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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to Kirundi » Entry #36082


Source text in English

Translation #36082

[...] 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. [...]
[...] Abasiguzi b'indimi ntibamye bemewe, ntanubwo bari biteze kubaho ubuzima bwiza mu vyo bakora, gupfupfahaza gusa. Abantu bake cane nibo bari barakurikiranye inyigisho z'abasobanuzi b'indimi, ariko benshi bari bafise ubumenyi bukwiye bwo muri kaminuza ndetse n'ubw'indimi, cane cane ururimi kavukire rwabo. Nari mfise umugenzi yari muri uwo mugwi hanyuma mbandanya kuronka benshi b'abagenzi harimwo abasiguzi b'indimi. Nasanze ari abantu badasanzwe, ndetse nsanga barafise ibitari bike baciyemwo dusangiye. Ntivyigeze bingora kugira abagenzi, ariko ico gihe tumenyana niyumva "ukuntu kudasanzwe" kandi ndazi neza ko nabo nyene kwari uko. Igihe umugenzi wanje akukuruka, yansabiye ko nomusubirira. Ndaheza ninjira mu bijanye n’ubwishingizi, igisata ntari menyere namba. Ikindi ni jewe musobanuzi jenyene nari muri iryo shirahamwe, bigatuma ntagira n’uwo nitura igihe hari ibingoye. Nyamara, kuba jenyene navyo nyene vyaramfashije gushika ku kintu kidasanzwe.

Nkishika kuri ako kazi gashasha, natanguye kuraba inyandiko zimwe na zimwe, mbaza ibibazo ndanasaba ishirahamwe ryanje ko rindihira inyigisho mu gisata c’ubwishingizi. Kaminuza yigisha ivy’ubwishingizi yari hakurya y’ibarabara, ndaheza ndasoma ibijanye n’amategeko agenga amasanganya y’umuriro, amategeko ajanye n’ubwishingizi hamwe n’inyandiko zivuga ku kuzimya imiriro y’ivyaduka mw’isomero ry’ibitabu ry’iyo kaminuza. Nariko niga ibintu ntari narigeze mpura navyo mu buzima: ubushakashatsi. Ubwambere nshira mu rundi rurimi ubushakashatsi bujanye n’ubwishingizi bw’ihinguriro ritunganya ivya “nikereyeri”, nahamagawe n’uwurongoye ico gisata, ankeza ku kazi nari nakoze. Yambwiye ati: “Bikoze neza gusumba ibindi twari dusanzwe tubona”. Mbega ikintu canteye intege! Uko vyagenze naravye ivyanditswe mu gisata gisusa n’ico nariko ndakorerako kugira bimpe iciyumviro, ariko maze kubona ko uwo nasubiriye yari yakoresheje ijambo “nucleus” ha kugira “core”, naciye mbona ko izo nyandiko ataco zari kumfasha. Naciye nja hamwe hakurya y’ibarabara muri ya nzu yo gusomeramwo ibitabu ndaheza ndondera insiguro y’amajambo “nuclear plants”. Ubwo nyene naciye mbona amajambo yose nari nkeneye.

Mu vy’ukuri bisaba ikiguzi kidasanzwe kugira umuntu abe umusiguzi w’indimi mwiza muri iki gihe, [...]


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