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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to Haitian-Creole » Entry by Weenshy Faustin


Source text in English

Translation by Weenshy Faustin (#34957)

[...] 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. [...]
Yo tou senpleman pat rekonèt tradiktè yo, tradiktè yo pa tap atann ak sa pou fè vi yo. Yo tap jis debwouye yo. Yon ti kras nan kèk moun ki anfèt te antrene pou vin tradiktè, men pifò ladann yo te gen yon fòmasyon inivèsite byen djanm ak anpil konesans nan lang yo sitou pwop lang pa yo. Mwen te gen yon zanmi ki te tonbe egzateman nan kategori sa a epi gwoup zanmi mwen an te vin pi laj pou mete lòt tradiktè. Mwen te twouve yo ankò pi enteresan tankou moun, e mwen te dekouvri ke nou te souvan pataje menm eksperyans lavi. Mwen pat janm gen difikilte poum fè zanmi, men mwen te toujou santim "diferan" e mwen sèten ke yo te santi yo konsa tou. Lè zanmi m nan te pran retrèt, li te rekòmande mwen pou ranplase li. Mwen antre kounye a nan domèn asirans la kem pat konnen anyen ladann, se mwen ki te sel tradiktè laba tou e mwen pat gen anyen kòm baz. Poutan se te yon lot etap pi wo.

Nan nouvo travay mwen an, mwen te kòmanse ale nan dosye yo, poze kesyon epi mwen te fè konpayi an enskri mwen nan kou sou asirans. Kolèj Asirans la te lòtbò lari a, e mwen te gade nan kòd yo sou dife, kontra asirans, ak katalòg aparèy pou etenn dife nan bibliyotèk yo a. Mwen tap aprann sa mwen pat janm gen privilèj pou mwen te kapab fè anvan: rechèch. Premye fwa mwen te oblije tradui yon pwopozisyon pou rezon asirans nan yon santral nikleyè, mwen te resevwa yon apèl nan men chèf depatman sa a, ki te felisite mwen pou travay mwen te fè. “Konpare favorableman ak sa nou abitye, "li te di. Gade yon kout pik! Sa ki te rive se ke mwen te gade nan yon dokiman ki nan dosye yo ki sanble ak sa mwen tap dechifre poum jwenn konsèy yo. men lè mwen te wè ke predesesè mwen an (moun ki te la avan m nan) te itilize mo "nwayo" nan olye de "nikleyo ", mwen te rann mwen kont ke dosye sa yo te vin initil pou mwen. Mwen te ale lòtbò lari a nan bibliyotèk la epi mwen chache mo "izin elektrik nikleyè". Mwen imedyatman jwenn tout tèminoloji mwen te bezwen yo.

Byensi, jounen jodia ou bezwen plis ke sa pou fè yon bon tradiktè


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