Following on our last blog about language trends, we would like to share an example of what’s going on in the language industry regarding language access. The Association of Language Companies recently announced that the US Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a new rule to improve language access in healthcare settings. This rule would give strength to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which is a nondiscrimination clause concerning individuals receiving aid or service from a federally funded institution.

So what is 1557?

Section 1557 of the ACA “prohibits discrimination on the grounds of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability in certain health programs and activities.” The term “national origin” is understood to include providing language services for those with limited English proficiency (LEP).

Section 1557 was first put into place in 2010, and had a few issues with it. For example, the then-legal standard was for “competent” interpreters to assist LEP individuals; this could allow a loophole for family members or even non-adult family members, or bilingual/multilingual staff at the agency to provide interpretation. Without proper, certified medical interpreters, there may have been many miscommunications, to say the least.

Major Revisions

The Obama administration’s revisions took effect in 2016. Under this revision, some changes were that “competent” interpreters were changed to “qualified” interpreters; minors and family members were only allowed to interpret under special circumstances such as emergencies; and bilingual/multilingual staff were held back from interpreting unless they were able to sufficiently demonstrate proper interpretation abilities. Translation of written materials was also required.

Many things changed in 2020 due to the Trump administration, however. For example, the wording was changed to have a more general requirement of language services to LEP people, rather than each and every LEP person. Federally funded organizations had to undergo a test to determine how to provide language services; the Trump administration changed this again to be more based on the “likelihood” of servicing an LEP individual rather than each specific instance of servicing an LEP individual. Standards of remote video interpretation were also removed, focusing instead on telephonic interpretation only.

Finally, citing too many expenses (presumably for translation fees, extra paper space, and ink), there was also a change to not require that each state have the top fifteen languages represented in a tagline on a non-discrimination notice. Taglines are short statements written in non-English languages that notify the reader that they can access language services free of charge.

Proposed Revision

As mentioned previously, the US Department of Health and Human Services has released a proposed rule to reverse the changes implemented by the Trump administration and to strengthen language access in general compared to the rulings from the Obama administration. Some proposed changes include the following:

Previously removed definitions will be added back for the following terms: language assistance services, limited English proficient individual, qualified interpreter, qualified translator, and qualified bilingual/multilingual staff. Care will also be taken to provide each LEP individual with language access, as well as those who need assistance such as sign language; this will be aided by the requirement of taglines on a large number of documents.

Other changes include the restoration of standards for remote video interpreting, the requirement to take reasonable steps to provide meaningful access to each LEP individual, the requirement to inform individuals of their rights, and the requirement to have a specific employee be responsible to coordinate compliance with 1557. Another change would be applying Section 1557 to Medicare Part B, which notably has not had requirements for Section 1557 despite being federally funded through trust funds.

Our Conclusion

These proposed new rules seem to be taking a huge step toward fair access to language services. Especially exciting is the requirement returning to provide each LEP individual with language access, rather than a general estimate of people. We at Monterey Language Services believe that everyone deserves the right to access to information and services in the language of their choosing, and we’re all for the proposed rules and hope they come to pass sooner than later.

As a language service provider (LSP), one part of our job is to observe trends. These trends may be used to understand our service quality provided for specific clients or keep track of certain trends in language, and can be very important to our work. Put simply, collecting data on trends can help LSPs understand how to improve upon themselves.

In today’s blog, we’ll be highlighting a few tips about how to track trends by collecting/analyzing data and using it to the LSP’s advantage.

Try out surveys.

Surveys are a very easy way to get qualitative data, which can help LSPs understand the quality of the service provided. Usually, surveys are sent out to clients after they’ve received their service. Clients can rate their satisfaction with the service they received on a scale such as from 1-10 or Poor to Excellent, and can leave more detailed information about what they liked and did not like about their service.

Challenges may occur if a client forgets to fill out some of the questions, misunderstands a question, or doesn’t fill out the survey at all. This is why translating the survey and providing the client’s preferred language is very important, so they can understand everything and can answer all the questions properly!

For example, Monterey Language Services has often been requested to provide translation for surveys, whether to support research projects or international companies whose employees span all over the world. Most recently, we translated a survey into 11 languages: Arabic, Armenian, Cambodian, Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mien, Spanish, and Tagalog. We also have done survey interviews to make sure employees understand their company’s core value.

Use transactional data.

You can collect data from your own company’s transactional data to collect quantitative data, which can help LSPs identify how many times they provided service for different languages and for which clients. Transactional data refers to your sales, receipts, POs, invoices, etc. that tell you when, where, how, and for what language you’re providing services for.

