Did you always know you wanted to be a translator?
Thread poster: Andrew Morris
Andrew Morris
Andrew Morris
Local time: 23:17
ProZ.com team
Mar 12, 2020

It’s time to click on “fast forward”, because when I left university, I spent fully twenty-three years in language education before becoming a translator, first as a teacher, then a teacher trainer, then a trainer trainer, or t, to t squared, and then t cubed, as we called it back then. I ended up working in the Bangladeshi Ministry of Education as a bureaucrat, in charge of a national training programme. I’d reached a high point, in terms of status and salary, but found myself in a posi... See more
It’s time to click on “fast forward”, because when I left university, I spent fully twenty-three years in language education before becoming a translator, first as a teacher, then a teacher trainer, then a trainer trainer, or t, to t squared, and then t cubed, as we called it back then. I ended up working in the Bangladeshi Ministry of Education as a bureaucrat, in charge of a national training programme. I’d reached a high point, in terms of status and salary, but found myself in a position where I was no longer happy, even though the country was a great place to be, and the people were fantastic (at least those who weren’t politicians).

In fact I would go as far as to say I hated my job, and watched the clock as it crept agonisingly slowly forward each day till 5pm, when I metamorphosed into a musician, playing sax with the country’s no 1 singer-songwriter, and my real life began. Rehearsals, gigs, and even an international tour which saw us play New York, Toronto and London. The only other light relief was that I had a regular column in the weekend magazine of the country’s biggest national English-language newspaper.

This was 2008. In all that time, I had never given translation a moment’s thought, but now I was up against the wall and looking around for a new start. Not even then was I quite sure what I would do. I just knew I wanted out of “international development” in general, and Kafkaesque ministries in particular. My parents had a house in a small village in Provence in the South of France, and I offered to buy it off them, which they were happy to accept, as they had great-grandchildren on the way back in Wales.

So I knew it would be France, but still had no idea what I would do when I got there. I flirted with the idea of becoming a gardener, or a baker, but then realised the fact that I could neither garden nor bake might be slight impediments. It was almost by accident that my Mum said “What about translation?” one fine day, and a lightbulb went on in my head.

I know the profession divides into those who knew they wanted to be translators ever since they were an embryo, and those who somehow stumbled on the idea later in life, after a first career elsewhere.

Which are you, an embryo or a stumbler?

And do you think either option is “better”? Is there a superior moral value to “having always known”? Or conversely to having experienced the world before taking to the keyboard?
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Zibow Retailleau
Joshua Parker
 
Norhan Mahmoud
Norhan Mahmoud
Egypt
Local time: 00:17
English to Arabic
+ ...
Definitely an embryo Mar 12, 2020

An embryo in translation, but the shift to interpreting was more like a stumbler.

I am a slow person. I like to take my time and translation seemed like something I can take my time doing, unlike interpreting. I did a crash course in interpreting at my senior year in college and then decided to take more steps in this filed. And voila! I identify as an interpreter more than translator.


Andrew Morris
 
Jocelin Meunier
Jocelin Meunier  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 23:17
English to French
+ ...
A stumbling embryo Mar 12, 2020

I knew I wanted to translate since high-school, maybe even before that, but I wasn't sure right before I went to college (in a language specialization).
I had somewhat of a rocky scolarity and everything was quite boring on top of that, except for languages. In high-school, I noticed that English, or German (even if I could never learn it properly) or Italian classes were where I was having the most fun. I also began to become more proactive with Internet and started to dabble in fan-trans
... See more
I knew I wanted to translate since high-school, maybe even before that, but I wasn't sure right before I went to college (in a language specialization).
I had somewhat of a rocky scolarity and everything was quite boring on top of that, except for languages. In high-school, I noticed that English, or German (even if I could never learn it properly) or Italian classes were where I was having the most fun. I also began to become more proactive with Internet and started to dabble in fan-translation, be it for comics or movies.
That's what made me think, "Hey, I like doing this stuff. Maybe there's a job for that out there." Right after that, I fell in love with Japanese and decided to take it as a major in college and never regretted it. Translation is still fun today, especially creative content, and this has never changed from my college days. So I would consider somewhat of an embryo since I wanted to translate since high-school, but also a stumbler because it was also the only thing I liked and didn't really explore further.

