Hear, hear! I am glad to announce that Valentina, owner of Rockstar Translations as well as a truly amazing colleague, this morning, launched >> THE UNIQUE PRO series << on her blog. Read the first guest post featuring yours truly. Click on the image below to be redirected to the post. Enjoy the reading, and… share, share, share over a cup of coffee! 😉
Yet, remember,
“We have something special by nature, so we do not have to be scared of showing what makes us the key to carry out a project or solve a problem. It is also a matter of character, because when it comes to working together (and co-working as well, of course) you can see if you and the other person are on the same wavelength. Or you may need someone that is completely different from you. So, why should we just show a shadow-self and hide our true selves? It is not detrimental at all. It is our personal added value: that je-ne-sais-quoi making the difference. In my honest opinion, hiding it we choose to give up taking chances.“
#THEUNIQUEPRO || Seth Godin said, “#Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell.” Don’t miss the story of this week’s #UniquePro >> Yours truly #OneSecT9ns
How are you doing? I have been silent for a little while, I know. I gave you some hints about my future projects, but I have not revealed anything yet. I know, I know… I owe you all an apology.
I planned to spend the month of August organising the last part of this “sabbatical” year and it looks like I’m going to live many exciting adventures over the next few weeks.
First of all, thank you so much for your precious support! With your help I have been nominated in various translation-related categories for the Community Choice Awardshosted by ProZ.
Now, you can vote for your favourite one(s), so if you want to vote yours truly, follow this link >> http://www.proz.com/community-choice-awards and choose the related items.
The voting phase will be open until 22nd September. Then, discover the winners on International Translation Day (30th Sept)!
Secondly, as I told you in my previous post, I am leaving today to reach the wonderful city of Bordeaux. I will attend the 3rdIAPTI Conference and I am pretty excited about that, because it is my very first time as a participant in an International event.
5 – 6 September || Bordeaux, France
I will share a gorgeous flat with other colleagues and I am sure that we will have a lot of fun, as it will be both a sort of holiday and working time for everyone of us.
Gala Gil Amat: @transGalator (twitter) – Transgalator (facebook) – instransgalator (Instagram)
Mila Rapizo: @mirapizo (twitter) – @mirapizo (Instagram)
Marta Prieto: @CalamburTrad (twitter)
And me: @OneSec_ts (twitter) – One Sec Translations (facebook) – @onesectranslations (Instagram)
Follow our real-time updates on facebook, twitter, and Instagram (I am sure we’ll share posts, tweets, and pictures). (I provided you with all our details so that you can find us online.)
Thirdly, I am going to launch a section on my website that it will be called The Honest Translator, which is intended to be a box encompassing my posts, guest posts, thoughts and anything else on being a freelancer (focusing mainly on being a translator) in the most honest way possible. I would like to create a space where people can talk their true selves without wearing any mask, discussing their added values and real expectations (basing them on what they really feel and want).
Yet, last but not least, I’m going to submit a questionnaire to a bunch of professionals that I would like to have as my guests for a new interview series that I will publish on my website. It will be a little bit different from those you usually read on other blogs, because I thought it as a fresh way to have a break. I hope that I could show you something as soon as possible. We’ll see. Maybe you could be one of those amazing colleagues I would like to feature on my blog. Stay tuned and you could discover it!
Well, I hope that you have enjoyed the reading. Feel free to comment or drop me a line about anything.
Good morning, followers! Happy Sunday! 🙂 It’s been a long time since my last post – I know, I’m sorry! But, I’m juggling a lot lately, and I’m working on some new exciting projects that I’m going to unveil in a couple of months. I’m still working on my website (One Sec Translations), which you can visit and surf; but, I want to personalise it a little bit more, so I’m taking care of the latest details.
Besides, I’m arranging my business and networking trips to Bordeaux and Pisa (in September and October, respectively), so I’m trying to be active on many, different sides so that I’ll be ready to leave without freaking out! 😀 I’ll write something for you about it in a specific post on the topic. 🙂
Yet, although I didn’t make it at the Language Lover Contest 2015 hosted by Bab.la, it doesn’t mean I don’t have to give it another try by taking the chance to participate in the Community Choice Awards 2015 hosted by ProZ.
“The ProZ.com community choice awards are hosted by ProZ.com annually to provide another means for the ProZ.com community to publicly recognize language professionals who are active, influential or otherwise outstanding in various media throughout the industry. Nominations, voting, and winners are determined entirely by the ProZ.com community.
