| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Why are you a translator? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Why are you a translator?".
This poll was originally submitted by Chris S. View the poll results »
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 00:36
Spanish to English
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English was always my best subject at school. Then, when I began to study languages, (French from primary school, then German and Russian from secondary to university level) they were always the subjects I was best at, which is probably why I enjoyed them more than maths or science, which I was never very good at. I always enjoyed the exercise of translating into English, but found inverse translation into the other languages much more difficult. Later in life I ended up teaching English in Spai... See more English was always my best subject at school. Then, when I began to study languages, (French from primary school, then German and Russian from secondary to university level) they were always the subjects I was best at, which is probably why I enjoyed them more than maths or science, which I was never very good at. I always enjoyed the exercise of translating into English, but found inverse translation into the other languages much more difficult. Later in life I ended up teaching English in Spain and eventually ended up in translation full time, so maybe it's my destiny.
Whatever the case, I'm currently happy with my lot, despite occasionally being shot down in flames by top earning self-styled highflying divas and accused of working for a pittance (although my rate is actually average for Spain).
[Edited at 2017-04-10 08:29 GMT]
[Edited at 2017-04-10 08:30 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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To contribute, with all due modesty, to a kind of universal understanding !
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I thought this would be where I could discover 'Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n Roll.'
Obviously, I found out that this was the wrong milieu. But, I did find a different groove  as it was a natural progression after 7 years of Latin, 4 years of Ancient Greek and 4 years of studying Japanese at Uni.
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It's really one of the subjects I'm good at since school, at the Lycée Français in Madrid. My career was always language-oriented as an adult: I specialized at the university in Linguistics and the year after became a sworn translator. I'm very happy with my choice .
| | | | | Couldn't think of anything better to do (once I retired from special forces, left the circus etc) | Apr 10, 2017 |
Sorry, this isn't a very good poll. I dashed it off a couple of days ago and there are some very obvious missing answers (like "It's what I'm good at").
What inspired it was seeing, in quick succession, forum posts from a former architect, a former financial markets trader and a qualified doctor. And it made me wonder what they were doing here.
Why would anyone go from a really well paid and respected job to this?
Were they just useless at their job and got... See more Sorry, this isn't a very good poll. I dashed it off a couple of days ago and there are some very obvious missing answers (like "It's what I'm good at").
What inspired it was seeing, in quick succession, forum posts from a former architect, a former financial markets trader and a qualified doctor. And it made me wonder what they were doing here.
Why would anyone go from a really well paid and respected job to this?
Were they just useless at their job and got kicked out? Or are they lying - did they really just make the tea?
Conceivably they always had a parallel burning passion for language. But my experience of people who come to translation from elsewhere doesn't support this.
And if you tired of medicine, why would you translate medical texts of all things?
This is what I was trying, and failing, to get at. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Failed in several previous careers. For the money. | Apr 10, 2017 |
Honest!
I was going to get the Nobel Prize, no less, for Medicine. Well, maybe not, but you have to aim high if you want to go anywhere. Medical schools wouldn't let me in. Hospitals did quite well, but you don't win prizes for being a patient. I had to find something a teeny bit more realistic.
Dewey and co. had done all the brilliant work at library school. The Universal Decimal Classification system is a pain if you have trouble with figures as I do. And Google has t... See more Honest!
I was going to get the Nobel Prize, no less, for Medicine. Well, maybe not, but you have to aim high if you want to go anywhere. Medical schools wouldn't let me in. Hospitals did quite well, but you don't win prizes for being a patient. I had to find something a teeny bit more realistic.
Dewey and co. had done all the brilliant work at library school. The Universal Decimal Classification system is a pain if you have trouble with figures as I do. And Google has taken over long ago.
Various other pot-boiler jobs paid the bills as long as they lasted, but I got fired with alarming frequency. I was getting desperate. Then the director of a translation agency took a liking to me. I was clearly nuts enough to have potential in his firm, and he offered me an in-house job. It saved what was left of my sanity.
Later, he almost succeeded in running the firm into the ground, and eventually most of the translators had to go. That translation agency was still a great client for several years when I went freelance - I would never have survived without it.
