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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to Swahili » Entry by Pauline Awino


Source text in English

Translation by Pauline Awino (#35006)

[...] 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. [...]
[...] Wafasiri walikosa tu kutambuliwa, hawakutarajia kujikimu vilivyo kimaisha, ila kupitia tu. Watu wachache sana walipata mafunzo ya ufasiri, lakini wengi walikuwa na elimu thabiti ya chuo na ujuzi thabiti wa lugha, angalau ujuzi wa lugha zao asili. Nilikuwa na rafiki aliyekuwa katika kikundi hicho na kikundi changu cha marafiki kilipanuka kujumuisha wafasiri wengine. Niliwapata kuwa wa kusisimua zaidi kama watu binafsi, na niligundua kuwa mara kwa mara tulikuwa na matukio yanayofanana maishani. Sikuwahi kuwa na shida ya kufanya urafiki, lakini mara nyingi nilijihisi kuwa "tofauti" na nina uhakika kuwa walihisi hivyo pia. Rafiki yangu alipostaafu, alinipendekeza kuchukua nafasi yake. Nikaingia sasa kwenye ulingo wa Bima, ambayo sikujua chochote juu yake. Pia nilikuwa mfasiri peke yangu pale, na sikuwa na mengi ya kurejea. Hata hivyo ilikuwa ni kiwango cha juu zaidi...

Katika kazi yangu mpya, nilianza kupitia majalada, na kuuliza maswali na kushawishi kampuni kuniandikisha kwenye mafunzo ya Bima. Chuo Kikuu cha Bima kilikuwa tu ng'ambo ya barabara, na nilipata mashauri ya kanuni za moto, sera za bima na katalogi ya zima moto kwenye maktaba yao. Nilikuwa ninajifunza vitu ambavyo sikuwa nimepata fursa ya kufanya hapo awali: utafiti. Mara ya kwanza nilipofanya ufasiri wa pendekezo la kukata bima ya kiwanda cha nyuklia, nilipokea simu kutoka kwa mkubwa wa idara hiyo, kunipongeza kwa kazi niliyofanya. "Inalingana vyema na yale ambayo tumezoea," aliniambia. Ubora uliyoje! Kilichofanyika ni kwamba nilikuwa nimepata ushauri wa makala kwenye majalada yaliyofanana na yale ambayo nilikuwa ninaangalia kupata mwongozo, lakini nilipoona mtangulizi wangu alikuwa ametumia neno "msingi" badala ya "kiini", niligundua kwamba majalada hayo hayakuwa ya manufaa yoyote kwangu. Nilienda ng'ambo ya barabara kwenye maktaba na kutafuta "viwanda vya nyuklia." Mara moja nilipata istilahi yote niliyohitaji.

Bila shaka, inagharimu zaidi ya hayo kukuwa mfasiri shupavu siku hizi [...]


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