| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Are translators born or made? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Are translators born or made?".
View the poll results »
| | | | Yaotl Altan 
Mexico
Local time: 08:01
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Translators are made after years of learning and practice.
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Some people might be born with innate qualities that predispose them to become translators, and other people, while not naturally gifted with that ability, can acquire it. One has to have the necessary skills to become the best and put in the work to polish these skills. Whether or not talent is more important than hard work to become a proficient translator, there’s a popular saying popularized by Kevin Durant, a basketball player, which fits like a glove to our profession: “Hard work beats... See more Some people might be born with innate qualities that predispose them to become translators, and other people, while not naturally gifted with that ability, can acquire it. One has to have the necessary skills to become the best and put in the work to polish these skills. Whether or not talent is more important than hard work to become a proficient translator, there’s a popular saying popularized by Kevin Durant, a basketball player, which fits like a glove to our profession: “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work”… ▲ Collapse
| | | | Elías Sauza
Mexico
Local time: 08:01
Member (2002)
English to Spanish
+ ...
I voted "Are born" because of my personal experience. When I was at the university studying Veterinary Medicine, I always knew I wanted to become a translator. I dreamed of using a computer for translation work even when I had no idea how that would work. I was born to translate.
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Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 17:01
Member
English to Turkish
I didn't consciously choose to be a translator. Circumstances and sheer bad luck led me to this path...
It was one rainy dark November evening, I remember, when I felt that searing pain in my neck and everything before me started swimming... and that was the last time I saw the sun rise...
My maker was a 260 year old translator... I learned the cursed trade after drinking his blood, rot him.
It was 2007... since then I was condemned to darkness (burning the midnight oil), confi... See more I didn't consciously choose to be a translator. Circumstances and sheer bad luck led me to this path...
It was one rainy dark November evening, I remember, when I felt that searing pain in my neck and everything before me started swimming... and that was the last time I saw the sun rise...
My maker was a 260 year old translator... I learned the cursed trade after drinking his blood, rot him.
It was 2007... since then I was condemned to darkness (burning the midnight oil), confined spaces and a lack of contact with humans....
I shudder at the thought of being born into this shit. ▲ Collapse
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Baran Keki wrote:
I didn't consciously choose to be a translator. Circumstances and sheer bad luck led me to this path...
It was one rainy dark November evening, I remember, when I felt that searing pain in my neck and everything before me started swimming... and that was the last time I saw the sun rise...
My maker was a 260 year old translator... I learned the cursed trade after drinking his blood, rot him.
It was 2007... since then I was condemned to darkness (burning the midnight oil), confined spaces and a lack of contact with humans....
I shudder at the thought of being born into this shit.
A meme came to mind:
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I personally wasn't born a translator, and I'm not sure I became one.
Anyway, if man were made to sit all day long, interact in an abstract world and eat ultra-processed food, we wouldn't have this impressively well engineered body.
Philippe
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When everything goes to hell, you decide to become a translator and somehow survive...
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 16:01
Spanish to English
+ ...
Ah, yes, the old nature versus nurture debate. All in all, I think it's a bit of both. At school, I was always told I had "a flair for languages", which probably helped.
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As far as I'm concerned, it's both. At least, i consider myself as one. I always liked languages and had a flair with languages but then I later became a translator, not immediately. My first job wasn't translation but then veered towards translation till I trained to become one and eventually became one.
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I did not become the CR7 of translators through hard work alone.
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 17:01
Member
English to Turkish
Christopher Schröder wrote:
I did not become the CR7 of translators through hard work alone.
Whatever happened to Dele Alli? Why isn't he in the England squad?
Just wondering, can a translator waste their 'talent'?
After seeing your post on the other thread addressed to a certain Ph.D holder, I was also pondering the question 'will there ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a shark'.
ChatGPT is giving conflicting information on this.
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Baran Keki wrote:
Just wondering, can a translator waste their 'talent'?
Definitely. Like most people in most jobs, I spend a lot of time doing mundane tasks for which my talents are not really required.
Then again, after all these years of boozing and womanising, I’m not sure I’m up to setting the world alight every single day, so maybe doing the occasional set of swimming pool rules or instructions for opening a luggage locker is a good thing.
[Edited at 2024-07-05 10:57 GMT]
| | | | | Poll: Are translators born or made? | Jul 5 |
Born with some skills that need to be perfectioned.
| | | | Jessica Noyes
United States
Local time: 10:01
Member
Spanish to English
+ ...
I have two translators in my long-ago genealogy. The first was in the 1600s, a Huguenot from France who took refuge in the island of Jersey. He translated for international merchants at the time, and his son, my ancestor, emigrated to Canada.
The other, in the 1800s, was kidnapped as a child, with his brother, by an indigenous group; as older teenagers, they returned to their home in Ontario. One used his knowledge of Indian languages to be a professional interpreter for the explor... See more I have two translators in my long-ago genealogy. The first was in the 1600s, a Huguenot from France who took refuge in the island of Jersey. He translated for international merchants at the time, and his son, my ancestor, emigrated to Canada.
The other, in the 1800s, was kidnapped as a child, with his brother, by an indigenous group; as older teenagers, they returned to their home in Ontario. One used his knowledge of Indian languages to be a professional interpreter for the explorers and settlers of the day, most notably the British Lord Simcoe. He died (along with a judge and clerk) on a boat that capsized when he was traveling to interpret for a murder trial in a distant town. ▲ Collapse
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