Jul 7, 2011 | Translation
Interview with Ibrahim, Professional Interpreter and Translator English / Arabic: First things first, we would love to learn more about you: why and when did you decide to become a translator/interpreter? Where did the idea come from, and have you ever considered doing anything else? I have been blessed with reasonably good knowledge of two languages: Arabic & English, mainly because my early education was bilingual and my university education was in the UK. As a result, I found myself translating or interpreting throughout my academic and professional life, both for business and personal use. Having spent a career in the information technology field, I finally wanted to do something different. A friend who translates in a different language group spurred me to think about translation, and my son-in-law, who is an interpreter/translator, provided the required encouragement and initiation. I have not looked back since! How different is being a translator/interpreter from what you had expected? Translation turned out to be a highly enjoyable, challenging and complex field; much more than I had expected, proving the adage that the more you know about something, the more complex it becomes. Conversely, we have a tendency to always oversimplify anything we do not know well. What is, according to you, the best way to learn a foreign language? How did you learn your languages? I began learning English at the age of 10. This is the first rule – start early! If that ship has sailed for you, the next thing you need to do is immersion in the culture of the language you are trying to learn. Live in the...
Jul 7, 2011 | Translation
Interview with Vitaly, Interpreter and Translator from English, French, and Spanish to Russian, and from Russian to English: First things first, we would love to learn more about you: why and when did you decide to become a translator/interpreter? Where did the idea come from, and have you ever considered doing anything else? English came easy for me in high school and that prompted me to enter a university in my hometown and study there, majoring in English and doing German as a second foreign language. While in university, I started to offer translating and interpreting services to make some money. I made a final decision to be a translator after graduation and I never came to regret it! Surely, I thought of changing my career several times in my life but it would still be something associated with languages and being around people of different nationalities. How different is being a translator/interpreter from what you had expected? Looking back now, I can say that overall, a career of a translator/interpreter has met my expectations. What is, according to you, the best way to learn a foreign language? How did you learn your languages? I believe that the best way to learn a language is in a country where it’s widely spoken. When you are totally immersed in the language you can make fairly rapid progress. I could not afford to travel abroad when I was a student, so I just spent countless hours in the local library reading books, preparing mini-glossaries, staying in touch with my pen pals. I also tried to use every opportunity to talk...
Jul 7, 2011 | Translation
Interview with Giovanni, Certified Interpreter and Translator from English and German to Spanish and from Spanish to German: First things first, we would love to learn more about you: why and when did you decide to become a translator/interpreter? Where did the idea come from, and have you ever considered doing anything else? I wanted to become an interpreter since the early age of 6. My whole family used to watch the Miss Universe pageant on television, and I wanted to be the guy who interpreted for the candidates. I thought that was the coolest job in the world. I’m satisfied with what I do now, but if I had to move to another business, I’d probably open a restaurant where I’d be the cook (or head chef, if you will). How different is being a translator/interpreter from what you had expected? It’s been pretty much what I’d expected as a grown up. I enjoy reading and learning about something different every day. What is, according to you, the best way to learn a foreign language? How did you learn your languages? In my opinion, there’s really no best way as everyone learns in a different way. I went to language institutes, both locally and abroad, but I also spent quite a significant amount of time studying independently on my own. What are the challenges of being a translator/interpreter? What are the perks? There’s more and more competition every day, and computer software is getting better and better and more affordable each time. Perks? Compared to other jobs, translating gives you a lot of flexibility to manage your...