Here’s how it works: the contest has a simple structure of nominations, voting, and announcement of winners. Members of the ProZ.com community are asked to submit their nominations in various categories. Nominees who receive a certain number of nominations move to the voting stage. Winners are determined purely through numbers of votes cast by the ProZ.com community.
There are two main categories: Translation-related and Interpretation-related. Within these categories are various sub-categories such as “best blog”, “best website”, “best trainer”, “best conference speaker”, etc.“
You can also provide nominations for the other subcategories and nominate interpretation-related users.
You can fill in the blanks by writing as many names as you like; just choose the related category or subcategory and nominate your favourite people. Filling in all the spaces is not compulsory, so if you don’t have any nominees, just leave a blank space.
Thanks in advance for your support! 🙂 And have a look around, because many translators/interpreters/linguists are willing to take part in the competition!
Oggi vi delizio con un post completamente in italiano, perché è il risultato di un proficuo scambio di idee avvenuto tra me e la mia amica, nonché collega, Clara di Winged Translations.
Come ho già avuto modo di scrivere nell’articolo “The importance of being Honest“, vorrei farmi portavoce di un movimento che ispiri ed unisca tutti i professionisti sotto un’unica bandiera: l’onestà.
Per ora questo progetto è in fase di definizione e pianificazione, ma credo che l’importanza di essere chiari, sinceri e, soprattutto, onesti su ciò che si è come individui e su cosa si possa offrire professionalmente sia la base per instaurare dei solidi rapporti umani e lavorativi.
Alla ricerca di ispirazione, ieri mi è capitato di imbattermi in un video di Marie Forleo: come si può essere diretti con i colleghi senza risultare aggressivi, ma propositivi?
Parlando dell’argomento con Clara, ho selezionato una serie di riflessioni sull’approccio positivo di cui mi faccio promotrice e ho tratto alcune conclusioni personali che desidero condividere con voi.
Per riuscire ad ottenere un buon risultato, è bene:
▷ Focalizzarsi su un approccio propositivo;
▷ Non esagerare con la positività quando si cerca di motivare gli altri;
▷ Fornire sempre una modalità di risoluzione dei problemi, favorendo lo scambio di opinioni e il confronto;
▷ Spiegare il “come” si possa risolvere una problematica;
▷ Esprimere senza paura come ci si sente nei riguardi di una particolare situazione, perciò non in termini di “È colpa tua”, ma di “Mi sento così”.
Cosa ne pensate?
Ci sono altre accortezze da tenere a mente in situazioni in cui onestà e approccio diretto sono fondamentali?
Lasciatemi un commento, sarò felice di rispondervi.
I told you in one of my last post that I was going to write down my 2015 resolutions.
Every year I find it harder, because I know that I would like to achieve, learn, gain, discover, live more and more than I can get eventually. However, life is strange and, sometimes, we just get what we deserve. Somebody calls it “destiny”, somebody calls it “luck”. As far as I’m concerned, I just think we should be just call it only “life”, because both in good times and bad times there’s something new to discover, which will lead us to know ourselves better. Life teaches us how to proceed.
So, I’m very grateful for the bunch of lessons taught by experience, people I met, challenges I lost and meaningful goals I achieved. I’ve been living my 2014 trying to do my best.
Firstly, I set some goals. Indeed, I wanted to write more on my blog, so I gave it a try. My blog was very sad and I didn’t know who to properly use it or how to manage it. Now, there are a lot of people landing here every day, people who give me good advice on writing and freelancing. It’s a sharing place, I like it! It was a little goal to achieve, but it was my starting point.
I also started to use social media; I learnt a lot about timing, audience, hashtags, topics, how to catch up with your followers and so on. It has been a great experience and I want to take it with me to 2015.
I restyled my brand thanks to my friend Alice (she’s a graphic designer). We discussed and we argued, of course. I won’t lie. There were ups and downs; it wasn’t an easy journey, because, working together with friends, sometimes you feel like you can’t be completely honest. You think you may hurt them somehow, even if you know that work comes first and your friendship is put aside. We completed the new logo, which I showed you in April. We are getting late for publishing the complete version of the website, but technical issues arose. It’s a pity, but we are going to fix it. Stay tuned!
I attended some webinars and online courses, as I wanted to go deep into different topics. It was good, because you can share opinions with other attendees, and the teachers are very pleased to answer all your questions anytime. I met reliable professionals this way.
I lost two clients. I know it’s not my fault. I mean, that’s life! (As I said…) The contract expired and it wasn’t renewed. It was a one-year collaboration and each business has its rules. I fulfilled my tasks in full and they were satisfied of my job, of course. I’m not sad, because I felt scared at the very beginning. I thought I wasn’t good enough to handle such a big project, but I overcame my fear and I worked with passion: another goal achieved.
