Tag Archives: translators

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erasmus-logos-17Το πρόγραμμα Erasmus για Νέους Επιχειρηματίες είναι ένα πρόγραμμα διασυνοριακής ανταλλαγής που ξεκίνησε το 2009 με πρωτοβουλία της Ευρωπαϊκής Επιτροπής και το οποίο προσφέρει σε νέους ή φιλόδοξους επιχειρηματίες την ευκαιρία να αποκομίσουν γνώσεις από έμπειρους επιχειρηματίες οι οποίοι διευθύνουν μικρές επιχειρήσεις σε κάποια από τις συμμετέχουσες στο πρόγραμμα χώρες. Η ανταλλαγή εμπειριών πραγματοποιείται κατά τη διάρκεια της παραμονής (1-6 μήνες) κοντά σε έναν έμπειρο επιχειρηματία άλλης χώρας (επιχειρηματίας υποδοχής), ενώ ο νέος επιχειρηματίας χρηματοδοτείται εξ ολοκλήρου από την Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή.

Από το πρόγραμμα μπορούν να επωφεληθούν νέοι και παλαιότεροι ελεύθεροι επαγγελματίες, ανεξαρτήτως ηλικίας, μεταφραστικά γραφεία, καθώς και νέοι που σκοπεύουν να ξεκινήσουν τη δική τους επιχειρηματική δραστηριότητα σε κάποιο γλωσσικό επάγγελμα. Οι επιλέξιμοι συνάδελφοι θα αποκομίσουν πολύτιμες γνώσεις μέσω την συνεργασίας τους με άτομα από άλλες χώρες ενώ θα ενισχυθεί η εξωστρέφεια της επιχείρησής τους ανοίγοντας το δρόμο και για νέες συνεργασίες εκτός Ελλάδος. Αξίζει να σημειωθεί ότι η συνεργασία μπορεί να περιλαμβάνει και διαφορετικούς κλάδους. Για παράδειγμα, ένας ιδιοκτήτης μεταφραστικού γραφείου μπορεί να χρειάζεται βοήθεια με την προβολή της επιχείρησής του στο εξωτερικό και έτσι να συνεργαστεί με κάποιον επιχειρηματία με υπόβαθρο στα μέσα κοινωνικής δικτύωσης.

Μπορείτε να συμμετάσχετε στο πρόγραμμα ως Νέοι Επιχειρηματίες (New Entrepreneurs), εάν:

  • Σχεδιάζετε να ξεκινήσετε μία επιχείρηση βάσει ενός βιώσιμου επιχειρηματικού σχεδίου.
  • Έχετε ξεκινήσει τη δική σας επιχείρηση εντός της τελευταίας τριετίας.

Οι συνάδελφοι που δραστηριοποιούνται επιχειρηματικά για  περισσότερα από 3 χρόνια μπορούν να λάβουν μέρος στο πρόγραμμα ως έμπειροι επιχειρηματίες (Οικοδεσπότες Επιχειρηματίες) και να φιλοξενήσουν στην επιχείρησή τους κάποιον νέο επιχειρηματιά άλλης Ευρωπαϊκής χώρας. Βασική προϋπόθεση σε αυτή την περίπτωση είναι η επιχείρηση του έμπειρου επιχειρηματία να διαθέτει γραφεία.

Μπορείτε να συμμετάσχετε στο πρόγραμμα ως Οικοδεσπότες Eπιχειρηματίες Yποδοχής (Host Entrepreneurs) εάν:

  • Είστε μόνιμοι κάτοικοι σε μια από τις χώρες που συμμετέχουν στο πρόγραμμα.
  • Είστε ιδιοκτήτες-διευθυντές μίας μικρής ή μεσαίας επιχείρησης ή πρόσωπα που έχετε άμεση σχέση με την επιχειρηματικότητα σε επίπεδο διοικητικού συμβουλίου ΜΜΕ.

