should I ever become visually impaired or blind. I drafted this article and then ran it past her to see if there were any items that she felt I did not address correctly and this gave way to a whole new understanding of the clients that I serve. Thank you Melette, once again you made all much clearer.
The term 'different needs' rather than 'special needs': Although 'special needs' is the politically acceptable term, people who are impaired in any way do not necessarily have special (specialist) needs, perhaps just different needs. Needs that you and I most probably can offer without any special training.
In a world that is becoming more and more inclusive, it is highly likely that you will encounter a person with different needs in the working environment. Gone are the days, hopefully, where people looked upon persons with disabilities with a preconceived idea that they are unable or will be unable to perform whatever task may be presented to them. Persons with disabilities have proven that they too, can be indispensable in the right positions.

Perhaps they were the first to use VAs?

Personally I am thinking that perhaps it is people who are visually impaired and blind who possibly first started using virtual assistants. However, this is not a researched fact and merely my impression when I work with a client of mine who is blind and has been blind since his 4th year. He has been using virtual assistants for the past 10 years, and although he still refers to them as personal assistants, they were virtual especially when his previous VA started using a computer.

Dr William Rowland has been in various positions such as being the President of the World Blind Union, Chairperson of the International Disability Alliance, director of various local organizations and definitely somebody who knows finance and how to turn a coin. At the age of 69 he is still a formidable person who still holds many influential positions locally and internationally.

Is working with the visually impaired so different?

He is but one of my special needs clients and specifically clients with visual disabilities. So what is special about working with somebody who cannot see, and how to deal with it ...

The biggest stumbling block is most probably the fact that when we meet somebody who has a disability we tend to treat them with pity and often we take the position of making decisions on their behalf. This is the most important lesson to learn; you may have the eyes but the decisions still lie with them.

Whose decision is it anyway?

A particular example of this would be when a blind client forwards you a slideshow or any type of file that is inaccessible to them, asking what it is. Some documents are not accessible to people who are blind, who are computer literate and use the advanced technology available, and many of the junk mail being sent around is in just such an inaccessible format. To me and you it is time wasting nonsense, blocking our inbox, however it is for them to decide that. You have to inform them of the content and not as once happened in an office setup, the casual inadvertently deleted it as she felt it was rubbish without telling the manager what it was. Needless to say he was extremely upset.

The same would be if you would ever be in the situation where you assist a person who is blind in their own environment sorting out their paper mail. A marketing letter from the bank, might to you be a waste of time, but to them it might be interesting or might boost their general knowledge. You are not to tear it up without their consent or prior agreement as to what you are supposed to do with such mail.

Why would this be such an extremely important point? When working with people who are sensory disabled, especially those who are not only blind but perhaps also deafblind, accessibility of information is extremely limited and therefore it is important that whoever works with clients or friends of this nature respects their need for information even if you think it to be trivial.

Technology and the Blind

To many it is still a foreign concept that blind people can actually work with a computer. However, they can actually do this quite easily, furthermore many of the older blind people do not exactly have a computer as we know it, but specially designed adaptive technology/devices such as BrailleNotes, BrailleLites, PacMates which can assist with the downloading of text mails and reading of text documents.
It is important to note that people who are blind or visually impaired are very much like abled bodies. Some have special skills and some don’t. Some can work on computers and some don’t.

Those who use computers may use screen reading software or a braille display. Assisting them with computer related problems can be very difficult, especially if you are used to others keeping quiet when you are speaking. Screen reading software just carry on talking as the person who you are assisting is moving through the menus and doing what you tell them. It takes getting used to and not all the shortcuts work the same, but it will be to your benefit if you learn how your client’s technology works to understand what their circumstances are.

Accessibility

One of the biggest issues that we can assist people who are blind with is to make sure that the documents that they have to work with are accessible to them and also accessible to those who must read it. This will also mean that in certain cases you have to create documents in duplicate – one for your client who is blind to be able to read it in their own time on their own computer or even for them to have it brailled, and another which will be presentable to visually abled people and thus presenting a professional image of your client who is blind.