By looking at your transactional data, you can identify trends. For example, if there are more requests from a nearby hospital, you can deduce if you need to hire more medical interpreters. Similarly, you can look at trends in language requests, such as if there’s a sudden surge in Korean requests; perhaps there has been an influx of people moving to the area, or there’s some sort of event going on that you should investigate.

Keep up-to-date and do research.

Other important topics to keep an eye on in the language services industry are things like technology and common issues. Technology is essential in today’s world, especially for large translation projects or simultaneous interpretation assignments.

Technology and common issues or topics of conversation constantly change and evolve. Make sure to keep up-to-date, and research through news articles and even social media such as LinkedIn to see what people are talking about. Joining professional organizations is also helpful so be on the lookout for those as well.

Here at Monterey Language Services, we have many long-time customers who use our services, such as for medical interpretation or translation for monthly newsletters and the like. On the other hand, we often have first-time customers who have never needed to hire translators or interpreters before, and would like more information on the subject before requesting our services. Today’s blog post will be centered on common questions new clients have for language service providers.

1. Aren’t translators and interpreters the same?

This is a very, very common misconception. Outside of the language service provider sphere, “translator” and “interpreter” can be used interchangeably in most discussions. Such as: “We’ll need a translator at the board meeting” versus “We’ll need an interpreter at the board meeting.”

But just what is the difference between those terms? Simply enough, both “translator” and “interpreter” refer to someone who conveys information from one language to another; more specifically, a “translator” works with written words, while an “interpreter” works with spoken words. Some people are only translators, some are only interpreters, and others are both.

2. Can’t any bilingual person be a translator/interpreter?

A very common misconception (in the workplace especially) is “Billy is bilingual, so he can handle this project and translate/interpret for us.” Just because a person is bilingual (or trilingual or more, even), does not mean that they have the training required to be a proper translator or interpreter.

Imagine that “Billy” speaks Spanish at home, but grew up going to school where the primary language of instruction was English. While there’s a chance he can talk about any subject at home with his family members, a likely scenario is that he will know more about biology in English terms rather than Spanish terms. Unless the conversation were very simple, such as general conversation for travel or something similar, it would be very difficult for Billy to translate or interpret something.

Translators and interpreters go through rigorous training for their respective crafts, and have expanded their vocabularies enough to compensate. Proper translators and interpreters have high-level certifications as well.

3. I know a translator/interpreter who did Assignment X, why can’t they do Assignment Y?

In the language services industry, some translators and interpreters can fall under the category of “subject matter experts.” These people have trained to not just be general translators or interpreters, but have polished their skills to cater to certain types of work.

Take “Billy” from above, for example. Imagine he’s become passionate for being an interpreter, and his other interest in biology spurs him to an interest in medical interpretation. After enough study, focus, and—of course—certification, he becomes a proper medical interpreter and specializes in speaking between doctors and patients about surgeries. He might be able to do general interpretation as well, but because of his deep specialty, he might have trouble if he suddenly needed to interpret for, say, a lawyer discussing a lawsuit.

Just like how doctors and lawyers require separate studies, medical interpreters and legal interpreters also require focused study in their area of expertise. They may have skills that overlap, but generally, it’s best to rely on separate translators/interpreters who are subject matter experts rather than the same one for every single job.

4. Wouldn’t machine translation work well enough?

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Machine translation can certainly help a translator do their work. Computer-assisted translation tools (called CAT tools in the industry) can keep a handy glossary of terms for the translator, and have the memory to provide reference for older, similar translations.

But if we rely only on machine translation, any number of problems can happen. Machines think very differently than humans and might misinterpret context, homonyms, word register, and so on. Computers may be able to perform complex mathematical calculations, but the human brain is hardwired for language. Put simply, a translation from a human is going to sound a lot more natural—and have fewer mistakes—than a simple machine translation.

5. Why does a translation need proofreading? Shouldn’t the translator be enough for that?

Speaking of “mistakes,” mistakes happen. To err is human, after all. Translators need proofreaders for the same reason that a journalist, book writer, or a lawyer needs one. Mistakes concerning facts, grammar, spelling, etc. can easily be made by any sort of writer, and the same goes for a translator.

Having a second pair of eyes does wonders for any written work. A proofreader for a translation can catch errors in spelling, word register, a forgotten period or comma—anything that might have slipped through the cracks. If you want a translation to be as polished as possible, having a proofreader is essential.

