[Repost] The Backstabbing Translator (by Konstantinos Stardelis)

Previously shared on twitter by Valentina Ambrogio (Rockstar Translations)

The Backstabbing Translator

Dream a Little Dream of Me (as a fish)

I recently had a dream that really freaked me out.

I was a fish, swimming in a stream running through a cavern. It was dark and the water felt strange to me. I couldn’t quite place it, but I didn’t feel comfortable being there. I knew that I entered the stream to get someplace, but I remember having a feeling of being stuck in it for a long time; longer than what I had believed when I got there.

Looking around me, I saw countless other fish squirming about, their movements screaming a lack of direction and purpose, their eyes filled with confusion and hostility. I could make out some of them sharing colours and patterns in their appearance, as if within the thousands that surrounded me, there were groups that belonged to the same kind. They were certainly not together, however, as each fish snapped at whichever one got close to it.
After hours and hours of swimming in the seemingly endless, dark stream, we reached an opening where we could move more freely; and up ahead, I could see a single point of light shining through the water. I instantly knew that it was the way out, but, apparently, so did the rest of them. We all swarmed to the exit, seconds away from escaping the illusory freedom of the never-resting body of water. Just as I reached the threshold and saw a wondrous, vast ocean stretching across the opening, promising a wonderful, joyous life without worries, I felt something pushing me aside and hundreds of tiny little teeth having a go at my scaly flesh.

Instead of working together to escape the stream, the fish began attacking and pushing each other out of the way, trying to get out first. The opening was not going anywhere and we certainly could all get through, if everyone remained calm and realized that there were no enemies amongst us. We were all after the same thing, and we could all get it!

I gasped my way out of the dream, sitting up on the bed, and left with the lingering, suffocating sensation of being stuck inches from my goal and unable to comprehend the aggressive nature of my fellow swimmers.

 The Backstabbing Translator

Okay, you get my point with the metaphor, so I won’t bother with explaining the specifics.

In the past five years, quite a few times, I’ve had to deal with fellow translators acting like I’m out to pillage their home, rape their wife and mangle their sweet Persian cat.

I was recently contacted by a translation agency, dealing mostly with medical/pharmaceutical translations. They agreed to a pretty good rate (upwards of 12 eurocents) and requested a couple of samples from previous translators I’d performed.

I sent them two samples; a part of a clinical trial protocol I had recently translated, and a part of a SPC I had translated (AND performed the final QC), quite some time ago. Keep in mind that the SPC has been published by the EMA and is currently running wild in the market!

I heard back from them a couple of days later, and to my surprise, the vendor manager informed me that the SPC sample had been found wanting. She sent me the evaluation copy with the proofreader’s comments (one of their long-term freelance translators in my language pair) included.

I was nine parts mad and one part amused, as I opened the file and immediately had to cover my eyes to avoid (permanent) blindness, from the sheer amount of bright pink tracked changes in the file. Apparently, the person responsible for evaluating my sample changed pretty much every single word that could be expressed in a different way. Even standard QRD terms and formatting instructions specific for that template version couldn’t escape his/her mighty, pink, digital marker.

Having the aforementioned analogy completely reversed in my head, I wished the agency good luck and didn’t break a sweat.

In the past, when a similar event occurred, I chewed down on the proofreader so hard that the vendor manager apologized to me and ensured me that they would never use their services again. I guess I’m way cooler and more mature nowadays! Okay, maybe not.

Plenty of Fish in the Pond

Okay, we all know that translators pop out left and right every day. Portals that welcome translator profiles are filled with thousands of linguists actively looking to obtain new clients. Certainly, the supply must have outweighed the demand in the LSP market by now, right? Not even close.

There is, and will be for the foreseeable future, enough demand to feed every single translator out there. Actually, we need an influx of new linguists if we’re to avoid all those big companies not being able to deliver their products in a worldwide fashion. [link to article]

So, why all the hostility between one another? Why must we, under the pretense of being best buddies in social media networks, stab each other behind the back when it comes to sharing work? Work that’s more than enough to cover everyone’s needs!

Apart from the ridiculous notion that we need to drive prices down to receive any work at all – because, let’s face it, you know that when the supply doesn’t match the demand, the supplier can pretty much sell his services at a higher price than black market organs sell for these days -, there is absolutely no reason to bother getting in the way of another translator, as long as they cannot be held professionally or ethically accountable. If they’re bad at their job, feel free to rip them apart; if they’re doing a good job, give them a pat in the back and welcome them to your team.

As with many of the problems translators face nowadays, the whole issue has its roots deep within the linguist’s psyche.

