How to lose your job as an interpreter
January 16, 2012
The story of a BBC sign language interpreter being sacked for her “creative” approach to interpreting (reporting, amongst other things, that radioactive zombies had been sighted near the nuclear reactor in Japan after the earthquake there) reminded me of an old post where I talk about being tempted to use my all-powerful position as an interpreter to turn a situation to my advantage.
Indeed, it can be really difficult to remain a neutral conversion hub and not get personally involved. During projects that I have worked on for some time, and which I know inside out, I am sometimes tempted just to give answers to questions instead of relaying first the question, then the answer, in order to save everyone time and effort and get the job done. I’m not the only one, as once, I worked with another interpreter at a one-day workshop, during which we had to work with small groups of French and English speakers who had to plan their workload for the afternoon session. To my horror, my colleague started to try and organise the participants, pointing out who was taking on too much and who was best placed to do such and such task. This was obviously inappropriate, but it can be very hard not to contribute when you think that you can see a solution to their dilemmas.
The BBC interpreter cited “personal difficulties – particularly a crushing professional boredom” to explain her actions. I hope she changes career and tries her hand at comedy, as I found her fondness for adding zombies to international events rather hilarious.
Brighton zombie picture by Heather Buckley
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UPDATE
OF COURSE this was a spoof! I knew that *cough*. However, my point remains, and interpreters have been sacked in the past for speaking their mind, in Ukraine, for example.
(Thanks May!)
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P.S.
Also, I've always wanted zombies on my blog.
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MORE!
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C'EST PAS FINI
Le Plus, a Nouvel Obs community site, asked me to elaborate on the issue of interpreters and neutrality (in French).
Translators and business plans
January 10, 2012
Jill made me smile with her post I don't have a plan and that's okay too. I completely understand where she’s coming from, even if I find it useful to take some time to reflect on how my work is going, and how I could improve it. For me, this is a way to focus and ensure that I do whatever I can to succeed in my work, like when I gave myself vague pointers in January 2010, which was useful. Some were good for me in terms of career progression (attending webinars and workshops, getting two more direct clients in the field of international development, keeping up to date with developments in the translation industry), others showed me paths I shouldn’t follow (giving presentations and webinars, which I’m not very good at, and business networking, which just doesn’t work for me).
This year however, I won’t be giving myself any pointers, even vague ones, as I seem to be plodding along quite nicely with the tools and strategies I’ve developed over the years. I have thought of offering other language pairs by outsourcing work to respected colleagues, but this would turn me into a project manager, and what I love is translating, full stop. This doesn’t mean that I’m forever stuck doing the same thing, in the same way: translation tools evolve, and with new clients come new challenges and new subjects to learn.
So what’s the plan for 2012? Carry on doing the best job I can for my existing clients, carry on using this website to market my English to French translation services (see what I’ve done there?) and hopefully make a few new interesting contacts. Happy new year everybody!
Compass photo by Walt Stoneburner.
Mox's illustrated guide to freelance translation
December 7, 2011
Do you know a freelance translator? Are you struggling to think of a suitable Christmas present for them? Struggle no more! Mox's Illustrated Guide to Freelance Translation is now out, with the cartoons all translators know and love and even contributions from many translation bloggers. Can’t wait to receive mine.
Damp squib
December 2, 2011
So it’s not “damp squid”, as I’d always thought. This is another one to put in my little box of misunderstood phrases (see “country pumpkin” in the comments of my post on accents). What led me to look into this expression, used by David Cameron to describe the biggest public sector strike since the 70s, was that I heard it translated as un pétard mouillé (a damp banger) on the French radio. I was all pleased. Nothing like a lovely translation on the news to make me smile. In fact, this was an example of a French translation far surpassing the quality of the original English metaphor. Honestly, “damp squid”? Of course squids are damp, they live in the sea! Why should this describe an anticlimax?
Because, of course, it’s not “damp squid”, but “damp squib”. A squib is a miniature explosive, which looks a lot like a... pétard (banger).
Thankfully, I’m not alone in mangling common expressions: see the top 10 misquoted phrases in Britain.
Squid photo by Queen of subtle.
Hey newbie translator!
November 4, 2011
This post is for you. You’re probably here because you sent me an email asking for advice on starting a career in translation, and you’ve received a short email containing a link, which you clicked on. Don’t think that I don’t care, because I do, but my narrow vision of things wouldn’t necessarily help you, as I think it’s best to get info from different sources to work out what’s best for you. These links contain all the best advice and resources that I can think of. You’re welcome and good luck in your new fabulous career.
Posts (and their comments) on this blog
- How to become a translator?
- Advice to a translation student
- Translators and marketing
- Email marketing for translators (by Jill Sommer)
Translators’ sites, which deal mainly with translation as a career:
- Tips for translators - no-nonsense info
- What makes a successful translator - listen to Rose and you’ll go far
- Ma voisine Millionnaire - Céline gives lots of practical tips on how to succeed as a translator (in French)
- Les recettes du traducteur - Excellent reflections from the kind of small French translation agency every translator would like to work with (in French)
Courses, webinars and books
- Online course for translators
- How to succeed as a freelance translator
Both of these are Corinne McKay’s work, and although I have not attended her course or read her book, I have every reason to believe that they’re both useful and enlightening.
- eCPD webinars offer “high-quality webinars to help translators, interpreters and other professional linguists develop their careers and run their businesses efficiently and profitably”. I’ve attended a couple and they were very good.
- Chris Durban’s The Prosperous Translator
Another book I haven’t read, but Chris is such a respected figure in the translation world that I can’t imagine that it’s anything but wonderful.
- Judy and Dagmar Jenner’s The Entrepreneurial Linguist
Guess what… I haven’t read it! But the reviews have been excellent.
I must admit that I’ve been suffering from light social media fatigue the last few months, so I’m not necessarily very up to date with newer blogs and sites on translation as a career, so if you can think of any, please share them in the comments.
Astroturfing
September 1, 2011
Are English speakers more creative in their use of language? I don't know, but some of the English terms that crop to designate new concepts and ideas sometimes are just perfect. "Astroturfing" is an excellent example, even if it's not so new, as its first use apparently goes back to 1985: if "grassroots" describes a movement anchored in the community, “astroturfing”, which comes from AstroTurf, the artificial grass widely used in sports fields and stadiums, is very clear: it is “made up grassroots”. It is a fake grassroots movement designed to give the impression that it is spontaneous and comes from the base. Its members are present in the media and on the web, where they “share” their experiences in order to generate a buzz around a product or an idea.
The Wikipedia entry on astroturfing is excellent, and the whole issue of astroturfing raises many questions, but I won’t go into them here since they have been discussed in detail elsewhere. What interests me as a French translator and language lover is what name this new concept will take in my mother tongue. Initial research suggests that it has been borrowed in its English form. Since the French equivalent of "grassroots" is not a figurative term (“grassroots mouvement” could be translated as mouvement citoyen, populaire, de base ou communautaire) it is difficult to play on the word by finding its "fake" equivalent i.e. "astroturf". The alternatives would be to use a description, like stratégie de manipulation basée sur un mouvement citoyen d'apparence spontané, mais en réalité orchestré dans un but précis, which, I agree, is a mouthful, or to borrow "astroturfing" and hope that the readers will be familiar with the concept.
To go back to my question in the first paragraph, there is actually a French neologism that I love, because it’s quite romantic, but also because it is incredibly handy when translating: internaute, built on the same model as “astronaut” and “cosmonaut” to designate someone who travels on the internet. “Web user” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?
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Translation and ethics
August 23, 2011