That said, I’m very proud of my 2014. I wish I could spend the forthcoming year improving my skills and shaping my professional path (and shaping myself accordingly).
Here’s my list of New Year’s Resolutions :
▷ To trust my gut and be more confident;
▷ To finish reading all the books I bought as Christmas gifts. They are written by my colleagues, so I do need to save time to finish them and write a little review;
▷ To improve my writing skills;
▷ To enhance my brand by completing the website and marketing more;
▷ To write a good business plan (with a little help from my friends/colleagues);
▷ To attend the courses I already scheduled;
▷ To attend a translation conference or even a single event for translators;
▷ To find new clients by promoting my professional services, applying the “secrets” I’ve been learning so far;
▷ To save time regularly to help my friends, followers and colleagues, being available for suggestions and chatting;
▷ To put myself first, because I need to focus on what I want to become and achieve. I won’t let anyone steal my progress to realise their plans. I pictured my professional future in my mind, I’m working hard to make it real. I won’t give up!;
▷ To stop worrying about tiny, silly things like a missed call or answer. Everything has its time. I need to take mine!;
▷ To keep on training both my mind and body. I love to work out: it helps me concentrate and release stress staying healthy.
Nel 2012, Alessandra Martelli scriveva così nel suo post celebrativo di questo giorno speciale: “I traduttori sono in mezzo a voi: vi facciamo compagnia quando leggete l’ultimo romanzo di Kathy Reichs sull’autobus, vi spieghiamo come utilizzare il frullatore nuovo, ci assicuriamo che possiate comprendere i rischi legati all’assunzione di un farmaco, traduciamo attentamente termini e condizioni d’uso dei servizi internet che usate ogni giorno (sì, anche le clausole scritte piccole piccole!), vi siamo accanto sul divano quando vedete lo spot di un’automobile tedesca in TV … […] Siamo in mezzo a voi. Pensateci, almeno ogni tanto”.
Perciò… ▷ Grazie a tutti i traduttori che svolgono ogni giorno un mestiere difficile, silenzioso ed a volte solitario. ▷ Grazie a tutti i linguisti e funamboli della parola; piccoli e grandi acrobati che camminano su quel filo sottile che separa le culture, cercando di non inciampare sulle sfumature di ogni lingua. ▷ Grazie per la dedizione, l’impegno e la voglia di comunicare con cui ogni giorno si affrontano dure giornate di lavoro o di studio.
▷Grazie a noi, eredi di San Girolamo.◃ Non vi deluderemo.
• Happy International Translation Day! • 30th September 2014 • 国际翻译日快乐！
• International Translation Day •
In 2012, in the post she wrote to celebrate this special day for translators, Alessandra Martelli stated, “Translators are all around you. We keep you company while you are reading the last novel by Kathy Reichs travelling on the bus, we explain you how to use your new blender, we make sure you understand risks associated with medication, we carefully translate usage terms and conditions of the Internet services you use every day (yes, even those clauses that are in very small print!), we sit next to you on the sofa when you are watching a German car spot advertising on TV … […] We are among you. Think about us, once in a while.”
So,
▷ Thank you to all of the translators who perform a very hard, silent and (sometimes) lone job. ▷ Thank you to all of the linguists and funambulists performing with words. You are young and mature acrobats who perform the tightrope walking on the thin line between cultures, trying not to trip on the nuances of every language. ▷ Thank you for being so devoted, for your wholehearted commitment and the longing for communication, which are the strenghts that make you successfully deal with though working days and studies. Every day.
▷ Thanks to US, translators and heirs of Saint Jerome.◃ We won’t disappoint you. I promise.
Perfino il traduttore stacanovista ha bisogno di una piccola vacanza di tanto in tanto. Deve rimettere in ordine la confusione degli ultimi incarichi e riprendersi dopo aver ordinato tutti i file e catalogato le basi terminologiche ed i glossari. È tutto pronto! Fatture ed email inviate e telefonate agli ultimi clienti distratti fatte.
Anche il corpo ha bisogno del suo riposo, perciò questo è il momento di distendere la mente e lasciare che ogni muscolo si goda il meritato relax.
Io sarò in viaggio per qualche giorno. Pubblicherò qualche foto e cercherò di utilizzare i social media per condividere qualche ricordo. 😉 Potete seguirmi sutwitter o su facebook!
Nel frattempo auguro buon lavoro a chi sarà impegnato anche nelle prossime settimane e buone ferie a chi le farà in questi giorni come me o ne sta già godendo i benefici. 🙂
A presto.
