[...] 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 märganud ega tunnustanud keegi, nad ei lootnud suurt sissetulekut, toimetulekust piisas täiesti. Väga vähesed olid päriselt õppinud tõlkijaks, kuid suuremal osal oli siiski korralik kolledžiharidus ja hea keelteoskus, vähemalt oma emakeelt tundsid nad küll põhjalikult. Üks minu sõber oligi just täpselt niisugune ja peagi kasvatasid mu sõprusringkonda suuremaks teisedki tõlkijad. Ma avastasin, et nemad on palju põnevamad inimesed ja et meie elukogemus on paljuski sarnane. Mul ei olnud kunagi keeruline sõprussuhteid luua, kuid mulle oli alati tundunud, et ma olen justkui teistsugune, ning ma olen kindel, et küllap arvasid sama nemadki. Kui mu sõber pensionile läks, soovitas ta mind enda kohale. Nüüd astusin Edasikindlustajate maailma, millest ma vähimatki ei teadnud. Ühtlasi olin seal ainus tõlkija ning erilist abi polnud kusagilt loota. Kuid seegi elupööre osutus edukaks ... Uuel ametikohal asusin dokumendimappe läbi lappama, küsimusi esitama ning ühtlasi kauplesin ettevõttelt välja kindlustuskursused. Kindlustuskolledž asus otse üle tee ning ma uurisin sealses raamatukogus tuleohutusnõuete, kindlustuslepingute ja tulekustutite katalooge. Ma õppisin, kuidas teha uurimistööd, see oli luksus, milleks mul varem polnud aega olnud. Esimene kord, kui olin pidanud tõlkima tuumajaama kindlustuspakkumise, helistas mulle selle osakonna ülemus, et minu tööd tunnustada. “See on harjumuspärasest parem,” sõnas ta. Milline kiitus! Juhtumisi olin otsinud abi ühes dokumendimapis olnud tekstist, mis sarnanes sellega, millega mina parasjagu maadlesin, kuid kui ma märkasin, et minu eelkäija oli kasutanud sõna “peamine” (ingl core) asemel sõna “aatom” (ingl nucleus), sain aru, et nendest paberitest ei ole suuremat kasu. Ma läksin teispool teed asunud raamatukokku ja vaatasin, mida “tuumajaam” tähendab. Ma leidsin kohe üles kõik terminid, mida mul vaja oli. Praegune aeg eeldab healt tõlkijalt muidugi märksa rohkemat. […] |