| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | Poll: Translation: a lonely world? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Elena Carbonell 
Netherlands
Local time: 21:25
Member (2007)
English to Spanish
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I never feel alone with my thoughts!
Although I have had pleasant experiences working with colleagues on other jobs, I don't miss it. There is always someone or some people that ruin(s) for the rest, or I always found someone who was climbing the ladder of success leaning on my shoulders.
No, thank you.
Friends you can choose but neighbourghs, work colleagues or family you cannot.
I am lucky with friends and family and more or les lucky with neighbourghs... Third time... See more I never feel alone with my thoughts!
Although I have had pleasant experiences working with colleagues on other jobs, I don't miss it. There is always someone or some people that ruin(s) for the rest, or I always found someone who was climbing the ladder of success leaning on my shoulders.
No, thank you.
Friends you can choose but neighbourghs, work colleagues or family you cannot.
I am lucky with friends and family and more or les lucky with neighbourghs... Third time lucky is rare. ▲ Collapse
| | | | John Cutler
Spain
Local time: 21:25
Spanish to English
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| Not in my case | Jun 25, 2009 |
I guess it depends on each person's circumstances.
I usually work at home, but being married and having 3 kids means there's always someone coming or going. I also go to work from time to time at the offices of one of my clients, so I see lots of people there and oftentimes stay to have lunch with them just to be sociable.
In my "free time", I work as a tour guide at some nearby Greek and Roman ruins, which means dealing with large groups of people, so I'm pretty much s... See more I guess it depends on each person's circumstances.
I usually work at home, but being married and having 3 kids means there's always someone coming or going. I also go to work from time to time at the offices of one of my clients, so I see lots of people there and oftentimes stay to have lunch with them just to be sociable.
In my "free time", I work as a tour guide at some nearby Greek and Roman ruins, which means dealing with large groups of people, so I'm pretty much surrounded there too.
Now that I think of it, it might not be such a bad thing to be alone more often... ▲ Collapse
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I think it's what you make it. It's up to each of us to mould our working life - we can choose to participate in the networking opportunities out there, or create new ones, as we see fit. The same goes for professional development.
I think the great thing about a job like translation is that the control of our career is ultimately in our hands. I can't think of anything more alienating than being at the mercy of an employer or being embroiled in office politics, forced to work along... See more I think it's what you make it. It's up to each of us to mould our working life - we can choose to participate in the networking opportunities out there, or create new ones, as we see fit. The same goes for professional development.
I think the great thing about a job like translation is that the control of our career is ultimately in our hands. I can't think of anything more alienating than being at the mercy of an employer or being embroiled in office politics, forced to work alongside people I can't bear. I think that would be truly souil-destroying.
I do admit it has taken me a long time to find peace with self-employment, but now that I have I wouldn't give it up for the world. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | extraordinary! | Jun 25, 2009 |
Nikki Graham wrote:
Hell no, I have the dog and the cats. They're great conversationalists. And sometimes the postman knocks on the door and I get to say hello and thank you. And if things are really bad, I can put the sound up and listen to the printer application say "Please put paper in the auto sheet feeder" or "Black ink is low". And on really good days someone actually phones me from Spain rather than writing an email and asks if I can do 20,000 words for yesterday and I get to say, sorry but no, maybe next time, etc., or I get a phone call asking if I want to take part in a survey about how to consolidate my debts and they actually ask me how am I, which is awfully sweet of them, since they don't know me from Adam. And then there's the highlight of the day! Lunch in front of the tele watching a soap just so that I can remember what walking talking humans are actually like (well sort of).
sounds like my day!
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Trinh Do
Australia
Member (2007)
English to Vietnamese
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| I was lonely in non-translation work | Jun 25, 2009 |
This is my ideal world. I was lonely at uni and the so-called "friends" no longer exist to me - I don't need them. There were office politics, racism, bullying, etc. I don't introduce them into this community, of which I am very proud to know. This is a great world, and except for some lousy non-paying clients, the rest is great. My family am happy I've found an ideal job that suits me, my pets count. And my pets (one featured on my profile) share my joy of translation hanging around me, lookin... See more This is my ideal world. I was lonely at uni and the so-called "friends" no longer exist to me - I don't need them. There were office politics, racism, bullying, etc. I don't introduce them into this community, of which I am very proud to know. This is a great world, and except for some lousy non-paying clients, the rest is great. My family am happy I've found an ideal job that suits me, my pets count. And my pets (one featured on my profile) share my joy of translation hanging around me, looking at me working away. ▲ Collapse
| | | | RProsser
Local time: 20:25
French to English
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| It depends how you look at it | Jun 25, 2009 |
It can be a lonely job, but it has it's upsides too...I get to spend time with my 2 young daughters and with my friends who are also young Mums, it fits in so well!
| | | | R.S.
