Día Internacional del Traductor /// International Translation Day

Hoy 30 de Septiembre se festeja el Día Internacional del Traductor por ser el día de San Jerónimo, que se lo considera el patrono de los traductores.

Jerónimo de Estridón fue un estudioso de la Biblia y fue el primero que la tradujo del hebreo y el griego al latín, conocida como Vulgata que permitió una disponibilidad de la Palabra de Dios al pueblo. Comenzó su traducción en el 382 y la terminó 23 años después en el 405.

Además de ser el patrono de los traductores, también lo es de los bibliotecarios, arqueólogos y archiveros. Se lo venera tanto en la Iglesia Católica, como en la Iglesia Ortodoxa y anglicana.
La FIT-IFT (Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs / International Federation of Translators – Federación Internacional de Traductores) fue fundada en 1953 en París, representa a organizaciones de traductores en más de 60 países, tiene más de cien mil miembros asociados y es una ONG reconocida por la UNESCO, comenzó a celebrar este día. Recién a partir de 1991 obtuvo el reconocimiento mundial como Día Internacional del Traductor, como una forma de promover el orgullo de ejercer una profesión que se está transformando en esencial en esta era globalizada y conectada.

Este año 2011, en coincidencia con los 20 años del reconocimiento internacional, el Dr. Jiri Stejskall, Fundador y Director Ejecutivo de CETRA, Expresidente de la ATA (American Translator Association – Asociación de Traductores Estadounidenses) y Vicepresidente de la FIT-IFT, redactó el siguiente texto, que me atrevo a traducir:

 

Translation: Bridging Cultures

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La Traducción: Vinculando Culturas

Imagine a world without translators: How would we communicate with each other? With nearly 7,000 languages spoken around the globe, trade and cultural exchange would be impossible. Leaders of nations could not talk to each other. Scientific discoveries could not be shared. Books could be read only by those who speak the author's language. Cross-border traffic would come to a halt. Breaking news would reach only a select few. The Olympic Games could not be held. Nations in distress would not receive assistance from more fortunate ones.

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Imagina un mundo sin traductores: ¿Cómo nos comunicaríamos entre nosotros? Con casi 7.000 idiomas hablados alrededor del globo, el intercambio cultural y económico sería imposible. Los líderes de las naciones no podrían hablarse entre si. Los descubrimientos científicos no podrían compartirse. Los libros solo los podrían leer quienes hablaran el idioma del autor. Se pararía el tráfico entre fronteras. Las noticias de último momento solo alcanzarían a unos pocos elegidos. No se realizarían los Juegos Olímpicos. Las naciones necesitadas no recibirían asistencia de otros más afortunados.

The professional translators, interpreters and terminologists represented by FIT member associations build bridges between cultures and facilitate communication that creates prosperity and cultural enrichment. They are brokers of peace and mutual understanding. They open national literatures to the world. They make international assistance in disaster areas possible. They are the voice of politicians, religious and intellectual leaders, and all other people who influence our daily lives. They are gatekeepers of information. They are cultural ambassadors. They are absolutely indispensable.

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Los traductores profesionales, intérpretes y terminólogos representados por las asociaciones miembros de la FIT construyen puentes entre las culturas y facilitan la comunicación que crea prosperidad y enriquecimiento cultural. Son agentes de paz y entendimiento mutuo. Abren las literaturas nacionales al mundo. Posibilitan la asistencia internacional en áreas de desastre. Son la voz de los políticos, religiosos y líderes intelectuales, y todas las otras personas que influyen en nuestras vidas diarias. Son los guardianes de la información. Son embajadores culturales. Son absolutamente indispensables.

Thanks to translators, interpreters and terminologists, peoples around the world can preserve their cultural heritage while being active participants in the "global village". Cultural diversity makes our world a better place, but we have to understand each other in order to avoid international conflicts and to help each other in times of need. We have to understand each other to appreciate our cultural differences. Bridging Cultures is the theme of both this year's XIX FIT World Congress and International Translation Day 2011, and the ultimate objective of all FIT member associations.

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Gracias a los traductores, intérpretes y terminólogos, la gente alrededor del mundo puede preservar su legado cultural mientras son participantes activos en la “aldea global”. La diversidad cultural hace que nuestro mundo sea un lugar mejor, pero tenemos que entendernos para evitar conflictos internacionales y ayudarnos en tiempos de necesidad. Tenemos que entendernos para apreciar nuestras diferencias culturales. Vincular culturas es el lema tanto del XIX Congreso Mundial de la FIA como del Día Internacional de la Traducción 2011, y el objetivo primordial de todos los miembros asociados a la FIT.