Jul 7, 2011 | Translation
Interview with Andrey, Interpreter and Translator from English to Russian: First things first, we would love to learn more about you: why and when did you decide to become a translator/interpreter? Where did the idea come from, and have you ever considered doing anything else? Actually I did not have much choice; life itself showed me the right way. First I studied in an English-oriented school, the first Minsk “gymnasium”, after that I entered the Linguistic College, where the curriculum included some of the courses of the Minsk State Linguistic University and college students were allowed to start from the third year, missing the first two. Studying there was an immense experience – Minsk University is considered to be one of the best in the former USSR and the student life was real fun. However within the period of 1998-2002 the majority of my mates (as well as those from the school and college) emigrated abroad, as the knowledge of English was a great benefit for that, so the only thing I could do was to stay and support our national translation business. And I like my trade, especially oral interpreting (including simultaneous). How different is being a translator/interpreter from what you had expected? Actually I’ve never thought that an interpreter should also function as a driver, lawyer, animator and wine taster, at least down here in Belarus. J What is, according to you, the best way to learn a foreign language? How did you learn your languages? As far as I am concerned, I studied English in two English-oriented schools and in the university, and I believe that...
Jul 7, 2011 | Translation
Interview with Michel, Conference Interpreter English / French: First things first, we would love to learn more about you: why and when did you decide to become a translator/interpreter? Where did the idea come from, and have you ever considered doing anything else? I was the Director of the Vancouver Berlitz Centre in the early eighties and supplying interpreters to conferences in Vancouver when on one occasion, one interpreter cancelled at the last minute and the second was late. I decided to jump in, run to the hotel where the conference was taking place a few blocks from my office and stepped in the booth to fill in. I realized that I really enjoyed it, that I could do it and wanted more. From then on, I kept on doing as many conferences as I could each year in additional to my regular full time job. It also often meant using some of my holidays. Now that I am retired from corporate life, I can work at conferences as often as I’m needed. I could not think of any better job now that I am out of the stressful business world. How different is being a translator/interpreter from what you had expected? Interpreting for me has remained as interesting and fun as when I started. What is most enjoyable thought is that we are a small group of conference interpreters in BC, all fun to be with, very respectful of each other, forming a friendly and close team of very interesting people. What is, according to you, the best way to learn a foreign language? How did you learn...
Jul 7, 2011 | Translation
Interview with Angela, Interpreter and Translator from French and Spanish to English: First things first, we would love to learn more about you: why and when did you decide to become a translator/interpreter? Where did the idea stem from, and have you ever considered doing anything else? I took a course in high school regarding career choices and wrote my final project about those options in which foreign languages (as these were my strongest subjects at school) could be used. Of all the professions I researched, I liked best the idea of becoming a conference interpreter at the United Nations, as it offered the opportunities of a great deal of travel, a good salary, meeting important people who could change the world for the better (by preventing war and promoting peace) and, more importantly, I would be using my language skills to help people communicate with each other. I then planned my university curriculum around obtaining this goal. It involved studies in Vancouver, Quebec, California, Spain, France and the École de Traduction et d’Interprétation in Geneva, Switzerland. If the language career had not worked out for me, I did have a few back-up options, the first of these was as a classical musician since I studied piano up to the A.R.C.T. (Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto) performance level. More recently, however, I have added language teaching, editing & proofreading, photography, videography, writing, marketing & sales, website creation & design, tour guiding and other skills to my own company’s business package, so as to keep things fresh and stimulating, to exercise different parts of my brain, and to...
Jul 7, 2011 | Translation
Interview with Tim, Translator from English to Dutch: First things first, we would love to learn more about you: why and when did you decide to become a translator/interpreter? Where did the idea come from, and have you ever considered doing anything else? I hold a Master’s and Ph.D. degree in linguistics. When I was asked to do a translation job from English to Dutch by Lingostar, it caught my interest. Being a translator is not my main job. For the most part, I am the co-ordinator of an urban network in the southern part of the Netherlands. But both jobs are highly interconnected. It all comes down to making the effort to use a language that is fully understandable to the receiver. How different is being a translator/interpreter from what you had expected? I was not aware of the fact that translation is really more about the world than about language. However, internet always helps me to get a quick introduction into worlds that I am less familiar with. What is, according to you, the best way to learn a foreign language? How did you learn your languages? The best way to learn a foreign language is to go to an area where that language is spoken, on your own. And to force yourself to communicate solely in that language with native speakers of that language. Most of the languages I understand and speak I learned that way. What are the challenges of being a translator/interpreter? What are the perks? The most important challenge is to capture all subtleties from the source language in the target language....
