Off topic: Odd/funny thoughts about what we do Thread poster: Christina B.
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Christina B. 
Sweden
Local time: 02:11
French to German
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Sometimes clients and others have very odd thoughts about what we do:
Once, I told a direct customer who was new to translation that normally the price was based on the number of words in the source document. If he would send me his text, I could give him a quote. Next day I got a word document that looked like a Swiss cheese: In order to save money, he had taken out all the words he thought were “unnecessary” to translate (names, numbers, dates and even some words he knew in G... See more Sometimes clients and others have very odd thoughts about what we do:
Once, I told a direct customer who was new to translation that normally the price was based on the number of words in the source document. If he would send me his text, I could give him a quote. Next day I got a word document that looked like a Swiss cheese: In order to save money, he had taken out all the words he thought were “unnecessary” to translate (names, numbers, dates and even some words he knew in German by himself)! When I called him and explained that he would save about 4 €, but cause extra work for both me and him, he agreed to have the whole text translated.
When asked by a new acquaintance today about my job, I had this dialogue:
A: I’m a translator.
B: Where do you work?
A: I work from home.
B: ???? So, you are using Skype?
A: No, I’m not an interpreter, I’m not translating speech, I translate texts.
B: So, you use your computer and the internet?
A: Yes.
B: That sounds VERY complicated.
A: Why?
B: Well, it must be complicated when the people have to type what they want to say and send it to you… ▲ Collapse
| | | | Balasubramaniam L.
India
Local time: 05:41
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
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SITE LOCALIZER | My funny moment | Feb 17, 2016 |
Regretfully, I haven't had the pleasure of having such a funny conversation to lighten up my day. But I have been asked several times to translate text from English to Hindu. At first I thought this was a typo and the client actually wanted to say Hindi, my main target language, but after receiving several such requests from several different clients, I have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of people out there who know very little about India. Probably they still associate India with ... See more Regretfully, I haven't had the pleasure of having such a funny conversation to lighten up my day. But I have been asked several times to translate text from English to Hindu. At first I thought this was a typo and the client actually wanted to say Hindi, my main target language, but after receiving several such requests from several different clients, I have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of people out there who know very little about India. Probably they still associate India with its old name of Hindustan, and think that Hindu is the language spoken there. I have never tried to disabuse them of this idea, knowing fully well that this would be an effort in vain. But this error does gives me the cue to charge them my maximum fee as they probably know very little about translation and could be easily encouraged to pay any fee I would like to charge. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | You must understand [insert]. You're a translator. | Feb 17, 2016 |
Some years ago I had a variant of the same thing twice in a month, with two different people.
1. The man on the phone faxed me a text which turned out to be in Dutch. He insisted that I understood Dutch, because the German word for "German" is "deutsch", and but for the vowel sound in the middle, Dutch & deutsch sound the same - so I must understand Dutch.
2. Greek, this time - that either I can understand Greek, or I'm not a translator. The conversation went somet... See more Some years ago I had a variant of the same thing twice in a month, with two different people.
1. The man on the phone faxed me a text which turned out to be in Dutch. He insisted that I understood Dutch, because the German word for "German" is "deutsch", and but for the vowel sound in the middle, Dutch & deutsch sound the same - so I must understand Dutch.
2. Greek, this time - that either I can understand Greek, or I'm not a translator. The conversation went something like this:
me: I don't understand Greek. I'm not qualified to translate Greek.
client: You're a translator, right?
me: Yes.
client: Translators translate foreign languages, right?
me: Yes, they do.
client: Greek is a foreign language.
me: Erm, yes it is.
client: Therefore you can translate Greek.
me: I'm afraid that I don't understand Greek.
client: But I thought you said you were a translator. And Translators translate foreign languages.
[back to line one, do not reach an "end" command]
............ [end command by politely saying good-bye and hanging up] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sue Garzon
Canada
Local time: 20:11
English to French
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| Working at home is not synonyme to be homemaker | Feb 17, 2016 |
It happened to me twice this month:
Mr/Ms X: Where do you work?
Me: At home.
Mr/Ms X: Oh I understand, to be homemaker is really hard!
Even after explain what I do to live, people sometimes don't realize that translation is a REAL work.
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| And the Facepalm Award goes to..... | Feb 17, 2016 |
Christina Baier wrote:
B: That sounds VERY complicated.
A: Why?
