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Off topic: Have you, as a senior translator, ever felt the new generations are kind of arrogant?
Thread poster: Susana C. DÃ (X)
Susana C. DÃ (X)
Susana C. DÃ (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 09:50
Nov 6, 2019

Hello,

Have you, as a senior translator, ever felt the new generations are kind of arrogant? Or is it just me?

I mean, not only in translation, it happens in other fields too, but I sometimes find myself being given "advice" or "recommendations" on what's best for me or the way I should do things by much younger people, who have a much shorter experience in any working field, let alone in life.

"If you want people to take you seriously you should do this o
... See more
Hello,

Have you, as a senior translator, ever felt the new generations are kind of arrogant? Or is it just me?

I mean, not only in translation, it happens in other fields too, but I sometimes find myself being given "advice" or "recommendations" on what's best for me or the way I should do things by much younger people, who have a much shorter experience in any working field, let alone in life.

"If you want people to take you seriously you should do this or that"... "In order to apply to this offer you need to have this or that and don't bother in applying if you do not meet this criteria"... The tone, the energy that comes from them and the way they present themselves before you. And you check their profiles and they are just recently college graduated kids with zero experience and a whole lot of pride.

Very often it doesn't matter anymore the way your resume looks like, or the years of experience you've got on your back, it's just little silly things on your profile or even in the way you express yourself that can put you out of the competition.

Are these the professionals of the future? The managers, the bosses, the counselors of the future?

Something is very wrong with these new generations.
Please, prove me wrong...
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Nathalie Bullen
BENGHANEM Fatiha
María Paula Gorgone
Ivana UK
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 09:50
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
I'll answer in 30 years' time Nov 6, 2019

Susana C. wrote:
Have you, as a senior translator...


Oh, wait, I can't answer this yet.


Hedwig Spitzer (X)
Tom in London
Sara Bucciarelli
 
Susana C. DÃ (X)
Susana C. DÃ (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 09:50
TOPIC STARTER
What about experienced translator, instead of senior? Nov 6, 2019

Samuel Murray wrote:

Oh, wait, I can't answer this yet.


You can still answer Samuel, if you do have some experience on the topic. You don't look senior but you certainly don't look like a college kid.

Thanks a lot anyway.


Angie Garbarino
 
RobinB
RobinB  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:50
German to English
Yes, definitely, but... Nov 6, 2019

...I'm sure they thought the same way about me 30 years ago. Not that they were always right, of course

Sara Bucciarelli
Christopher Schröder
 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
It is a very silly fish that is easily caught once again with the same silly bait Nov 7, 2019

While it took me a while to get the ropes, yet I'm glad there's a man who made a sobering remark:
Ok, your English may be better than the others' now and here, but even a dirty beggar in the USA can speak and write much better English, so what?
Soon I understood a real specialty is a must as a major, then come business and communication skills, whereas foreign language skills is just a nice bonus--as a minor.

 I learnt about "pure" translators and bottom-feeders no-businesspersons who tend to easily fell victims to hypes, fake trust, false hopes, and unsubstantiated demands. At first I felt rather old, bitter, and helpless when I saw and read about another such case, but I did realize some people must learn it the hard way--it's their well-deserved right to have a harsh lesson... and rehearsals.

And now I almost don't smile encountering the same old questions a zillionth time)


Sara Bucciarelli
Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Matthias Brombach
Matthias Brombach  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:50
Member (2007)
Dutch to German
+ ...
... if you want to test a man's character, ... Nov 7, 2019

... give him power.
[Abraham Lincoln]


Susana C. DÃ (X)
Dan Lucas
María Paula Gorgone
P.L.F. Persio
Liviu-Lee Roth
 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 09:50
French to English
. Nov 7, 2019

