This site uses cookies.
Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site,
while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used.
For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Freelance translator and/or interpreter, Verified site user
Data security
This person has a SecurePRO™ card. Because this person is not a ProZ.com Plus subscriber, to view his or her SecurePRO™ card you must be a ProZ.com Business member or Plus subscriber.
Affiliations
This person is not affiliated with any business or Blue Board record at ProZ.com.
English to Spanish: The Story of My Life (University Assignment)
Source text - English The Story of My Life
The story of my life is not only intended to tell people about my experience growing up in two different countries. It is going to acknowledge others that, people has to struggle at some point in their lives in order to achieve their most desired dreams, and how setting goals and making a commitment to reach those goals can be accomplished if there is determination, but most of all faith. Moreover, how people can decide to be resilient and overcome unexpected difficulties one is confronted with instead of becoming hostile and complaining about the burdens of life.
People have two options, either concentrate on the negative aspects of life and be miserable the rest of their lives or to take those experiences as challenges one has to face in order to become a better person. I am going to share my experience living in Mexico since childhood until I was fifteen years old; moreover, how moving to the United States at the age of fifteen had a great impact in my life affecting my mental health and my self-esteem, and how I was able to cope with these psychological disorders and continue striving to get an education and adjust to my new lifestyle. To begin with I like this quote by Clark and Caffarella, “A particular theory or family of theories serves as a kind of lens through which we view the life course; that lens illuminates certain elements and tells a particular story about adult life. Multiple lenses give us many different ways of illuminating various aspects of that life course”. (p. 3)
I was born in a rural town in Mexico, it was a peaceful place close to the ocean and mountains. It is in a tropical area where it was an adventure to get wet in the warm and heavy rain. The house where I grew up had an orchard, where my cousins, my sister and me used to climb on the trees, pick fruit and eat it. After school, we played a variety of games for hours and hours; we were very active children. This house belonged to my grandmother. My mother, my sister and me had to move to this house when I was two years old, and my sister barely born because my father abandoned us. In my grandmother’s house lived three uncles and three cousins whose mother moved to the U.S. in order to support them because she was a single mom.
All my relatives were farmers because they didn’t have the means to go to school and become professionals; consequently, they decided to immigrate to the United States. Back then, California had a great demand for farm workers. They started moving to this country separately until the time came for my mom to make this difficult decision. She wanted my sister and me to obtain an education and have a decent lifestyle.
When I was nine years old my mother started coming to California illegally to work seasonal agricultural jobs. At such an early age I was aware of the dangers my mother could encounter, sadness and worry invaded my heart every time we had to separate not knowing if she would come back to me. My dear mother risked her life whenever she had to enter this country by crossing the dessert, rivers and sneaking in the commercial trains that traveled from the Mexican border to Los Angeles.
My mother continued doing this for three years; fortunately, President Reagan signed the amnesty in 1986, which permitted thousands of farm workers to acquire a legal status. This amnesty not only allowed these workers to receive their green cards; they could also apply to legalize their families. This led my mom to make the decision to bring my sister and me to California, thus we would not longer separate.
It was August 1989 when my sister and me moved to California; I was fifteen years old and she was thirteen. A different chapter in our lives was about to begin, our journey in the United States. We moved to a country with a different culture, traditions and language. It was very difficult at the beginning to adjust to a society totally different from the one we grew up in. It was a long process which took years, thus it wasn’t easy to integrate to our new lifestyle, especially, because my family didn’t have the resources to support us the way they wanted to. Even though they couldn’t help financially; they emphasized the importance of going to school in order to succeed and reach our goals.
My mother’s priority when we arrived to the United States was to enroll my sister and me in High School, where we struggled to learn English and be able to graduate. I can still remember the first day we attended this school located in a small town in the central valley of California. As my sister and me entered this school our hearts filled with feelings of fear, confusion and uncertainty. One of my cousins had to accompany us so she could translate for us when we met with our counselors to set up our class schedules. In Mexico I was a straight A student, one of the best in Junior High School; therefore, I handed out my transcripts to my counselor feeling very proud of my grades. My counselor looked very pleased to see those transcripts and placed me in high level classes but he didn’t consider the fact that I didn’t speak English. Consequently, I headed to my classes where I had to face discrimination for the first time.
