| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Have you ever been deeply affected by a translation you worked on? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 03:32
Spanish to English
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An acquaintance/student once asked me to translate the results/ medical report on a young girl who had been to the US for treatment for melanoma. The results and prognosis were bad and the family could ill aford the expense in the first place. I didn't charge for the service, it was the least I could do.
| | | | Rebecca Garber 
Local time: 21:32
Member (2005)
German to English
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| handwritten letters | Nov 28, 2015 |
There was nothing special about them, not even the greetings and love expressed at the end.
Except that they were written by a German Jewish family from a village in which no one survived the Holocaust.
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 22:32
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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| Many times, but not deeply | Nov 29, 2015 |
Many documents may sometimes surprise the translator with a reality they were not aware of. That adds to one's knowledge and may somehow 'affect' them or cause some level of commotion. But "deeply" is too deep a term to use here. So I voted "other".
| | | | Katrin Bosse (X)
Germany
Local time: 03:32
Dutch to German
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| Yes, many times, but one time especially | Nov 29, 2015 |
I have one client for whom I have translated many a moving story over the years. But one article will always stand out from the rest.
It was about a seven-year-old girl who was found by the police and Social Services living in a closet, naked, except for a completely soiled and obviously days old diaper. She was severely malnourished, anemic, and her skin pocked with insect bites. She had never learned to walk properly in her confinement, had never been shown any kindness or been sp... See more I have one client for whom I have translated many a moving story over the years. But one article will always stand out from the rest.
It was about a seven-year-old girl who was found by the police and Social Services living in a closet, naked, except for a completely soiled and obviously days old diaper. She was severely malnourished, anemic, and her skin pocked with insect bites. She had never learned to walk properly in her confinement, had never been shown any kindness or been spoken to and consequently had never mastered speech. Her entire life, she had been suffering abuse and neglect, like an unwanted animal, and all this right in the middle of her family home, next to her two brothers and her mother.
Being a mother of a young girl myself, I was crying the whole time while translating, wondering, what must have happened to the souls of people to make them capable of such an extent of neglect and emotional imperviousness.
Fortunately, the girl was rescued, found a foster home with loving foster parents and a new foster brother who all helped her get better and blossom. But speech will always be out of her reach and she will be disabled for the rest of her life.
This story still haunts me and probably will do so forever. ▲ Collapse
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DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
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As for me, I’m not so passionate about my projects because I take it as it is—life is life and job is job; everything is but information, let alone it is the very client who decides what to do and how to feel about it.
Perhaps, it’s very similar to a long interpreting, when it goes automatically and one cannot remember what he was just translating or whether it really required any translation at all: you just have to and do it.
On the other hand, I do feel emoti... See more As for me, I’m not so passionate about my projects because I take it as it is—life is life and job is job; everything is but information, let alone it is the very client who decides what to do and how to feel about it.
Perhaps, it’s very similar to a long interpreting, when it goes automatically and one cannot remember what he was just translating or whether it really required any translation at all: you just have to and do it.
On the other hand, I do feel emotions listening to, watching, or reading both domestic and foreign sources, when it’s not my job/contract. Perhaps, it’s for there’s no such Art. as “enjoy your reading”.
Why, not long ago I translated a few books about origami and I really enjoyed making some paper things—not translating though) ▲ Collapse
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I did a series on human rights violations. One of them had to do with torture.
A lot of other translations stick in my mind because I learn so much from them, but not because they make me sad.
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