I think this is partly fuelled by the fact that youngsters do have a techie edge over many of us. For example, I took a long time to adopt mobile phones so I've needed my kids' help setting up accounts and apps and background pictures for example.
My son recently told me my LinkedIn profile could be improved on. He suggested, to start with, adding a statement about where I was hoping to go career-wise. He has a neat-sounding statement on his, it does look slick and gives the impression th
... See more
I think this is partly fuelled by the fact that youngsters do have a techie edge over many of us. For example, I took a long time to adopt mobile phones so I've needed my kids' help setting up accounts and apps and background pictures for example.
My son recently told me my LinkedIn profile could be improved on. He suggested, to start with, adding a statement about where I was hoping to go career-wise. He has a neat-sounding statement on his, it does look slick and gives the impression that he's smart and ambitious (and indeed though I says it as shouldn't, he is very smart).
For my profile, I wouldn't know what to put, in that I have absolutely no ambitions left, apart from maybe weeding out a couple of clients and raising my rates. I'm more or less where I want to be career-wise, whereas he has just started his first "real" job and is brimming with ambition to learn new stuff and get promoted.
I just told him that a fantastic agency (who send the kind of work I love, and are well organised and pleasant, and pay bang on time every month) just found me a few months ago via LinkedIn, so my profile can't be that bad. I think my experience speaks for itself, no need for anything else really.
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Rachel Waddington
Birgit Elisabeth Horn
Tina Vonhof (X)
 
Susana C. DÃ (X)
Susana C. DÃ (X)  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 09:50
TOPIC STARTER
I agree, but I mean something else Nov 7, 2019

Kay Denney wrote:

I think this is partly fuelled by the fact that youngsters do have a techie edge over many of us. For example, I took a long time to adopt mobile phones so I've needed my kids' help setting up accounts and apps and background pictures for example.
My son recently told me my LinkedIn profile could be improved on. He suggested, to start with, adding a statement about where I was hoping to go career-wise. He has a neat-sounding statement on his, it does look slick and gives the impression that he's smart and ambitious (and indeed though I says it as shouldn't, he is very smart).


Thank you, Kay, but I think we are talking about different things here. We all need to keep learning and there is always ways to improve our profiles, or the way we present ourselves to others, and there is always new things to learn. It might be of interest to be helped by somebody who knows better than you do, it's true. As per the technology part I agree with you a 100%. A 12-year old taught me how to open and use WhatsApp Web, but he was kind and fun about it, not arrogant. And that's my point, the tone and arrogance that they use, which is completely out of place.

Thanks a lot!
Susana


Birgit Elisabeth Horn
 
Alexandra Hirsch (X)
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Austria
Local time: 09:50
English to German
+ ...
Not really Nov 7, 2019

I mean, there are theories about the millenials being disinterested or maybe blasé about certain things, but speaking from recent experience, can't say that they are any more arrogant than earlier generations. I met some young people at a photography course recently, and my farriers are both very young, and I'd say they were actually quite sober and even a little more immature than my colleagues were at the same age.

The arrogance I tend to notice (now that I am older myself) has
... See more
I mean, there are theories about the millenials being disinterested or maybe blasé about certain things, but speaking from recent experience, can't say that they are any more arrogant than earlier generations. I met some young people at a photography course recently, and my farriers are both very young, and I'd say they were actually quite sober and even a little more immature than my colleagues were at the same age.

The arrogance I tend to notice (now that I am older myself) has more to do with the way clients treat you if you are not part of a big corporation or business. Business etiquette, in particular, seems to have suffered recently. But maybe this is just my impression, something that you tend to notice only by comparison and once you have met and interacted with a lot of people professionally. People you may not have bothered with in the past. But, you know, it's all part of the fun. And as Tom Standage puts it, curiosity is the royal road to truth.
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Kaspars Melkis
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:50
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Italian to English
All I can say is..... Nov 7, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3edtd9AkWg

Rossana Triaca
 
Rossana Triaca
Rossana Triaca  Identity Verified
Uruguay
Local time: 05:50
English to Spanish
Old man yells at cloud… Nov 7, 2019

They [young people] have exalted notions, because they have not yet been humbled by life or learnt its necessary limitations; moreover, their hopeful disposition makes them think themselves equal to great things — and that means having exalted notions. They would always rather do noble deeds than useful ones: Their lives are regulated more by moral feeling than by reasoning; and whereas reasoning leads us to choose what is useful, moral goodness leads us to choose what is noble. (...) All their mistakes are in the direction of doing things excessively and vehemently. (...) They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it; this, in fact, is why they overdo everything.