How to Track Trends in the Language Industry

As a language service provider, one part of our job is to observe trends. These trends may be used to confirm jobs with specific clients or keep track of certain trends in language, and can be very important to our work. Put simply, collecting data on trends can help LSPs understand how to improve upon themselves.

In today’s blog, we’ll be highlighting a few tips about how to track trends by collecting data and use it to your LSP’s advantage.

Try out surveys.

Surveys are a very easy way to get qualitative data, which can help LSPs understand the quality of the service they provided. Usually, surveys are sent out to clients after they’ve received their service. Clients can rate their satisfaction with the service they received on a scale such as from 1-10 or Poor to Excellent, and can leave more detailed information about what they liked and did not like about their service.

Challenges may occur if a client forgets to fill out some of the questions, misunderstands a question, or doesn’t fill out the survey at all. Make sure to make the survey as clear as possible, and, whenever possible, provide the client’s preferred language.

Use transactional data.

You can collect data from your own company’s transactional data to collect quantitative data, which can help LSPs identify how many times they provided service for different languages and for which clients. Transactional data refers to your sales, receipts, POs, invoices, etc. that tell you when, where, how, and for what language you’re providing services for.

For example, a common language to interpret for in America is Spanish. By looking at your transactional data, you can identify trends. For example, if there are more requests from a nearby hospital, you can deduce if you need to hire more medical interpreters. Similarly, you can look at trends in language requests, such as if there’s a sudden surge in Korean requests; perhaps there has been an influx of people moving to the area, or there’s some sort of event going on that you should investigate.

Interviews.

When working with a contracted partner, you might want to take the opportunity to interview them and ask their opinion on your services. You can also ask if their clients mentioned anything to them about your translator or interpreter. For example, talking with a contracted health care provider can glean information from their management department as well as their patients about your interpreter’s bedside manner and professionalism.

Keep up-to-date and do research.

Other important topics to keep an eye on in the language services industry are things like technology and common issues. Technology is essential in today’s world, especially for large translation projects or simultaneous interpretation assignments.

Technology and common issues or topics of conversation constantly change and evolve. If we don’t pay attention, it can be easy to lose track of these ideas and fall behind competitors or not be able to provide the best service. Make sure to keep up-to-date, and research through news articles and even social media such as LinkedIn to see what people are talking about.

All in all, it’s good to remember that improvement is something we should always strive for. The quality of our services as LSPs is something we should make sure to provide, and collecting and analyzing data is a great step forward.

Last week, we referenced this article by the American Translators Association that detailed the case of a Cameroon citizen applying for asylum in the United States. The individual reportedly spoke a pidgin variety of English, and was unable to fully understand the proceedings nor provide a testimony that was able to be recorded accurately. The judge in charge of the case erroneously believed that the individual would not need an interpreter as English was his “native language.” It was eventually determined that the judge violated the individual’s right to due process by not providing an interpreter.

It’s an unfortunate fact that many people have false ideas about language. For example, hearing a non-standard dialect of English—such as African American Vernacular English or Appalachian English—might cause someone to think the speaker to be not well-educated, when in actuality, linguistic choices don’t necessarily reflect the intelligence of the speaker. A separate “dialect,” also called a “variety,” of a language can create cohesiveness in a smaller group among speakers and allow members to feel more at ease.

A so-called “language” tends to be the “ideal” way to talk by the most powerful group among a larger whole, whether in one country, several countries, etc. For example, when our colleague, Olivia, studied Japanese in college, she was taught the Tokyo dialect, because that’s where the current capital of Japan is, as well as its center of its business and trade. When she lived in a homestay in Nagoya, a major city to the west of Tokyo, she was surprised when some people would conjugate verbs differently or use sentence endings she’d never heard of.

An “accent” can sometimes be used interchangeably with “dialect/variety”; however, this isn’t quite the case. “Accent” refers to how a person pronounces words (think a New Yorker saying “I’m walkin’ here!”), while “dialect” or “variety” refers not just to pronunciation, but also grammar and vocabulary (like “I gone down to the meeting, but wasn’t nobody there” or “bald” for a treeless mountain in Appalachian English).

In the article mentioned above, the individual said he spoke “pidgin” English. A “pidgin” is a form of language that arises when two or more groups who do not have a language in common must speak together, and create simplified, rather limited vocabulary and grammar structures. Linguists tend to consider pidgins as incomplete languages, as they do not generally have a fully structured grammar. A pidgin may form into a “creole” when fully developed vocabulary and grammar develop from children who learn to use the pidgin as their native language. An example of a pidgin sentence is: “Dem neva cam?” for “They haven’t come yet?”

