| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13] > | Off topic: In my craft or sullen art: JA-EN financial translation Thread poster: Dan Lucas
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Dan Lucas 
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER | Coming back for more | Jan 16 |
Yesterday was a quiet day, during which I worked on the existing large translation. I wanted to get a couple more hours done in the evening, but I spend every other Monday singing rather badly in our community choir, so that took a three-hour chunk out of the day. One of the songs we began learning is a plygain carol in Welsh, which is especially appropriate given that the Gwaun valley, just... See more Yesterday was a quiet day, during which I worked on the existing large translation. I wanted to get a couple more hours done in the evening, but I spend every other Monday singing rather badly in our community choir, so that took a three-hour chunk out of the day. One of the songs we began learning is a plygain carol in Welsh, which is especially appropriate given that the Gwaun valley, just a couple of miles away, is one of the few places in Wales that still (quietly) celebrates the old New Year. Food for the soul, and all that.
This morning I still don't have a list of jobs from the client who promised to get back to me "early next week", but a different client has approached me about a small project. This is for delivery tomorrow and is essentially an addendum to a project I completed a couple of weeks ago.
Ideally, I would prefer not to do this and instead to focus on the current job. However, while recognizing that exceptions abound, my experience with Japanese business in general suggests that the more cooperative the supplier, the more business they get (assuming that the supplier is competent, of course).
That means taking on work you may not necessarily like or that may not be convenient at the time, especially if you already have some kind of "supplier responsibility" arising from work you have already submitted. I realize that some translators working in other languages (and therefore different cultures) may find this strange. As to whether this makes sense from an economic perspective, that depends on the extent to which the relationship, taken in the round, is lucrative for the supplier over time. This is a long-standing client and the relationship has been productive for both sides. With this in mind, I accept the job.
In other non-news, the European client with whom I was talking last week about that large project has not responded to my most recent email on Thursday or Friday. It may be that she is waiting on her client for more information, or it may be that she is looking for different freelancers. The project conditions seem somewhat arduous to me and I will not be particularly bothered it goes ahead without my participation. We shall see.
Today my objective is to hit 20,000 characters in the main job, which is a bit of a stretch goal.
I am gradually getting used to the new keyboard, and it does seem to be putting less stress on my hands and fingers [EDIT: at the expense of a significant reduction in typing speed...]
Dan
[Edited at 2024-01-16 11:29 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
A regular client has got in touch to ask me to translate a short trial text was provided to them by a prospective end client. Deadline is the day after tomorrow. The timing could be better but isn't that always the case...
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
20,022 characters reached, so around 5,000 characters translated for that project today, plus another 850 characters for a different project. A fair day's work.
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER | Freelancer freedom | Jan 17 |
When I get up this morning my inbox has an email from the PM in charge of the job I submitted last night, querying the consistency of one of the terms I used. I download the Word file, add a comment, and re-upload it by 7:30 AM.
The Asian client has sent me a little flurry of emails requesting further steps in the onboarding process. I have deadlines for today and tomorrow so I let her know that I will not be able to look at it until Friday.
After school today, at 3:30 ... See more When I get up this morning my inbox has an email from the PM in charge of the job I submitted last night, querying the consistency of one of the terms I used. I download the Word file, add a comment, and re-upload it by 7:30 AM.
The Asian client has sent me a little flurry of emails requesting further steps in the onboarding process. I have deadlines for today and tomorrow so I let her know that I will not be able to look at it until Friday.
After school today, at 3:30 PM, there is a parents' evening for my older son's class. We seem to have one of these every term for each child. The older son is at the A-level stage and therefore the number of teachers with whom we need to speak has been reduced considerably relative to GCSEs, but it is still five subjects. Feedback will probably be positive, but I think Son No.1 needs to pick up the pace a little if he wants to get into a top university.
While the evening will take a minimum of three hours out of the working day, I reflect on my morning walk that if I worked in a standard nine-to-five office job this would almost certainly be something I would have to arrange with my boss. As a freelancer, there are no restrictions on how I organize my day. I realize that I'm in danger of taking this for granted after 10 years working for myself. It is perhaps the most important perk of the freelance lifestyle.
I have another small task to complete while I am in the town where the school is located, which is to drop by my mother's place and replace the failed battery in her car with a new item. Hopefully it will take no more than a few minutes, but it will be cold and dark by the time I get to her house, and the car is parked on the street. Fingers crossed it isn't raining this evening...
Target for today: 3,000 characters on the larger project, and 500 characters for the small trial job that was handed off to me yesterday.
