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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to Tagalog » Entry #35318


Source text in English

Translation #35318

[...] 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. [...]
[...] Sadyang hindi nakikilala ang mga tagasalin, hindi sila umaasang kumita nang malaki, rumaraos lamang. Mangilan-ngilan lang ang nagsanay para maging tagasalin, pero karamihan ay may solidong pinag-aralan sa kolehiyo at kaalaman sa mga wika, sa kanilang sariling lengguwahe kahit papaano. Mayroon akong naging isang kaibigan na nasa kategoryang iyon at ang aking grupo ng mga kaibigan ay lumawak upang isama ang ibang tagasalin. Interesante silang tao para sa akin, at nadiskubre kong may pagkakapareho kami ng mga karanasan sa buhay. Hindi ako kailanman nahirapan makipagkaibigan pero palagi kong nararamdamang "kakaiba" ako at tiyak akong ramdam din nila iyon. Nang magretiro ang aking kaibigan, iminungkahi ako bilang kapalit. Pinasok ko ang lupain ng Reinsurance, na walang akong kaalam-alam. Tagasalin din ako doon, at wala gaanong sasandalan. Gayunpaman, isa na naman itong tagumpay...

Sa aking bagong trabaho, sinimulan kong tingnan ang mga file, nagtanung-tanong, at nagawang ipa-enroll ako ng kumpanya sa mga kursong pang-Insurance. Nasa kabilang kalye ang Kolehiyo ng Insurance, at kumonsulta ako sa mga fire code, patakaran sa insurance, at katalogo ng mga pamuksa ng apoy sa aklatan. Natutunan ko ang isang bagay na hindi ko nagagawa noon: pananaliksik. Sa unang pagkakataong nagsalin ako ng panukala para sa mga layunin ng insurance ng nuclear plant, nakatanggap ako ng tawag sa pangunahing tao ng departamentong iyon, binabati ako sa trabahong aking ginawa. "Maihahambing sa nakasanayan namin!," aniya. Nakakagalak! Ang nangyari ay kumonsulta ako sa isang dokumento sa mga file na halintulad sa ginagawa ko bilang isang gabay, pero nang makita ko ang aking hinalinhan na gumamit ng salitang "nucleus" imbis na "core," napagtanto kong walang silbi ang mga file sa akin. Tumawid ako sa kalsada tungo sa aklatan at tumingin sa "mga nuclear plant." Dalian kong nakita ang terminolohiya na hinahanap ko.

Hindi kasingdali ang pagiging isang mahusay na tagasalin sa panahon ngayon, siyempre. [...]


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