Instead of adding obstacles in every step we take, how about we have a look around and try to benefit from the given advantages of our profession?

By Konstantinos Stardelis

Cf. original: “http://greek-translator.com/blog/the-backstabbing-translator/”

Repost: The Joy of Swearing in a Non-Native Language (by Corey Heller)

The Joy of Swearing in a Non-Native Language

Cf. original piece at “http://www.multilingualliving.com/2010/08/31/the-joy-of-swearing-in-a-non-native-language/“

by COREY · 30 COMMENTS

By Corey Heller
Photo Credit: Ben and Kaz Askins

Today was not a day that I am proud of.  I yelled at my German husband in front of my multilingual kids.  And, as always, I regretted it later.

My patient husband kept calm – which made me even more annoyed.

Is that a German trait, that staying-calm-in-an-argument trait?  That trait that can drive me up the wall?  My fiery response to it (inherited from my Irish grandparents) was a clear indication that I still haven’t mastered that trait – not yet, at least.

Let’s hope my children inherit my husband’s calm genes.  Please!

The thing that I find fascinating is that when I lose my temper and start to yell, it is usually in German, my non-native language.  Rarely do I launch into a host of deeply familiar American exclamations.

Instead, I automatically turn to my limited, yet carefully selected, set of German vocabulary – words that I have chosen over the years due to the way they so comfortably roll off my tongue.

Non-native speaker tip: Don’t use swear words in a heated argument that you (1) haven’t learned well enough to use comfortably and (2) you can’t pronounce correctly.  I can say this from experience.  The impact is less than stellar when a swear word you utter makes your opponent burst out laughing (at you) because he can’t figure out what you just said.  “Did you just say I’m a pair of binoculars?  Bwahhhahhahh!”

Memorable.  But definitely not satisfying.  Not in the least.

I enjoy swearing in German.  It feels sophisticated compared to the English equivalents.  It gives me a certain sense of satisfaction, primarily because the words feel so very empowering and forceful yet not crude and obscene.  Those German words just roll of the tongue with such slithering pleasure:

“Verdammt, noch mal!”  Doesn’t that sound so much more appealing and mature than “damn it all”?  Course, I have to admit that I do enjoy a good “bloody hell” from time to time while watching those fantastic British mysteries on our local PBS TV station!  What sophistication.  Such refinement.

“Scheiße!”  Those two syllables make our English “shit” seem so very vulgar.  The smoothness of the “sch,” the openness of the “eye” and the soft ending of the “eh” is so very soothing to the ear, is it not?

Even “Idiot” in German has a kind of low, casualness with that lovely long-o sound.  Contrast that with its sharp, edgy American-English cousin.  Anything that ends in “ut” like the American pronunciation must be relegated to the compost heap.

Obviously, I didn’t pick up the worst of the worst when it comes to German swear words (thanks to my clean-talking husband and his friends).  My repertoire of German swear words is limited to a few targeted general ones that I most likely learned from German television.

The fact that I lack a personal association with these words makes them feel so much less offensive – almost pleasant in my mind.  In fact, being that I learned them during a very exciting, joyful time in my life (those first euphoric years with my husband-to-be), it is no surprise that they hold with them many pleasant memories (even though some were used in that same joyful context against that same wonderful person – let’s just blame it on that same Irish blood).

Even though I try never to use swear words in front of my bilingual children, there are times when they slip out.  Purely by accident.  I swear!

I have even been known to use an occasional English swearword in front of my children now and then. However, I aim to stick with German exclamations: they are so much easier to get away with when my kids repeat them in front of English-speaking community members.  I can just pretend like my kids said something extremely cute and praiseworthy: “What did he just say?” they ask.   My response: “Oh nothing, really.  Just ‘darn it,’ that’s all.”  (Inward chuckle.)

I have been asked once or twice by my kids to please define a given swear word in English.  As I usually only use German swear words, I always respond with an honestly shocked response: “What!?  Where did you learn that word!?”

To which my children answer matter of factly, “From you Mama.”

“Really?  Are you sure?  From me?”

Scheiße, verdammt noch mal!

On the rare occasions that you lose your temper, which language do you prefer?  Do your children ever use swear words?  If so, do find that swear words in one language have less of an impact than in your other languages?  Are your children allowed to use words in one language but not their translation in the other language(s)?

Corey Heller is the founder of Multilingual Living and the Editor-In-Chief/Publisher ofMultilingual Living Magazine. Multilingual Living is the place where she shares her knowledge about raising multilingual and multicultural children. Corey, an American, and her German husband live in Seattle where they raise and homeschool their three children, ages 12, 10 and 8, in German and English.
CLICK HERE to send her an email!