And finally, I had landed on the right shelf... ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Fell into it | Apr 10, 2017 |
I kind of just fell into it, like a pothole in the road. But I have always loved languages, my first degree was in German and Italian, and I love playing around with words. Being freelance is a bonus. I also love the fact that you never quite know what's going to land in your in-box, and I normally learn something new with each text I translate.
Sometimes I wish I'd chosen a different career. But those moments are rare.
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Muriel Vasconcellos (X) 
United States
Local time: 15:36
Spanish to English
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| Always wanted to | Apr 10, 2017 |
From the time I started to learn Spanish in eighth grade. I've never wavered, never tried anything else but editing, when I couldn't get a translation job, and before that, secretarial work--all that time translating at home in the evening ("moonlighting").
| | | | Michael Harris
Germany
Local time: 00:36
Member (2006)
German to English
| Did want to unite the world | Apr 10, 2017 |
but seeing as that was not possible in the sewage and waste water industry, I just sort of fell into it.
But seriuosly Chris,comparing this with the numerous anonymous polls, this is quite intellectual!
| | | | | always wanted to | Apr 10, 2017 |
I was 14/15 and I had a picture of myself translating books... well I have translated only a few... but I have the job I have always wanted
| | | | Jan Truper
Germany
Local time: 00:36
English to German
| Failure, of sorts | Apr 10, 2017 |
The rock star thing didn't quite pan out.
(I actually studied Electric Guitar in Los Angeles several years ago.)
In retrospect, I'm quite happy that it didn't...
[Edited at 2017-04-10 13:49 GMT]
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| Always wanted | Apr 10, 2017 |
I was only a teenager when I decided my career and from that moment on I put all my efforts to get this result and I am very happy that all my hard work paid back:)
Also, I like to think that thanks to my work people can better understand each other and improve our world.
Last, but not least, I am a hopeless grammar nazi, so I think that this is my call;)
And what kind of job would give me the opportunity to listen to AC/DC while I am in the office?
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I did a lot of translating during my degree years and I enjoyed it... so, I thought... I'd like to do that as a job... then I was offered a post-graduate research job at my uni, but I decided to emigrate instead... Started working for a Wine Merchant to support myself whilst trying to get into the translating business... then I got a job as freelance editor in a publishing house, which was good, but I was still trapped in the ra... See more I did a lot of translating during my degree years and I enjoyed it... so, I thought... I'd like to do that as a job... then I was offered a post-graduate research job at my uni, but I decided to emigrate instead... Started working for a Wine Merchant to support myself whilst trying to get into the translating business... then I got a job as freelance editor in a publishing house, which was good, but I was still trapped in the rat race... finally, when I had enough clients, dropped the editor job, moved to the country and started my freelancing career... no more rat race! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Khanda
Poland
Local time: 00:36
Polish to English
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I used to be a full-time interpreter and translator for a few years. I was trained as an interpreter, I liked the job a lot and I felt good at it. However, my father and mother were translators in their time and had a lot of bad things to say about this choice of career, so in a way I became pre-programmed against seeing it as a long-term choice; I have always tried to get away from interpreting and translating, escaping to other professions. Once I got there, I found myself unable to let go of ... See more I used to be a full-time interpreter and translator for a few years. I was trained as an interpreter, I liked the job a lot and I felt good at it. However, my father and mother were translators in their time and had a lot of bad things to say about this choice of career, so in a way I became pre-programmed against seeing it as a long-term choice; I have always tried to get away from interpreting and translating, escaping to other professions. Once I got there, I found myself unable to let go of my former life, translating over weekends and subconsciously judging my current profession, whatever it was at the moment, from the point of view of gaining new specialization in translation. Every year I promised myself that next year I'll drop translating, I'm too tired and I can't focus on my career properly, etc.
So here I am now, a commodity trader and risk specialist in a big energy company. I'm just back from a week-long vacation which I spent in a stuffy interpreter's booth, while over the weekend I was catching up with my translation work, coming today to the office knackered and dozing off at the morning kick-off meeting. The only difference from the beginning of my career 15 years ago is that I stopped convincing myself that this is just a temporary arrangement and things will look differently in the future. Even my wife stopped urging me to attend the meetings of Interpretoholics Anonymous. ▲ Collapse
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