As for your question, I don't think that one is inherently better than the other. What's important is to love what you do, whatever the road you took to get there.
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Andrew Morris
Aïcha Louzir
 
Sarah Lewis-Morgan
Sarah Lewis-Morgan  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 23:17
Member (2014)
German to English
+ ...
A stumbler Mar 12, 2020

I didn't learn German until I moved to Germany and was forced to do so. The English language has always been my passion and I used it in my work back in England, but it wasn't until people started asking me to translate things for them (after my German had reached the stage where it was possible) that I even considered it as a career. After dabbling my toe in the water, work volumes increased and now I have happily found my niche.

Andrew Morris
 
Cinthya Chamarelli
Cinthya Chamarelli  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 19:17
Japanese to Portuguese
+ ...
A lost embryo Mar 13, 2020

I guess I always wanted to be a translator, but for most of my life, I didn't think it was possible. As a kid, I didn't have access to the internet, so it was an occupation that I knew existed, but I knew nothing about it, even though it fascinated me. It was something distant, almost abstract.

As a preteen, I was already making my first attempts at transcribing and translating songs and translating games and shows for myself.

As a teenager, I knew I wanted to work with
... See more
I guess I always wanted to be a translator, but for most of my life, I didn't think it was possible. As a kid, I didn't have access to the internet, so it was an occupation that I knew existed, but I knew nothing about it, even though it fascinated me. It was something distant, almost abstract.

As a preteen, I was already making my first attempts at transcribing and translating songs and translating games and shows for myself.

As a teenager, I knew I wanted to work with languages, so the most obvious answer was "language teacher" at the time. Due to family pressure, I actually decided I would study Chemical Engineering at college, and that's what I focused on for at least half a year before I gave up and went back to languages.

While in college, the idea of becoming a language teacher gradually turned into the idea of becoming a translator. By this time, I had internet access and I could finally see it as possibility for me. Again, family pressure pushed me to look into something else, but as soon as I got my first paid translation job, I knew it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
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Andrew Morris
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 23:17
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@Andrew Mar 13, 2020

Andrew Morris wrote:
Which are you, an embryo or a stumbler?


When I was at school (age 12-16), I could obviously already speak my native language and since I grew up in a bilingual society I could also speak my second language with general ease, and for this reason I never really put in an effort to actually study for my language classes. I just made sure I listened attentively in class, and got average marks. I was reasonably intelligent, so I was able to just cruise. However in my second-to-last year at school (age 17) I took an interest in the thick, dry, officially sanctioned language handbooks and decided to actually do the optional exercises and actually read all the optional things that the teachers just hinted at in class, and as if by magic, my marks improved. And so, I became interested in languages (surprise!).

The government at the time tricked a lot of us into thinking that we are best suited for studying science and technology at university, and so I duly enrolled in a civil engineering course, but I realised after just one semester that I hated it. Then, I saw a leaflet about a new course that would be taught at my college in the following year, "Language Practice" (i.e. translator), and I was hooked, but it was still 9 months before the start of that course. Since my tuition fees for the rest of the year were already paid (non-refundable), I simply completed my first year of civil engineering with no intention of working in that field (got good marks, too!) and then moved to translation the next year.

And that was it. I studied translation for 3 years, aced it, tried to do a 4th year (but there were insufficient students interested in doing the honours course), and then by a roundabout way 5 years later started working as a translator at a newspaper where the in-house training by fellow-translators propelled me to greatness.


[Edited at 2020-03-13 08:49 GMT]


Andrew Morris
 
Andrew Morris
Andrew Morris
Local time: 23:17
ProZ.com team
TOPIC STARTER
Interesting stories! Mar 13, 2020

For which I am missing a "Like" button. It feels weird to be "agreeing" with you all, but thanks for sharing anyway!

