Posted on by Jason E-W

3 Things to Look for when Hiring a Freelance Translator

Hiring is a delicate process—part art and part science—and one that usually requires more work on the hirer’s side of the equation: going through emails and resumes, comparing and contrasting prospects’ levels of education, experience, fit, potential, etc.

So how does one decide on the perfect translator for their company’s ongoing content or a one-off project? First of all, you have to know what you have and what you want.

What kind of content do you have, what is the content’s current purpose, and what will be the goal of the translated content?

All of these play a key role in choosing a translator. So the first factor is subject matter: choose an eloquent translator for artful or literary content; choose a translator with mechanical engineering experience or education for a technical manual on mechanical engineering; choose a translator versed in medical jargon for a medical translation. You get the point.

Keep in mind that an experienced translator will likely have resources (in-person contacts, online communities, reference books) to handle light technical subject matter that is new to them. But in general, if you haven’t worked with a translator previously, make sure they know the subject they’ll be translating.

Plenty of people know two languages, but that doesn’t make them translators. Just like many people are native English speakers but you wouldn’t want them editing your content. Does your prospective hire have training in the translation field? A degree, some courses, a certificate?

Not all translators study translation in college, and that isn’t necessarily a negative. Maybe they studied the field in which they now translate, or they studied literature or communication. But ongoing translation study is important, even if it consists of a couple webinars a year to stay up to date on current trends and technology.

And if someone seems like a good fit but can’t offer any relevant education? Have them send you some samples or ask that they translate a short sample of your content.

Lastly, you will want to know the translator’s relevant experience. Are they recent graduates? Have they worked only with agencies? In these cases they may not have samples available, as translators can’t share translations without the client’s permission. Do they work with direct clients? Can they provide references or point you to published works they have translated?

Know what you’re looking for regarding subject matter mastery, translation-specific training, and industry experience. And remember, education and experience are useful measures for judging quality and fit, but don’t always tell the whole story.

Posted on by Jason E-W

What if the Most Sensitive Are Those Who Go First? (Translation)

In general, people assume that individuals who commit suicide do so as a result of a kind of weakness of character or a lack of commitment to life, when in fact the opposite may be true. It takes a lot of character and courage to see the cruelty and misery that occur daily and, despite seeing what they  see, keep living as though everything is fine. More commonly, people tend to look the other way, run away from the painful, and, like Cypher in The Matrix, they (we) opt for the blessings of ignorance, indifference, frivolity, and selfishness.

Is this not the case of many people who can not or do not want to see or be aware of the world’s many ills? In antiquity, these evils came from outside, in particular diseases and the danger that the forces of nature represented for human life. Today, the evils of the “human world” stem from uniquely human origins: wars, inequality, discrimination… Hence Sartre’s phrase: “Hell is other people.” As Yuval Noah Harari points out, nowadays people are more likely to commit suicide than to be killed. “In 2012 about 56 million people died throughout the world; 620,000 of them died due to human violence (war killed 120,000 people, and crime killed another 500,000). In contrast, 800,000 committed suicide, and 1.5 million died of diabetes. Sugar is now more dangerous than gunpowder” (Harari, 2015, Homo Deus, p.26).

What we really have to ask ourselves is whether contemporary societies are able to create the conditions conducive to a life that is worth living. The high rates of suicide, mental illness and various addictions (whether to substances or to destructive behaviors such as consumerism) seem to cast doubt on our optimism and force us to break away from the reverie that all is well.

Is it really worth living? Great writers, musicians, singers, actors, have concluded that…no, it isn’t. I don’t think that their response is due to a matter of weakness, but rather to an excess of sensitivity and vulnerability. Hopefully their desperate cries of a refusal to fall into existential numbness will force us to wake up and become aware of the daily misery in which we live: frivolity, materialism, selfishness, injustice, violence, fear… All this seems to be an inherent aspect of our interactions as human beings.

But are we in time to change course and start thinking and living differently? Only time will tell. Today I want to dedicate these lines to those who simply could no longer tolerate this existential situation and preferred to leave it.

Bon voyage, Chester Bennington, and all those who preceded him: Chris Cornell, Jim Morrison, Virginia Woolf, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Williams…

Originally at: https://infic.mx/who-commit-suicide/

Posted on by Jason E-W

Morbid Overdose (Translation)

Last week I received an odd and unexpected email with the following subject: “REDLANDS a dark indie film by John Brian King” (sic). It was signed by the completely unknown to me Eva Richter. Upon opening the message I found the press book and a code to watch an American independent film just out of the oven. It is called “Redlands” and Eva Richter is a co-producer.

In addition to the technical and artistic notes and some suggestive photos of a scantily clad redhead (actually…without clothing), what most grabbed my attention was the inclusion of the reasons for which various (unnamed) festivals had rejected the film. Said arguments included, “Overall, this film feels humorless, cynical, and ugly”; “It feels particularly voyeuristic and sadistic”; “Needless to say, this made me want to avoid Redlands, CA at all costs, and made me proud to be from Ohio, a state that the main character derides.” Obviously, I had to see it.

I was anticipating a weird movie but what I found exceeded my expectations. It is filmed in lengthy, completely static sequences (except for the last scene, depressingly depressing, in which the camera turns on itself as though it were a nightmare chasing its own tail) in which characters enter and exit, set in the California city of 65,000 after which the film is named.

In this city three characters mix it up: Vienna, an extremely attractive twenty-year-old who works as a receptionist in an office and unleashes her artistic aspirations as a nude model; Zack, her boyfriend, an aspiring rock star who acts as her “protector” and takes advantage of her, in all senses of the word; and Allan, a middle-aged guy without a job or anything particularly useful, disowned by his ex-wife and daughter, who one lucky day decided that photography was his passion and hired Vienna as his model.

Not once while watching was I able to decide whether I was watching a work of genius or mockery. But, while I mulled between these two options, I was completely unable to avert my eyes from the screen…much less press pause.

Everything the festivals had said—except the gentleman from Ohio, over whom we’ll place a veil: stupid localisms aren’t just a Spanish thing—was absolutely correct: it is a movie without a sense of humor, it is cynical, unpleasant, voyeuristic, and sadistic, without a doubt. However, with its rhythmic, almost maddening pace, its unhealthy and sickly atmosphere, its extremely morbid handling of almost explicit sex and latent violence, and its apparently inconsequential dialogue that provides remarkable depth, it is also a movie that is hypnotic, unsettling, disturbing, obsessive, and extremely fascinating.

All of the actors are total unknowns, but the female protagonist has a curious history. She is Nicole Fox, a beautiful and sculptural Californian redhead born 23 years ago who jumped to fame by winning the thirteenth edition of the reality show “America’s Next Top Model,” which was specifically intended for models under 5′ 7″ (her exact height). Fox is a diamond in the rough: the camera loves her and surrenders to her unconditionally; she knows how to communicate her emotions through her eyes, she has a suggestive voice, an impressive physique, she isn’t afraid of taking risks, and her inhibitions (as is made clear in the film) are not to be found. It will be surprising if she doesn’t turn into a glittering movie star in the future, which will lead to “Redlands,” in addition to its oddities, becoming a part of history for being the first in which she appeared as a main character…and probably the riskiest of her career.

Originally at: http://redlandsthemovie.com/Film-Reviews