It is interesting to note that it is the easiest thing to prepare a simple document to be brailled. Just lose all the pictures and save it in a text format without the flashy stuff, convert tables using comma separators and if you follow these extremely basic and raw guidelines you will already be a big help to any person who is blind.

Does this mean that they cannot present neat documents on computer? No! It does not mean that at all. In some cases they are very able to do this, but in some other cases, especially when information must be put into tables or when spreadsheets must be used, it is trying for some of them and may take just so much longer. Therefore it is more productive to use a virtual assistant to assist them with this.

In a Nutshell

Working for people who are blind or visually impaired can be difficult at times, you are challenged with different technologies, and a different view on life and business, but it is very rewarding and eye opening. To them it is quite normal to use a virtual assistant, although an assistant in person is always welcome as well. Like my friend says, I would love to have coffee with you – so then I grab a cuppa on this side of Skype (Boland) and she grabs one up there in Gauteng and we chat across the wired lines about where to go with her business in the next few weeks.

Tanya Joubert
Virtual Office Assistance
Tel: +27 83 510 1181
Fax: +27 86 655 4381
E-Mail: please@assistmenow.co.za /info@typingandtranscription.com

Skype: klapperdop

P O Box 844
6705 Robertson
We Offer:

All admin work. Diary Management, Email Management, Typing/Transcription, Etc.

Visit our website at: www.typingandtranscription.com

NEW TAVASA WEBSITE NEW

Happy 1st Birthday, we are celebrating our birthday with a new website for Tavasa, I invite you to have a look around and let us know what you think.
http://www.tavasa.co.za/

The Importance of Procedures

Hi everyone, today I want to talk about the importance of procedures to your business. Procedures are vitally important in any business, but perhaps in a virtual business they are of tantamount importance. A procedure in essence is a plan, and generally speaking, to use the old hackneyed phrase, failure to plan is to plan to fail.I believe any business must start with a business plan. Even if you don't intend to use it to obtain a loan, it would be something that allows you to clearly state your intentions about what it is that you are trying to do. It's a mind clearer. And the natural next step (or even included in your business plan) would be to plan your procedures. This means you sit down and think of eventualities and plan how you're going to deal with them. What are your steps to follow when a query comes in? What are your steps when an order comes in? How are you going to invoice? These are things that, I believe, every newbie VA and transcriptionist should document. Here comes the challenge, though. Your first client comes in, followed by your second, and your third. And suddenly, you're very busy. At this point it is easy to let go of procedures. And this is a danger to your established business. Much as you are tempted to go straight to bed after a 4 hour transcription, do not do so without at least blocking out some time the following day to do your admin. It's important, because doing it regularly does save you time in the long run, and consider that admin left for two or three days, or longer,can begin to make you feel overwhelmed. Procedures can also be revised, as you get busier or add new services or products to your business. But the bottom line is - stick to your procedures.

Gaynor Paynter, Typewrite Transcription and Typing Services CC, Cell: +27834424689, Web: www.typewritetranscription.co.za

Who Are Your Current Blog And Web Site Readers?

One of the challenges of marketing your business online is that it’s easier to attract the attention of your colleagues than it is to attract potential clients.

Many times, I see blogs of virtual assistants whose commenters are their friends and … wait.. let me think about it.... ah.. other virtual assistants. And it’s great that these professionals support each other.

Up to a point.

The problem is that these people are not necessarily the target audience that will BUY your services.

Unless the VA is so successful that she has overflow work that she can pass along, she can only offer moral support (which is no small thing). But traffic from these kind of visits does not largely translate into work that brings in money.

So here are a few questions I would like to ask you:

1. What is the objective of your web site or blog? Is it:

a) A way for you to hang out with other professionals to combat the loneliness of working from home?
b) A tool to market your services and products?

2. What is the content of your web site or blog about? Is it about:

a) How to be an effective VA?
b) The challenges of being a work at home mother?
c) How business can best utilise the services of a VA, the challenges that one faces when making the decision to hire a VA, the process and how to make sure that the relationship is managed effectively??