The world of linguistics goes even farther and deeper than just these examples, and are just some of the things we need to think about as language service providers. An interpreter might need to study up on a dialect before helping a client, or a separate person might need to be found altogether if the interpreter knows nothing of the specific language variety.

As a language service provider, we think of these different scenarios, cases, and variations all the time. It’s our responsibility to provide our clients with quality service, and getting to the heart of linguistic differences is just one aspect of that.

We recently read this article by the American Translators Association that detailed the case of a Cameroon citizen applying for asylum in the United States. The individual reportedly spoke a pidgin variety of English, and was unable to fully understand the proceedings nor provide a testimony that was able to be recorded accurately. The judge in charge of the case erroneously believed that the individual would not need an interpreter as English was his “native language.” It was eventually determined that the judge violated the asylum seeker’s right to due process by not providing an interpreter.

That article reminds us of a recent situation we encountered. We had a client seeking asylum in a somewhat remote location in the United States who requested Triqui interpretation. We were about to provide a Triqui interpreter over the phone for telephonic interpretation, given that in-person interpretation in such a remote location was not really possible for the client. However, at the last minute, the asylum office decided that they did not allow telephonic interpretation. There could be any number of reasons for the telephonic interpretation cancellation. Yet, these incidents have got us thinking. What rights do non-citizens have in the United States, especially in regards to translation and interpretation?

According to Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, any program that receives Federal funds or financial assistance cannot discriminate based on race, color, or national origin of a person; this also means that these programs must provide access to people with limited English proficiency. Read more about Title VI here and more about Title VI and LEP services here.

However, Title VI does not provide an all-encompassing solution. Service providers are only required to take “reasonable steps” to give access to their programs to LEP individuals. Whatever the case, non-citizens do have the right to request language assistance from Federally-funded institutions. Non-citizen’s rights to have access to translation and interpretation is a basic human need for communication. We at Monterey Language Services are all for supporting the human rights that non-citizens deserve to have in whatever format that interpretation would be conducted, be it in-person, by phone, or over video.

This blog post is our first attempt to look into non-citizen rights to translators and interpreters, so stay tuned for more to come!

Monterey Language Services recently had the pleasure of providing English to Simplified Chinese translation and localization services for the new graphic novel Journey to Gao. The website can be found here, where Monterey Language Services is honored to be listed as the translation provider and as part of the talented team.

This graphic novel project is part a type of new media, a pioneering effort by a handful of creators in search of a new medium for presenting art, story, voice, and music. A pool of talents was gathered for an old-fashioned romantic adventure with elements of Arabian Nights, Cinderella, and the Shangri-la myth. The story depicts a romantic adventure that spans modern-day New York City and the ancient, fictional country of Gao in China. In the midst of modern and old, fiction and non-fiction, West and East, English and Mandarin, romance and mystery, the graphic novel indeed is exotic to watch.

The work has been produced into ten video chapters. To give you a glimpse of our translation work, among what has been published: Chapter 3 has the most translation voices so far. The significant amount of Mandarin presented among English voices indeed makes the graphic novel stand out as a unique and interesting entertainment piece!

Monterey Language Services took extra time to polish the translations into Simplified Chinese to ensure not only accuracy, but an enjoyable and colloquial read for native speakers. Some of the challenges for this project were derived from cultural differences in how to translate certain phrases created specifically for the graphic novel.

For example, we have the “golden doom,” which refers to a specific event in the story. Because the event transports people similarly to the Christian idea of the rapture, our translation was “极乐升天,” which means “bliss ascension” in Chinese language.

One more example of the cultural challenge is rooted in English homonyms. The sentence: “They follow the standard of Lord Kang and swear on his eyes.” In this sentence, what does “standard” mean? If we suggested “average or normal requirement,” it actually would be incorrect! “Standard” in this instance means a battle flag—something ancient soldiers would follow on the battlefield.

Another difficulty was dealing with the ambiguity of written words. In spoken English, a person’s tone can very easily denote sincerity or sarcasm — consider the phrase “good job” being spoken sincerely and being spoken sarcastically, and their meanings become very different. While the context and illustrations in graphic novels can alleviate this confusion in text, sometimes the tone could be just missed. One such problem occurred in our initial translation of “What a stunt,” a line which our translator took be said in admiration, when in actuality, it was an insult. Through our editing/reviewing process we discovered the issue, and the translation was changed from “真是好身手” (really good) to “真有一套,” which has a similar meaning in a more sarcastic tone.

