The price of earning trust

THE PRICE OF EARNING TRUST IN MY WORK

Good morning, people. When I look out the window, it’s a gloomy day outside but it’s also peaceful and as such beautiful in its own way – I accept it as an ideal setting for when I sit down for another day of professional translation work, all in the comfort of my own home. As long as I don’t let the niceness of it all go to my head…

There’s a quote by some guy called Brian May that reads “Astronomy is much more fun when you’re not an astronomer.” In acknowledgement of some of the challenges I have to deal with in my work from one day to the next – and they are of course not always language-based in the context of the work I do for customers – I am inclined to state this quote: “Translation is much more fun when you’re not a translator.” That’s not to say that I never rejoice in my work or find satisfaction in what I do (or achieve, depending on how you want to look at it) – when I read the word “fun” in Brian May’s quote my mind is drawn in particular to vague concepts of children enjoying themselves at a beach or at the likes of Alton Towers; but it shouldn’t be too hard to think of a case where a professional athlete has remained happy even after all the training and hardships they have endured – and lost in a competition they have just been participating in. They say, “it’s not all about winning” (even if they also say, “it is all about winning”) for a reason, and an important one at that. “Victory” (as pre-defined and in all likelihood popularised) is just one thing people have been proud of for a lifetime.

And if you’re wondering if my career as a professional translator really is “worth it”, I have multiple repeat clients in places all over the world, so I must be doing something right, even if I do say so myself. For example, consider what I say in the following paragraph.

When I do my translation work, sometimes I include comments in the file I’m composing, which are like post-it notes which refer to individual points of what I have written (and, I emphasise, not “ended up writing” – consider what is meant by that) where the text in the original material, written in a language that is not my mother tongue, was a bit more challenging for me than usual and I’m left in some doubt as to what I put at the time really is the best I could suggest for it – there might even have been a slight misunderstanding on my part. Such comments basically say “Please verify” or “Does this work?” or something like that – but I have come to make a point of not leaving them all for the project manager to deal with if I can help it, even if they are indeed the person responsible for managing the project in question. I used to do it, but I always thought that this was justifiable given that they, at the translation agency, have contacts with native speakers, whom they probably turn to time and time again, that I, in my position, just don’t. But it’s hardly unreasonable that they would expect me, the professional linguist, to take on language-related issues in my translation work before being expected to find some sort of solution (which may well require creative thought and innovative action) themselves. They probably don’t even speak the language of the original. And they have to work to deadlines as well as me. Sometimes I still do leave behind comments in my work for the project manager to look at, but never without considering how I could make it easier for them: for example, if I ask what an acronym in the material in the original language means, I will also take a moment to explain my guesswork, and what I HAVE reasoned, as reflected in what I have done so far at that point. But I limit it where possible. And of course, when you think about it, if I have to do this, it’s always best to consider ensuring I don’t submit the first draft of my work too close to the deadline!

I can explain all kinds of things about the French and German languages, but even today there are things I just can’t get without really trying first time round, not least because my mother tongue is not French or German, it is English. I still have my moments of distinct satisfaction when I’m translating and I find a convincing (not just “relatively convincing”) “non-typical” solution for a challenging or unusual bit in the original. I guess this goes to show that success sometimes requires much more than only, however faithfully, following example.