One of the great things about working with languages is the variety of people you can meet. I don’t just mean foreigners, but even your own countrymen. Old, young, experienced, inexperienced – and the coolest part is the diversity of the journeys they all took to get to where they are today. Some trained as translators because they fell in love with a foreign culture at an early age, some because they were born and raised bilingually, and others because they found that they possessed rare knowledge in a certain language pair.
But however you came into translating, or if you’re still thinking of doing so, then there are certain key areas that are common to all of us, and these include our work habits and our personal attitudes. Today we’re going to have a brief, blog-size look at some of the key aspects of these ideas.
“Kept on along the narrow track of habit, like a traveller; climbing a road in a fog” – Edith Wharton
Multitasking is an important tool. There will be moments when everything happens at once and you need to quickly do several things at once. This is of course particularly true for interpreters, who must listen and speak concurrently, or listen and mentally prepare their translation at the same time.
On a closely related note, a good memory is important too – for interpreters, remembering what someone said from anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes ago, and being able to accurately paraphrase that with all the crucial facts, is a key skill. For translators, a good memory will help if you know, for example, where you saw or used a particular translation of a word before now. Particularly with contracted work where you do multiple, frequent jobs for the same client, a lot of words and phrases can occur and reoccur, and also style points and formatting issues, so it’s always helpful if you can recall that stuff at the time. Sometimes you’ll get a glossary or some previous documents that show you which words and phrasings etc that the client likes, but more often than not it’s up to you to work it out. Translating Memories in your CAT tools (more on them next week too) can also help here, or you can make your own glossaries and databases of words and phrases. A simple idea that works for me is keeping an Excel workbook, with one sheet per client, or subject category etc.
nil desperandum
Translating and interpreting are stressful jobs, make no mistake. So being able to cope with pressure and stress is also very important. Interpreters need to be able to think on their feet without becoming flustered or thrown off by anything unplanned or unexpected. Being able to control large groups of people, who sometimes all want to speak at once or become over-excited, is also a good skill, and requires a degree of imposition of will. Translators have deadline pressures, and must try to control their frustration with clients who are not afraid to complain about mistakes that are actually their own misunderstandings or ignorance, agency staff who don’t know the difference between full-stops and commas, and accountants who want to pay you 60 days after invoicing with cheques your bank can’t accept (thanks, America ;).
It’s somewhat beyond the scope of our article here to try and tell you how to cope with stress, (although it would be good to hear from some of you what your own coping strategies are); needless to say, you need to grow a thick skin and quickly (but not so thick that you let legitimate criticism bounce off you). Yes, it’s a cliché, but don’t be disheartened or discouraged. Every translator takes a beating now and then, even the most experienced ones. It’s just part of the job.
A małpa on your back
Personal responsibility: It doesn’t matter if you wake up late, sit in your pyjamas and spill coffee down your front whilst you go over the material for the conference you’ll be interpreting at the next day, but what IS important is that you arrive at the conference punctually, that you are clean and smart and appropriately dressed for the occasion, and that you remain respectful of the event’s participants.
When you work from home as a freelance translator, you can stay up late, wake up late, you don’t have to wash your hair for days, you can skip shaving… but you absolutely can not miss your deadlines unless you’ve agreed an extension well in advance. If you’re working on a long or difficult project with multiple parts that all require feedback and revision before being passed on, you must stay within reach of your computer as much as possible so as not to miss any incoming files, questions or requests.
Ultimately, it’s about paying the bills, and if you’re slow and late and not available half the time, you’ll either miss the job offers that come in, or you’ll get a rep for being unreliable, and that’s anathema. Your ability to constantly monitor your email is crucial. Fortunately, many mobile phones these days can also check email, although unless you have a really sexy one with a proper QWERTY keyboard, I would advise against replying with anything other than a brief message to say you’ll get back in touch with them as soon as you get back to your desk – clear, nicely written emails are as vital as clean, healthy blood!
That's it for this week. Please bear in mind that any non-specific 'advice' on this blog is based on my own opinions and experience; you're free to heed it or not, and as with all such things some of it may suit you, some not. I'm only here to give our junior colleagues some ideas, and perhaps refresh the memories of our more experienced colleagues. And, as always, if you want to add anything or tell me what bzdura I'm talking, comments are below. :)
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