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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to Swahili » Entry by Fredrick Otiato


Source text in English

Translation by Fredrick Otiato (#34676) — Winner

[...] Translators just didn't get recognition, they didn't expect to make much of a living, just get by. Very few people were actually trained as translators, but most had a solid college education and a solid knowledge of languages, at least their own language. I had a friend who fell exactly into that category and my circle of friends expanded to include other translators. I found them to be much more interesting as people, and discovered that we often had similar life experiences. I never had trouble making friends, but I always felt "different" and I'm sure they felt it too. When my friend retired, she recommended me as her replacement. I now entered the realm of Reinsurance, of which I knew nothing. I was also the only translator there, and didn't have much to fall back on. However, it was another notch up....

On my new job, I started looking through the files, asking questions and got the company to enroll me in Insurance courses. The College of Insurance was across the street, and I consulted fire codes, insurance policies and fire extinguisher catalogs in their library. I was learning what I had never had the luxury of being able to do before: research. The first time I had to translate a proposal for purposes of insurance of a nuclear plant, I got a call from the head man in that department, congratulating me on the job I had done. "Compares favorably with what we are used to," he said. What an upper! What happened was that I consulted a document in the files similar to the one I was tackling for guidance, but when I saw that my predecessor had used the word "nucleus" instead of "core", I realized that the files were useless to me. I went across the street to the library and looked up "nuclear plants." I immediately found all the terminology I needed.

It takes a great deal more than that to be a good translator these days, of course. [...]
[...] Kando na kutotambuliwa, watafsiri hawakutarajia kupata namna ya kujikimu, ila kupitisha tu muda. Ni watu wachache sana ambao hakika walipokea mafunzo ya kuwa watafsiri, lakini wengi walikuwa na elimu thabiti ya chuoni na ufahamu thabiti wa lugha, angalau lugha yao wenyewe. Nilikuwa na rafiki ambaye alikuwa akipatikana haswa katika kategoria hiyo na kundi la marafiki zangu likapanuka ili kujumuisha watafsiri wengine. Niligundua kuwa hawa ni watu wa kupendeza sana na nikagundua kuwa mara nyingi tunapitia hali za maisha zinazofanana. Sijawahi kamwe kuwa na matatizo ya kupata marafiki wapya, lakini nilihisi "tofauti" na nina uhakika nao walihisi tofauti pia. Rafiki yangu alipostaafu, alinipendekeza kuchukua nafasi yake. Sasa nikaingia katika ulimwengu wa Utoaji bima kwa mashirika ya bima, taaluma ambayo sikuwa na ufahamu. Mimi pekee ndiye nilikuwa mtafsiri pale, na sikuwa na mengi ambayo ningetumia kama marejeleo. Hata hivyo, ilikuwa na kiwango kingine cha juu....

Katika kazi yangu mpya, nilianza kuangalia faili, nikiuliza maswali na kushawishi kampuni kunisajili katika kozi za Bima. Chuo cha Bima kilikuwa upande wa pili wa barabara, na nilipitia misimbo ya moto, sera za bima na katalogi za zima moto kwenye maktaba yao. Nilikuwa nikijifunza jambo ambalo sikuwahi kuwa na fursa ya kuweza kufanya: utafiti. Mara ya kwanza nililazimika kutafsiri pendekezo la madhumuni ya bima ya kituo cha kutengeneza bidhaa za nyuklea, nilipokea simu kutoka kwa aliyekuwa mkuu wa idara hiyo, akinipa hongera kwa kazi ambayo nilikuwa nimefanya. "Inalingana kwa njia sawa ni kile ambacho sisi tumezoea," alisema. Hadhi ya juu iliyoje! Kilichotokea ni kwamba nilisoma waraka kwenye faili hizo unaofanana na kile nilichokuwa nikishughulikia ili nipate mwongozo, lakini nilipoona kuwa mtangulizi wangu alikuwa ametumia neno "nyuklea" badala ya "kuu", niligundua kuwa faili hizo hazikuwa na manufaa kwangu. Nilivuka barabara nikaenda kwenye maktaba na kutafuta "vituo vya nyuklea." Papo hapo nikapata istilahi zote nilizohitaji.

Bila shaka, siku hizi unahitaji kufanya mengi zaidi ili uwe mtafsiri mzuri. [...]


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