Dan ▲ Collapse
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| Post removed: This post was hidden by a moderator or staff member for the following reason: Empty post - Removed as per author's request. | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER | Into the final straight... | Jan 18 |
The dog and I stepped out onto a light dusting of snow this morning, which was not unexpected given the forecast, but always feels a bit special in this country. It won't last long, but I think my wife will be using the Land Cruiser to take the children to school this morning, just for that extra bit of reassurance.
Back in the office, I have one request for a booking at the end of the month, and another project put in by a client at the start of the month has appeared in my email. ... See more The dog and I stepped out onto a light dusting of snow this morning, which was not unexpected given the forecast, but always feels a bit special in this country. It won't last long, but I think my wife will be using the Land Cruiser to take the children to school this morning, just for that extra bit of reassurance.
Back in the office, I have one request for a booking at the end of the month, and another project put in by a client at the start of the month has appeared in my email. It was estimated at 2,000 characters but is more like 1,300. So it goes. I download and check the files to make sure that I can access them properly. All is well, so I let them know.
Yesterday I exceeded my target and completed about 4,000 characters, but I have another long and hard day ahead of me if I'm to deliver by the deadline. "One last short burst upon failing feet"...
Nearly 7 AM. Time to get to work. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Just got an email from school announcing closure today due to snow.
While there's only a bit here, there may be more inland or further north I guess.
So I will have two bickering teenagers in the house with me today...
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Tentative query from a client still at work in Japan.
Possible to get 6k done in two days, x and y, next week?
Tight, but yes, probably.
Okay, will let you know if it firms up.
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
I don't know if you've ever driven down a winding country road at night, and seen the bend ahead of you gradually lit up by the headlights of a car coming in the opposite direction. At first there is a faint glow, then the illumination intensifies as the other car approaches, until finally the vehicle rounds the corner and its lights shine full on you.
This phenomenon is not unusual in itself, but I do not expect to see a similar blossoming of light beyond the corner at the far end ... See more I don't know if you've ever driven down a winding country road at night, and seen the bend ahead of you gradually lit up by the headlights of a car coming in the opposite direction. At first there is a faint glow, then the illumination intensifies as the other car approaches, until finally the vehicle rounds the corner and its lights shine full on you.
This phenomenon is not unusual in itself, but I do not expect to see a similar blossoming of light beyond the corner at the far end of the long straight track in our woodland, in the pitch dark, at a quarter past six on a January morning.
At first my eyes tell me that I am seeing somebody with a torch approaching from the other side of the corner. I feel a surge of apprehension - who could be walking in the woods at this time of the morning? - then my brain reinterprets the frame like a bi-stable image, and I realize that what I had taken to be a narrow fan of light projected towards me is actually light reflected from my own head torch, and what I am seeing is a background of pale bodies, and five sets of eyes looking back at me.
My heart thumps and there is a split-second of reflexive fear, which fades just as quickly. The eyes are too close to the ground be those of humans, and in the British Isles there are no other deadly predators. But what are they? I stand stock-still.
A second later, the situation resolves itself without my intervention. Biscuit bays full-throatedly from behind me, throwing a long howl of menace down the track towards the eyes, and accelerates in its wake. He no longer has the elastic get-up-and-go of his youth, but he is still fit and healthy and there are very few dogs as rapid as a Vizsla* at full chat.
The owners of the eyes evidently know trouble when they see it and in a couple of seconds they have melted away somewhere. All that is left is the dog's apparently disembodied LED collar coruscating down the 150 yards of the darkened ride, and then it too disappears.
I follow, trotting sedately down the middle of the track and muttering to myself. When I reach the place where the eyes were I hear quiet rustlings and snapping noises deep in the undergrowth to the right. They got out of the way, then. I hear a gruff, slightly puzzled bark from well beyond the corner, in the direction of the ford, as Biscuit realises that he has lost his quarry. A few seconds later he canters cheerfully back, his coat glowing ruddily in the light of my torch.
Given the time of year I assume the eyes belonged to a family of badgers. The only other thing it could have been is foxes, but they tend to be shyer. In any case, the animals were never in danger. Biscuit talks the talk, or rather howls the howl (and his voice is impressive), but he doesn't walk the walk.
He is, to be blunt, an arrant coward. If somebody uses the blender, he hides under the kitchen table. If he encounters a fallen twig on our morning walk he will hang back until I have flicked it out of the way with my stick or given the all clear. Small dogs, including two elderly Maltese that he met recently, terrify him. For Biscuit, life is full of worrying objects and events, so he spends a fair proportion of it peeping out from behind my legs.
Still, assuming that the eyes did belong to badgers, they are a protected species and I am glad that he did not get a chance to go face-to-face with them. Faintheartedness aside, he is a good companion and I enjoy our early morning jaunts in the spring and summer as much as he does.
