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Poll: Have you ever used a typewriter for working on your translations?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Henry Hinds
Henry Hinds  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 20:17
English to Spanish
+ ...
In memoriam
Yes, but... Aug 23, 2014

I have used a typewriter, but back when I was starting and for about 15 years I mostly used pencil and paper and let someone else do the typing. I've always been the world's worst typist, yet my production is very high. If I were a halfway decent typist I could set records. My fingers are just too clumsy; that is why I did not choose to become a surgeon.

 
Reed James
Reed James
Chile
Local time: 23:17
Member (2005)
Spanish to English
Not for translation Aug 23, 2014

By the time I started translation, computers were in vogue and very much connected to the Internet. As a young child, though, I remember typing out my thoughts on a typewriter and feeling very important. Later, in high school, I was fortunate enough to have taken typing as an elective. I learned to touch type on an electric typewriter. Little did I know how much I was going to type later on during my translation career!

[Edited at 2014-08-23 15:37 GMT]

[Edited at 2014-08-23 15:38 G
... See more
By the time I started translation, computers were in vogue and very much connected to the Internet. As a young child, though, I remember typing out my thoughts on a typewriter and feeling very important. Later, in high school, I was fortunate enough to have taken typing as an elective. I learned to touch type on an electric typewriter. Little did I know how much I was going to type later on during my translation career!

[Edited at 2014-08-23 15:37 GMT]

[Edited at 2014-08-23 15:38 GMT]
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Triston Goodwin
Triston Goodwin  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 20:17
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Aug 23, 2014

Just to speak for us younger folk, I once touched a typewriter, and promptly broke it. Seriously, who lets a 4 year old play with one of those things?

My parents got their first computer when I was 2 years old. They insisted that I start playing with it at that age so that I would learn how to use it. I'm glad they did. \


Edit - I thought I was getting better at typing on my tablet... :/

[Edited at 2014-08-23 20:00 GMT]


 
Teresa Reinhardt
Teresa Reinhardt  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 19:17
Member (2002)
German to English
+ ...
Time for war stories... Aug 23, 2014

Teresa Borges wrote:

That was the only tool of the trade when I started translating professionally in the late 1970s. I used to write my first draft by hand, then type it up very carefully on a manual typewriter. Those were the days when correcting the slightest mistake seemed like an almost insuperable task: re-typing all over again (before the age of the correction tape and the correcting fluid). Still remember the day I could buy an IBM electric typewriter (a Selectric) with all those special typeballs!!!

What a change we “oldies” have witnessed… and enjoyed!


Kudos first for a question that I (at least) haven't seen here before!

I can only concur with what Teresa wrote; with the dates pushed back a little
…by a decade or so (= NO correction tape/fluid, only erasers that would often go through the paper…). I finally got someone to do the typing for me (on a RED Selectric) because my brain didn't do the automated (touch) typing. I am still mostly hunt&peck
to this day ("System Adler"); fast enough to keep up with my translating speed and, of course, on my more forgiving Mac.

I do have mixed feelings when it comes to "enjoying" all the changes;
e.g., I really regret the disappearance of the letter (to be followed by the email next),
of handwriting and the beautiful instruments we used (anyone still writing with
a pen - 'fountain' or older?), and a more leisurely pace in communication (which has increased from letter to fax to email - i.e., from weeks to seconds - and the resulting shrinkage of turn-around/response time).

On the other hand, I have always been an early adopter of new technologies; I have a Newton and a couple of Handspring 'personal assistants' to show for it. And just maybe we are coming full circle; my latest tablet and phablet both allow me to take notes by hand (which aids memory).

And no, my collection does not include stone tablets…;-)


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
No Aug 23, 2014

I used one at university for my dissertation and it was a real nightmare. The number of pages I had to retype, using two fingers, that whole "Now where's that pesky 'c' gone again?"

By the time I graduated, PCs and WordPerfect had arrived. Phew.


 
Claire Cox
Claire Cox
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:17
French to English
+ ...
Yes, definitely showing our age Aug 23, 2014

Yes, likewise no computers when I started translating in-house in 1984. At work we actually dictated most of our translations for the typing pool to type up but I had an old typewriter at home to type up any translations I did freelance. I had tried to go to a typing course at night school when I was about 15, but our deputy headmistress got wind of it and promptly banned me from attending as "academic girls don't need to type". How short-sighted that was in retrospect....

It was a
... See more
Yes, likewise no computers when I started translating in-house in 1984. At work we actually dictated most of our translations for the typing pool to type up but I had an old typewriter at home to type up any translations I did freelance. I had tried to go to a typing course at night school when I was about 15, but our deputy headmistress got wind of it and promptly banned me from attending as "academic girls don't need to type". How short-sighted that was in retrospect....

