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Poll: If the internet suddenly did not exist again, would you continue in the profession?
Autor da sequência: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
STAFF DO SÍTIO
Sep 11, 2022

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "If the internet suddenly did not exist again, would you continue in the profession?".

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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 18:13
Membro (2007)
Inglês para Português
+ ...
I don't know Sep 11, 2022

At the time I started translating internet itself was in the realm of science fiction, so I could probably work without it, but I doubt very much that I’d have the stamina, and the patience, to go back to those days…

[Edited at 2022-09-11 08:41 GMT]


neilmac
Liudmyla Chernyshevska
Gamal Mustafa
Christel Zipfel
galo Canote
Pascale van Kempen-Herlant (X)
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
Reino Unido
Local time: 18:13
Italiano para Inglês
I wish...... Sep 11, 2022

13080660

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Jennifer Levey
Liena V.
 
Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Dinamarca
Local time: 19:13
Membro (2012)
Inglês para Dinamarquês
+ ...
Too hypothetical Sep 11, 2022

I don't even want to go there

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Robert Rietvelt
Philip Lees
Aline Brito
 
Yes, of course Sep 11, 2022

“I would try to”?????? What would be stopping you?!

Muriel Vasconcellos (X)
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Rita Utt
Rita Utt  Identity Verified
França
Local time: 19:13
Inglês para Alemão
+ ...
Definitely not Sep 11, 2022

When I started in translation, there was no internet.
And translation became much more fun with all those sources of knowledge available.


Gamal Mustafa
Angie Garbarino
TTMEM.COM WEBSITE
 
Gerard Barry
Gerard Barry
Alemanha
Local time: 19:13
Alemão para Inglês
. Sep 11, 2022

I honestly don't know how translators worked before the Internet. I presume most of them back then were real experts in the areas they translated in.

Muriel Vasconcellos (X)
Mirelluk
TTMEM.COM WEBSITE
expressisverbis
 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
França
Local time: 19:13
Francês para Inglês
. Sep 11, 2022

Yes, I think I have enough experience in my specialist fields to coast by for a while. I'd have to pull out those paper dictionaries that I have never wanted to throw away. And living just outside Paris I have access to some amazing libraries. I remember last century, hotfooting off to a library the other side of Paris which had one of very few copies of a special bilingual music encyclopedia, which was my last hope to translate the names of some very strange musical instruments on show in a mus... See more
Yes, I think I have enough experience in my specialist fields to coast by for a while. I'd have to pull out those paper dictionaries that I have never wanted to throw away. And living just outside Paris I have access to some amazing libraries. I remember last century, hotfooting off to a library the other side of Paris which had one of very few copies of a special bilingual music encyclopedia, which was my last hope to translate the names of some very strange musical instruments on show in a music museum. And I do have a great network of people I can ring up to pick their brains containing specialist information.Collapse


Barbara Cochran, MFA
TTMEM.COM WEBSITE
 
Siobhán Fulton
Siobhán Fulton
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 13:13
Alemão para Inglês
No Sep 11, 2022

All of my work comes in and is delivered via the internet. I don't currently own a fax machine, and my clients live too far away to hand-deliver my work.

When I started translating full time in the mid-1980s, all of my customers were local (Detroit-area), so receipt of jobs was generally via fax. Return delivery was via fax (text often retyped!!) or in person (and sometimes by dial-up modem at a blindingly-fast 2400 baud). Deadlines were generous, and I got to know many of my client
... See more
All of my work comes in and is delivered via the internet. I don't currently own a fax machine, and my clients live too far away to hand-deliver my work.

When I started translating full time in the mid-1980s, all of my customers were local (Detroit-area), so receipt of jobs was generally via fax. Return delivery was via fax (text often retyped!!) or in person (and sometimes by dial-up modem at a blindingly-fast 2400 baud). Deadlines were generous, and I got to know many of my clients personally. I then spent several years living in Germany, and again all my work came from local sources, mainly from an agency in the town where I lived and on-site work at a nearby direct client.

When I returned to the US, the internet was just catching on, and my client base expanded well beyond the Motor City. Now none of my clients are local.

[Edited at 2022-09-12 14:29 GMT]
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TTMEM.COM WEBSITE
 
Gamal Mustafa
Gamal Mustafa
Camarões
Local time: 18:13
Inglês para Francês
+ ...
No Sep 11, 2022

This will be just another challenge translator will deal with. The profession is always changing, but we are still coping with.

TTMEM.COM WEBSITE
 
Tom in London
Tom in London
Reino Unido
Local time: 18:13
Italiano para Inglês
Before the internet. Sep 11, 2022

Gerard Barry wrote:

I honestly don't know how translators worked before the Internet. I presume most of them back then were real experts in the areas they translated in.


The earliest civilizations developed between 4000 and 3000 BCE. For all that time, we've had translations. So there's really nothing special about the internet.


The Shredder
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Jennifer Levey
Philip Lees
Muriel Vasconcellos (X)
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Liena V.
 
Barbara Cochran, MFA
Barbara Cochran, MFA  Identity Verified
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 13:13
Espanhol para Inglês
+ ...
I Would Still Continue To Translate Literature,.. Sep 11, 2022

...by going back to the old hard copies method (the book to be translated, unabridged bilingual dictionaries, and pens and notebooks, unless they still make electric Smith Corona's or Olivetti's). So it would most likely be for the pure pleasure I find in doing that kind of work. Although I imagine electric typewriters, if no longer in existence at the moment, would probably be brought back so that publishers could still put out books for those of us who would never want to give up the enlighten... See more
...by going back to the old hard copies method (the book to be translated, unabridged bilingual dictionaries, and pens and notebooks, unless they still make electric Smith Corona's or Olivetti's). So it would most likely be for the pure pleasure I find in doing that kind of work. Although I imagine electric typewriters, if no longer in existence at the moment, would probably be brought back so that publishers could still put out books for those of us who would never want to give up the enlightening activity of reading.

[Edited at 2022-09-11 18:46 GMT]

[Edited at 2022-09-11 18:59 GMT]
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Tom in London
AnnaSCHTR
TTMEM.COM WEBSITE
Beatriz Ramírez de Haro
 
Michael Newton
Michael Newton  Identity Verified
Estados Unidos da América
Local time: 13:13
Japonês para Inglês
+ ...
Internet Sep 12, 2022

FFS, who thinks up these questions?

Philip Lees
Tom in London
expressisverbis
Robert Rietvelt
TTMEM.COM WEBSITE
Daryo
 
Nohkyung Park
Nohkyung Park  Identity Verified
Coreia do sul
Local time: 02:13
Inglês para Coreano
Missing a dictionary Sep 12, 2022

Then, it was so amazing when I used to see the English word I tried to find just when I open the dictionary. No Internet when young made it possible. Any full TM or one's memory will help a lot, though. Without Internet, I think that the paper dictionaries will rule again.

[Edited at 2022-09-12 04:50 GMT]


TTMEM.COM WEBSITE
 
Philip Lees
Philip Lees  Identity Verified
Grécia
Local time: 20:13
Grego para Inglês
Nonexistence Sep 12, 2022

No. Because I, you the reader, and everybody visiting this page today are nothing more than fantasies in the mind of a sentient internet - the dream dreaming the dreamer as it were. So if the internet goes, we all go.

Seriously, what kind of question is this?

More seriously, I was translating for more than ten years before the internet existed. I suppose I could go back to that way of working, but I wouldn't want to.


TanjaO
Kay Denney
Anja Hajek
expressisverbis
Angie Garbarino
TTMEM.COM WEBSITE
Daryo
 
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