Rhethoric, Aristotle, 4th century BCE (translation by W. Rhys Roberts).


P.L.F. Persio
Jean Dimitriadis
Tom in London
Joe France
Giada Riva
Annamaria Amik
 
Rachel Waddington
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United Kingdom
Local time: 08:50
Dutch to English
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Not really Nov 7, 2019

I think this is a generalisation. Some people are just arrogant, it has nothing to do with their age or generation. Most of the younger translators I meet or deal with are not like this at all.

Giada Riva
Elizabeth Tamblin
P.L.F. Persio
Laura Kingdon
 
Angela Malik
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Local time: 08:50
German to English
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Like any generation, it's a mixed bag Nov 8, 2019

I've met lots of "green" translators. Some are very humble (even TOO humble) and some definitely overestimate their value and abilities. Even amongst experienced and senior translators, there are some who are realistic about who they are and what they offer, and some who romanticise their work too much or think they've got all the answers without realising that they haven't stayed current with the times. Case in point, as a project manager I once had a discussion with a senior translator about t... See more
I've met lots of "green" translators. Some are very humble (even TOO humble) and some definitely overestimate their value and abilities. Even amongst experienced and senior translators, there are some who are realistic about who they are and what they offer, and some who romanticise their work too much or think they've got all the answers without realising that they haven't stayed current with the times. Case in point, as a project manager I once had a discussion with a senior translator about translation tools. He was upset because I couldn't take him on for a project that absolutely needed a CAT tool (he didn't use any CAT tools). He went on a rant about how he's got all these customised macros he uses in Word -- things that essentially do what a CAT tool would have done, but worse because a CAT tool would have been more productive, consistent and efficient. He just could not understand how dated he sounded, waxing lyrical about the wonders of Microsoft Word as if no one had ever really heard of it.

So it's a mixed bag, which is the case for every generation. That said, I hear from my colleagues in the agency world that fresh hires these days do seem to be more arrogant and entitled. They expect all sorts of things from their employer as a matter of course that would have been considered special perks 10 years ago. A friend told me, "Sometimes I just want to tell these kids to suck it up. Grow up, realise that their boss is not their mother. Oh dear, am I getting old?"

I suspect these things are not new and every generation goes through this phase.
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Joe France
Susana C. DÃ (X)
Laura Kingdon
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:50
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Ageism Nov 8, 2019

The ageism expressed in the OP (old vs. young) is part of a mindset that is dying out. Young people today face enormous problems and we who are older should seek to understand that.

Giada Riva
Rachel Waddington
P.L.F. Persio
Laura Kingdon
Angie Garbarino
 
Hesam Arki
Hesam Arki
United States
English to Persian (Farsi)
+ ...
Good Q! Feb 26, 2020

Susana C. Díaz wrote:

Hello,

Have you, as a senior translator, ever felt the new generations are kind of arrogant? Or is it just me?

I mean, not only in translation, it happens in other fields too, but I sometimes find myself being given "advice" or "recommendations" on what's best for me or the way I should do things by much younger people, who have a much shorter experience in any working field, let alone in life.

"If you want people to take you seriously you should do this or that"... "In order to apply to this offer you need to have this or that and don't bother in applying if you do not meet this criteria"... The tone, the energy that comes from them and the way they present themselves before you. And you check their profiles and they are just recently college graduated kids with zero experience and a whole lot of pride.

Very often it doesn't matter anymore the way your resume looks like, or the years of experience you've got on your back, it's just little silly things on your profile or even in the way you express yourself that can put you out of the competition.

Are these the professionals of the future? The managers, the bosses, the counselors of the future?

Something is very wrong with these new generations.
Please, prove me wrong...

=======================================================================
Hello!

I am about to be graduated from university next semester; studying English translation. What is really interesting, one day, one of my professors came to the class and said: Besides, "I really found this class active, you all had more respect for me and my colleagues during 3 years of study." I think this story may be a good reply to your question since this is on behalf of an English Instructor who every year deals with new students!!!


 
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Have you, as a senior translator, ever felt the new generations are kind of arrogant?






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