Like all entrepreneurs, I could go on and on about the importance of positive thinking in the pursuit of any kind of success I could feel proud of. Of course, it’s one thing to fight for customers; it’s something else entirely to fight for reputation and morale, especially when it’s a matter of restoring it when things have gone bad. Having said that, it’s not like my product / service is a cheap commodity. I don’t care how much money the Coca Cola crew throw around – at the end of the day, the average Joe thinks nothing of going into some corner shop to buy a can of it, swigging it down and tossing the empty can into the nearest bin. That’s not to say that I think that Coca Cola is a rubbish product, but I dare say that translating for a living is totally different. Quite apart from the fact that translating is never seen as “sexy” or glamorous (as much appeal as the concept of speaking another language has to some people), there are plenty of people from all walks of life who know damn well that it’s not as easy as it looks, by which they mean that it is not just about replacing words with words (woe betide anyone who puts blind faith in machine translators all the time). The average foreign language course available in places like WHSmith only teaches basic, common phrases for use in a hotel, at a restaurant etc. when you go to the country – and one might soon view them as too rigid when actually trying to make use of them. Being able to “get by” in a foreign language is not enough where professional translation is concerned and it never will be; it should be obvious that only “truly literate” people – I suggest you take some time to define “truly literate” for yourself – even consider choosing to make a living from translating, innit.
I’ve wondered if there’s an expression for a phrase which, when people use it, is but a phrase that’s borrowed from a film or something. When saying something, people may just decide to use such a phrase to help get their point across, but given that it’s recycled they just might be trying to make their particular point with less conviction than would be the case than if they decided on using their own words. Maybe you know someone who you agree “lives by movie quotes” and you think they’re a fool / wonder how they function in life? Well there you go! So what’s this got to do with my professional morale? The answer is simple enough. I do not fill my translation with such recycled expressions (clichés?) – I find that to do so would encourage the idea that I don’t know what I’m talking about.
The sooner an agreed label among the masses for such expressions comes into existence, the better. Maybe someone could write to me and let me know if they find one featured in urbandictionary.com?
Yesterday I sent a mass email to customers saying Merry Christmas. I hope I did it right.
What do I mean by that? Well, the actual content of the message was the words, “HAPPY CHRISTMAS (in the subject line); George Trail wishes you a merry Christmas and a happy new year”, with a digital photo of the Christmas tree in my house (attached). I translated these words into French or German for those based in France, Germany, Austria or Switzerland as appropriate. It’s “George Trail vous souhaite Joyeux Noël et Bonne Nouvelle Année” in French and “George Trail wünscht Ihnen Frohes Weihanchten und ein gutes neues Jahr” in German. But I don’t know whether I should have used “tu” and “du” or “vous” and “Sie”.