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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to Kurdish » Entry #36101


Source text in English

Translation #36101

[...] 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. [...]
Wergêr zêde nedihatin naskirin, Nexwe hêvîyeke wan a hinde zêde jî tunebû ji aliyê derbaskirina jiyanê ve, hema dixwestin debara xwe pê bikin. Gellek kêm kes wekî wergêr hatibûn gihandin, lê pirraniya wan xwedî perwerdehîyeke saxlem a zaningehê bûn, û xwedî zanyarîyeke qahîm a zimanzanîyê, qet nebe jî ya zimanê xwe bûn. Hevaleke min jî hebû ku di nava vê kategorîyê cih digirt, û bi wergêrên din, hejmara hevalên li dorrexê min her ku diçû zêdêtir dibû. Li gorî min ew mirovên pir balkêş bûn, û bi min wisa dihat ku gellek serpêhatiyên me yên jiyanê li hev diçûn. Peydekirina hevalan bi min qet zehmet nedihat, lê belê ji bo min her wext hestekî ciyawaz bû, bê şik ji bo wan jî wisa bû. Dema hevala min malnişîn bû, wê ez di dêvla xwe da pêşnîyar kirim. Êdî ez ketibûm jiyana Reinsurance’a ku di derbarê wê de tu hizreke min nebû. Herwiha ez yekane wergêr bûm di wir de, zêde jî tiş tune bû ku ez pişta xwe lê bibestim. Lê ew gaveke berew pêş bû.

Di karê xwe yê nû de, min despêkir û çavên xwe li dosyeyan gerandin, pirsyar kirin û bi rêya şîrketê min xwe ji bo dersên Insruance’ê da nivîsandin. The College of Insurance li aliyê din ê kûçeyê bû. Min di pirtûkxaneya wan de, li mevzuata êgir, polîçeya sîgortayê û katalogên vemirandina êgir nihêrîn. Ez fêrî tiştekî dibûm ku pêştir bi tu awayî lukseke min î bi vî rengî bi destê min neketibû: fêrî lêkolîn kirinê dibûm. Yekem cara ku min wergera pêşniyareke bi mebesta sîgortekirina santraleke nukleerî kir, telefonek hat ji min re, ji serokê beşê bû û wî ez pîroz kirim ji bo karê ku min bi cih anî bû. “Her wekî wan wergeran e ku em hînbûne” wî got. Çiqas baş e! Ya ku min kir ew bû ku min li nameyek nihêrî di nav dosyeyan, ku ew jî dişibiya ya ku min pêştir çav lê gerandibû ji bo ku rê nîşanî min bike, lê dema ku min dît ew kesê berîya min di şûna peyva ‘cewherê’ peyva nûkleus bikaranîye, min qinaat pê anî ku ew dosye bi kêrî min nayên. Ez çûm wê aliyê kûçeyê,ji bo pirtûkxaneyê, ez ketim li du peyva ‘santralên nûkleerî’. Min rasterastt hemû bêjeyan bidestxistin yên ku ji min re hewce bûn.

Bê guman, îro ji bo ku mirovek bibe wêrgêrêkî baş, zêdetir ked hewce ye.


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