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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to Swahili » Entry #35530


Source text in English

Translation #35530

[...] 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. [...]
[...] Watafsiri tu hawakupata kutambuliwa, hawakutarajia kupata pesa nyingi, bali tu kujikimu. Watu wachache sana walikuwa wamepata mafunzo kama watafsiri, lakini wengi wao walikuwa na elimu thabiti ya chuo kikuu na ufahamu wa lugha angalau lugha yao wenyewe. Nilikuwa na rafiki ambaye alikuwa katika kategoria hiyo kabisa na mzunguko wangu wa marafiki uliongezeka kwa kuwajumuisha watafsiri wengine. Niligundua kuwa walikuwa watu wenye kuvutia sana na tukagundua mara nyingi tulikuwa na uzoefu wa maisha sawa. Sikupata shida kuwa na marafiki, lakini nilihisi daima "tofauti" na nina hakika wao pia walihisi hivyo. Rafiki yangu alipostaafu, alinipendekeza kuchukua nafasi yake. Hivyo, niliingia katika ulimwengu wa kurejesha bima, ambao sikuwa najua chochote kuhusu. Pia nilikuwa mtafsiri pekee huko, na sikupata msaada mwingi. Hata hivyo, ilikuwa hatua nyingine kuelekea mbele...

Kazi yangu mpya, nilianza kutazama kwenye faili, kuuliza maswali na nilifanikiwa kampuni hiyo kunisajili kwenye kozi za bima. Chuo cha Bima kilikuwa ng'ambo ya barabara, na nilitumia kanuni za moto, sera za bima na katalogi ya viwiko vya moto katika maktaba yao. Nilikuwa nasoma kile ambacho sikuwahi kupata fursa ya kufanya hapo awali: utafiti. Mara ya kwanza nilipaswa kutafsiri pendekezo kwa ajili ya bima ya mtambo wa nyuklia, nilipigiwa simu na kiongozi wa idara hiyo, akinipongeza kwa kazi niliyofanya. "Inafanana vizuri na tulivyoizoea," alisema. Nilifurahi sana! Kilichotokea ni kwamba nilitazama hati kwenye faili sawa na ile niliyokuwa naitatua kwa mwongozo, lakini nilipoona kuwa mtangulizi wangu alitumia neno "nucleus" badala ya "core", niligundua kuwa faili hizo hazikuwa na manufaa kwangu. Nilikwenda kwenye maktaba ng'ambo ya barabara na kutafuta "mitambo ya nyuklia." Nilipata mara moja lugha yote niliyohitaji.

Bila shaka, siku hizi inahitaji mengi zaidi kuwa mtafsiri mzuri. [...]


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