3. Where do you promote your web site and blog? Is it:

a) VA forums and other places where VAs come together
b) Business sites in general, and specialist sites such as forums for doctors, lawyers, researchers, event managers , HR managers, small business owners and other professionals who hire VAs.

4. Do you get comments on your blogs? If so, who comments?

a) My friends and colleagues who support me
b) My current clients, potential clients, colleagues ( and some friends and family)
c) No one really. Sometimes I feel like I’m talking to myself.

There is no mystery to this short quiz. If your blog is mostly an online journal where you hang out with friends and family ( and my writing blog Storypot is exactly that), then it makes sense for your audience and commenters to be mostly friends and family, with a sprinkling of colleagues.

But if your blog or web site is a business marketing tool, then it would be really disturbing answers for the quiz is not 1a), 2c), 3b) and 4b)

Author Biography

Damaria Senne is a writer based in Johannesburg. Client sites/blogs she maintains include one for the OneLove Regional Campaign (www.onelovesouthernafrica.org) and the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering.

My Transcription Ebook.

E-Book “Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa”! only R120! Contact gpaynter@typewritetranscription.co.za to purchase.

This E-book is packed with everything you need to know about working from home as a transcriptionist in South Africa. I started out as a transcriptionist in 2005 and I’ve included everything I’ve learned along the way that I wish someone had told me.

How do you get that first client, how do you keep your clients, how do you invoice, and quote? What about where can you find support? What equipment do you need? All this information and more is available in my E-Book. Buy it today. This is information I wish somebody had told me – I would have been able to get going so much faster.

These are my tried and trusted methods. There are many American transcriptionist guides but “Working from Home as a Transcriptionist in South Africa” has challenges and obstacles all its very own and answers particular questions faced by South African Transcriptionists.

Which other author will happily provide after sale support to you about how to get into the transcription field after you have read the book?

Buy my book today!! Much cheaper than other shorter publications on similar topics.

Disappearing transcriptionists / VAs

Hi guys,

I know I've blogged about this before, but disappearing subcontractors never cease to be a bug bear to me. Thank goodness, it hasn't happened to me in a while, but it's been happening to a friend of mine and I thought I would just remind everyone how annoying this is.
First of all, let me explain what I mean by 'disappearing subcontractors'. You're a subcontractor, more than likely a relative newbie to the field. So, you hear of a more experienced VA or transcriptionist company looking for a VA or transcriptionist to help out with massive overflow. "Yay", you think. Money, for an easy job.

Until. The work arrives. And you find it isn't so easy. Or, you find that your internet breaks down or your computer doesn't work, or you can't download the file. These instances are all understandable, and most of us are human. Most of us won't eat you alive if you contact us and say "I have such and such a problem". In fact, many of us will try to assist to resolve the problem. But you don't realise this. Or your best friend has asked you out for a drink and this will mean you can't meet your deadline. "So", you think. "It's not that I really NEED this one little bit of horrid work. I just won't do it." And this is where the magic happens. You bcome the 'disappearing transcriptionist'. You switch off skype, disconnect your email, turn your cellphone off and for all the intents and purposes of the poor old person waiting to get their work back, you disappear.

Now in case you haven't realised, here are the disadvantages to such behaviour.
- You won't get your money for the job.
- It's a small industry. Word gets around.
- The dolly that you just let down has a long memory. She isn't going to employ you again.
- The dolly that you just let down may now have to let HER client down, thereby giving us all a bad reputation.

There are other disadvantages too. So don't do it. And there are advantages of getting through difficult work, too.
- You get a reputation as a person who is committed.
- You get paid.
- You get more work from the dolly you didn't let down, as she can keep her clients.
- You get experience.

If you want to disappear, go to a magic show and be the guinea pig. Don't be the disappearing transcriptionist.

French transcriptionists

Hi everyone we are urgently looking for French transcriptionists. Please get in touch urgently if you transcribe in French or if somebody you know does, please refer them.