We are incredibly proud of the work we were able to provide for this project, and would like to add more viewing pleasure and excitement by sharing the above behind-the-scenes glimpses to our translation work. We wish all the success to the audience and contributors to the graphic novel. The chapters will be published in video format weekly on YouTube until the tenth and final one is uploaded.

Have you ever listened to the poetry reading of “The the Impotence of Proofreading” by Taylor Mali? A good amount of the jokes are for adult audiences (I certainly wasn’t an adult when I first heard this poem, but I’m very glad I’ve returned to it now that I’m older), but the poem seems to accurately describe a writer who lets their phone’s auto-correct function do the talking. It’s a hilarious ride.

This poem is a great reminder of why we should always, always proofread—and for language service providers, why we should do it even more than the average writer. In today’s blog post, we’ll go over the reasons why.

1. Proofread the source material

Oftentimes, language service providers are given source material documents that the parent company wants to distribute at the same time as their translations. Theoretically, these documents will have been proofread already. After all, the parent company will want their readers to focus on the message of the documents and keep up their reputation and good impressions.

However, before translation, it’s essential that the source material be proofread again to ensure that the translator understands the meaning of it. Grammatical or spelling errors can cause the translated document to lose lots of meaning, and potentially bring about lots of costs to fix these mistakes later down the pipeline.

Let’s look at a common English example of a grammar mistake: “Let’s eat, Grandma!” and “Let’s eat Grandma!” With just a forgotten comma, the entire meaning of the sentence changes into something out of a horror novel. An accurate translation of the second sentence’s meaning could spell disaster, if that sentence is a mistake.

2. Proofread the translation

People are only human—making mistakes is something everyone does, and there’s no shame in it. However, what’s important is how we monitor ourselves to make sure that we catch those mistakes and take responsibility for them.

Translators have the same ability to miss a comma or period, misspell a word, or accidentally misunderstand the meaning of a sentence in the source document. To be safe, it’s crucial to hire a separate translator to act as a proofreader for the translated documents.

3. Assure the quality of the final product before delivery

Even after a translation has been proofread, oftentimes, language service providers are tasked with putting the translation into a certain format—a pamphlet, a PowerPoint, a website, etc. Once the translation is in that format, it’s important to double-check the target document. You want to avoid crashing, missing or hidden text, text overflow, and a slew of other issues.

The need for proofreading all stems back to the need for a proper, professional, trustworthy identity between the parent company and the customer or reader. Glaring issues in the text, or visual problems in the final product, convey to the reader that the document was handled sloppily—and if the document was handled sloppily, why would the parent company treat the reader any differently?

Remember: we should always, always proofread.

Monterey Language Services provides all types of translation and interpretation services, and we feel that it’s very important to keep an eye on best practices for all language services.

Subtitle translation is a very useful way to relay information, as subtitles are shown alongside videos. Like all media, it can range from simple entertainment, to scientific, political, or anything. We’ve collected some best practices for subtitle translations below.

First, be mindful of the length of translations. You have to remember that subtitles only have a set amount of time and space to be displayed on screen. You should try to be as concise as possible while also staying as true to the speaking character as possible. If you think you need more space to say something, consider how long the character is talking for. Would it be possible to separate the sentence into two or more parts? Let’s say that a character is talking for ten seconds. You could possibly split a line into two five second segments. That should ensure that you get the viewer has enough time to read the entire line without being too distracted by the length of the line.

Furthermore, do not ever exceed two lines on the screen at a time. Standard practice is at most two lines, but any more than that and it becomes a huge distraction and an eyesore to the viewer. The aim of subtitling is to avoid being intrusive while providing viewers a way to comfortably enjoy the media.

Also be sure to use the right kind of software. There’s a lot of different programs out there that subtitlers use, and it really depends on how you’d like to go about it. For example, while not industry standard, many people enjoy using AegiSub for its easy use and features that aren’t too heavy on resources. Other people may use other programs such as Adobe Premiere or even MemoQ. It all really depends on how you work and if your employer has a preference.

Most subtitlers come across a dilemma between “soft” and “hard” subtitles. Soft subtitles are subtitles that aren’t hard coded to the video. The best way to think of it is to imagine a picture. If you try writing on it, the writing will be permanent, unable to be removed. With soft subtitles, however, imagine taping your text onto the picture. It’s not permanent, and you can remove it whenever you like. The advantage to soft subs is that you can give the user more freedom. If they want to turn off the subtitles, then they can. If they want to use a different language subtitle, they can easily swap them out.

