[...] Translators just didn't get recognition, they didn't expect to make much of a living, just get by. Very few people were actually trained as translators, but most had a solid college education and a solid knowledge of languages, at least their own language. I had a friend who fell exactly into that category and my circle of friends expanded to include other translators. I found them to be much more interesting as people, and discovered that we often had similar life experiences. I never had trouble making friends, but I always felt "different" and I'm sure they felt it too. When my friend retired, she recommended me as her replacement. I now entered the realm of Reinsurance, of which I knew nothing. I was also the only translator there, and didn't have much to fall back on. However, it was another notch up....
On my new job, I started looking through the files, asking questions and got the company to enroll me in Insurance courses. The College of Insurance was across the street, and I consulted fire codes, insurance policies and fire extinguisher catalogs in their library. I was learning what I had never had the luxury of being able to do before: research. The first time I had to translate a proposal for purposes of insurance of a nuclear plant, I got a call from the head man in that department, congratulating me on the job I had done. "Compares favorably with what we are used to," he said. What an upper! What happened was that I consulted a document in the files similar to the one I was tackling for guidance, but when I saw that my predecessor had used the word "nucleus" instead of "core", I realized that the files were useless to me. I went across the street to the library and looked up "nuclear plants." I immediately found all the terminology I needed.
It takes a great deal more than that to be a good translator these days, of course. [...] | […] Tõlkijad lihtsalt ei pälvinud tunnustust, nad ei eeldanud suur teenistust, vaid ainult nii palju, et ära elada. Väga vähesed neist olid tegelikult õppinud tõlkimist ning enamikul oli korralik kõrgharidus ja head teadmised keelest, vähemalt nende emakeelest. Mul oli sõber, kes langes just sellesse kategooriasse ja minu sõprade ring laienes teiste tõlkijate võrra. Leidsin, et inimestena olid nad tunduvalt huvitavamad ja avastasin, et sageli olid meil sarnased elukogemused. Minu jaoks pole sõprade leidmine kunagi probleem olnud, aga ma tundsin alati, et olen “erinev” ja olen kindel, et ka nemad tundsid seda. Kui mu sõber läks pensionile, soovitas ta mind oma kohale. Nüüd sisenesin ma Edasikindlustuse valdkonda, mille kohta mul puudusid igasugused teadmised. Kuna ma olin seal ka ainus tõlkija, polnud mul taganemisteed. Igatahes oli see järjekordne samm edasi… Oma uuel tööl hakkasin ma üle lugema dokumente, esitama küsimusi ja jõudsin nii kaugele, et ettevõte registreeris mind kindlustuse kursustele. Kindlustuskolledz asus teisel pool tänavat ja ma uurisin nende raamatukogus tuletõrje eeskirju, kindlustuspoliise ja tulekustutite katalooge. Mõistsin, mis on see, mida mul kunagi varem ei olnud luksust teha: uurida. Esimene kord, kui ma pidin tõlkima tuumajaama kindlustamise ettepanekut, helistas mulle selle osakonna juhataja, kes õnnitles mind hästi tehtud töö puhul. “Vastab sellele, millega oleme harjunud”, ütles ta. Milline kiitus! Mis juhtus, oli see, et uurisin juhiste saamiseks sarnaseid dokuente, mis olid koostatud minu eelkäija poolt, aga kui ma nägin sõna “südamik” asemel sõna “ tuum”, mõistsin, et need dokumendid olid minu jaoks kasutud. Ma läksin üle tee olevasse raamatukokku ja otsisin materjali märksõnaga “tuumaelektrijaam.” ning leidsin koheselt endale vajaliku terminoloogia. Loomulikult on tänapäeval vaja palju enamat kui see, et olla hea tõlkija. […] |