I hope I never have an interpreting assignment for Ryanair's Michael O'Leary. This video (warning: contains offensive language) explains why.
What's an interpreter to do when they are expected to translate something which is insulting to them and/or their audience?
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Why proof-readers are not a luxury
During our time on the Morbihan coast we stopped off to stock up on supplies at a local supermarket.
We were amazed to discover a range of vital English products and came away with stocks of Branston Pickle and Hobnobs.
The store had also made an effort to welcome the many English-speaking tourists to this part of the world, but unfortunately had not checked the spelling on this sign before getting it made up.
This is why we systematically re-read our translations. It's also the kind of thing translators have nightmares about.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Wifi in hotels
We have travelled to Carnac for a Proz powwow, a get-together of translators - an important event in a job in which isolation can be an issue.
It's being held here, which turns out to be a very nice little hotel on the sea front.
Naturally, though, the determining critrion for whether to stay there was "do you have Internet access"? The answer was "yes, in the lounge". On this basis, I decided to pay ten euros extra and get a first-floor room with a balcony rather than a second-floor room, reasoning that there was a good chance of getting the lounge wifi there. Sure enough, it worked (just).
So either we got a nice balcony for ten euros, or unlimited wifi use in our room for ten euros. You decide!
It's being held here, which turns out to be a very nice little hotel on the sea front.
Naturally, though, the determining critrion for whether to stay there was "do you have Internet access"? The answer was "yes, in the lounge". On this basis, I decided to pay ten euros extra and get a first-floor room with a balcony rather than a second-floor room, reasoning that there was a good chance of getting the lounge wifi there. Sure enough, it worked (just).
So either we got a nice balcony for ten euros, or unlimited wifi use in our room for ten euros. You decide!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
When the internet fails
The way I work as a translator involves spending almost every working hour on the internet.
About a year or so ago I got wondering about what would happen if our network connection went down for any reason. I noticed an agency we did some work for had a backup ISP and decided to get one of my own - a cable-based solution which was thus completely independent from the phone-based one.
Although this did get us cable tv into the bargain it seemed like a rather expensive luxury, until our ISP did crash a week or so ago.
This was a bit of a panic, but fortunately did not happen right before a massive deadline. I had my wired backup solution working within minutes, but since the cable socket is not in our office, this involved a fair bit of running up and down stairs with a USB key before I plucked up the courage to install a wireless router we had lying around and configure my desktop machine for wifi.
The cable wifi connection actually turned out slightly faster than the phoneline adsl, but the big loss was our adsl phone line, which is our business number. I could get answerphone messages (which are e-mailed to me as audio files - a cool feature which means you can check your answerphone from any cybercafé) but not use or answer the phone. Meanwhile our cable package also had a phone line so we could at least phone out at no extra cost.
Anyway, all due credit to our ISP and France Telecom: I reported the breakdown on a Friday morning; by Monday morning the ISP technician had been and established the fault was with France Telecom, by Monday afternoon the FT technician had been too, and by about 30 minutes later he had been to the exchange and flicked back the switch they had inadvertently flipped switching off our unbundling.
I guess if our backup had failed it would have been a case of sitting in McDonalds and muddling through. But with hindsight, the experience was reassuring.
As working from home and self-employment increases, I wonder how many people have given thought to what to do in a similar situation.
About a year or so ago I got wondering about what would happen if our network connection went down for any reason. I noticed an agency we did some work for had a backup ISP and decided to get one of my own - a cable-based solution which was thus completely independent from the phone-based one.
Although this did get us cable tv into the bargain it seemed like a rather expensive luxury, until our ISP did crash a week or so ago.
This was a bit of a panic, but fortunately did not happen right before a massive deadline. I had my wired backup solution working within minutes, but since the cable socket is not in our office, this involved a fair bit of running up and down stairs with a USB key before I plucked up the courage to install a wireless router we had lying around and configure my desktop machine for wifi.
The cable wifi connection actually turned out slightly faster than the phoneline adsl, but the big loss was our adsl phone line, which is our business number. I could get answerphone messages (which are e-mailed to me as audio files - a cool feature which means you can check your answerphone from any cybercafé) but not use or answer the phone. Meanwhile our cable package also had a phone line so we could at least phone out at no extra cost.
Anyway, all due credit to our ISP and France Telecom: I reported the breakdown on a Friday morning; by Monday morning the ISP technician had been and established the fault was with France Telecom, by Monday afternoon the FT technician had been too, and by about 30 minutes later he had been to the exchange and flicked back the switch they had inadvertently flipped switching off our unbundling.
I guess if our backup had failed it would have been a case of sitting in McDonalds and muddling through. But with hindsight, the experience was reassuring.
As working from home and self-employment increases, I wonder how many people have given thought to what to do in a similar situation.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Word of the day: traboule
I'm currently working on a project relating to the Cité Internationale de Lyon. One of the delights of this job is constantly learning new words, and this project has taught me what a traboule is.
Where Mrs. Eutychus comes from they would probably refer to this as a "ginnel".
Where Mrs. Eutychus comes from they would probably refer to this as a "ginnel".
Monday, April 14, 2008
Welcome to translatable
Welcome! This post is just to say hello and ensure there's at least one item on this blog.
Further bulletins as events warrant.
Further bulletins as events warrant.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
