Language Blog Translation Times: October 2017

Image by freepik.

Happy Halloween, dear friends and colleagues from around the world! Halloween-based posts and newsletters (and advertising, of course) are a thing this year, so we thought we'd jump in by asking interpreters to share their scary/spooky/funny stories as they relate to their interpreting experience. Some assignments can be very scary, others are emotionally draining and difficult, while others are simply funny. Of course we do not mean to make light of challenging or scary situations, but we would love to hear about them and share them here.

Below are some of ours:

Scariest interpreting experience: A few years ago, Judy went into a county jail to interpret for a defendant and his public defender. After the appointment was over, all three of us were locked in the interview room because the jail doesn't have enough staff to come and unlock the door. Judy wasn't scared of the defendant at all, who was very polite, but didn't enjoy being locked in a small room. Being claustrophobic doesn't help. Plus, it was lunch time! It took about an hour for staff to let us out.

Spookiest interpreting experience: Last year, Dagy had the pleasure of interpreting at an OPEC event in Vienna (Judy was there as back-up interpreter), specifically at the gorgeous Hofburg (Imperial Palace) Conference Center. It was a high-profile event with media from all over the world, but finding your way around, especially to the interpreting booth, was a bit spooky: think dark corners (no ghosts, though), hidden corridors, and hallways so complicated that it makes you want to leave breadcrumbs so you can find your way back from the bathroom. The Imperial Palace dates back to the 13th (!) century, and the fourth-floor interpreting booths are obviously much newer than that, thus creating an architectural challenge and was not always solved in the most elegant way. After much running around, we are happy to report we did did find our way to the booth, to the bathroom, to the hall were lunch was being served, and back out without needing any breadcrumbs.

Funniest interpreting experience: Judy showed up at a mine (yes, a mine) in desolate central Nevada wearing a business outfit, only to be told that she'd be interpreting outside in 115-degree weather, and that she'd be working around corrosive and potentially explosive (!) materials. Since there was no other clothing available, she was given the nurse's scrubs, socks, and steel-toed shoes, which she wore under fire-retardant clothing (brand-new, at least). The client showed up and was puzzled that the nurse spoke German. Judy had to explain that she wasn't the nurse, but the interpreter.

We'd love to hear your scariest/spookiest/funniest interpreting experience, dear colleagues! Please leave them in the comments below and have a fantastic Halloween!

Norwegian kroner, because we had the picture handy. Photo by Judy.

If you are like most small business owners here in the U.S, in our profession or any other, you are probably quite familiar with quarterly estimated taxes, which are due four times a year. We generally think taxes are a great thing, and that they are one of the main things that make a society work, and we are happy to pay them. But sometimes small businesses run into cash flow issues and occasionally you have to scramble to come up with the estimated tax payment when it's due. It's happened to us, too, and while we have always been able to pay it, we figured we needed an easy way to guarantee the money is there when we need it.

The strategy we started using is quite simple, but one we had only used intermittently before: every time we deposit a check into our checking account or receive a payment via online banking transfer (which they all should be, but we digress), we immediately take 20% of each payment and transfer that into a savings account that's used to pay taxes. The two accounts are with the same bank (Chase, as much as we dislike them at times) and the transfer is quick, easy, and free. Since the money goes out so quickly after it's been deposited, we don't really miss it, and we ware delighted to have it come tax time.

What do you think, dear colleagues? Do you follow a similar strategy?

About us

We (Judy and Dagmar Jenner) are a pair of identical translating and interpreting twins working in Spanish, German, English, and French (Dagmar only). We were born in Austria, grew up in a bilingual household in Mexico City, and run our translation, interpreting and copywriting business, Twin Translations, from Vegas and Vienna (Austria). In this blog, we dispense (useful) tips and tricks on how to run a translation and interpreting business. We frequently share what we know with fellow linguists via our "The Entrepreneurial Linguist" workshop. The "Entrepreneurial Linguist" book has sold more than 5,000 copies and is available on www.lulu.com. Judy pens the monthly "Entrepreneurial Linguist" column for the American Translators Association's Chronicle and also serves as a spokesperson for the ATA. She holds an MBA in marketing from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dagmar has a graduate degree in French, an undergraduate translation degree and a graduate degree in French and Spanish conference interpreting from the University of Vienna. She is the president of UNIVERSITAS Austria Interpreters' and Translators' Association and is an accredited freelance conference interpreter for the institutions of the European Union, where she works in the German booth. Judy is a federally certified Spanish court interpreter, a master-level certified Spanish court interpreter in Nevada, a certified Spanish court interpreter in California, a registered German court interpreter in Nevada, and a past president of the Nevada Interpreters and Translators Association, and serves as the organization's professional development committee. She also teaches in the University of California San Diego's Extension translation and interpreting certificate program.