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Oct 25, 2019 (posted viaProZ.com): Current short-term project: reading personal letters in German to summarize for a client, then translate into English as requested; long-term project: translating into English a Spanish-language novel...more »
Freelance translator and/or interpreter, Verified site user
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Spanish to English: "From the other side" General field: Art/Literary
Source text - Spanish “Tomó sus cosas y miró el reloj, se dirigió al lugar donde se sentía seguro, probablemente porque siempre había estado ahí para él: su cuarto.
Se despidió de sus paredes que tantos recuerdos habían guardado: sus sueños, sus ideas, sus sentimientos y ahora sus nostalgias, éstas estaban plasmadas con grafitis multicolores, con figuras y formas que solo él podía ver, que solo él podía leer, que solo él podría comprender.
También se despidió de las ventanas, que por las soleadas tardes tapizaban su solitario rostro con las más variadas armonías y que por las mañanas le anunciaban la hora de levantarse; de su cama y de su almohada, amigas íntimas, quienes conocían sus secretos y fantasías de amores encontrados y olvidados en la memoria.
Y antes de marcharse, le dirigió una oración al crucifijo, luego lo besó, recordó que él era quien lo había acompañado toda su vida y que la soledad era necesaria algunas veces (no siempre) para encontrarse con su propio corazón, lo volvió a mirar y entonces lo tomó y lo echó en su bolsa.
Salió, cerro la puerta y tiró el fósforo. No miró hacia atrás, siguió caminando mientras sentía arder su espalda… brotaron algunas lágrimas que fueron arrancadas por el viento que soplaba como todos los diciembres.
Translation - English He picked up his things and looked at his watch, then turned towards the place where he had felt
safe, probably because it had always been there for him: his room.
He said goodbye to the walls that held so many memories: his dreams, his ideas, his emotions, and now his feelings of homesickness. The walls were fashioned with multicolored graffiti, with figures and forms that only he could see, that only he could read, that only he could understand.
He also said farewell to the windows that had carpeted his solitary face on sunny afternoons with the greatest array of harmonies and had announced each morning the waking hour’s arrival. He said farewell to his bed and his pillow, intimate friends who knew his secrets and fantasies of love found and lost in memory.
And before leaving he said a prayer before the crucifix, then kissed it and remembered his life-long companion and that solitude was sometimes necessary (but not always) to find one’s own heart. He looked at the crucifix again and then grabbed it and dropped it in his bag.
He went out, closing the door behind him, and tossed the match. He did not look back, continuing to walk as he felt the heat on his back… Tears welled up in his eyes and were drawn out by the brutal wind that blew as it did every December.
German to English: “Are you familiar with Pößneck?” General field: Art/Literary
Source text - German Der Bahnsteig in Pößneck entpuppte sich als ein nicht-überdachter Bretterverschlag an einer Schnellstraße. Es schneite. Es hagelte. Es graupelte. Es war schneidend kalt. Ich blickte mich um. Weit und breit war niemand auf dem "Bahnsteig", der so aussah - Lodenmantel, Nickelbrille, Rollkragen - wie Literaturveranstalter gemeinhin so aussehen. Denn wie wir alle wissen: Klischees gibt es nicht schließlich umsonst. Im Gegenteil: Sicher leiten sie einen durch den zwielichten Dschungel des Daseins, besonders auf Reisen und in der Fremde.
Ich griff zum Handy. Selten habe ich meine frühere Ablehnung der Mobiltelekommunikation so unverständlich gefunden wie in diesem Moment, wo LKW-Fahrer von der Schnellstraße an den Randstreifen fuhren, mich von oben aus ihren Fahrerkabinen mit blitzenden Goldzähnen anlächelten und zweideutige Gesten machten. Da stand ich in meinem roten Mantel, mit hochgesteckten Haaren und den neuen Ohrringen; Hagelkörner fielen dutzendweise auf meinem Kopf.
Translation - English The platform in Pößneck turned out to be a roofless wooden shack next to a highway. It was snowing. It was hailing. It was sleeting. The cold cut through to my bones. Far and wide on the “platform” stood no one who fit the description - a loden coat, metal-framed glasses, turtleneck - as organizers of literary events generally look. Because, as we all know, clichés ultimately do not exist in vain. On the contrary: they are surely a guide through the twilight jungle of existence, especially when traveling in foreign territory.
I reached for my cell phone. Rarely have I found my earlier rejection of mobile communication as incomprehensible as at this moment, as truck drivers steered off the highway onto the shoulder and smiled down on me from their cabs with sparkling gold teeth and suggestive gestures. There I stood in my red coat, my hair pulled up and wearing new earrings; hailstones fell on my head by the dozens.
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Translation education
PhD - Binghamton University
Experience
Years of experience: 9. Registered at ProZ.com: Mar 2010.
I have a diverse educational, professional, and personal background which has led to an interesting combination of specializations. I have "real" world experience, academic training, and passion for a variety of other passions and interests.
Education:
PhD in Translation Studies, Binghamton University
Graduate certificates in translation, Binghamton University German into English (literary and non-literary) Spanish into English (literary and non-literary)
MA in Comparative Literature, Binghamton University
BA in German Language and Literature, Ithaca College; minors in Spanish Language and Literature and Art History
Institute for European Studies / Humboldt University, Berlin
Professional Experience
freelance translator, editor, and proofreader (5 years)
professor of academic writing, research, rhetoric, and composition in higher education (7 years)
instructor of record of literature, translation theory, and Spanish in higher education (3 years)
website manager for small book publisher
Additional experience
volunteer leader and organizer for the Sierra Club (19 years)
faculty adviser to student environmental club (2 years)
additional leadership and volunteer roles for various environmental, nature, and outdoors organizations
passionate home-brewer, vintner, cook, baker, and overall foodie
Keywords: Erin Riddle, Spanish, German, translator, translation, nature, natural sciences, environment, environmental science, agriculture. See more.Erin Riddle, Spanish, German, translator, translation, nature, natural sciences, environment, environmental science, agriculture, food, culinary arts, wine, beer, development, human rights, fiction, Owego, Tioga County, New York, New York state, Binghamton University. See less.
Expertise