Love the "greatness" bit, Samuel


 
Hesam Arki
Hesam Arki
United States
English to Persian (Farsi)
+ ...
Good Q! Mar 13, 2020

I have to say an embryo in translation, but I had no clear vision of my future. Luckily, my professors and sophisticated translators/Interpreters who I met afterwards really helped me to see myself on the right track and now I am determined than any other days to improve my skills to be a very special guy in the filed I studied.Brb.
Regarding your last question, It doesn't matter at all!!! I know many translators who are graduated from translation studies,but found their interest and caree
... See more
I have to say an embryo in translation, but I had no clear vision of my future. Luckily, my professors and sophisticated translators/Interpreters who I met afterwards really helped me to see myself on the right track and now I am determined than any other days to improve my skills to be a very special guy in the filed I studied.Brb.
Regarding your last question, It doesn't matter at all!!! I know many translators who are graduated from translation studies,but found their interest and careers in something different, on the other hand, I have friends who never thought in their widest dreams to be translators and now they are really satisfied & successful.
And last, Wish you all the best.
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Andrew Morris
 
Aïcha Louzir
Aïcha Louzir
France
Arabic to French
+ ...
Definitely Mar 13, 2020

I still have some souvenirs of me at the age of 5 or 6 watching the Italian and French TV in my home town Tunis. I was listening without getting a word (my native language is Arabic), but I was fascinated by the fact that other people could speak something mysterious for me. At that time, I developed an urgent need to guess what they were saying, so I was asking my parents: "what are they saying in Italian?". No one spoke Italian and Dad said: "we should ask a translator". This is how I knew abo... See more
I still have some souvenirs of me at the age of 5 or 6 watching the Italian and French TV in my home town Tunis. I was listening without getting a word (my native language is Arabic), but I was fascinated by the fact that other people could speak something mysterious for me. At that time, I developed an urgent need to guess what they were saying, so I was asking my parents: "what are they saying in Italian?". No one spoke Italian and Dad said: "we should ask a translator". This is how I knew about this job (someone who is able to speak more than one language and this is when everything began, I guess).Collapse


Andrew Morris
 
Robert Rietvelt
Robert Rietvelt  Identity Verified
Local time: 23:17
Member (2006)
Spanish to Dutch
+ ...
@Andrew (off topic) Mar 13, 2020

[quote].. a "Like button", interesting point. Got the same feeling.

Maybe an idea for a new topic?

.

[Edited at 2020-03-13 13:28 GMT]

Go for it! That kind of thing is better coming from you than me, but I will bring it up internally too.


Andrew Morris
 
Hesam Arki
Hesam Arki
United States
English to Persian (Farsi)
+ ...
. Mar 13, 2020

Aïcha Louzir wrote:

I still have some souvenirs of me at the age of 5 or 6 watching the Italian and French TV in my home town Tunis. I was listening without getting a word (my native language is Arabic), but I was fascinated by the fact that other people could speak something mysterious for me. At that time, I developed an urgent need to guess what they were saying, so I was asking my parents: "what are they saying in Italian?". No one spoke Italian and Dad said: "we should ask a translator". This is how I knew about this job (someone who is able to speak more than one language and this is when everything began, I guess).



Very nice and interesting!!!


 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 23:17
Member (2003)
Danish to English
+ ...
Definitely a stumbler Mar 13, 2020

My father was an expert on New Testament Greek and bible translator in India, and my mother was many things too, but she was an Oxford English Graduate. Until I was ten, I was surrounded by English, Canadian, American and a range of Indian languages I did not understand. I was thoroughly cured of any interest in languages, although I breezed through French classes and kept the teachers happy.

When I came to school in England, I planned to read medicine, but I had trouble with maths
... See more
My father was an expert on New Testament Greek and bible translator in India, and my mother was many things too, but she was an Oxford English Graduate. Until I was ten, I was surrounded by English, Canadian, American and a range of Indian languages I did not understand. I was thoroughly cured of any interest in languages, although I breezed through French classes and kept the teachers happy.