~Chiara
Chiuso per ferie • Gone on holiday/vacation • Estoy de vacaciones
Of Cabbages and Kings: five ways to talk about translation
Translation has been a crucial part of Anglophone culture from its very beginnings. The earliest English writers knew that the state of learning in England, with knowledge of Latin far from universal, meant a need for translations. Everything necessary for a rounded education was written in Latin, and so King Alfred the Great introduced a programme of translating “certain books, which are most needful for all men to know, into that language that we all can understand”. Alfred’s list of necessary books was very specific, and encompassed classics of theology and philosophy, rather than the Greek and Roman classics which were to torture school boys nearly a millennium later. These poor beleaguered boys, struggling with their Homer and Virgil, would often use a crib, a translation that provided them with illegitimate help in their studies. This might also be called a cabbage in the school slang of the nineteenth century; nobody’s sure where the term comes from, though it might be that the strips of paper looked like strips of cloth which tailors rolled up into shapes resembling cabbages (etymologies can be a bit labyrinthine at times!).
Like most linguistic concepts, translation has been described using a wide range of words. Here are some notes on five of my favourites.
Translate
Let’s start with the basics! The verb translate goes back to at least the early thirteen hundreds, when the author of the religious poem Cursor Mundi tells his readers that:
Þis ilk bok es translate into Inglis tong
to rede for the love of Inglis lede,
(This book is translated into the English language as advice, for the love of the English people.)
Translation was an important art in the medieval period, perhaps even more so than in King Alfred’s day, since the people of England now had to deal with both Latin and Norman French as commonly-used languages as well as the English vernacular. The verb comes from the Latin translatus, the past participle of transferre, meaning “to transfer”, hence the use of translate to refer to physical transferral. It‘s often used to describe the moving of a saint’s remains to a new resting place.
Paraphrase
The mythic first poem in English, Caedmon’s Hymn, was a paraphrase. Legend has it that Caedmon, a simple cowherd in the monastery at Whitby, was visited by an angel who inspired him to compose poems on scriptural themes. The Latin scripture would be read to him, and he would produce beautiful paraphrases in the intricate Old English verse form. The verbparaphrase, however, comes a long time after Caedmon: the Oxford English Dictionary’s first evidence is from 1593 (the noun is attested a little earlier). It comes, via French and Latin, from a Greek root: para (“alongside”) and phrasis (“diction, speech”). So, whereas to translate is to transfer from one language to the other, to paraphrase is to speak in the new language alongside the original.
Englify
The delightful verb Englify was first used, according to the OED’s evidence, in 1688, when the writer Randle Holme referred to “a Welsh name Englified”. It is one of a set of words describing translation into English. Englishizeappears around a hundred years later, not long after anglicize was first used in this sense (in 1711 according to current research), whereas the simple verb English is the earliest of the trio, first appearing in the Wycliffite translation of the Bible in the 1400s: “I Englishe it thus”, the translator tells us. Other language names have been used in the same way: in 1868, Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote that “We clothe the nude word by Frenching it”, andFrenchize has also been used for translation into French.
Traduce
Coming from the Latin traducere, meaning “to bring across” or “to transfer”,traduce was used to mean “translate” from at least the fifteen hundreds, and was still in use when Charles Kingsley wrote his novel Alton Locke in 1850: the title character will be allowed no more books to read “If ye canna traduce to me a page o’ Virgil”, so the Scotsman Sandy Mackaye threatens him. The verb is related to words for “translation” in a number of Romance languages: French traduction and Italian traduzzione, for example. The more common sense of traduce now is to slander or disgrace a person. It seems a bit of a leap from “transfer” to “slander”, but the classical Latin traducere could also mean “to lead along (as a spectacle)”, as one might do to a criminal, and in later Latin it carried the sense “to lead astray”, “to corrupt”, and “to blame”. It’s a verb of many talents, and it seems quite fitting that a word for translation should itself have such a variety of possible translations.
Wend
This is my favourite translation verb, and the oldest of our five. Indeed, this meaning of the word seems to have died out in the twelve hundreds, remembered now only by students of Old English who read King Alfred’s accounts of his efforts at translation: “Ða ongan ic..ða boc wendan on Englisc”; “Then I began to translate that book into English”. The range of meanings that wend had even in those days tells us something about how the Anglo-Saxons thought about translation. It could mean altering your course, changing your mind, travelling, or taking the final journey of death. Translation was a slippery thing, and it could fatally change the meaning of the original text unless great care was taken by a skilful translator.