B: Well, it must be complicated when the people have to type what they want to say and send it to you…
I 've officially lost hope on explaining difference between translators and interpreters. How can a person be THIS stupid! Isn't it commonly known that DNS types what a person says? That's how we translate text, right? hahahahahaha
[Edited at 2016-02-17 16:27 GMT]
| | | | Inga Petkelyte
Portugal
Local time: 01:11
Lithuanian to Portuguese
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Balasubramaniam L. wrote:
Regretfully, I haven't had the pleasure of having such a funny conversation to lighten up my day. But I have been asked several times to translate text from English to Hindu. At first I thought this was a typo and the client actually wanted to say Hindi, my main target language, but after receiving several such requests from several different clients, I have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of people out there who know very little about India. Probably they still associate India with its old name of Hindustan, and think that Hindu is the language spoken there. I have never tried to disabuse them of this idea, knowing fully well that this would be an effort in vain. But this error does gives me the cue to charge them my maximum fee as they probably know very little about translation and could be easily encouraged to pay any fee I would like to charge.
You are bad! I laughed so much about your "conclusion", thanks for sharing
| | | | Laura Kingdon
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:11
Member (2015)
French to English
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| A lot of people still don't understand not working in an office | Feb 17, 2016 |
Sue Garzon wrote: It happened to me twice this month: Mr/Ms X: Where do you work? Me: At home. Mr/Ms X: Oh I understand, to be homemaker is really hard! Even after explain what I do to live, people sometimes don't realize that translation is a REAL work.
I feel your pain. I used to teach before I got into translating, and I still get friends in that business sending me job offers. They just don't seem to get that I have a career and am not looking for another teaching job.
I also have to explain working on the Internet all the time since many people don't understand how I can work as a Korean-English translator when I don't currently live in Korea.
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Replace "I work at home" with "I live at work."
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Chié_JP
Japan
Local time: 09:11
Member (2013)
English to Japanese
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| As a translator | Feb 17, 2016 |
Some thought we are communicating more at work with clients with a lot of chance to make friends with.
Well I only talk to virtual colleagues here on forum
& never met agency PMs or clients before. They got surprised.
| | | | Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:11
Russian to English
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In memoriam | One word or two? | Feb 18, 2016 |
I think this problem may occur more with languages with only one word for both translator and interpreter, e.g. Russian (переводчик), in which you have to specify (устный переводчик, письменный переводчик) if you want to make the distinction.
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 02:11
French to English
| just translate the grammar | Feb 18, 2016 |
when I was working as a teacher, I had a student whose dentist husband wanted me to translate a book on dentistry. When I said I couldn't understand the text, he said not to bother with the long words which were mostly very similar in English, "just translate the grammar in between"
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 03:11
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| At least people think they know what we do | Apr 10, 2016 |
I believe if you at a party tell someone your a nuclear physicist they will instantly drop the subject. Aren't we all rather stupid when it comes to understanding other person's work?
Probably German speaking people know best the difference between Dolmetscher and Übersetzer. Even in Finnish people constantly use the word kääntäjä when they really mean tulkki.
Last week Finnish tv showed a film from 1976, where the hero, a double bass player, got a job as interpret... See more I believe if you at a party tell someone your a nuclear physicist they will instantly drop the subject. Aren't we all rather stupid when it comes to understanding other person's work?
Probably German speaking people know best the difference between Dolmetscher and Übersetzer. Even in Finnish people constantly use the word kääntäjä when they really mean tulkki.
Last week Finnish tv showed a film from 1976, where the hero, a double bass player, got a job as interpreter in a French enterprise building a large complex in Finland. The funny thing was all spoke Finnish, but were acting as discussing in French and Finnish:
Boss: Ask him when the pipes will be ready!
Interpreter to foreman: He wants to know when the pipes will be ready?
Foreman to his team: What shall we say?
Team member to foreman: If they stop asking stupid questions we could do it by tomorrow 4'o clock.
Foreman to interpreter: Tell him tomorrow 4'o clock.
Interpreter to boss: Tomorrow 4'o clock.
Boss: Thank you, it is so much easier when there is an interpreter at hand. ▲ Collapse
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Last week someone told me that my rate was too high for such an easy text with so many technical terms!?
| | | | Roni_S
Slovakia
Local time: 02:11
Slovak to English
I still love my clients with whom I have these conversations:
Me: Um, hello. Your legal text has some very technical aspects regarding power generation, and I don't think I understand. Could you please explain?
Client: Yeah, we don't really understand that either. Why don't you just do the best you can.
Me: Well, you see, if I don't understand the source text then I can't really translate it.
Client: Okay, just do the best you can. Don't you have a technical dictio... See more I still love my clients with whom I have these conversations:
Me: Um, hello. Your legal text has some very technical aspects regarding power generation, and I don't think I understand. Could you please explain?
Client: Yeah, we don't really understand that either. Why don't you just do the best you can.
Me: Well, you see, if I don't understand the source text then I can't really translate it.
Client: Okay, just do the best you can. Don't you have a technical dictionary you can use? We have a bilingual dictionary with those words in it, I can just scan and send the page to you.
Me: Oh, I see. Well, I have dictionaries, too, so no need to bother.
Apparently, a bilingual dictionary is your most important tool! ▲ Collapse
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