Πώς να υποβάλετε αίτηση συμμετοχής:

Εγγραφείτε μέσω διαδικτύου

Επιλέξτε ένα σημείο επαφής στη χώρα διαμονής σας

Το πρόγραμμα συντονίζουν σε κάθε χώρα της ΕΕ ενδιάμεσοι φορείς που έχουν επιλεγεί από την Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή και λειτουργούν ως τοπικά σημεία επαφής.

Το Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλίας είναι ένα από τα τοπικά σημεία επαφής στην Ελλάδα για το πρόγραμμα Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs.

Για περισσότερες πληροφορίες σχετικά με το πρόγραμμα επισκεφθείτε τον ιστότοπο: http://www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu/index.php?lan=el  ή επικοινωνήστε με τον υπεύθυνο του προγράμματος κύριο Χαράλαμπο Σαμαντζή στη διεύθυνση:  hasamant@uth.gr.

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Being translators ourselves, we love watching movies with translators as the main characters, as they’re not very easy to come across. We also feel that they help lend visibility to translation and translators in general, which is something that our industry desperately needs.

If you haven’t watched the trailer yet, the movie is about the translation of a bestseller and it’s actually inspired by the process of translation of Dan Brown’s novel. The aim is to have a best-selling book appear simultaneously in various countries and so the translators are gathered into a luxurious bunker of sorts where they have to finish their translations with no contact with the outside world in order to avoid leaks. Nevertheless, soon enough, the 10 first pages are leaked and a ransom is requested, pushing the publisher to the extremes in his effort to find the culprit.

As you may have guessed already, the plot is much more about bestsellers, the commercial aspects of writing and publishing, and greed, than it is about translation. This article is not meant to be an actual review of the movie, but will rather focus on the translation-related aspects of the plot. If you’re looking for a more traditional review, we found this one on Hollywood reporter quite accurate.

So here are our main outtakes from the movie:

It’s not really about translation

Sure, the movie is called The translators and almost all the main characters are indeed translators, but translation itself is actually quite secondary to the plot. The main focus of the action is a bestselling book and the lengths its publisher will go to for commercial gain rather than translation itself. That is probably to be expected from a thriller, but it was a tiny bit disappointing. On top of that, the translators often seem like caricatures, largely based on stereotypes of their respective countries –the leftist Greek, the depressed Dane, the cocky Italian– rather than fully developed characters.

It does touch lightly on the significance of multilingualism

This is not a very profound movie; all its main themes are dealt with quite superficially around the thriller plot. However, one of the most tense scenes of the movie (tiny spoiler alert) involves the translators speaking to each other in various, less spoken, languages to avoid being understood. They switch and translate between languages to make sure everyone understands, as they don’t all share a common third language other than English and French. That scene is rather powerful for a language geek, because it does bring into focus the beauty of multilingualism, as well as the unique advantages it offers. It also underlines the significance of translation in international communication, which we are all for!

It does portray translation as a holistic process (especially of literary translation)

One of the things we rather liked about how the actual process of translation is portrayed in the movie is that, apart from a laptop, the manuscript and a dictionary (only one dictionary? Come on!), the translators are given access to a library supposedly containing books on all subjects of human knowledge. This is a nice touch, given that many people actually think that translation is simply about looking for words in a dictionary and writing them down. Translation is so much more than words; and it’s indeed very often that you have to delve into lengthy books and articles on a specific subject to be able to translate just one small word. However, ask any translator and we bet they will agree that today it’s close to impossible to translate without the Internet, like the characters are asked to! We’re so used to having this easy access to a trove of information that it would be quite challenging to translate without it.

To sum it up, if you’re looking for something light and entertaining to watch while in lockdown (or even out of it), go ahead and watch The translators. It ticks most of the boxes if a quick-paced thriller is what you’re after. Just don’t expect to find too many insights or original thinking about translation in there. Still, we’ll admit that having a film called the translators shown across the world makes us smile–translators for the win!