I had a couple of teachers and some classmates who made discriminatory remarks about immigrants and other languages. My Civics teacher once made a comment to an exchange student from Holland. He asked this student: “Have you noticed that Americans have a sense of superiority, you know why.” Most of the American students replied , “because we are.” I felt so disappointed and frustrated because I was offended by that comment and couldn’t defend myself from that insult. Despite all these situations I had to experience in my classes I had to continue learning English and attempting to pass my classes.
I finally graduated from High School, and attended community colleges and university, where a obtained a B.A. in Social Science with Education Concentration. I reached my goal of becoming a professional who graduated from university in the United States
Translation - Spanish La Historia De Mi Vida
La Historia de mi vida no solo esta intencionada a decir a la gente sobre mi experiencia de crecer en dos países diferentes. Va a dejar saber a los demas que la gente tiene que sufrir en algún momento de su vida para lograr cumplir los sueños más deceados, y como ponerse metas y hacer el compromiso de alcanzarlas si hay determinación, y sobre todo fe. Además, como puede la gente decidir a ser fuerte y enfrentar dificultades que no se esperan en vez de ser hostil y quejarse de los problemas de la vida.
La gente tiene dos opciones, ya sea concentrarse en los aspectos negativos de la vida y ser miserable el resto de la vida, o tomar esas experiencias de la vida como retos que tienen que enfrentar para asi ser una mejor persona. Voy a compartir con ustedes mi experiencia creciendo en México desde mi niñez hasta los quince años de edad. También mi inmigración a los Estados Unidos a esta edad tuvo un gran impacto en mi vida afectando mi salud mental y autoestima. Como pude sobrellevar desordenes sicológicos y luchar por recibir una educación y acostumbrarme a ni nuevo estilo de vida. Para empezar, me gusta este dicho de Clark y Caffarella, "Una teoría particular o familia de teorías es como un tipo de lentes por los cuales vemos el curso de la vida. Esos lentes iluminan ciertos elementos que dicen una historia particular sobre un adulto. Multiples lentes nos dan algunas formas diferentes de varios aspectos del curso de esa vida." (p. 3)
Yo nací en un pueblo rural en México, era un lugar lleno de paz cerca al oceano y montañas. Es un área tropical donde éra una aventura mojarse en la lluvia tibia. La casa donde crecí tenía una huerta donde mis primos, mi hermana y yo solíamos trepar los árboles, agarrar fruta y comerla. Después de salir de la escuela, jugábamos variedad de juegos por horas y horas, éramos niños muy activos. Esta casa pertenecía a mi abuela. Mi mamá, mi hermana y yo nos mudamos a ésta casa cuando yo tenía dos años y mi hermana estaba recien nacida. En la casa de mi abuela vivían tres tíos y tres primos cuya madre se mudó a los Estados Unidos para poder sostenerlos porque era una madre soltera.
Todos mis familiares éran campesinos porque no tuvieron los medios para ir a la escuela y ser profesionales. Consequentemente, ellos decidieron inmigrar a los Estados Unidos. En ese entonces, California tenía una gran demanda de trabadores del campo. Ellos empezaron a mudarse a éste país por separado hasta que llegó el momento en que mi mamá tomara ésta decisión difícil. Ella quería que mi hermana y yo obtuvieramos una educación y tuvieramos un buen estilo de vida .