It was a shock to the system when my company decided we should all use IBM Displaywrite word processors in the mid-80's, and then on to computers, and I'm still very much a two-finger typist to this day, although I also use Dragon to dictate most of my work, so it's come pretty much full circle for me.
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Donald Jacobson
Donald Jacobson  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:17
German to English
+ ...
typewriter and paper that allowed for erasures Aug 23, 2014

The year was 1978 and I was entering my second year of medical school. I was newly married and my wife could not find a job at the time as a pastor in TN. I stayed up all night translating articles from German to English on the results of nuclear fallout and aquafers. No computers. Stack-load of physics texts and dictionaries from the university library. Info was needed due to the Three Mile Island Nuclear incident. I was surprised that the Germans had so much info on the topic and we needed it.... See more
The year was 1978 and I was entering my second year of medical school. I was newly married and my wife could not find a job at the time as a pastor in TN. I stayed up all night translating articles from German to English on the results of nuclear fallout and aquafers. No computers. Stack-load of physics texts and dictionaries from the university library. Info was needed due to the Three Mile Island Nuclear incident. I was surprised that the Germans had so much info on the topic and we needed it. It prepared me well for the insomnia of later clinical rotations that were 36 hours on and 12 hours off, seven days a week, and went for months on end! Ahhh, thosse were the good old days. LOLCollapse


 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 23:17
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Who is older than 45 in our community? Aug 23, 2014

I'd say the question above is the actual question here. Until 1980, at least, we all had a typewriter on our desks, didn't we? And the internet came a lot later, so for many years when we finally had a computer, we still didn't have the Internet, only dictionaries and an encyclopedia.


Claire Cox wrote:

Yes, likewise no computers when I started translating in-house in 1984. At work we actually dictated most of our translations for the typing pool to type up but I had an old typewriter at home to type up any translations I did freelance. I had tried to go to a typing course at night school when I was about 15, but our deputy headmistress got wind of it and promptly banned me from attending as "academic girls don't need to type". How short-sighted that was in retrospect....

It was a shock to the system when my company decided we should all use IBM Displaywrite word processors in the mid-80's, and then on to computers, and I'm still very much a two-finger typist to this day, although I also use Dragon to dictate most of my work, so it's come pretty much full circle for me.


 
Joel Pina Diaz
Joel Pina Diaz  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 20:17
English to Spanish
+ ...
Hups I m getting old! Aug 24, 2014

Jajajajajajaja... Yes, yes I used a typewriter up to 1982!! Huaaa long ago! Still having my old machine as a collection item together with stationary items; pens, pencils, erasers, ink, pictures, and old books...

What will be next is the question... Now...

I live pretty much over the cloud, I work together in real time with my colleagues in almost any place in the world, using several softwares, OS´s, couple of PC´s, lap´s, smartphone and tablets in order to stay c
... See more
Jajajajajajaja... Yes, yes I used a typewriter up to 1982!! Huaaa long ago! Still having my old machine as a collection item together with stationary items; pens, pencils, erasers, ink, pictures, and old books...

What will be next is the question... Now...

I live pretty much over the cloud, I work together in real time with my colleagues in almost any place in the world, using several softwares, OS´s, couple of PC´s, lap´s, smartphone and tablets in order to stay connected 100% during my works days, even a server!

Goshhhh I see my old typewriter behind the glass.... I read the poems and translations in the yellow old papers... I see my old signature..!

I love words... I create them, I translate them... I do not miss my inky fingers... jeje...
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Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 19:17
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Yes indeed Aug 24, 2014

My translation career began before we even had electric typewriters.

I was fast and accurate. I once translated 1,000 words an hour on my old manual.

I was proud of that machine because I had had it customized to print diacritics. I've forgotten the term for it, but if I hit the customized keys the machine would print the accent mark and then wait for me to type the letter under it. I thought it was the cat's meow.

My husband had a portable Olivetti. We wo
... See more
My translation career began before we even had electric typewriters.

I was fast and accurate. I once translated 1,000 words an hour on my old manual.

I was proud of that machine because I had had it customized to print diacritics. I've forgotten the term for it, but if I hit the customized keys the machine would print the accent mark and then wait for me to type the letter under it. I thought it was the cat's meow.

My husband had a portable Olivetti. We would both pound away for hours on end.
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Rudolf Frans Maulany
Rudolf Frans Maulany  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 03:17
English to Indonesian
+ ...
Yes Aug 24, 2014

I began to use a portable typewriter for translation in 1975 using carbon paper for copies until 1983.

 
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