| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5] > | Off topic: What was your 'dream profession' as a teenager? Thread poster: Marion Schimmelpfennig
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Kirill Semenov wrote:
I started to learn mathematics seriously when I was 11-12 year old. I've spent more than 10 years studying math. If not the collapse of the USSR I would be a scientist.
I also used to love maths, but sometime during the high school I realised that without an equal interest in physics (which I didn't have) I won't be able to make a real career in engineering, and I always was after applied maths, not purely academic one. On the other hand, I had a great English teacher ... and all my friends claimed I was good at explaining things, so teaching English seemed sensible. I never thought about translation until I was 25, and I kept teaching alongside translation until last year, i.e. for over 20 years.
Now I am totally fed up with teaching the same things all over again, but as I am used to having a double career, I started thinking about putting my knack for clear, concise explanations into use in technical writing. Maybe one day ...
I keep dreaming, it didn't finish with childchood But I'm afraid my dream of becoming a female version of Iacocca will never materialise
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Growing up in a multi-racial family I had a flair for languages. So, my dreams had to do with travelling.
Admiring (and adoring) my father who was a part time actor / entertainer, I dreamt of becoming an actress or a ballet dancer. Actually, studied ballet and attended acting school.
But, still the lure of languages persisted strong. So, I did the wise thing and followed my parents advise. Graduated from secretarial school and had an extremely successful carrier as an e... See more Growing up in a multi-racial family I had a flair for languages. So, my dreams had to do with travelling.
Admiring (and adoring) my father who was a part time actor / entertainer, I dreamt of becoming an actress or a ballet dancer. Actually, studied ballet and attended acting school.
But, still the lure of languages persisted strong. So, I did the wise thing and followed my parents advise. Graduated from secretarial school and had an extremely successful carrier as an executive secretary / PA... but, was always assigned translations of various kinds in every position I held.
Finally, being me, very footlosse and fancy-free, I decided that all I wanted was to be rid of set working hours, dressing up, dealing with irksome people... etc., so I took the most decisive step in my life: to exploit my knowledge of languages for myself, and became a freelance translator, which I have not regretted as yet.
From what people around me say, I am now the most happy, cheerful and content person they know.... Of course I am, I am doing what I should have done, translate. That's always been my thing... and I am doing it to the best of my abilities and knowledge!! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | What was your 'dream profession' as a teenager? | Oct 10, 2006 |
Since I was 10, my dream was to become a languages teacher and as someone mentioned before I taught my dolls before a small blackboard each time I had a new subject at school.
Archaelogist also crossed my mind (in my late teens egyptologist as well) but I was not very fond of History by then as I am nowadays.
I started studying to be a teacher, then moved to Switzerland for 3 years, then returned to Portugal and couldn't start a university course to become an English/Fr... See more Since I was 10, my dream was to become a languages teacher and as someone mentioned before I taught my dolls before a small blackboard each time I had a new subject at school.
Archaelogist also crossed my mind (in my late teens egyptologist as well) but I was not very fond of History by then as I am nowadays.
I started studying to be a teacher, then moved to Switzerland for 3 years, then returned to Portugal and couldn't start a university course to become an English/French teacher, so I chose a translation course that had both languages.
I ended by being a translator but in my first years I sent CVs not only to translation agencies but also to schools and I was very fortunate to teach English (and other matters in the following here) in a private school.
Then, I moved to Leiria (I used to live in Lisbon) and only could teach in a private company that delivers private lessons to help students out and did that until I got pregnant last year.
It's very difficult in Portugal to become a languages teacher with a translation course and I would have to start it all over again at university to become one. Once someone asked me "what about giving up of your dream?". I then thought "NO WAY!".
But now I am a 100% translator and I like it, specially because I can be with my kid at home.
I still have plans to make another course but now I'll wait until my son is at school and then decide what to do. However, being a translator is much more rewarding financially than being a teacher. :0) ▲ Collapse
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Until 13/14, I wanted to be an astrophysicist or have a bookshop. Then I started to develop a strong interest in foreign languages, through music at the beginning, then movies, books and travel.
But I thought only "truly bilingual" people could be translators. It seemed so obvious to me that unless you had multicultural parents, or spent all your life in a foreign country, there was no way you could do the job well enough.
So I turned to business. I believed it was the... See more Until 13/14, I wanted to be an astrophysicist or have a bookshop. Then I started to develop a strong interest in foreign languages, through music at the beginning, then movies, books and travel.
But I thought only "truly bilingual" people could be translators. It seemed so obvious to me that unless you had multicultural parents, or spent all your life in a foreign country, there was no way you could do the job well enough.
