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Poll: Have you ever encountered the name of someone you know personally in a source text?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
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Mar 18, 2017

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Have you ever encountered the name of someone you know personally in a source text?".

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Harry Blake Paz Bonzano
Harry Blake Paz Bonzano  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 15:15
Member (2014)
Spanish to Italian
+ ...
Yes Mar 18, 2017

I have a lot of clients whom names are transcripted in certificates. Does this count? Yes.

 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 15:15
English to Italian
No Mar 18, 2017

But I have encountered many medicines named in the patents I have translated.

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:15
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Yes, often Mar 18, 2017

In terms of coincidences, I was surprised to see a couple of references to the father of my childhood playmate next door; as a child, I had no idea he was a well-known medical researcher. The same was true for several people I got to know later in life. This is because I translate a lot of medical research.

Also, Dr. Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, was a family friend and she shows up from time to time in my translations (not to mention crossword puzzles).

On top o
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In terms of coincidences, I was surprised to see a couple of references to the father of my childhood playmate next door; as a child, I had no idea he was a well-known medical researcher. The same was true for several people I got to know later in life. This is because I translate a lot of medical research.

Also, Dr. Margaret Mead, the anthropologist, was a family friend and she shows up from time to time in my translations (not to mention crossword puzzles).

On top of that, I spent the first part of my career translating for conferences. We would get to know the delegates or speakers on breaks and then they would be quoted in the conference proceedings. Through this work I became friendly with a number of famous people, including Albert Sabin, René DuBois, Gro Harlem Brundtland (Prime Minister of Norway and Director-General of the World Health Organization), and several Latin American presidents.
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 14:15
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Yes Mar 18, 2017

When I worked in-house I knew personally some of the Portuguese members of the EESC and their names were often listed on the opinions and meeting minutes I had to translate.

 
Elizabeth Tamblin
Elizabeth Tamblin  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:15
French to English
No Mar 18, 2017

I'm intrigued by the "other" option. Surely it can only be yes or no here?

 
Alexandra Speirs
Alexandra Speirs  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:15
Italian to English
+ ...
In theatrical texts Mar 18, 2017

For nearly thirty years I've been translating for a theatrical workshop held every year.
We have had many international visitors, all of whom eventually turned up in the translations.
One of the most frequent was Dario Fo, with whom I can claim to have shared the stage!

I have also encountered Muriel's acquaintance, Margaret Mead, several times.

Apart from that, in translations from agencies I've found texts written by a lawyer cousin of my husband and certi
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For nearly thirty years I've been translating for a theatrical workshop held every year.
We have had many international visitors, all of whom eventually turned up in the translations.
One of the most frequent was Dario Fo, with whom I can claim to have shared the stage!

I have also encountered Muriel's acquaintance, Margaret Mead, several times.

Apart from that, in translations from agencies I've found texts written by a lawyer cousin of my husband and certificates for another cousin's son.
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Thayenga
Thayenga  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:15
Member (2009)
English to German
+ ...
Second thoughts Mar 18, 2017

I voted no, but then remembered that I once translated an article about the "Return of the Eagle" to Tempelhof Central Air Base, Berlin. After its disappearance in 1962, Lt. David Luders of Base Civil Engineering - the Division I worked in and, naturally also with David - became curious, did some research and discovered it in the West Point museum. He returned the eagle head to TCA, where it was re-installed with all military honors in 1985. Once in a while when I am at Eagle Square (Platz der L... See more
I voted no, but then remembered that I once translated an article about the "Return of the Eagle" to Tempelhof Central Air Base, Berlin. After its disappearance in 1962, Lt. David Luders of Base Civil Engineering - the Division I worked in and, naturally also with David - became curious, did some research and discovered it in the West Point museum. He returned the eagle head to TCA, where it was re-installed with all military honors in 1985. Once in a while when I am at Eagle Square (Platz der Luftbrücke) I read the plaque under the eagle head and remember David and the day the Eagle was returned to its rightful place.Collapse


 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 15:15
Member (2006)
German to English
Nope Mar 18, 2017

they ae all "anonymous"

 
EvaVer (X)
EvaVer (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:15
Czech to French
+ ...
Yes, some of my classmates Mar 18, 2017

One had issued a certificate I was to translate, another used to be the speaker of the town hall in a part of Prague where one of my clients was conducting a project at the time, so his name cropped up. And I worked for a third one, so his name was obviously in the articles he was writing and I was translating.
And various managers of my clients, of course - in their companies' own documents or in articles published about them.


 
Erzsébet Czopyk
Erzsébet Czopyk  Identity Verified
Hungary
Local time: 15:15
Member (2006)
Russian to Hungarian
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
yes Mar 18, 2017

My former schoolmate became a mayor of my hometown (to say nicely, he was not a Mensa-candidate) and now he is a big-big-big and well-known member of a right-wing party

I translate a lot of cancer and oncology-related documents which I receive from the people I was treated with/shared a hospital room with so we know each ther well

The worst for me was a court case: when I read a name and the details, it w
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My former schoolmate became a mayor of my hometown (to say nicely, he was not a Mensa-candidate) and now he is a big-big-big and well-known member of a right-wing party

I translate a lot of cancer and oncology-related documents which I receive from the people I was treated with/shared a hospital room with so we know each ther well

The worst for me was a court case: when I read a name and the details, it was obvious that one of my former classmates committed a crime now the person is in jail, sentenced for over 5 years very sad.

And once I received a Latvian birth certificate - this way I recognized that my former employer married his Latvian love and they have now a baby. So I sent back the translation with a nice welcome-baby-postcard and a note that I do not wish to receive money for that and sent them my best wishes on that occasion. I hope they were surprised, too.

[Edited at 2017-03-18 17:31 GMT]
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Enrico Zoffoli
Enrico Zoffoli  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 15:15
Member (2013)
German to Italian
+ ...
Yes Mar 18, 2017

I know personally a lot of academics whose names pop up quite often in papers I translate.

 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 15:15
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
No Mar 18, 2017

Not personal acquaintances, but people I know of e.g. company CEOs.

 
Hege Jakobsen Lepri
Hege Jakobsen Lepri  Identity Verified
Norway
Local time: 15:15
Member (2002)
English to Norwegian
+ ...
I responded no, but realise I lied Mar 18, 2017

Some of my academic translations (research reports, articles) feature people I used to know when I worked in academia. (And sometimes it's rather irksome when I realize they keep doing the same thing, arriving at the same conclusions 20 years later...)

 
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Nikki Scott-Despaigne  Identity Verified
Local time: 15:15
French to English
Yes, all the time Mar 19, 2017

One of my specialities is ocean-racing. As a former "femme de marin", having spent 20 years living (eating, sleeping and breathing ocean-racing), I am one of a number of trusted translators in the field and often know the people mentionned in the texts, be they yachtsmen/women, architects, engineers, sponsors or media.

Has happened on other occasions in other fields, but much more rarely.

[Edited at 2017-03-19 01:39 GMT]


 
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Poll: Have you ever encountered the name of someone you know personally in a source text?






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