Categories: life, translation
Date: 13 March 2008 21:00:26
If yesterday evening's experience is anything to go by translators are a bit like buses. None for ages and then three come along at the same time.
During the course of the working day I rarely see anyone, let alone a fellow translator for we are all squirrelled away in our garrets slaving over some text or other. Yesterday evening I went to a church meeting where there were perhaps 30 people and three of us were translators. I know of at least one other translator who lives and works in the village - it makes me wonder how many more are secreted behind all those bland front doors!
I was one of the translators present (obviously), Marie-France was another and R was the third. R has not featured here before but he and I worked together on the advertising material I mentioned before Christmas for the infamous Dr Schneemann. When I say 'worked together' I mean that in a very loose sense. We both had a section to do and we occasionally e-mailed to ask if the other had used a particular word or phrase which came up frequently in an attempt to keep a sense of uniformity.
Since that time, R has written and *published* a book in German on the American elections. I asked him when he started writing and he replied that he began after we'd finished the Schneemann job! I gallantly offered to translate it for him - tongue in cheek, of course, he is more than capable of doing the job himself. He seemed to respond quite seriously to my offer and regretted that the translation had already been spoken for by his American publisher.
I was quite amazed that he could accomplish such a feat in so few weeks - and reflected later that given the book was launched on 28 Feb the world is a peculiar place. My invoice for the Schneemann job was paid just this week.