Some translators are born into cosmopolitan, international households. Others have linguistic aptitude in their genes because of a long family history of learning and speaking foreign tongues, along with copious amounts of travel and exposure throughout their childhood and adolescence… and still others appear out of nowhere, landing like alien beings in a family with neither an interest in nor a history of languages, inexplicably showing up with the language gene. And not only that, but going on to make a living out of it.
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ProZ.com and other translation workplaces have been created based on the premise that translators will be willing to cooperate if given the appropriate tools and opportunities. At ProZ.com, there are several areas where you can establish relationships with colleagues and potential clients and share experiences:
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For some of us it’s the first magical encounter with an exotic culture on a childhood holiday, or an (imaginary) love affair with a faraway star singing in a foreign language, but for the young Simon Barnes, it was the quiet presence at home of his father’s French and German books that provided the first gateway to a new world. There can’t have been many shelves lined with such books in the small Leicestershire town of Market Bosworth (the scene of a defining battle in a civil war that marked England’s history), but then again his father had started out as a French and German teacher, before leaving to work for Rolls Royce.
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Like a trail of breadcrumbs in a fairytale, we can trace Elke Fehling’s love for languages all the way back through the decades. Her mother, who had been an au pair, was keen for her daughters to learn to speak other languages, so she encouraged them to watch Sesame Street from a young age (in English with German subtitles, which the 4-year-old Elke couldn’t read). Along with family trips to Italy and Spain, that early exposure sowed the seeds and inspired a sense of the magical properties of foreign languages.
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In some ways, Jonathan Downie’s journey to the prominent position he now occupies within the interpreting industry occurred against the odds. Being born on a working-class council housing estate in the West of Scotland to a father who worked on the country’s railways, and a mother who took on various jobs over the years, didn’t exactly point straight to a degree, a Master’s, a doctorate, and a career in languages, with extensive research work and the publishing of two acclaimed books along the way.
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A new year is getting started, and so are some of our new site members. At ProZ.com, there are members who are starting out, also some who have been in the profession for a while, and even many who have a steady list of clients. What do they all have in common? They have invested in their businesses through membership as a smart strategy to be prepared for whatever tomorrow brings. So, congratulations for such a smart move, members, and welcome!
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Do you tip your hairdresser, taxi driver, lawn mower, or any other small business owner? Most likely, the answer is yes because it has been a cultural expectation to tip these individuals for providing a service. Now that we live in a digital world, do you extend the same courtesy to those providing services behind the screen?
Year 2021 is almost over and the site team would like to thank you for spending it with us!
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As a freelancer, you are likely booked out with year-end projects and your own personal events, but maybe it is time to add one more thing to your to-do list - holiday cards.
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Are you a freelancer looking for fun and functional gift ideas to share with loved ones this holiday season? When you work from home, there are a number of gifts you can ask for that will aid your freelancing career and make the holiday extra fun! This blog post includes a few favorite categories and ideas to share with you.
Last October 23rd, 2021, the Feminist Translators and Interpreters of Argentina (TEIFEM) held their third annual meeting for language professionals to exchange ideas, discuss language-related issues from multiple social, gender, and cultural perspectives, and support multilingual struggles, solidarity, and sisterhood from within a results-oriented group. The event was a perfect example of what TEIFEM is and a great starting point for the discussion of what's next in translation from a gender-based perspective.
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There are many within the translation and interpreting community who live far from the land where they were born. We pack our bags without too much difficulty, learn new languages, assimilate new cultures, make new friends. But even among such a well-travelled and cosmopolitan community, some stories stand out as unusual, and that of Yalda Hamidi, an Afghan interpreter now living in Ecuador, is remarkable.
It’s hard to picture two more different places than the Kathmandu Valley and suburban Toronto, but such extreme contrasts form a natural part of the narrative of Bimal Man Shrestha’s life.
So how does a man born in South Africa, brought up in Mozambique and educated in Malawi end up as a medical interpreter in Fortaleza in Brazil?
In fact it turns out the story’s logical enough, especially as Mozambique and Brazil share the same language. Carlos Kwengwe’s mother is a white Brazilian, who met his father, a black Mozambican, when they were studying together in Brazil in the 80s, at a time when Mozambique was still being torn apart by civil war.
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In fact it turns out the story’s logical enough, especially as Mozambique and Brazil share the same language. Carlos Kwengwe’s mother is a white Brazilian, who met his father, a black Mozambican, when they were studying together in Brazil in the 80s, at a time when Mozambique was still being torn apart by civil war.
The ProZ.com Interpreter Network -the pool of pre-screened professional interpreters- continues to grow with new interpreters joining every day 🚀
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