Member associations are encouraged to mark ITD through activities that raise awareness among the public of this important function of translators, interpreters and terminologists as well as giving practitioners the opportunity to celebrate their craft. This might be by highlighting the different cultures represented within the association, presentations on the challenges of cultural adaptation when translating, or considering the role of translators, interpreters and terminologists in world events, as just a few examples. However you do it, make 30 September a day of celebration!

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Se fomenta que las instituciones miembros marquen el DIT con actividades que eleven la conciencia entre el público de esta importante función de traductores, intérpretes y terminólogos como también se les pide a los profesionales la oportunidad de celebrar su oficio. Destacando las diferentes culturas representadas dentro de la asociación, con presentaciones de los desafíos de la adaptación cultural cuando se traduce, o al considerar el rol de los traductores, intérpretes y terminólogos en eventos mundiales, solo como pocos ejemplos. De la forma en que lo hagas, ¡has de este 30 de septiembre un día de celebración!

¡¡Feliz día a todos mis próximos colegas!!

“Los traductores están bendecidos con el arte de transmitir ideas y sentimiento, pero sobre todo, están bendecidos con la posibilidad de ayudar a la gente a comunicarse todos los días.”

Be a beggar at Argentina, A BIG BUSINESS!!!

This email was sent to me by one website where I have loaded my Resume to look for a job... How is falling down much to quickly the Argentina where my great grandparents came to work. So sad, as soon as I finish my studies I clear off this garbage dump and go to live in a country, any serious country.

A TRAFFIC LIGHT changes its state, in average, every 30 seconds (30 seconds in red and 30 seconds in green). Hence, for every minute, a beggar has 30 seconds of useful time to get to invoice a minimal of $1.
With this schema, in 1 working hour he will collect: 60 minutes x $1/minute = $60/hour. If the beggar works 8 hours per day, resting on Sundays, it will get 25 days per month average, which gives an invoice of: 25 days/month x 8 hours/day x $60/hour = $12000/month. Is that this count is absurd?

(Surely we all have anyone we know that has a 12k salary per month, with no studies not working as manager nor director, isn't it?...)

People that collaborate not always give just $1... Sometimes they give $2 and the more generous I've seen giving until $5. Although let's be moderate and assuming that actually de beggar just collects half of the initial count, which means: $30/hour. Doing the counts again we will have a final value of $6.000/month. Working 48 nominal hours per week, and still having to go on Sundays to solve the maintenance's mess (I don't want to analyze the case of teachers, professors, nurses, but you can do it).
This way, when a beggar gets a $5 buck (which isn't strange at all...) he can rest quietly under a tree for the next 5 traffic light changes and without any boss to control him due to this rest in the middle of his working day. But until here all is theory...
Now let's go to the real world: with these data at hand, I went to interview a woman that asks for alms and that always goes to a bar to change her coins. I asked her how much she invoice per day. Do you know what she replied to me? Well the initial count was very close: an average of $450 to $600 daily...!!!!!! With this, there's a monthly income of: (25 days/month x $450/day) $11.250/month or (25 days/month x $600/day) = $15.000/month. The average is: $13.125/month!!!!
And even worse, people... she told me that never works not even close to 8 hours daily. Strengthen to be a good beggar... Ask for alms is more lucrative than work.

(Very clear the last sentence, right?... and this without counting the several plans to participate in political marches or doing campaign for such and such candidate.)

There has to be remembered that when the traffic light is green on one side, is red for the other, and the beggar can scrounge to the street that passes across. This gives him 120 red traffic lights per hour. But you have to consider that the poor guy 'works' outdoors, as most construction workers do, the trash collectors - that also carry packages and run behind the truck - and many policemen, mailmen, delivery waiters, messengers, etc., etc...
Thanks for listen a humble worker. Pass this email that isn't a joke, is justice and is up to you to end poverty, not let it multiply and even be responsible for it.

Be generous... help a kid with cancer, a mother that wants to have a child, a human being looking for a job. Or else... become a beggar, I can assure you it will go just very well.

The job of looking for a job...

Sunday was May Day, International Workers Day. Date originally chosen by the Socialist Labor Congress of the Second International at Paris in 1889, as homage and re-vindication of the Martyrs of Chicago... although the very same US doesn't adhere to that celebration and have their Labor Day on the first Monday of September.