Local time: 21:25
English to Polish
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| Better to work alone | Jun 25, 2009 |
than with uncooperative colleagues and a controlling boss. I've decided not to use some other descriptive phrases
Talking from experience!
| | | | Angela Dickson (X)
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:25
French to English
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| Doesn't have to be | Jun 25, 2009 |
Williamson wrote:
A virtual world of people, some of whom you meet through their appearance on this website. Combined with interpreting, it get's interesting, because you alternate from the virtual to the real world and back.
It certainly can be like that, but it doesn't have to be if you make an effort. I know that if I go too long without going to an in-person translators' event I feel the lack of direct contact. With ITI and SFT events I get the personal contact without having to take up interpreting.
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Angeliki Papadopoulou wrote:
It is all a matter of scheduling, and although sometimes there are tight deadlines and things may go wrong, we can all choose to also have a life and meet our friends, do things with the family, have a holiday or a weekend away from our computers.
I agree with Lina, it's a matter of scheduling. That means that I normally have to get up very early in the morning, and stick to a certain speed/ programme in my work, to make sure I finish early in the afternoon and I have lots of time for other things. Like exercising, meeting friends, spending time with my parents, having dinner out or going to events.
The fact that I am alone when I work is not necessarily bad. Actually, it is not bad at all. It gives me independence, flexibility, it lets me make up my own working environment and my own pace. I really enjoy working like that!
| | | | | Yes - but... | Jun 25, 2009 |
it is much better than it sounds. I feel lonely when I have a tight deadline and it is late in the evening and I get stuck due to technical problems - then there is not much help to get, no IT-person to contact, I am all by my self BUT there are so many good things about it:
- I can start working whenever I like, take a break whenever I like, turn night into day if I want to
- I never have to worry about being too hot or too cold because my collegues have other preferences...... See more it is much better than it sounds. I feel lonely when I have a tight deadline and it is late in the evening and I get stuck due to technical problems - then there is not much help to get, no IT-person to contact, I am all by my self BUT there are so many good things about it:
- I can start working whenever I like, take a break whenever I like, turn night into day if I want to
- I never have to worry about being too hot or too cold because my collegues have other preferences...
- I can listen to music without worrying about disturbing anyone
- Possiblity to work outdoors if the weather is good - no one cares
- I can work from abroad as long as I have good broadband and electricity
AND...
there are so many collegues which are just a click away...
This is the best job ever! ▲ Collapse
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There is one more comment I would like to share. Most of the time, translations are like an original piece of art prepared by one single person.
It is very difficult to create an art piece between two or more people working on it at the same time; but it is not imposible, a prime example is an orchesta.
In a company everything should (in theory, ) function as an orchesta: the manager leads, there are those... See more There is one more comment I would like to share. Most of the time, translations are like an original piece of art prepared by one single person.
It is very difficult to create an art piece between two or more people working on it at the same time; but it is not imposible, a prime example is an orchesta.
In a company everything should (in theory, ) function as an orchesta: the manager leads, there are those in finance who play the trumpets, and those in marketing that play the drums, etc.
I guess what I am trying to say is that at times I miss being part of an orchesta; however, many times my regular clients make me feel like a "guest performer".
Cheers!
Rocío
[Edited at 2009-06-25 13:28 GMT]
[Edited at 2009-06-25 13:29 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Boris Rogowski
Germany
Local time: 21:25
Member (2008)
English to German
"I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows. The really dili... See more "I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows. The really diligent student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as solitary as a dervish in the desert. The farmer can work alone in the field or the woods all day, hoeing or chopping, and not feel lonesome, because he is employed; but when he comes home at night he cannot sit down in a room alone, at the mercy of his thoughts, but must be where he can "see the folks," and recreate, and, as he thinks, remunerate himself for his day's solitude; and hence he wonders how the student can sit alone in the house all night and most of the day without ennui and "the blues"; but he does not realize that the student, though in the house, is still at work in his field, and chopping in his woods, as the farmer in his, and in turn seeks the same recreation and society that the latter does, though it may be a more condensed form of it."
H.D. Thoreau ▲ Collapse
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Jean-Louis S.
United States
Local time: 15:25
English to French
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| I miss Walden pond... | Jun 25, 2009 |
Instead, I am in steamy Georgia...
Fortunately alone all day.
Thanks!
Jean-Louis
Boris Rogowski wrote:
"I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows. The really diligent student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as solitary as a dervish in the desert. The farmer can work alone in the field or the woods all day, hoeing or chopping, and not feel lonesome, because he is employed; but when he comes home at night he cannot sit down in a room alone, at the mercy of his thoughts, but must be where he can "see the folks," and recreate, and, as he thinks, remunerate himself for his day's solitude; and hence he wonders how the student can sit alone in the house all night and most of the day without ennui and "the blues"; but he does not realize that the student, though in the house, is still at work in his field, and chopping in his woods, as the farmer in his, and in turn seeks the same recreation and society that the latter does, though it may be a more condensed form of it."
H.D. Thoreau
| | | | | It's up to you | Jun 25, 2009 |
Translating might be lonely, but it does not have to be. It's just what you make it. And the good thing about it: you are in control.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 21:25
Spanish to English
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