Translators and interpreters use to be connected all day and night long because of their work. Sooner or later they get in touch with the wide international linguistic community registering themselves in one or more translation service directories which offer them forum, help, articles and advice regarding the wide world of translation business.

The language professionals such as translators and interpreters are always looking for new contacts for potential jobs and nowadays the Internet gives them good opportunities and tools in order to make new contacts. Translation service or translator directories are very interesting websites where people can find themselves in company of helpful colleagues sharing their work experiences, and above all find new possible customers or agencies that need their translation services.

Translators and interpreters use to be connected all day and night long because of their work. Therefore they do know the Internet very well and sooner or later they get in touch with the wide international linguistic community registering themselves in one or more service directories. It is very simple and free of charge: you just have to log in and then you will have new contacts with other translators or with translation companies, job opportunities and free advertisement. In translation directories there are also discussion forums concerning several subjects: technical, business, financial and legal translation and interpreting in England, France, Germany, Italy and other countries all over the world, opinions about CAT (Computer Aided Translation) tools and many other topics. A translator can read the point of view of people from different countries regarding many topics and this is undoubtedly helpful for his or her job. Besides, if he or she has difficulty translating a term or phrase, he or she can find help in those translation directories. Such subjects as financial business, marketing, bond equity or corporate research are rather difficult, but the support of colleagues can really be encouraging.

In addition to all the interesting opportunities offered by translation service directories, the most important aspect is their jobs offer. These websites are above all contact channels between translation service companies or agencies and professional translators: they often have a sort of bulletin board where open jobs are displayed according to languages, deadlines and rates. Most of these proposals are very good as some of clients include Microsoft, Apple, Ebay, Google, L-3 Communications, SDL, Xerox and many more. Therefore linguists can offer their professional service and start a cooperation that will hopefully last for a long time. These jobs can concern website localizations and multimedia translations, as well as financial and legal proofreading, marketing research, voice-over and subtitling. Besides freelancers can search in the database of a translation directory in order to send their resumé directly to translation companies and apply for a possible cooperation. Some of the most popular translation directories are Proz and Translatorscafe, but there are many more in the wide universe of the Internet and they have a lot of members and visitors all over the world.

The worldwide linguistic community is very big and these directories are positive tools and virtual "places" where people can feel closer one to the other. The team members in charge of these directories are mostly professional translators as well; they are serious and noteworthy people who decided to offer their colleagues such helpful communication medium. Last but not least translation service directories can be visited from everywhere and at any time through computers, but also cell phones or other WAP-enabled mobile devices.