Hansem Vietnam, which has been in the translation business for quite some time, has flourished with the help of its many friends and supporters. Our company’s success is primarily attributed to the tireless efforts of our freelancers. We have never stopped feeling grateful towards our freelancing partners and eagerly wanted to meet them in person despite the geographical differences. With this desire in mind, Hansem Vietnam held its first 2022 Freelancer Day – our first workshop after 7 years of establishment in Vietnam. This acted as a chance to express our gratitude to the freelancers and provide them with the selective information to assist them further in their careers.

Scripted by
Hy Truong

The workshop was held on December 4 at a deluxe hotel located in the center of Ho Chi Minh City, and live-streamed on Facebook. Our staff had come earlier in the morning for the setup; however, it did not take long for the participants to arrive gradually at the hall. We welcomed our guests with enthusiasm on upbeat background music. The room quickly got filled with small talk and hearty laughter.

The hall started to be filled with our participants

The program’s host, Ms. TuongVi, onto the stage promptly at 10:30 a.m. to welcome everyone and officially kick off the day’s activities. On behalf of Hansem Vietnam, our host sent a heartfelt thank you to everyone for their presence, especially our distinguished guests from the Korean headquarters and representatives from Southeast Asian countries.

Ms. TuongVi announcing the start of the event

Our distinguished guests from Hansem Korea (left to right): Ms. Anais Cazalas (Resource Manager), Ms. Eunsil Lee (Language Service Group Leader), and Ms. Yunji Lee (Project Manager)

With such a bright spirit, our Vietnam branch’s CEO – Mr. Il-hong Kim – took the stage to express his gratitude to the freelancers for their hard work. He also announced that Freelancer Day would be held annually moving forward.

Mr. Il-hong Kim – CEO of Hansem Vietnam, delivering the opening speech

One of the program’s main purposes was to provide our freelancers with the best knowledge available to assist them in their work. It was carried out throughout the workshop in the form of two presentations and a panel discussion.

The first presentation was “CAT Tool Recommendation for Freelancer in the 4.0 Period” by Ms. ThaoVi Nguyen (HSVN’s Project Manager). CAT (Computer Assisted Translation) tools have always been familiar to people in the localization industry. However, when it comes to freelancers with different amounts of experience in the field, not everyone can get exposure to all sorts of CAT tools or try various features those tools include. That’s why in this presentation, Ms. ThaoVi not only proved how beneficial CAT tools could be in all stages of a project but also gave an overview of several popular CAT tools and compared them to one another so that our freelancers can have an overall look without having to try each tool.

The presentation also contained our recommendations on the suitable CAT tools for different types of projects following the clients’ requests or the characteristics of the files we work on.

Ms. ThaoVi Nguyen on “CAT Tool Recommendation for Freelancer in the 4.0 Period”

In addition to giving out the information, we could also hear from our freelancers’ actual experiences with the tools through a small discussion that followed. Together we discussed both the advantages and inconveniences when using CAT tools. After all, automatic tools generally still contain drawbacks. Common examples include cumbersome user interfaces, unreliable connections on cloud-based services, and high costs. Freelancers and employees alike found common ground and participated actively in group discussions.

Groups discussions on the pros and cons of CAT tools

The freelancers voicing their opinions

Nevertheless, the pros of using CAT tools have always been much more significant in the 4.0 era. At Hansem Vietnam, we are always ready to support our trusted freelancers in our journey together. Therefore, beginning in 2023, we will arrange training sessions all year long to help our freelancers, especially those new to the field, feel more at ease while working on projects requiring the use of CAT technologies.

Hansem Vietnam’s plan to provide training sessions

After such an informative section, it was time for everyone to recharge their energy with a full-course meal. During the following two hours, conversations flowed across every table with delicious dishes. Our participants had the chance to get to know one another better and even became friends.

Once the energy was fully returned, our workshop continued with the second presentation on “How to start and grow your partnership with LSPs” by Ms. Anais Cazalas, our Resource Manager from Hansem Korea.

Ms. Anais Cazalas starting the presentation on how to build a strong translation career

Being a freelancer, regardless of how experienced or knowledgable one is, it is crucial to maintain a qualified profile in the market and a strong connection with LSPs so that you can be found and guaranteed stable flows of projects. Ms. Cazalas pointed out some simple yet often overlooked methods to build a translation career, such as keeping your CV up to date on different platforms, being willing to take sample tests, or trying to be as responsive as possible to build a close connection.

Ms. Anais Cazalas shares valuable advice in the presentation

Our freelancers would surely apply such valuable tips after the program who would like to start strengthening their relationship with Hansem!

Soon, it was time for Hansem to talk to our freelancers through the Panel Discussion on “The roles of Freelancers amidst the Rise of Machine translation”, featuring four speakers: Ms. Eunsil Lee, Ms. Anais Cazalas, Mr. Toan Nguyen (Customer Service Team Leader), and Mr. Anh Le (Quality Assurance Team Leader). Our freelancers were eager to pose their many varied inquiries, covering everything from the appropriate scope of using machine translations to our quality assurance standards for a translator’s work. Questions covered a wide range of topics, from how to handle payments to how to maximize your freelance possibilities at Hansem. With their experiences in the industry, our speakers attempted to address the freelancers’ burning concerns, provide practical knowledge on different aspects of the industry, and ease the freelancers’ worries.

Our speakers (left to right): Ms. Anais Cazalas, Mr. Anh Le, Ms. Eunsil Lee, Mr. Toan Nguyen

Questions coming from our freelancers at the event and on Facebook were answered by the speakers

Now that we have recalled all the activities, quite a few occurred. However, everything seemed to fly by in the blink of an eye on the workshop day. After the panel discussion, our program reached its end. The Awarding season came in which Mr. Il-hong Kim shared our certificates with the representatives from Myanmar, Indonesia, and Cambodia in recognition of their valuable contribution.

Mr. Kim giving the certificates to our regional representatives: Ms. Yaminn Eain from Myanmar, Ms. Intan Prawesti from Indonesia, and Mr. Sim Sokchamroeun from Cambodia

In the closing speech, Mr. Kim also expressed his sincere appreciation towards the speakers, organizers, and participants of the event, and especially on behalf of Hansem Vietnam, he opened up about the desire to hold Freelancer Day in different countries so that more of our freelancers can come and join us.

Our distinguished guests with freelancers and staff of Hansem Vietnam

Although the program had technically come to an end, everyone stayed longer for gifts and more photos. Our freelancers received the gifts from Hansem Vietnam while also bringing their lovely presents to the workshop. The room was filled with laughter, hugs, handshakes, and flashlights from all kinds of phones and cameras! It was one of the most treasured opportunities we could get together, and everyone was sure to cherish that.

Beautiful memories of the day

The 2022 Freelancer Day workshop became an unforgettable memory when we met, appreciated, and supported our freelancers in their freelancing endeavors. Words cannot describe how thankful we are to each participant for making the Freelancer Day so successful despite our little to no experience in event organizing. As Mr. Il-hong Kim stated, we hope to make this workshop an annual activity in different countries with many more freelancers. Until then, let’s stay healthy and stay in touch!