Cuando yo tenía nueve años mi mamá empezó a venir a California ilegalmente para trabajar en trabajos temporales de agricultura. A tan temprana edad yo sabía de los peligros que mi mamá podía encontrar, tristeza y preocupación invadían mi corazón cada vez que me separaba de mi mamá sin saber si regresaría a mi. Mi querida mamá arriesgaba su vida cada vez que entraba a éste país cruzando el desierto, ríos, o subiendose a los trenes cargueros que viajaban de la frontera de México a Los Angeles. Mi mamá continuó haciendo esto por tres anos, afortunadamente, el presidente Reagan firmó la amnistía en 1986, que permitía a miles de campesinos recibir un estatus legal. Esta amnistía no solo permitía a éstos trabajadores recibir su visa. Ellos también podían solicitar legalizar sus familias. Esto llevó a mi mamá a tomar la decisión de traer a mi hermana y a mi a California, de esa manera no nos separaríamos más.
Era agosto de 1989 cuando mi hermana y yo nos mudamos a California. Yo tenía quince años y mi hermana trece. Un capitulo nuevo comenzabá en nuestras vidas, nuestra vida en los Estados Unidos. Nos mudamos a un país con diferente cultura, tradiciones y lenguaje. Era muy difícil al principio acostumbrarse a una sociedad totalmente diferente a la nuestra. Fue un proceso largo que tomó años, por eso no fue fácil integrarse a nuestro nuevo estilo de vida, especialmente porque mi familia no tenía los recursos para sostenernos de la forma que ellos querían. Aunque ellos no podían ayudar financieramente, ellos enfatizában la importancia de ir a la escuela para poder truinfar y alcanzar nuestras metas.
La priodidad de mi mamá cuando nosotros llegamos a los Estados Unidos éra de inscribir a mi hermana y a mi en la preparatoria, donde batallamos para aprender ingles y asi poder graduarnos. Todavía recuerdo el primer día que fuimos a la escuela localizada en un pueblo pequeño en el valle central de California. Cuando mi hermana y yo íbamos entrando a la escuela nuestro corazón se llenó de sentimientos de miedo, confusión e incertidumbre. Una de mis primas nos acompañó para poder traducirnos al reunirnos con el consejero que tenía que acomodar el horario de nuestras clases. En México yo éra una estudiante sobresaliente, una de las mejores en la secundaria, por eso le entregué el reporte de mis calificaciones a mi consejero con mucho orgullo. Mi consejero se miró muy complacido al ver el reporte y me colocó en clases de nivel alto sin considerar que no hablaba Inglés. Consequentemente, me dirigí a mis clases donde tuve que enfrentar discriminación por primera vez.
Tuve un par de maestros que hacían comentarios discriminatorios sobre inmigrantes y otros lenguajes. Mi maestro de civismo hizó un comentario a un estudiante que venía de Holanda. El le preguntó, "Has notado que los americanos tenemos un sentido de superioridad, sabes porque". Todos los estudiantes americanos respondieron, "porque lo somos". Me senti tan molesta y frustada porque fuí ofendida por ese comentario y no pude defenderme de ese insulto. Haciendo a un lado todas las situaciones que viví en mis clases tuve que continuar aprendiendo Inglés y pasar mis clases.
Al final me gradué de la preparatoria, y despues fuí a colegios comunitarios y la universidad, donde obtuve mi título en ciencias sociales y pedagogía. Cumplí mi meta de ser una profesional graduada de la universidad en los Estados Unidos.
More
Less
Translation education
Bachelor's degree - Ashford University
Experience
Years of experience: 17. Registered at ProZ.com: Mar 2012.
My name is Maria Roman. I reside in the California Central Valley, a big producer of food worldwide. I have translated and interpreted for previous employers; among them are county agencies and health insurance companies.
I have attended several schools in California; fortunately, I obtained my B.A. in Social Science with Education Concentration. Furthermore, I have conducted extensive research in various subjects including: Political Science, World History, Science, and International Politics.
I was born in Mexico, where I attended elementary and middle school. When I was fifteen year old I immigrated to the U.S., where I continued with my studies. Finally, I reached my academic goal, in 2011 I graduated from University.
I look forward to provide you with excellent service.
Excellence and efficiency in every single translation is what I am proud of.