transALtion: Transloscope March-April

Monday, March 15

Transloscope March-April

The horoscope for translators - 15 March - 15 April 2010

Aries
Stop getting angry because you cannot ctrl-z back in those excel cells and no, it is not absolutely sure that you checked already for double spaces in that 4,000-words doc: it just takes a sec, don't send it yet.

Taurus
Before you set on fire your internet provider's central building, go out and subscribe to the local gym and work out to realease the stress: in a prison cell the wi-fi is going to be even more unstable.

Gemini
Don't refuse that dentistry manual job: the fact that you specialize in gardening tools does not mean at all that you'll do bad: no-one will notice unless you loaf on the couch until it's two days from the deadline as usual.

Cancer
I know: it's not the right time, today it's so cloudy, you had a fight with your girlfriend, you don't know the true meaning of life. At least crawl out of the bed, get yourself some coffee and send that €3k invoice, ass.

Leo
In 2010, no-one is going to acknowledge the striking superiority of your work in accuracy, quickness and eloquence: now this may sound unfair to you, but perhaps you should rethink that €0.09 min rate, mate.

Virgo
You could fit those extra 2,500 words for Mon, work on Sun at the legal doc, and Sat night you can finish checking the agency's Nuclear_physics_TM. What you need, though, is to fit a dinner out, music and sex.

Libra
There's quiet no-one like you at fixing problems with CAT, organizing work and not snapping at coleagues, but this month keep in mind that they'd love you or hate you all the same if you were the floor's janitor.

Scorpio
If this month you find your job so boring, don't plunge into alcohol and sexual promiscuity to make it more lively, just try to think rationally to what a new job could be, that is excluding drug-dealing and blackmailing.

Sagittarius
You made clear that you don't need this job, it's this job that needs you. Your PM does not know it yet, though, so no jaw-dropping and eye-rolling at criticisms. And laser away that "Pro Translator" chest tattoo.

Capricorn
Last time you tried to take a break, you ended up organizing a heart-surgery translation 4-days intensive course on the beach in front of the resort: don't you realize you really are a navy-seal doing the wrong job?

Aquarius
Dude, I don't really know what to say, it's just the weird way you make it all work, just don't fiddle with suicidal thoughts for the human condition and dying whales and keep on going, whales will make it somehow.

Pisces
Probably this year you ought to specialize in some field. Probably you ought to become an in-house. Probably you should raise your rates. Probably you'll get some 20k words to do. What?! Oh, no, no, it's all up to you.

No comments:

Post a Comment

An Independent Translator's Blog

When adversity in the shape of a translation agency's PM wrote that he was putting on the line the agency's reputation by posting links to the Translator's Charter and other radically socialist, client-upsetting and overall unacceptable contents, Prof. John Trados and me, his humble scrivener, immediately retaliated by moving all of John's posts to this new blog, where you will soon find previous materials and new contents.

Here you will find in-depth studies on translators' life, behaviour and habitat. Contact us and let us know on which aspects of a translator's life you would like us to focus.

If you would like to know more about translator species or society, please do comment and contribute with your evidence and experience to map the still blurred world of wild and domestic translators.

John Trados

An ex-SDLX militia, at age 24 John Trados (1984-) chose the scholar's life over warfare, turned back his uniform and wholeheartedly delved into his high-school years' passion: Charles Windar.

Charles Windar (1817-1893) devoted his life to the study of the Guinea Free-Range Translator, from which the modern freelance translator evolved. Trados became fascinated with the topic and contacted ex-comrades from the translation agency's mercenary officials and persuaded some to join him in his studies, the final goal being the enactment of national regulations for the protection of freelance translators.

The proud and sensitive nature of F4, Trados' own Guinea Translator - one of the few specimens left in the world- won the hearts of many of the ex-militias: Trados has been studying freelancer biology and behaviour for years in the hope to shed some light on the rapid extiction of the Guinea Free-Range and in order to create a social awareness of the unfair exploitation of translators which is taking place at this very moment, worldwide.

Freelancer - Etymology

by Jay Schindler

The word "freelance" was first coined by Sir Walter Scott, a renowned Scottish historical novelist and poet, in 1819 when he wrote his novel Ivanhoe, to refer to a medieval mercenary warrior. The term has then shifted into more figurative meanings. In the 1860s, freelance became a figurative noun, and in 1903, it was officially recognized as a verb by etymologists like the Oxford English Dictionary.

Today, the word "freelance" has changed into different forms: as a noun, freelance or freelancer; as a verb, a photographer who freelances; and as an adverb, he works freelance. Working freelance has become a career and lifestyle choice. It has given more people a variety of benefits and these people feel that there is no better option than the ones they have due to the flexibility of work. More people today choose to leave the security of their day jobs and engage in freelance work due mainly to the following factors... (see article source)

transALtion