There's been more than a year since I'm without a fixed and stable job, the kind of job that appear in national statistics. That is, it's been a year that I'm surviving with temporal tasks, but as they can get me busy more than 1 hour a week, according to the 2010 Census I don't belong to the unemployed percentage...
I get tired to lose my time in job interviews, made by recruiters that doesn't know the value of a word and only learnt to repeat without replication the norm: "We call you back to let you know if you get the position because we know how important it is." A lie biggest than a lunar crater.

The job of looking for a job is much more exhausting that having a job. I get tired to beg for underpaid opportunities, with eternal schedule availability and far away of what interests me or I like.
I get tired to studding from memory always the same prose that is the only one that recruiters are trained to hear and it opens magically the employment door. I get tired to automatize my spontaneity to reply what they need and not what I want.
The job of looking for a job is worse that passing by the interrogatory of your boyfriend's mother. The scrutiny of the Resume details is more fake than a count of votes in an official election. And then is pitiful that in many cases there's no other choice left than leave out or exaggerate things to be able to get a minimum chance to access the interview... with the recruiter that will ask inconsistencies without logic only to "break the ice" before the psychological test (because you have to say it in English that seems more literate than saying examen) or be compelled to draw a person under the rain using an umbrella.

I have heard such absurd replies like: you're over prepared to this position. What? Would be that they are looking for more ignorant or manageable people? Other typical answer is: You did well the questionnaire - that can take 2 hours and a half - but you don't fit the profile. Once I come up with the idea of asking the recruiter that seemed just graduated from high school, what's the profile you're looking for? And the reply gave me a lesson: Never challenge a recruiter intelligence, nor try to express any originality because as Ernesto Sábato said: "To be original is in a certain way reveal the others trashiness"...

The job of looking for a job doesn't know any holidays, days off nor weekends. Doesn't have any fixed schedule, nor permanent office. It demands hours availability for possible interviews from Monday at 9 AM, to Thursdays at 20:30 PM. Nobody cares if one has previous appointments or if you study on that hours. It urges transport availability of some 50km roundabout from San Isidro to Adrogué or from Quilmes to Ramos Mejía. Nobody cares if one doesn't have mobility or has to spend some cost to travel.

From my last stable job more than a year ago, I got other important lesson: never be more honest than your own boss... I have been betrayed, lied and harassed. I get tired to listen to "job offers" in exchange of doing personal favors, resolve private problems or hide the skeletons in the cupboard.
In this job of looking for a job most of the time I feel unwell to be very honest, intelligent or look for my personal progress without the minimal intention to stomping nobody head, it seemed like I'm an extraterrestrial for deciding to behave with decency, loyalty or transparency.
I think it's much to difficult for someone to make any valuable progress without the intention to be a better person within values that include the progress of all others. In other words, for me we all progress together or nobody progress at all. I also think that is always a way of progress to increase my knowledge and skills, for me life is like a learning classroom where all the experiences are like lessons that are useful to get better and, therefore, progress.

I'm not convinced that the most important thing in a job is to get prosperity, for me money is only enjoyable when it comes as a reward to the effort or talent, but not the main and only objective when looking for a job. There are other wages that can't keep in the wallet, as for example; time. There's no amount of money, there's no salary that can buy me a couple of hours.
Currently, as I can't get a stable job, my priority is to continue studding at the university the career of Portuguese Translation. So my job searching reduces considerably if I look for a part-time job. Although I explain and over-explain to the automate recruiters that I don't care if the salary is lesser, it seems that I talk in Sanskrit or some dead language. Is it so hard to understand that can't get back lost time by paying, while we all know that money comes and goes??

I like to write, I hope that whom keep on reading until this point have already perceived, and I would be highly interesting in a stable job where I could take advantage of this ability (or as current fashion says: skill), I have higher education studies in copywriting and now I'm complementing them with knowledge of grammar and spelling in Spanish, besides being bilingual in Portuguese and have senior level of English.

I don't care to collect riches, nor the worthless and temporal prosperity because I don't want only money, nor fill my pockets with things that won't offer me consolation when being betrayed or needed to defend my dignity.
I want to be cherished for my work and that my work be respected, I want to set a difference for the others and not to make an economical difference for me, I want to share the talents that God gave me and not take any advantage of them.
I want my job to ennoble my life and appraise the ones that lives around me.
I'm special and I'm not afraid to be myself, and set any difference with the rest... hopefully soon will appear someone brave that share my common progress, justice and dignity ideas to offer me a decent and permanent job, I'm available to work. Thanks!
Meanwhile, I'll keep on looking.