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Poll: Do you consider that your profession as a translator has made you a better person?
Autor da sequência: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
STAFF DO SÍTIO
May 20, 2021

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you consider that your profession as a translator has made you a better person?".

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Raimundo Nonato Robert de Freitas
Claudio Nieto
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 04:37
Membro (2007)
Inglês para Português
+ ...
Other May 20, 2021

Probably, it has, because I’ve been doing what I love and loving what I do and that’s important in life, though I have no way of comparing. What if I had pursued a different career? One thing is sure I’m no longer the social animal I once was. I love being and working alone. I wonder if this is an age thing or a translator thing?

P.L.F. Persi (X)
Marina Taffetani
Rachel Waddington
Raimundo Nonato Robert de Freitas
Alix Paupy
Katarina Perna
Siobhán Fulton
 
Gerard Barry
Gerard Barry
Alemanha
Local time: 05:37
Alemão para Inglês
How? May 20, 2021

How on earth could working as a translator make anyone a better (or worse) person?

Josephine Cassar
Gabriella Vento
Philip Lees
P.L.F. Persi (X)
 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 05:37
Membro (2003)
Inglês para Italiano
+ ...
Same here May 20, 2021

Teresa Borges wrote:
One thing is sure I’m no longer the social animal I once was. I love being and working alone. I wonder if this is an age thing or a translator thing?


I sometimes feel as a lonely wolf.


Elena Feriani
P.L.F. Persi (X)
Marina Taffetani
Raimundo Nonato Robert de Freitas
Katarina Perna
Gibril Koroma
Anja Hajek
 
Marina Taffetani
Marina Taffetani  Identity Verified
Itália
Local time: 05:37
Alemão para Italiano
+ ...
No May 20, 2021

I don't see why it should have made me a better person, honestly. A profession doesn't make a person better or worse (that is, unless you save lives working as a doctor, but then again you can be an outstanding doctor and a horrible person at the same time).

On the other hand, there is truth in what Teresa says.


Christine Andersen
TanjaO
P.L.F. Persi (X)
Raimundo Nonato Robert de Freitas
Katarina Perna
Zibow Retailleau (X)
expressisverbis
 
Rachel Waddington
Rachel Waddington  Identity Verified
Reino Unido
Local time: 04:37
Holandês para Inglês
+ ...
No May 20, 2021

Not really. It probably makes me a more knowledgable person in some ways, but then again when I have time away from translation I get interested in other things so become knowledgable in other ways.

What it does make me is more introverted - I notice this when I take time away from it and suddenly become more outgoing.


Raimundo Nonato Robert de Freitas
P.L.F. Persi (X)
expressisverbis
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Nikolay Novitskiy
nathalia woglo
Philip Lees
 
Christine Andersen
Christine Andersen  Identity Verified
Dinamarca
Local time: 05:37
Membro (2003)
Dinamarquês para Inglês
+ ...
No May 20, 2021

I doubt very much whether it has made me a better person.
However, it has made me a much happier person after years of not being able to do what I wanted - or thought I wanted - with my life.
I finally found my niche, and feel better able to make a contribution as well as just earning a living. I am not sociable, and not good with my hands, so I felt clumsy and out of place in other jobs, no matter how hard I tried. It was always the others who were noticed and praised.

... See more
I doubt very much whether it has made me a better person.
However, it has made me a much happier person after years of not being able to do what I wanted - or thought I wanted - with my life.
I finally found my niche, and feel better able to make a contribution as well as just earning a living. I am not sociable, and not good with my hands, so I felt clumsy and out of place in other jobs, no matter how hard I tried. It was always the others who were noticed and praised.

I came to translation late in life, and was amazed to find suddenly that clients actually liked what I did, and criticism was often positive: 'you're doing a good job, but could you make just a little change?'

People have helped me and put up with me along the way. I can never pay them back, but sometimes I am able to help others instead.
Collapse


Raimundo Nonato Robert de Freitas
P.L.F. Persi (X)
expressisverbis
Angie Garbarino
Rachel Waddington
Jean Dimitriadis
Peter Shortall
 
P.L.F. Persi (X)
P.L.F. Persi (X)  Identity Verified
Holanda
Local time: 05:37
Inglês para Italiano
+ ...
Hungry like the wolf May 20, 2021

Angie Garbarino wrote:

I sometimes feel as a lonely wolf.


