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 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 6, 2011 | Translation
Interview with Louis-Benoit, Translator from English and Spanish to 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? During my studies I have always been giving a lot importance to grammar, rules of citation and style guidelines, proper translation of specific terms, and best ways to develop ideas in my essays. I might was focusing a little too much on it…I’m not sure I always had much better marks because this part of my essays were really faultless. 6 months ago, after a semester in a Master program of Urban Planning I realised the job I already had in translation was definitely the best fit to my personality and abilities. So I decided to get a professional accreditation and really make my living with my passion for languages. How different is being a translator/interpreter from what you had expected? I had no idea CAT tools were so important in the translation industry. What is, according to you, the best way to learn a foreign language? How did you learn your languages? I think doing an immersion is something very important to learn a foreign language. This is what I did to learn Spanish when I was a teen. I stayed 6 months in Costa Rica, living with a local family who didn’t speak a word at all of English or French. Only after 2 months, I was feeling very comfortable speaking Spanish but, I knew I was still making a lot of...
