#translatorslife — Public Fediverse posts

I think that the trick to physical fitness is to stop telling myself "Okay, when you get through today's work, as a reward, you can go to the gym" and instead start telling myself "Okay, if you get through this morning's workout, as a reward, you get to go home and translate stuff into English!"

#TranslatorsLife #translator #translation

After months of work, I'm finally translating the last page of a 400-page book from Portuguese into English. Of course, that means there's still 400 pages of editing and proofreading to go, but it still feels like a win. 😀

#translation #translator #TranslatorsLife

I've got a cool mix of projects this week! I'm most of the way through translating a 400-page biography from Portuguese, but am shifting gears for a few days to translate sample chapters of a history book about 19th-century science, from French. 🔬 #translation #translator #TranslatorsLife

I've been taking a medical interpreting course through CUNY so I can diversify my business beyond document and book translations.

Decided to go old school and make hundreds of physical flashcards and take handwritten notes. Wow, my hand is not used to doing this much handwriting anymore! It's like a mini-workout. 😀

#translation #TranslatorsLife #interpreting

I love being in a profession where I have to know weird things like whether "blow job" is one word or two.

(Two words, according to Merriam-Webster. The term just turned up in a stage play I'm translating.)

It's such an educational profession.

#TranslatorsLife #translation

It's weird: I keep getting emails from representatives of interpreting agencies who say they've read my profile on the American Translators Association website and have the perfect interpreting gig for me!

The thing is, I'm not an interpreter. Not yet, anyway. And there's nothing on my ATA profile that suggests I am. Every interpreting field on the profile is blank.

Some people just don't read.

#TranslatorsLife

At this hour, I am *way* too tired to be translating clever, punchy marketing slogans. (Moves on to next page of this annual report...)

#TranslatorsLife

I just spent a fascinating couple of weeks translating academic study guides into English, and now this week I have the entertaining challenge of making a theater character's smarmy double-entendres work in English. This is such a cool, challenging profession!

#translation #TranslatorsLife #theater

¡Estos son los libros que he traducido y se han publicado en 2023!

Ha sido un año de cerrar sagas, de iniciarse en la no ficción y de mucha fantasía. 2024 tirará también por este camino y estoy muy feliz de explorar nuevos horizontes.✨

#translatorslife

"Job description:
A #translator in the livestock industry plays a crucial role in ensuring accurate #communication across #language barriers. They #translate #documents, #breeding, and #health, ensuring #terminology is precise."

I'd like very much apply, but even though I'm good #AF, I got no clue how to translate breeding and health. Documents, I can manage.

#xl8 #translators #xl8or #xl8freelancer #translatorslife #translatorsunite #TranslatorHumor

In recent years, I've gotten grants to translate plays by quite a few living playwrights from Spain. Now I'm compiling lists of English-language theater companies and their submission guidelines to help these writers pursue productions in English-speaking countries. 🙂

#theater #translation #theatre #playwright #TranslatorsLife #drama

The Author's Guild's 2022 survey of Literary Translators' Working Conditions just released its results, which make interesting reading.

Unfortunately, as with the Guild's 2017 survey, the discussion of average per-word rates ("$0.13 per word") is kind of meaningless since it is not broken down by language pairs or direction, and does not say whether the price is per source or target word.

https://authorsguild.org/news/new-survey-examines-state-of-literary-translators-working-conditions/

#translation #TranslatorsLife #LiteraryTranslation #literature

FB reminds me that one year ago this week, I was translating three lyrical religious poems for a client. By contrast, this week I'm translating puns and poop jokes. Variety is the spice of translation. 😇

#translation #TranslatorsLife #LiteraryTranslation

After attending this week's summit about unleashing "the power of AI" in translations, I finally had a real-world use case: For a stage play I'm translating, I just instructed ChatGPT 4 to "Give me some potentially humorous-sounding synonyms for 'turd' in American English." I feel very high tech and oh so literary. 🧐

#translation #TranslatorsLife #AI #LiteraryTranslation

"Translators' Portraits."

Great videos of literary translators discussing the profession and their experiences in it. A total of 54 translators (in Greek, subtitled in English).

#translation #LiteraryTranslation #literature #TranslatorsLife

http://greektranslators.web.auth.gr/en/

I'm on my way home from the American Literary Translators Association conference, an amazingly friendly gathering: 400 people who, rather than treat their colleagues as competitors, are supportive of each other and share their knowledge and experience. I recommend the event to fellow LT professionals! 😀

#translation #translators #TranslatorsLife #LiteraryTranslation #conferences #ALTA46

I'm in Arizona for #ALTA46: the American Literary Translators Association conference. It's just the first day but I've already met wonderfully smart, creative, thought-provoking, kind people... including these members of our 2nd-place-winning team for Translation Trivia Night. (A so-so photo but a great team!) I can't wait for tomorrow's sessions. 😃

#translation #TranslatorsLife #LiteraryTranslation

Getting ready to head to the American Literary Translators Association conference in Tucson. 😍

#translation #TranslatorsLife #LiteraryTranslation #ALTA46

In translators' forums today, I've seen bizarre generalizations about our profession: "Translation isn't an art; it's a job" (as if we literary translators did not exist) and "We are not saving lives, so it is important to be realistic about deadlines" (as if we medical translators and other colleagues who do urgent life-saving work did not exist).

We need to work on being more aware and respectful of the breadth, scope, and importance of our profession.

#translation #TranslatorsLife

When a translation agency asks me what my "best rate" is, I'm always tempted to ask "best for whom?"

#translation #TranslatorsLife

My latest on LinkedIn: These days, my fellow translators are posting about AI and little else. The posts tend towards one of two ideas: "AI is your friend—there’s nothing to worry about" or "Our profession is doomed! Dooooooomed!" Both are exaggerations.

We can survive as language professionals in the AI era, but must make adjustments.

Here's my approach...

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7120444388987527168/

#translation #TranslatorsLife #FutureOfWork #ProfessionalDevelopment #LanguageServices #HumanVsMachine

As the character in "Cabaret" sang, "What good is sitting alone in your room...?" 🎶 So now for the first time, I'm making a point to get out of my translation office and am going to all sorts of events where direct clients can be found: conferences, trade shows, and lots of in-person networking events.

And so, for the first time in ages, I've had physical business cards printed. It feels like an almost retro thing to do. 😃

#translation #TranslatorsLife #networking #LanguageServices

Skurriler #Übersetzeralltag: Diese Woche kamen Anfragen für ein Romance- und ein Urban-Fantasy-#Lektorat und die #Übersetzung eines Zombieromans, während ich gerade an einem Rollenspielbuch sitze … 😆 #translatorslife #xl8 #pnp