When I came to school in England, I planned to read medicine, but I had trouble with maths and the headmistress did not think it was a good idea. I was bitterly unhappy, and I loved the biology teacher, so I ended up in the wrong stream in my school's slightly odd system. French and Biology were the two subjects I was good at, and the teacher said I should have taken the chemistry class instead, but it was all too much struggle against so many other adults, and I stayed with biology.

The Latin teacher always said I could do better, however hard I tried. It reinforced my aversion to languages, but I had to keep struggling. In my day Latin was a requirement for university of almost any kind, let alone medicine. I even failed my ´O´ Level English literature! One in the eye for my mother, though a teacher later told her that lots of good students failed ´O´ Level - they thought too much, instead of simply writing down the standard answers. I had not read the books properly, but it consoled my mother.

With my mixed bunch of subjects, I took up German because it fitted in on the timetable, and in fact I quite enjoyed it, imagining it was 'the language of science' or something.

Long story short, after five attempts and extra ´A´ levels, I still had not got into medical school, and had used up my chances. I started a BA in French, German and English, but dropped out due to illness, and I knew it was too literary for me and a dead end anyway. Instead I took a BSc in Information Science with technical German. (I prefer to call it technical librarianship, because we never came near a computer way back then!) I chose all the biomedical projects I could, but had to spread into other fields as well, and finally landed a job in hydromechanics. The department I worked in produced two abstracting journals on bridges, harbours, dams and dredging, and occasional sections on environmental impact on seabirds and wildlife. It was useful experience, but I felt I was in the wrong place.

I did occasionally make use of my German, but meanwhile I had married a Danish student who was reading economics… Back in the 70s and 80s there were too many unemployed librarians in Copenhagen, and anyway, there were no affordable nurseries or child-minding arrangements, so I ended up as a child-minder for our son and a couple of other little boys for several years. The Danish language, on the other hand, was an eye-opener when I learned it hands-on, expertly helped by teachers at a language school for adults. I loved it, and began to understand my parents' fascination with languages!

We moved to a small town on the other side of Denmark, and my chances of library work dropped from slight to zero. I wanted to get back into the adult world, so unskilled day-jobs and evening classes became a lifestyle. I revived my French and German as a language secretary. The nearest business school would not recognise my English - I had no exam certificates in English language!

Unemployment was high, and I was too old or too inexperienced for all the jobs I applied for. Suddenly there was a job as an in-house translator with an agency that had opened a new office, and they wanted a native speaker of English. At last - there would not be 50 Danes all better qualified than I was, and I was called in for an interview! I was offered the job, and I had finally landed on my feet - or ´on the right shelf´ as the Danes say.

That was still back in the last century, and I was employed for nearly five years before starting as a freelancer. Now I am past pension age, but old translators
don´t die, they move on to the Tower of Babel, so I am still here.




[Edited at 2020-03-13 14:59 GMT]
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Andrew Morris
 
Andrew Morris
Andrew Morris
Local time: 23:17
ProZ.com team
TOPIC STARTER
Babeling on Mar 13, 2020

Love that last sentence!

 
Yolande Hivart
Yolande Hivart
Austria
Local time: 23:17
Member (2016)
German to French
Both an embryo and a stumbler Mar 13, 2020

I always knew as soon as I started learning foreign languages that I would want to have to do with it.

But all through school, I thought it would become english. I was however a stumbler because I never learned German because I loved it. I hated it all through school. My family had contacts with Germany when I was a child and I wanted to grow up to tell them things.

I never thought that once I started to live in Austria, I started to know better and love the country and
... See more
I always knew as soon as I started learning foreign languages that I would want to have to do with it.

But all through school, I thought it would become english. I was however a stumbler because I never learned German because I loved it. I hated it all through school. My family had contacts with Germany when I was a child and I wanted to grow up to tell them things.

I never thought that once I started to live in Austria, I started to know better and love the country and the language and so it ended up that my secondary language became my first and my first one the neglected one.
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