She-wolf

Here's a she-wolf, photographed on the Belgium-Netherlands border a couple of years ago (not my pic, I hasten to add; I found it on The Guardian).

Aren't they beautiful creatures? She looks like she's smiling, and her eyes are twinkling with a naughty sparkle.

Translation might have taught me something, but becoming a better person has nothing to do with it, it's an ongoing process, a work in progress, neither necessarily, nor always successful, at least in my case.
Well, as long as I don't become a worse one.


Katarina Perna
Zibow Retailleau (X)
expressisverbis
Angie Garbarino
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Christine Andersen
Tom in London
 
Siobhán Fulton
Siobhán Fulton
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 23:37
Alemão para Inglês
No May 20, 2021

If it had any effect, I'd be a better person.

P.L.F. Persi (X)
 
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL
Giovanni Guarnieri MITI, MIL  Identity Verified
Reino Unido
Local time: 04:37
Inglês para Italiano
No May 20, 2021

I was already a better person...

P.L.F. Persi (X)
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
expressisverbis
The Shredder
Matthias Brombach
Jean Dimitriadis
Mervyn Henderson (X)
 
Jean Dimitriadis
Jean Dimitriadis  Identity Verified
Inglês para Francês
+ ...
Better May 20, 2021

No, but it got the better of me 🙂

P.L.F. Persi (X)
The Shredder
Mervyn Henderson (X)
 
Jean Dimitriadis
Jean Dimitriadis  Identity Verified
Inglês para Francês
+ ...
Wolf May 20, 2021

A Big Better Wolf, then?

Reminds me of Radiohead's "Fitter, happier"...

https://youtu.be/O4SzvsMFaek


P.L.F. Persi (X)
Angie Garbarino
 
Tina Vonhof (X)
Tina Vonhof (X)
Canadá
Local time: 21:37
Holandês para Inglês
+ ...
What it has done May 20, 2021

Turning to translation and editing after my retirement made me aware that, after wearing many other hats in the course of my life, this was really my niche, what I like to do best. It gave me a reason to get up in the morning and structure to my days. It made me feel happy and confident. Communicating with people of many different feathers has made me more thoughtful, patient, and understanding of others and more aware of what goes on in other parts of the world. Does that make me a better perso... See more
Turning to translation and editing after my retirement made me aware that, after wearing many other hats in the course of my life, this was really my niche, what I like to do best. It gave me a reason to get up in the morning and structure to my days. It made me feel happy and confident. Communicating with people of many different feathers has made me more thoughtful, patient, and understanding of others and more aware of what goes on in other parts of the world. Does that make me a better person, I don't know, but at the very least it has added something to the person I was before.Collapse


P.L.F. Persi (X)
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
edna escalante
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
Ying-Ju Fang
Agneta Pallinder
Paul van Zijll
 
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Barbara Cochran, MFA  Identity Verified
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 23:37
Espanhol para Inglês
+ ...
Yes, DEFINITELY... May 20, 2021

... in that it has made me a much more knowledgeable person in terms of the kinds of subject matter I've been interested in, either for a long time, or for just the past 20 years or so, and which I cover as a translator. I always enjoy expanding on what I already know, and new facts and theories are forever surfacing as time marches on, and translators help with their dissemination.

expressisverbis
Tom in London
P.L.F. Persi (X)
Muriel Vasconcellos (X)
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
Reino Unido
Local time: 04:37
Italiano para Inglês
EVerything May 20, 2021

Everything I translate broadens my mind and extends my knowledge. It's enormously rewarding. And sometimes very geeky. I know more about the functioning of hot dip galvanising machinery than is healthy for a normal human being.

Being a translator is an extremely interesting and life-enhancing occupation, although it isn't great as a chat-up line at a party.

Man at party: "I'm a translator. Italian to English"
Woman: "I have to go now."


Barbara Cochran, MFA
Darren Aguis (X)
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
P.L.F. Persi (X)
Angie Garbarino
Mervyn Henderson (X)
Muriel Vasconcellos (X)
 
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Poll: Do you consider that your profession as a translator has made you a better person?






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