So I turned to business. I believed it was the next best thing. Turned out I got bored, and finally decided to give translation a shot. Boy am I glad I did! ▲ Collapse
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Jo Macdonald 
Spain
Local time: 16:15
Italian to English
+ ...
Can you dig it baaabbbbbbbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Not a clue I was going to end up in languages until a cute Italian chick hit me over the head with her rolling pin.
That should have got me thinking.
| | | | | I knew what I was NOT going to do... | Oct 10, 2006 |
Teaching.
I liked school at first. I used to line up my dolls and even my little brother and play school, like so many others, but as soon as the pupils got more troublesome I gave up. End of that career, though my headmistress kept on about it until I left 'her' school in the middle of the sixth form and took my 'A' levels in another one out of sheer stubbornness.
Fossils, medicine ... My brother was and is an engineer, and we had a really brilliant biology teacher, s... See more Teaching.
I liked school at first. I used to line up my dolls and even my little brother and play school, like so many others, but as soon as the pupils got more troublesome I gave up. End of that career, though my headmistress kept on about it until I left 'her' school in the middle of the sixth form and took my 'A' levels in another one out of sheer stubbornness.
Fossils, medicine ... My brother was and is an engineer, and we had a really brilliant biology teacher, so science of any kind fascinated me. There was just a teensy problem that I was hopeless at Maths and failed the crucial exams... but in the 60s love was all you needed anyway.
I hero-worshipped several medics and an aunt who was a doctor and died when I was 16. That settled it - medicine. I applied every year, however hopelessly, to five universities until I was too old to start at any of them.
Luckily I didn't get in! I would have been horribly disillusioned!
Then came a long period of taking whatever I could get. (Our headmistress said: You can't expect to get what you like. You have to like what you get.) Actually, it's good advice. If it isn't 100% what you wanted, is it a step on the way? I won't tire you with all the details, but when I really grow up I'm going to get my pilot's certificate
But I quite enjoy translating meanhwile! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sonia Dorais
Canada
Local time: 10:15
French to English
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| I wanted to be on Broadway | Oct 10, 2006 |
And I was a gymnast for a while too (I was very good) but lost my scholarship for gymnasts due to a car accident (I broke almost every bone in my left leg at the age of 10). There isnt much you can do with a broken leg (or as a gymnast once its been broken).
I was relatively nerdy in school anyways. I did think of journalism.
| | | | Parrot
Spain
Local time: 16:15
Spanish to English
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| Clueless as well | Oct 10, 2006 |
All I had was a rough idea of the type of college I wanted to go to (which you had to indicate during State University entrance exams, anyway). In order of preference: the School of Fine Arts (where all the nice people seemed to be), the Conservatory of Music (despite my bum piano-playing and mediocre guitar skills), and the College of Marine Biology (which had its own installations on a dream tropical island with white sand beaches and snorkelling all year round. My agenda during those days was... See more All I had was a rough idea of the type of college I wanted to go to (which you had to indicate during State University entrance exams, anyway). In order of preference: the School of Fine Arts (where all the nice people seemed to be), the Conservatory of Music (despite my bum piano-playing and mediocre guitar skills), and the College of Marine Biology (which had its own installations on a dream tropical island with white sand beaches and snorkelling all year round. My agenda during those days was pretty superficial.)
I got accepted in Fine Arts, where I dreamed about an advertising career -- one year in advertising killed that. So I switched to sculpture, which kept me interested enough to branch out into archeology and art history research.
My best friend was in languages and pretty much clearer about her ambitions of working at the state convention bureau. Failing that, she said she wanted to be an airline stewardess and travel to perfect her language skills. I thought the second option was a good idea for me at that stage, particularly since I had learned languages extra-officially, without taking any BAs.
She was accepted as an airline stewardess and I was accepted at the state convention bureau. (Isn't that just like life?)
In-between university lecturing in art history and publications, I simply continued in languages. ▲ Collapse
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| translator or photographer | Oct 10, 2006 |
I never really thought what I wanted to do when I grew up. Yes, when I was little I liked to play with my brother that we were teachers or that we worked in some kind of office. We also played that we were vets or detectives I also liked to dance, sing, and paint. But to us it was just playing.
One day my brother said that he wanted to be a doctor. So I got worried since I was the oldest, I thought I should knew too... See more I never really thought what I wanted to do when I grew up. Yes, when I was little I liked to play with my brother that we were teachers or that we worked in some kind of office. We also played that we were vets or detectives I also liked to dance, sing, and paint. But to us it was just playing.
One day my brother said that he wanted to be a doctor. So I got worried since I was the oldest, I thought I should knew too what I wanted to do when I grew up. Well, I liked writing and started writing short stories with my mom's typing machine, and so did my brother (he always copied me). But then one day when I was 15 years old, I read a book in English that I liked a lot and wanted him to read it, too, but he didn't because it was in English, so I decided to translate it for him (don't ask me how the translation went, I still haven't look at it again since then), and I enjoyed translating it so much that that's when I decided I wanted to be a translator.
Photography crossed my mind a couple of times, because I liked it a lot. But the thing is that those professional cameras were really expensive, and I knew I couldn't afford them, so I stayed with being a translator and I have no regrets
Of course, I still think that one day I'll buy myself a nice pro camera and take some photography lessons and travel the world taking pictures (well, I'll start taking pictures in my city first )
And for those who wonder what happened with my brother "the doctor" well, he never became one. When he was in high school he discovered he got sick just by looking at blood but the writing he started back then went all right, he really had talent. And now he's a writer, and actor and a literature teacher at university, and he's really happy with all that ▲ Collapse
| | | | Brandis (X)
Local time: 16:15
English to German
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| I wanted to be on a ship | Oct 10, 2006 |
doing what precisely I do not know, but ships had fascinated me very much till I had experienced the first flight, then I wanted to be a pilot. Forget the ship part, now I do paragliding atleast. Professionally I wanted primarily to be a doctor and much later an opthalmologist. Best Brandis
| | | | Agnieszka Hayward (X)
Poland
Local time: 16:15
German to Polish
+ ...
Honestly?....
When I was very (VERY) small, I wanted to be a bus driver. I loved the "tssss" sound of doors opening and closing.
I wanted to be the one in control of that sound.
At the age of 6 or 7 I was devastated to realise, that cars were faster than busses, and I figured that was, because cars didn't have to stop to pick up passengers at every *bus* stop.
As time went by, I would find a new dream profession every now and then.
Curr... See more Honestly?....
When I was very (VERY) small, I wanted to be a bus driver. I loved the "tssss" sound of doors opening and closing.
I wanted to be the one in control of that sound.
At the age of 6 or 7 I was devastated to realise, that cars were faster than busses, and I figured that was, because cars didn't have to stop to pick up passengers at every *bus* stop.
As time went by, I would find a new dream profession every now and then.
Currently, I'd love to be a bed test sleeper if such a profession exists. If it doesn't, you might soon hear of me inventing it.
OK, translation & interpreting are great fun too, but.... well.... a dream is a dream, isn't it?
And I still find bus driving cool.
Especially in the mad streets of Warsaw.
Drodzy kierowcy autobusów warszawskich - Respect!
Howgh!
OOOPS!
The question was about teenage time.
Then, I wanted to be, well... yeah, a rock star. Obvious enough.
Great topic! Thanks!
[Edited at 2006-10-10 18:06] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tjasa Kuerpick
Slovenia
Local time: 16:15
Member (2006)
Slovenian to German
+ ...
| Oh that wonderful colours | Oct 10, 2006 |
When I was five, I had a habit to take with me - two thinks a block and my colour pencils - wherever my parents went.
I admired the vivid colours of nature, and there were so many things to explore, I just could not get enough of all this things.
In high school I had a wonderful teacher for fine arts, who showed me all that small secrets in painting. Well, one day he said, I would become a good painter, he also encouraged me to take at several painting competitions; I wondered why, ... See more When I was five, I had a habit to take with me - two thinks a block and my colour pencils - wherever my parents went.
I admired the vivid colours of nature, and there were so many things to explore, I just could not get enough of all this things.
In high school I had a wonderful teacher for fine arts, who showed me all that small secrets in painting. Well, one day he said, I would become a good painter, he also encouraged me to take at several painting competitions; I wondered why, but somehow my artwork was always chosen to be the best.
Although I have later on chosen to be a translator, I still have not gave up my dream of being a painter, I spend most of leisure time of with painting watercolours and oil, visiting galleries, reading books about painting ... may be one day I will do just that and nothing else. ▲ Collapse
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When I was in High school, I wanted to teach languages and be a translator. So I went on to teach French as a Second language and then became a translator.
Before that, I think I wanted to be a cowboy Closest thing I did was to put a horseshoe on my desk and hope to lasso in some contracts!
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I tried to finance it as a scientist, but didn't find anything which could generate that lot of money..
| | | | | Saleslady at a news stand - surgeon - environmentalist | Oct 10, 2006 |
When I was a kid (4-5) I wanted to be a saleslady at a news stand because I thought they can eat all the candy and gum they sell for free!! By the end of grade school I decided I'll be a doctor, a surgeon, of course, but in high school I discovered that ecology is my first love, and in the end I did graduate at the Faculty of Science with a diploma of an ecologist. I'm trying really hard to figure out how I ended in translations, but I have no idea!
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