Off topic: You might be a translator if… Thread poster: RominaZ
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RominaZ 
Argentina
English to Spanish
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You might be a translator if… by Jonathan Downie 1) Your favourite comics have characters who can’t decide between electronic and paper dictionaries. 2) The nearest you get to a suntan is when you forget to turn down the brightness on one of your three computer monitors. 3) Seeing the phrase “scanned pdf” sends you running for a crucifix, a clove of garlic and overpriced OCR software 4) You actually understood number 3. 5) You write your Christmas and Valentine’s cards using CAT software. 6) Your CAT crashes and hangs more often than it purrs. 7) You have complained to your pets about your clients 8) … in three different languages 9) … in the past hour alone. 10) You are not sure whether to find Google Translation funny, annoying or insulting 11) … but you still secretly use it to get the gist of blog posts written in languages you don’t use 12) … and you will never, ever openly admit to that! 13) “Being invited to a party” means “being on an online conference call” 14) … but you still brought snacks. 15) You completed a job while still wearing your pyjamas. 16) People in your family are wondering when you will “get a proper job”..
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Can you list some more signs that may indicate you are a translator? What about interpreters?
| | | | 638556 (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:43
Spanish to English
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| Your fists clench involuntarily... | Aug 22, 2013 |
When you hear the words, "speaking through a translator".
[Edited at 2013-08-22 11:56 GMT]
| | | | Diana Coada (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 06:43
Portuguese to English
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7) You have complained to your pets about your clients
8) … in three different languages
| | | | earlyesther
Local time: 12:43
English to Indonesian
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| [for interpeter] | Aug 22, 2013 |
you might be an interpreter if...
you (start to) repeat anything you hear, news/talk/anything, in your target language unconsciously in your mind.
p.s.
point 16) happens to me too
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| Oh, this is fun! | Sep 1, 2013 |
I started my own similar list a while ago. Here it is...hope it gives you a chuckle.
You know you’re a freelance translator when…
…you consider yourself really lucky, because you work at home and have a ten-foot commute.
…you consider yourself really unlucky, because you work at home, so you never get to go home from work.
…coffee is a legitimate business expense.
…your friends make comments like, “What time DO you go to bed, anyway?”<... See more I started my own similar list a while ago. Here it is...hope it gives you a chuckle.
You know you’re a freelance translator when…
…you consider yourself really lucky, because you work at home and have a ten-foot commute.
…you consider yourself really unlucky, because you work at home, so you never get to go home from work.
…coffee is a legitimate business expense.
…your friends make comments like, “What time DO you go to bed, anyway?”
…you have not actually laid eyes on any of your clients.
…a word cloud of your recent Facebook posts has large representations of “translation,” “words,” and “deadline.”
…you think of time as an elastic concept that will stretch to cover whatever crazy amount of work you take on.
…you rock at Scrabble and suck at Twister.
…you think that translating into a non-native language is one of the seven deadly sins.
…you finish chatting with the barista at Starbucks and know that that’s going to be the extent of your conversation for the day.
…you have four projects due at 6 PM…fortunately, one is 6 PM Eastern Standard Time, one is 6 PM Berlin time, one is 6 PM Moscow time, and one is 6 PM Tokyo time.
…you would give your right butt cheek for a comfortable office chair.
…your office mates are of the feline or canine persuasion, and they listen intently while you discuss subtleties of meaning and finer points of grammar, in contrast to your friends and family, whose eyes glaze over the instant you start talking about work.
…a little break from work usually involves dishes or laundry or cat litter.
…one word can require hours of research, but despite getting paid just a few cents for that one word, you do the research anyway.
…you can sleep sitting up and type with your eyes closed – all at the same time.
…your idea of exercise is getting up to refill your coffee mug, and when you really need a good workout, you forget to take the coffee mug with you the first time so you have to do two laps.
…not only do you know the difference between a participle and a gerund, you actually care.
…a T-shirt and sweatpants constitute formal business attire; for casual Fridays, you just stay in your pajamas. ▲ Collapse
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Jennifer Guernsey wrote:
…you think of time as an elastic concept that will stretch to cover whatever crazy amount of work you take on.
You mean it isn't?!
| | | | Lingopro
Israel
Local time: 08:43
Hebrew to English
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| A few additions... | Sep 1, 2013 |
Thanks for the chuckle Jennifer!
Jennifer Guernsey wrote:
You know you’re a freelance translator when…
…your office mates are of the feline or canine persuasion, and they listen intently while you discuss subtleties of meaning and finer points of grammar, in contrast to your friends and family, whose eyes glaze over the instant you start talking about work.
…a little break from work usually involves dishes or laundry or cat litter.
Here are a few additions of my own.
Signs for identifying a freelance translator:
--> When the words morning, noon, evening and night have no real meaning, they only trigger a distant childhood memory.
--> When even your pet's eyes glaze over when you start talking about your work.
--> When you listen to a movie in one language, read the subtitles in a second language while you correct all the typos, grammar and syntax in your head... or out loud to your glaze-eyed pet.
--> When getting up from your chair feels like going on a field trip.
--> When you can't set an example for your kids about getting off the computer and getting some exercise.
| | | | Faustine.Rou (X)
Local time: 06:43
English to French
Jennifer Guernsey wrote:
You know you’re a freelance translator when…
…a little break from work usually involves dishes or laundry or cat litter.
Spot on!
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| …you have not actually laid eyes on any of your clients. | Sep 1, 2013 |
After working off and on about fifteen years for one of my contacts and regularly speaking to him on the phone I dropped in unexpectedly to see him.
We chatted for a while, in Swedish, about this and that and then he asked me what I wanted.
Surprisingly he didn't recognize my voice...
[Edited at 2013-09-01 11:31 GMT]
| | | | eski
Mexico
Local time: 23:43
Member
Spanish to English
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MODERATOR | Thanks Jennifer | Sep 2, 2013 |
Thanks to Jennifer Guernsey for making us smile:
After a couple of virtually sleepless nights (in order to meet a rush deadline),
reading your post was a godsend full of chuckles .
Thanks Jennifer!
[Edited at 2013-09-02 00:53 GMT]
| | | | LEXpert
United States
Local time: 00:43
Member (2008)
Croatian to English
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| My suggestions: | Sep 2, 2013 |
- when "going on vacation" just means that you still work but the view from your "office" will be slightly more interesting for a week or so.
- when your spouse has learned (and grudgingly accepted) that all leisure plans are subject to postponement/cancellation/modification in the event of an exceptionally profitable rush job from a key client coming in.
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on TV, you sit there moaning about the quality of the translations! "He never said that!", end up sitting alone in front of the TV
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Tom Pesch
Finland
Local time: 08:43
English to Finnish
Jennifer Guernsey wrote:
I started my own similar list a while ago. Here it is...hope it gives you a chuckle.
Thank you Jennifer, I laughed a lot. Or as I like to call it nowadays: I had a quick abdominal exercise while sitting down in front of my computer.
| | | | | me too! me too! | Sep 10, 2013 |
[quote]Rudolf Vedo CT wrote:
- when "going on vacation" just means that you still work but the view from your "office" will be slightly more interesting for a week or so.
Oh my yes...I have had more of those "vacations" than I care to count!
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