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WE

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1. Learning new things
One of the great things about translation is its sheer variety; one day you’ll be translating manuals of a washing machine and the next the website of a hotel on a dreamy island. Besides keeping boredom at bay, this multitude of subjects helps you learn a great many new things you would never have imagined existed. Naturally, if you specialize in one sector, that aspect of the job can get lost, but not entirely, as almost every new job and text brings with it new concepts and structures to be decoded and interpreted.

2. Working with languages
First and foremost, translators are language professionals, so one of the things we tend to like the most about our job is language itself. When you translate, you get to first decode a message written in one language –or code system- and then re-code it in another one. Through this process you learn a lot about both languages, you sharpen your skills in both and, most importantly, you get to marvel at the magic of multilingualism!

3. Being intercultural mediators
Language is the main means of expression of culture, so when translating something from one language to another, translators actually bridge the distance between different cultures. Think about all these books you would never be able to read or the plays and movies you wouldn’t be able to watch and enjoy were it not for the passionate translators who painstakingly render them in a language you understand. We love this role and for many of us it’s the main reason we got interested in the profession in the first place.

4. The freedom of working from home
Granted, not all translators work from home, but there is quite a large percentage that do. The freedom of working from home can be great: your commute is only from your bedroom to your desk; you don’t really have to get dressed if you don’t feel like it; your working hours can be as flexible as you want them to be; you get to meet friends or run errands in the middle of the day, or to have long breaks whenever you need them the most.

5. The time we save thanks to CAT tools
Today, computer-assisted translation tools are more advanced than ever. Translation memories are probably the most useful invention in the translation sector. Especially when dealing with repetitive texts, being able to retrieve previous translations with the click of a button can be a huge relief when you are pressed for time, while ensuring consistency and uniformity. And that’s not all: CAT tools help us avoid errors in numbers and other untranslatable text and spot other types of errors or missing translations.

WE 

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1. Being underestimated

This is usually the number one complaint of professional translators and is due largely to the advent of machine translation. However, it is also due to a long-held belief that translation is nothing more than substituting a series of words in one language to a series of words in another and can be done by anyone who speaks a foreign language and owns a dictionary. This has consequences for our remuneration, as people tend to expect much lower fees than what is reasonable, but also for the status of the translation profession in general.  Professional associations, conferences and articles online are some of the ways the sector successfully combats this trend and increases its profile.

2. Extremely tight deadlines

Some clients unfortunately realize they need something translated at the last minute; others tend to think that translation is a quick and easy process that can be completed in a matter of minutes: both situations that lead to suffocating deadlines. The reason we don’t like tight deadlines is mostly because high-quality work is our top priority; and the less time we have for researching, translating, editing and proofreading our work, the more chances there are of errors in the translation.

3. “Untranslatable” words or terms

This is actually more of a love-hate thing; most translators will tell you that there is no such thing as an untranslatable concept, and that’s true, because with the right skills, patience and imagination you can always render something in another language. However, especially when specific terms are concerned (i.e. legal or technical), this process can involve a lot of research and can be extremely time-consuming. On the other hand, the feeling of satisfaction you get when you’ve finally found a solution you’re happy with is priceless. Plus, as we mentioned above, we love learning new things, and doing extensive research is a big part of that.

4. The isolation of working from home
The isolation that working from home entails can be hard, especially if you have an outgoing personality: it can get lonely; you tend to miss the chit-chat with other colleagues; after a few years of freelancing, you may actually start missing the ritual of getting up and getting properly ready for work each morning; your personal space and work space are often one and the same, making it extra difficult to disconnect and balance your personal life with your professional one.

5. The time we lose because of CAT tools
Only a few years ago, translation was done with a pen and paper or maybe on a simple word file on a computer screen. Today, professional translators must have good knowledge of at least a few translation tools, know how to troubleshoot them, make the most out of their features and avoid their pitfalls (such as relying on automated translation or trusting translation memories too much). Plus, the tools tend to crash a few hours (or minutes) before the deadline, earning us a few white hairs in the process.

*Nolove image by Linuxerist~commonswiki