The Style Files
My thoughts on design, writing and entrepreneurship.
Photo credit (background): www.pexels.com
Photo credit (background): www.pexels.com
Yes, it's that good! Photo credit: www.pexels.com As a former translator, I rarely had the chance to see my work in a real-world setting. Yes, I knew it was being used in some capacity by people I'd never meet though it's a far cry from immediate gratification or a direct link. I still enjoyed the work enormously but sometimes think translation is easy to overlook. In honor of my beloved former profession and its impact on my life, here's how I continue to appreciate it and faceless linguists every-where.
1. