[...] 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. [...] | [...] Tõlkijaid ei tunnustatud, nad ei eeldanud suurt sissetulekut, vaid piisavalt, et hakkama saada. Väga vähesed inimesed said vastava koolituse, kuid enamikul oli arvestatav kõrgharidus ja kindel keeleoskus, vähemalt oma emakeeles. Üks mu sõber kuulus täpselt sellesse kategooriasse ning mu sõprade ringi lisandus veel tõlkijaid. Minu arvates olid nad inimestena palju huvitavamad ja avastasin, et tihtipeale oli meil sarnaseid elukogemusi. Mul ei olnud kunagi probleeme sõprade leidmisega, kuid tundsin end alati „teistsugusena“ ja olen kindel, et ka nemad tundsid seda. Kui mu sõbranna pensionile läks, soovitas ta mind oma asendajaks. Suundusin Reinsurance'isse, mis oli minu jaoks tundmatu. Olin seal ainus tõlkija ning mul polnud millelegi toetuda. Siiski oli see samm edasi... Uuel töökohal hakkasin faile läbi vaatama, küsimusi esitama ning tööandja rahastas mu kindlustusteemalisi koolitusi. Kindlustuskolledž asus teisel pool tänavat ja ma tutvusin nende raamatukogus tuleohutuseeskirjade, kindlustuspoliiside ja tulekustutite kataloogidega. Õppisin midagi, milleks mul varem võimalust ei olnud – uurimistööd. Kui pidin esimest korda tõlkima ühe tuumaelektrijaama kindlustusettepanekut, helistas mulle selle osakonna juht, kes õnnitles mind tehtud töö eest. „Täiesti võrreldav harjumuspärase kvaliteediga“, ütles ta. Kui meeliülendav! Juhtus nii, et vaatasin juhindumiseks dokumenti, mis oli sarnane tõlgitava dokumendiga, kuid kui märkasin, et minu eelkäija oli kasutanud sõna „nucleus“ asemel sõna „core“, sain aru, et need failid on minu jaoks kasutud. Läksin üle tee raamatukokku ja otsisin üles "tuumajaamad". Leidsin kohe kogu vajaliku terminoloogia. Heaks tõlkijaks saamiseks on tänapäeval muidugi vaja palju enamat. [...] |