1- You get the same empty stare after answering the question “What do you do?” or “What do you study?”
2- People tell you “So… Translator… You just study a foreign language? You work as a teacher, right? What else do you do? How many languages do you speak?”
3- People ask you how to say something in a different language, because a translator is supposed to have learnt the whole dictionary by heart…
(Translator ? WALKING DICTIONARY)
4- You admit you suck at maths.
5- You know how to use Trados, Wordfast, etc.
6- Sleeping is not as important as deadlines.
7- You realise that you can’t avoid learning new things all the time with each text you translate.
8- You learn to loathe gerunds and false friends.
9- You know Alicia Zorrilla.
10- You’re aware of issues such as gender and political correctness, which no one around you seems to care about.
11- You frequently have nightmares in which you’re chased by Saussure, Chomsky, Halliday or Pinker.
12- You find certain words, expressions or translations utterly amusing… Yes, you laugh at words.
13- …
There are 26 more reasons why We are Translators (and Interpreters), and I’m sure you’ll laugh at following ones on: http://rominantica.spaces.live.com/blog/ or on Facebook (where reasons keep on growing in the group called “You know you’re a translator when…”)
PS Thanks to the person inviting me to this facebook group gathering people with a common interest in languages
…e grazie a te che mi hai fatto scoprire quel bellissimo gruppo!
Sono d’accordo con molti punti elencati nel gruppo… però, ahimé, a me piace dormire, e 7-8 ore di sonno me le voglio fare!! Mi devo abituare a dormire di meno…
tutto verissimo! aggiungerei che uno si sente interprete (traduttore) anche quando i clienti ti fanno domande che tu sai essere insensate; mi sono sentito chiedere, ad esempio, “quanti **passaggi** servono per tradurre dal Cinese all’Italiano? ci sono più **passaggi** con queste due lingue rispetto ad altre coppie di lingue?”. -ma cosa sono questi **PASSAGGI**?-
E qui hai l’ennesima conferma che l’esame di teoria della traduzione I era effettivamente necessario