I do not believe that I would be a good translator if I had not worked for such a long time as an interpreter, and vice versa.
In my personal experience, interpreting provides the moment when I check whether those terms which I spent so long researching are actually used in the (specialised) language spoken in a particular sector.
I still smile when I remember the first course for mechanics at Il Corriere della Sera in Milan, in far-away 2005, when the maintenance staff manager suggested that I should use the term ‘encoder’ instead of ‘angular velocity transducer’ to translate the German term ‘Drehgeber’ (“That’s what we call it, and it takes fewer syllables”): from that day onwards I understood that mechanics and electricians would become my best allies.
I love technical interpreting because it is based on:
- concrete and tangible content which must be transmitted exactly, and
- the trust which grows up between the client and their own interpreter.
During installations I felt like part of many great families and I grew into my role as mediator between groups of people collaborating for a common purpose.
And last but not least: I had fun!
How many people can say that they know slang translations of certain technical printing terms such as “Einziehspitze” (web-up kite)? In Italian we speak, literally of a “punta d’introduzione” (introduction tip) used to insert the web of paper into a web printing machine, but it becomes a “calamita” (magnet) on manroland rotaries because they use tips with a magnetic strip, and in Naples it is ….”baccalà” (salt cod)!
This, too, is localisation
I cheerfully translate subjects involving mechanics, electronics, pneumatics, industrial automation, drive technology, electrical schemes and IT.
I am a liaison interpreter (not a simultaneous interpreter), so I translate for small groups of people during technical training courses, or for larger groups of people during seminars and workshops.
I also work alongside my clients during business meetings and visits to landfill sites/disposal or recycling plants.