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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to Tetum » Entry by Carla Ferreira


Source text in English

Translation by Carla Ferreira (#35414)

[...] Translators just didn't get recognition, they didn't expect to make much of a living, just get by. Very few people were actually trained as translators, but most had a solid college education and a solid knowledge of languages, at least their own language. I had a friend who fell exactly into that category and my circle of friends expanded to include other translators. I found them to be much more interesting as people, and discovered that we often had similar life experiences. I never had trouble making friends, but I always felt "different" and I'm sure they felt it too. When my friend retired, she recommended me as her replacement. I now entered the realm of Reinsurance, of which I knew nothing. I was also the only translator there, and didn't have much to fall back on. However, it was another notch up....

On my new job, I started looking through the files, asking questions and got the company to enroll me in Insurance courses. The College of Insurance was across the street, and I consulted fire codes, insurance policies and fire extinguisher catalogs in their library. I was learning what I had never had the luxury of being able to do before: research. The first time I had to translate a proposal for purposes of insurance of a nuclear plant, I got a call from the head man in that department, congratulating me on the job I had done. "Compares favorably with what we are used to," he said. What an upper! What happened was that I consulted a document in the files similar to the one I was tackling for guidance, but when I saw that my predecessor had used the word "nucleus" instead of "core", I realized that the files were useless to me. I went across the street to the library and looked up "nuclear plants." I immediately found all the terminology I needed.

It takes a great deal more than that to be a good translator these days, of course. [...]
[...] Iha tempu uluk, tradutór sira la hetan rekoñesimentu, sira la hein moris di’ak, hetan de'it atu hela bein-bein.
Ema uitoan maka hetan formasaun nu' udar tradutór, maibé barak liu mak iha edukasaun sólida no koñesimentu sólidu kona-ba lian sira, pelumenus iha sira-nia lian rasik.
Ha 'u iha kolega ida ne' ebé tama loos ba kategoria ne 'e no ha' u nia kolega sira aumenta tan hodi inklui tradutór sira seluk.
Hau hetan katak sira ema interesante liu, no hau deskobre katak dala barak ita iha esperiénsia moris hanesan.
Ha'u nunka iha dificuldade atu halo kolega sira, maibé ha' u sempre sente "oin seluk" no ha 'u fiar katak sira mós sente.
Bainhira ha' u-nia belun reforma ona, nia rekomenda ha' u atu substitui.
Agora ha 'u tama ba rai ne' ebé ha 'u hela ba Reinsurance, ne' ebé ha 'u la hatene buat ida.
Ha' u mós nu 'udar tradutór mesak, no la iha buat barak atu monu fali ba kotuk.
Maski nune' e, ida seluk hakerek fali.
Iha hau nia servisu foun, hau hahú buka arkivu sira, husu pergunta no hetan empreza nee atu estuda deit hau iha kursu seguru sira.
Koléjiu Segurus mak liuhosi estrada, no hau konsulta ona ho kódigu ahi, polítika seguru no ahi hamate katalog sira iha sira-nia biblioteka.
Ha 'u aprende buat ne' ebé ha 'u nunka hetan hanesan luxu ne' ebé uluk ha 'u nunka bele halo, hodi dehan: peskiza bá.
Uluk nana' in ha 'u tenke traduz proposta ida kona-ba seguru husi sentrál nukleár ida, ha' u simu telefone husi ulun mane ida iha departamentu ne 'ebá hodi fó parabéns ba ha' u kona-ba serbisu ne 'ebé ha' u halo ona.
"Kompara ho buat ne 'ebé uluk ami uza ba Maromak", nia dehan.
Buat ne' ebé aas liu iha leten!
Buat ne 'ebé akontese mak ha' u konsulta tiha ona ho dokumentu ida iha arkivu sira hanesan ha 'u hasoru matadalan, maibé bainhira ha' u haree katak ha 'u-nia predesesór uza ona liafuan "nukleus" duké "prinsipál", ha' u hatene katak arkivu sira-ne 'e la vale ba ha' u.
Ha 'u la' o liu dalan ba biblioteka no hateke ba sentrál nuklear sira.
"Ha 'u hetan kedas terminolojia hotu ne' ebé ha 'u presiza.
Ida-ne' e iha buat barak liu fali ida-ne 'ebé atu sai tradutór di' ak ida iha loron hirak ne 'e, hosi kursu ne' e. [...]


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