Hard subtitles on the other hand are hardcoded to the video. Once you use hard subtitles, they are not coming off of that video unless you manually edit them out. The advantage to hard subtitles is that people won’t have to go through any extra steps to load subtitles. They can easily just use one file to and enjoy the subtitles. Of course, they will lose the freedom of being able to turn them off, but that’s what the tradeoff is.

The last thing to be mindful of is that subtitling is, in most cases, localization. You are not expected to do a 1:1 translation of what characters are saying. You are expected to give characters their voice in another language. That being said, you should be careful of over-localizing to the point that the character is completely different than what they sound like in the original version. This is where it’s useful to have editors and QAers to help review your subtitles and make sure that they’re good to go.

There’s a lot to keep in mind while subtitling, but one good way to keep in mind what best practices are is to review other websites’ guidelines. For instance, many people follow Netflix’s guidelines for subtitling when doing their own, even if they aren’t employed by them.

Subtitling is fun, but it takes time to become familiar with the process. The good news is once you get it down, it’ll be second nature.

Monterey Language Services specializes in medical interpretation for hospitals and clinics. Therefore, we are conscious about health and energy related information and would like to share some of our ideas on how to manage your energy levels, so you can increase not only the quality of your work, but your day-to-day life as well.

1. Get a Routine

Get lots of sleep—really! Sleep is integral to how we function and rest our bodies. Getting into a personal routine for your sleep schedule is important. Whether you’re a morning person or a night owl, missing sleep, sleeping too much, or sleeping at the “wrong time” for your body can upset your biological rhythm and leave you tired for days.

Humans thrive off of routines. Having a set time for meals, work, play, etc. can help us rest and recharge in a way just as important as sleep. For example, continuously chugging away at your computer drains on your mental energy—but if you take a good break when you start to feel down, you can come back feeling much more refreshed.

2. Synergize with Your Coworkers

Nothing really energizes you like a job well done. The sense of accomplishment that comes with finishing work to hand off to a partner is fulfilling to many people, and gives you a goal to work toward during your shifts.

Human beings, being social creatures, can thrive off of collaboration. Even if we’re tired, we can get a burst of energy from our peers—like cheering each other on. If you tend to work alone, try bouncing ideas off of a friend, or attempting a collaboration if possible.

3. Eat Well

This should go without saying, but eating well and avoiding certain types of food help keep your physical energy up. Vegetables, fruits, and protein are all very important for keeping human bodies going.

Don’t forget to pack healthy snacks as well if you’re heading out of the home to work, but try not to rely on sugary or carb-heavy snacks like donuts or pastries for these snacks. They might give you a boost, but sugar boosts don’t last long and leave you crashing. A healthy snack avoids the crash.

4. Relegate Work to Certain Spaces

This is difficult to do when so many of us have to work from home nowadays, but separating spaces for work and play helps keep our brains from mixing things up. If we view our homes as a place of rest, it’s harder to get in a mindset to work. If possible, setting up an office space in your home might help tremendously. And, very importantly, keep your work desk as a place of work only—avoid social media, videos, and other distractions, even while on breaks. Breaks should take place in other places than at your desk.

5. Exercise (Yes, Really)

You might think that exercising will make you more tired, but keeping up a good exercise routine will keep endorphins pumping throughout your body. It will generally help you sleep better as well, and given enough regular exercise, you will get more stamina for your energy reserves.

6. Take Breaks (Again: Yes, Really)

Continuously whiling away at your work can wear down your mental energy. Taking breaks allows your brain to get some time to rest and reset, allowing you to come back to your work with a fresh perspective. In fact, matching your break time with exercise time might help you even more. Lots of people like to exercise first thing in the morning and “get it out of the way,” but an afternoon or even a mid-morning workout during your work break can get your blood pumping. You might even get inspiration for your work.

7. Make Time for Yourself (and the Ones You Love)

The old English saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” still applies in today’s world, all work and no play not only takes away from your time to broaden your mind, but also makes you burnt out, with no energy left for anything.

Making time for your hobbies and loved ones—real, quality time—is essential for your energy reserves. Doing what makes you happy outside of work refreshes you and allows you to enjoy life to the fullest, and might help to keep you aware of what matters to you, giving you purpose when you come back into work.