As a professional translator, I’ve always known that for me to expect a successful career in which I simply do no more than receive translation assignments, do them properly (as true as it is that the matter of doing translation properly, for some of the potential ramifications of the translation done wrongly, or even just believed to be done wrongly, is no subject to be addressed flippantly), and send them off, would mean that I just live in a bubble. On professional translation forums like ProZ.com, people publish their stories online all the time knowing full well that there are important lessons to learn from them; and it’s not just simply how to do translation right, including explaining common sources of confusion and dispelling myths etc. etc. Out of necessity they also write in the interest of developing/promoting a sense of the mechanics behind the translation industry and how it’s changing, with popular topics including fully apt use of “CAT tools” (CAT for “computer-assisted translation”), the process for gaining membership of association with the Institute of Linguists or a similar body, and even translation industry scams (often fraudsters masquerading as genuine translation agencies and not paying for the work they offer or prepayment scams involving traveller’s cheques in which the victim will suffer when the cheque bounces) to name a few.
To remain on the subject of my own career as a professional translator – for this is my article and it is supposed to be about me, because I say so – I have felt the need to discuss at length, time and time again, the link between a country’s language and its culture and understanding how it shapes its society and the individual, whether or not “the individual” is concerned with attempting to play a role in that country’s society. Why do I do it? To establish authority and credibility in my field, basically. And I’m certainly not the only entrepreneur who has ever done this.
We all know that, ever since Covid-19 managed to spread throughout the world, all of the world has been left in turmoil (more than 1.1 million deaths now), with normality collapsing like a house of cards in a hurricane. But in my experience, there has been immense disquiet in my country, the United Kingdom, in particular. I say this because it’s not even enough to say that we now have literally thousands of deaths more than any other country than Europe – yes, including Italy or Spain or France. Considering that the news always used to be going on about how hardly hit Italy was in the earlier months of this pandemic, and that both Spain and France have more than a million cases each now, that’s saying a lot. I mean, are we really failing to feed millions of our own children properly these days!? What Marcus Rashford is doing is very noble and you know it!
Go ahead – say that the British government has failed its people, but that doesn’t mean that the British people themselves necessarily have little to nothing to answer for, much to the dismay of the horrifically beleaguered NHS, which was already struggling to cope before the coronavirus reached the UK. There are still people taking irresponsible risks jeopardising the health and the very lives of themselves and others despite the fact that everyone knows that Covid-19 is a pandemic which has been prevalent in every country in the world for months!
But again, I’m not here to write about the Covid-19 pandemic. I’m here to write about my career as a professional translator; more specifically, what I write about to promote it (such as this very article, one could say). And this is the point where I mention that I recently saw a sign on a shop window saying “let’s help stop the spread of coronavirus”, which actually disgusted me, since “let’s help” makes it sound like a friendly suggestion when it should be nothing short of imperative, surely – surely every British person knows that Boris has addressed the people live from 10 Downing Street specifically in response to this coronavirus. Since I want to relate this to language and how language relates to culture and society and the shaping of expectations in the real world: what do the specific words of “let’s help stop the spread of coronavirus” say about the British people? A national health service on its knees, GDP down by nearly 20%, millions of starving children… it’s too much! And now the wording in this sign, which will be visible in millions of shops around the country, makes it so grimly clear just who we really are. I hate this country, I’m ashamed to be British, for reasons now including one people would rightly expect me to be acquainted with as a language professional, and I have simply had it!
But don’t get the idea that I have become less willing to offer my services to British people or the country as a result. This article is a piece of business marketing. That said, to me, part of being a professional translator seeking to move up in the industry is examination and discussion of why it’s important to consider the language you actually use when undertaking translation work. Isn’t that what “correct translation” is all about in the first place? It’s really not the sort of thing I just like to “have a little think about”. This article is a case in point. And make no mistake: this is something I do want to make a point of doing at all times in my career, even with all the latest developments in machine translation and how machine translators can be increasingly trusted to provide correct translation. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. To be honest, I don’t know how much longer I can go on like this, but it’s not exactly what I’d call a situation in which I can turn my anger into a force for good. What I do accept is that understanding certain truths behind language can require more than looking exclusively at what you’re told, what facts you’re presented with, even if such facts were all true. If you could convince me that you’re more familiar than I am with anything that guides me in the decisions I make in my translation work, I would be very impressed – however angry I was. As a professional translator, I’ll leave you with the fact that I invented the term PBA (precedent-based assertion), which I find a concept of significance relevant to the discussion of language and its implications; I discuss it in this other article I wrote (at the end). https://www.facebook.com/GeorgeTrailTranslator/posts/843221635767909?__tn__=K-R I suppose one could say that the ill-advised wording in “let’s help stop the spread of coronavirus” (as far as I’m concerned, anyway) is a case of the use of a PBA in its own right – I just never considered that a PBA could be like this.
To think I should get angry as a result of someone using what qualifies as a PBA when I invented the term PBA – oh, the irony. If you have ever doubted my willingness to share my experience as a professional translator, remember this article.