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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to Tagalog » Entry by John David Villalon


Source text in English

Translation by John David Villalon (#35978)

[...] 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. [...]
[...] Ang mga tagasalin ay hindi lang nakatatanggap ng pagkilala, hindi sila naghahangad na kumita ng malaki, basta yun makasasapat lang. Iilang tao lang talaga ang nagsanay bilang tagasalin, karamihan ay may matibay na edukasyon sa kolehiyo at may malalim na kaalaman sa wika, kahit sa sariling wika niya man lang. Meron akong kaibigang sasakto sa kategoryang ito at nadagdagan pa ang mga kaibigan kong tagasalin. Natuklasan kong mas nakakatuwa sila bilang mga tao, at natuklasan kong madalas pareho kami ng mga karanasan. Hindi mahirap para sa akin ang makipagkaibigan pero madalas ramdam kong "iba" ako at sigurado akong ganun din ang nararamdaman nila. Nang magretiro ang kaibigan ko, inirekomenda niya akong kahalili. Ngayon napasok ko ang mundo ng Reinsurance, na wala akong kamuwang-muwang. Namumukod akong tasalin doon at wala akong mahihingan ng tulong. Gayunpaman, pag-unlad na rin ito.

Sa bago kong trabaho, nagsimula akong magtingin tingin sa mga dokumento, magtanung-tanung at pinag-aral ako ng kumpanya sa mga kurso sa insurance. Ang College is Insurance ay nasa kabila lang ng kalsada, pagkatapos nagkonsulta ako ng mga fire codes, insurance policies at mga catalog ng fire extinguisher sa kanilang aklatan. Natututunan ko ang isang bagay na kailanman ay hindi ko mapaglaanan noon ng panahon, ang magsaliksik. Ang unang pagkakataong kailangan kong magsalin ng isang proposal para sa isang insurance ng isang nuclear plant. Nakatanggap ako ng tawag mula sa pinuno ng department, binabati niya ako sa aking trabaho. "Maikukumpara namin ito sa aming nakasanayan na," aniya. Napakasaya! Ang nangyari ay naghanap ako ng mga kahalintulad na dokumento para maging gabay, pero nang makita kong ang ginamit na salita ng aking pinalitan ay "nucleus" imbes na "core, napagtanto kong walang maitutulong ang mga dokumento sa akin. Pumunta ako sa aklatan sa kabilang kalsada at hinanap ko ang "nuclear plants." Agad agad kong nakita ang mga terminong kakailanganin ko.

Syempre, sa panahon ngayon, higit pa rito ang kinakailangan para maging mahusay na tagasalin[...]


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