Good morning everybody! A huge thank you to @Jeromobot and @adrechsel for giving me the steering wheel for this account this week. My name is Erik, a Swedish native speaker who has lived in Germany since back in 1991. I translate mainly technical texts from German into Swedish.
Back in the early 90s in the former GDR (outside Dresden, where I live), I soon found out there was a high demand for English teachers. People who had lost their jobs, often as a result of the German reunification and the economic changes, were offered retraining courses, which..
..often included a module of a certain numbers of English lessons. Working as a freelance English trainer at different private schools for adults was indeed a challenging task. Go figure: a Swede explaining English grammar to German natives. Oh well, it worked fine in the end.
After some years I started with DE-SV translations (which suited me fine thanks to my technical background). Luckily this developed quite well, and as the week only has 7 days and the day only 24 hours, I left the training business more or less completely in the end of the 1990s.
Apparently there are quite a few colleagues who have worked (or still work) as a language trainer before taking up a translation & interpreting career. Are there any soft skills you can apply in both cases?

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with TranslationTalk / Tanya

TranslationTalk / Tanya Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @translationtalk

11 Nov
Good morning! Thanks a lot for your invaluable input yesterday about important steps for translation & interpreting graduates and beginners on how to become a successful #freelancer. Learning from seasoned colleagues, for example as a member in an organization, is a key factor.
Today, let's focus on our professionalism. Establishing a network, attending #webinars #seminars #conferences, investing time in learning how to use a CAT tool etc. are only parts of the mosaic. In order to find and keep clients we need to act like pros.
We all expect our clients to perceive us as professional service-providers at eye level. We are neither amateurs nor hobby-translators looking for some quick cash. Honesty towards a client is important, e.g. if you're not enough qualified or a suggested deadline can't be met.
Read 9 tweets
10 Nov
Good morning! Yesterday we spoke about translation & interpreting graduates who often are not sufficiently prepared for a #freelance life. In your opinion, what steps are necessary to become a successful freelancer?
Thanks a lot for so many good ideas! I could add the ability to act like a professional (more about that later), staying curious & always keep learning, building up a pro network, keeping a healthy life/work balance. After all, we need to recharge to stay on top.
Did anybody mention joining a professional T&I organisation? Many have reduced membership fees for students and graduates. Apart from networking with colleagues, many offer CPD (continuing professional development) #webinars and #seminars which cover a number of different topics.
Read 5 tweets
15 Sep
🎧 [JSP] BINAURAL LISTENING

It seems we’ve been doing it wrong all along!

Bottom line: #interpreting with just 1 ear fully covered may be harmful not just for our hearing - but also for our brain.

Explanation and possible solutions below👇

#BinauralListening #1nt
Solution? Both ears fully covered + 👉self-monitoring👈 (that is, listening both to “Floor” AND to your own voice through your headphones).

⚠️ Important: this does not mean that you should now simply fully cover the other ear and keep interpreting as usual. Please read below.
Medical and acoustic explanation in this excellent article by @InterStartRT.

@Dolm_in_NRW might have some valuable info on the topic too :)

Some possible technical solutions below.

linkedin.com/pulse/more-me-…
Read 10 tweets
16 Jan 19
My translation of another novel opening, this one from Portuguese. This is the first short paragraph of “The Society of Reluctant Dreamers”, by José Eduardo Agualusa, which comes out later this year.
[1/23]
“Acordei muito cedo. Vi através da estreita janela passarem compridas aves negras. Sonhara com elas. Era como se tivessem saltado do meu sonho para o céu, um papel de seda azul-escuro, húmido, com um bolor amargo crescendo nos cantos.” So, quick first draft?
[2/23]
“I woke up very early. I saw through the narrow window long, black AVES passing. I had dreamed about them. It was as if they had jumped from my dream to the sky, a piece of PAPEL DE SEDA [tissue-paper?] that was dark blue, damp, with a bitter mould growing in the corners.”
[3/23]
Read 24 tweets
14 Jan 19
I thought today I might work through a single, simple sentence – stage by stage, issue by issue. It’s the first sentence of a novel I’m just starting, by the excellent @VillalobosJPe. Here it is:

Mi primo me llamó por teléfono y dijo: Te quiero presentar a mis socios.
[1/18]
Nothing too hard to understand, so here’s the first quick stab:

My cousin called me on the telephone and said, “I want to introduce you to my partners.”

Translating is so easy!
[2/18]
Oh, note that I’ve added quote-marks – I tend to standardise punctuation to whatever the norm is in the language I’m translating *to*. (No reason, I think, to write in one language and observes the norms of another.)
[3/18]
Read 18 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!