These are just a few of the many verbs that are or have been used for translation; there was no space to talk about convert, render, interpret, orthrow, to name just a few. Dub also lost out in my list of five, though it has the neatest etymology, being a simple shortening of the word double. So there is still plenty to explore in the world of translation; but, for now, I shall wend my way.
Internet Radio Provides Musical Space-Weather Reports from NASA’s LRO Mission
January 9, 2014
The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation, or CRaTER, on NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has six detectors to monitor the energetic charged particles from galactic cosmic rays and solar events.
Image Credit: NASA/GSFC
The latest tool for checking space weather is an internet radio station fed by data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO.
The radio station essentially operates in real time, receiving measurements of how much radiation the spacecraft is experiencing and converting those into a constant stream of music. The radiation levels determine which instrument is featured, the musical key being used and the pitches played.
“Our minds love music, so this offers a pleasurable way to interface with the data,” said the leader of the music project, Marty Quinn of the University of New Hampshire, Durham. “It also provides accessibility for people with visual impairments.”
The radiation levels are determined by LRO’s Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation, or CRaTER. Equipped with six detectors, CRaTER monitors the energetic charged particles from galactic cosmic rays and solar events.
The instrument makes two kinds of crucial measurements. One type studies the interaction of radiation in space with a material that is like human tissue; this is helping scientists assess the effects that exposure would have on people and organisms. The other type looks at radiation hitting the moon and the products generated by that interaction, which provides a way to explore the composition of the regolith on the moon.
“CRaTER has discovered wide-ranging and fundamental aspects of such radiation,” said Nathan Schwadron, the principal investigator for CRaTER. “For example, we have discovered that tissue-equivalent plastics and other lightweight materials can provide even more effective protection than standard shielding, such as aluminum.”
An internet radio station converts radiation measurements from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter into a musical space-weather report.
Image Credit: University of New Hampshire
Each detector on CRaTER reports the number of particles registered every second. These counts are relayed to CRaTER Live Radio, where software converts the numbers into pitches in a four-octave scale. Six pitches are played every second, one for each detector. Higher, tinkly pitches indicate less activity, whereas lower, somber-sounding pitches indicate more activity.
The software selects the primary instrument and a musical key based on recent activity. At the lowest radiation levels, the main instrument will be a piano, playing pitches from one of the major scales. But as the peak radiation level climbs, one of the minor scales will be selected instead, and the piano will be replaced by one of seven other instruments.
For example, when CRaTER picked up elevated radiation counts caused by the solar flare on Jan. 7, 2014, the primary instrument changed to a marimba, which is two instruments up from the piano. A steel drum or guitar instead of a marimba would mean the radiation level had ramped up more. A banjo would mean the peak had climbed to the top of the normal operating range.
If the counts climb beyond the top of the normal operating range – as might happen during a very big event – the software would switch into a second operating range. The piano would again represent the bottom of this range, and the banjo would represent the top. To indicate which range is current, a violin and a cello play sustained notes in the background. If those sustained notes are played at the highest pitches on the scale, the normal operating range is in effect; if those notes drop by even one pitch, the second range is being used.
The radio station is one of CRaTER’s official data products and is available online and through an app. The data feed from LRO is live, with one caveat. Whenever the spacecraft moves behind the moon, it cannot line up with data-collecting antennas on Earth, so there is a blackout period of about an hour. During that time, the station reuses the previous hour’s data. To indicate that the music is not live, the sound of the bongo drum in the background is changed, and the chiming of the triangle is muted.
The most familiar example of data sonification – conversion into sound – is a simple one: The Geiger counter produces a click every time it detects a radioactive particle.
In the past few decades, scientists in many fields have experimented with sonification, hoping to capitalize on humans’ ability to hear small changes instantly, even against a noisy background. Music has the added advantage of making it easy to process many changes at once through variations in pitch, rhythm, tempo, scale, loudness and instrumentation.
“Music makes it easy for people to take in the data, and it seems to be a natural fit for space missions,” said LRO’s project scientist, John Keller of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Sonification has been used to present data from several NASA spacecraft, especially Voyagers 1 and 2 and Kepler. Quinn previously worked on sonification for other NASA missions, including Mars Odyssey, the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory, the Advanced Composition Explorer and the Interstellar Boundary Explorer.
LRO is managed by NASA Goddard for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Un benvenuto speciale alle/ai Sopravvissut@ al narcisismo. una volta scoperto che NON SIAMO PAZZ@ e soprattutto NON SIAMO SOL@, possiamo cominciare a rivivere un'altra volta. la miglior vendetta è una vita vissuta bene e pienamente.
One Sec Translations di Chiara Bartolozzi 