Phoenix not Rising Out of Anything

This pathetic article does such injustice to translators, and shows so much ignorance about what we do, that if the training institution it promotes really is affiliated with Phoenix University, then it is should be renamed the Dodo University. Dead as..

Professionally trained translators who specialise solely in "business language" do not make all the killing. Those who specialise in highly intricate legal jargon, in medical technologies, in engineering and the financial markets, if they are VERY GOOD at what they do, can make a decent living. On the other hand, businessmen who can properly speak a second language open doors for themselves to promotion, but they will never become professional translators unless they undergo proper tertiary training. Not some language course, but theory and practice in the field of language transfer.

Translators might become interpreters, and although these are two related fields, interpreting is much harder than translating and needs a much more rigorous training than translating in quick problem solving techniques, memory skills, note-taking, working with difficult (violent, dying, not altogether there and so on) clients, and mastering by heart whole glossaries of specialised terminology in both languages.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

So the statement that "if you undergo translation training you can even work as an interpreter" followed by "you will be in a position to carry out a variety of ways of interpreting" which includes simultaneous (known as conference) interpreting is misleading. To become a simultaneous interpreter you don't just need two languages. You need to be widely read, very well educated, and politically savvy, because this is a job for people who will work at the UN, the EU, the Congress, etc. interpreting in situations where an incorrect term could lead to a war.

Global Language Training either got a writer who stuffed up their write-up, or they aren't really training people in Translating and Interpreting.

Just Surfing

I came back from Melbourne yesterday more a zombie than a human, but my inert mental state did not stop me from savouring the after-taste of yet another good workshop.

So there were 20 in Brisbane, 20 in Melbourne and over 60 in Sydney, and then some more in Hobart and Launceston. Maybe not what the Pope got, but for AUSIT, this is not bad for a PD performance. What was even better, was the fact that people were really interested, that the workshop was full of participant's questions, and that people had fun as well as learning new information.

I call it making holes in brick-walls. Love the sunshine that comes in afterwards.

Once the clouds of sleep depravation and hurting feet lifted, I started thinking about what one VIC/TAS member had said - we are an aging industry in Australia, and no one is preparing the younger generation. I have to admit that it was a bit of a shock to the system to find out how many seasoned (and often BBQed) translators, with many more years of expertise than me, battled with the world of new technologies, and how many missed on what it could offer them.

So maybe the book is in order now. NOW. Before I, too, become too tired and old to teach. But a book that stays updated, not one that is obsolete before it even hits the offset press. So maybe a hyper-book? A book written by more than one person, by all of us, together, as we learn? An interactive book, full of good tips, and laughter?

I think I will start it with a Google Group first, and a dedicated blog for my longer epiphanies.