Jul 7, 2011 | Translation
Interview with Sharon, Translator and reviser from Italian and French to English: First things first, we would love to learn more about you: why and when did you decide to become a translator/interpreter? Where did the idea come from, and have you ever considered doing anything else? It first occurred to me that I could become a translator when I applied for – and won – my first “real” job as Translator, Editor and Speechwriter at the Italian Embassy in Ottawa. After working there 3 years, I took and passed the certification exam for Italian to English. From then on I have always worked in the field, at first part time and for the last 12 years, full time, from my home office. I have in fact, worked in other fields, notably as a high school teacher, but translation is what I love, together with being my own boss. I have discovered that the best translators not only have in-depth mastery of their source languages; they are well-read and excellent writers themselves. We are communicators on several planes. Translation combines my own strengths and at this point, I can’t imagine doing anything else. How different is being a translator/interpreter from what you had expected? I’m not sure that it is terribly different from what I had expected, except that it is amazing how at times so many translations of a phrase can all be correct. What is, according to you, the best way to learn a foreign language? How did you learn your languages? The BEST way is to arrange to have parents who speak a different native language...
Jul 7, 2011 | Translation News
Dear Language Friend, You have probably already noticed the vast number of languages that are available on the widely popular social networking website, Facebook. You also may have already seen the window below and marveled at the diversity of available languages: Yes, Facebook already has 69 languages available in its database, in addition to regional dialects and geographic varieties, such as English (US), English (UK), or English (India), Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico), or Spanish (Venezuela). Surprisingly, in spite of all the new features and constant improvements, Facebook is still free and easy to access. You may ask yourself: how come? How can Facebook afford to pay more than 70 translators for the 24,000 phrases currently present on the website? Well, it doesn’t have to. Here is the full story, courtesy of the LingoStar team! Contributed by Coralie Tripier and Cecilia Rose *** After having quickly conquered Harvard, the Ivy League, and later a large part of North America, former student and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had one thing in mind: making Facebook known and used worldwide. Clearly, the young CEO needed to translate the entire website into other languages, but that is not all: more than anything else, he needed to localize it – adapt it to different cultures. Sometime around the year 2007, Zuckerberg had a revolutionary idea: a translation by the Facebook user for the Facebook user! Since then, the Facebook Translation App – an application allowing users to translate and choose the best translations for the website – was launched. First, it helped translate the platform into Spanish, German, and French, before expanding to other languages....
Jul 6, 2011 | Translation
Interview with Peter, Translator from English to Chinese (simplified and traditional): First things first, we would love to learn more about you: why and when did you decide to become a translator/interpreter? Where did the idea come from, and have you ever considered doing anything else? I decided to become a translator in 2004, two years after I immigrated to Canada. In order to survive in the new country, I took different jobs, such as file processing specialist with an immigration company, ESL and TOEFL tutor with some private colleges and bookkeeper with a Vancouver-based company. But none of the jobs was what I liked. Later a friend of mine, who is a translator, asked me to help him with some translation jobs, and he encouraged me to be a full time translator. I followed his advice and quit all the other odd jobs and started to work as a translator. How different is being a translator/interpreter from what you had expected? A translator’s job is more challenging and time-consuming than I expected. To be a qualified translator, one must not only be very proficient at both the source language and target language, but must also have extensive knowledge in your areas. A good translator should also know how to use CAT tools in his translation and have good project management skills. Above all, a good translator must be committed to his work and clients What is, according to you, the best way to learn a foreign language? How did you learn your languages? To me, the best way to learn a foreign language is by communicating with native...