When we get back to the house today - the woodland path is icy from snow that half-melted yesterday afternoon and froze over again last night - he has his breakfast and I collect my coffee before going straight to my desk. I finished the big 30k-character yesterday evening, and went straight onto a small job that needed doing by 17:30 JST today. I didn't complete that last night, so I need to get it done by 08:30 GMT.
With that finished, I have nothing on my plate for the weekend. Today, weather permitting, I plan to take my chainsaw gear to the house of an elderly relative nearby and cut up some logs for her wood stove. I also need to go to the car parts shop and talk to them about the battery I bought on Wednesday, which doesn't fit the car for which it was intended. It's a different world to derivatives contracts and sustainability reports.
Dan
*Strictly speaking Biscuit is a Hungarian Wirehaired Vizsla, a different breed to the smooth-haired Vizsla, more robust dogs with a thick double coat that provides them with good protection from the weather ▲ Collapse
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
MollyRose wrote:
(Question about dog)
An important point Molly, which hopefully my latest post makes clear.
| | | | MollyRose
United States
Local time: 02:22
English to Spanish
+ ...
Thanks, Dan. I had withdrawn my post because I thought maybe that might be straying from your purpose for this thread.
I enjoy reading about your walks and this one about Biscuit's adventure was fun. When you write about your walks, it reminds me of the writing style of some novelists, very descriptive. I'm glad the critters got away, too! I've had incidents with my dog where I was glad the critters (armadillos) got away and when encountering a woodchuck on the trunk of a tree, I p... See more Thanks, Dan. I had withdrawn my post because I thought maybe that might be straying from your purpose for this thread.
I enjoy reading about your walks and this one about Biscuit's adventure was fun. When you write about your walks, it reminds me of the writing style of some novelists, very descriptive. I'm glad the critters got away, too! I've had incidents with my dog where I was glad the critters (armadillos) got away and when encountering a woodchuck on the trunk of a tree, I prayed that he wouldn't notice the critter and I was able to quietly lead him away. Whew!
I looked up wirehaired Vizla online. Very nice-looking dogs! It seems that it would be enjoyable to have one (or two). ▲ Collapse
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 09:22
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
A scene from today:
A client sent the PO and full terms (payment, work process, deadline, full details), sent the file, asked me to do a technical test on the file (I sent a couple of translated lines, and they confirmed the technical test pass), and then they said: don’t resume, I need to get the green light from the client first.
LMAO
So now you do everything first, and then wait for the green light from the client (rather than the other way round). Jus... See more A scene from today:
A client sent the PO and full terms (payment, work process, deadline, full details), sent the file, asked me to do a technical test on the file (I sent a couple of translated lines, and they confirmed the technical test pass), and then they said: don’t resume, I need to get the green light from the client first.
LMAO
So now you do everything first, and then wait for the green light from the client (rather than the other way round). Just about the time I thought I saw everything…
We want a Biscuit’s photo to cheer us up.
A lot of snow today here and I kind of enjoy it, minus the snow cleaning and road conditions. ▲ Collapse
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Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
The client in Europe has emailed me to let me know that she didn't get the large project, but she thanked me for the constructive quote and we parted on good terms. Onwards and upwards...
Dan
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Scanning 30 pages of legalese for this potential Asian client's service level agreement...
Hard going, but nothing obviously punitive so far.
Dan
| | | | Dan Lucas
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:22
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
One of my clients is working over the weekend, and has sent a flurry of emails asking for my availability for the equivalent of about 30k characters spread over six jobs, all for next month. One of these is going to be quite demanding in terms of the deadline, but the others look okay. The PM says there is some wiggle room on that particular project, so I'm not too worried at this point.
I now have over 20 jobs booked and organized in my main work directory as individual folders, on... See more One of my clients is working over the weekend, and has sent a flurry of emails asking for my availability for the equivalent of about 30k characters spread over six jobs, all for next month. One of these is going to be quite demanding in terms of the deadline, but the others look okay. The PM says there is some wiggle room on that particular project, so I'm not too worried at this point.
I now have over 20 jobs booked and organized in my main work directory as individual folders, one for each job, and with the folder name including all the important details about the project. While I still have a little capacity left, my schedule is looking crowded.
Of course, one or two jobs will be cancelled, others will come in larger than expected, and some will be short. The overall volume for this coming four-week period is unlikely to change much. This will likely be a fairly typical quarterly earnings season situation: lots of time pressure, and a good number of changes to schedule and content that will require flexibility on my part. It's a difficult time for everybody, especially the end client. ▲ Collapse
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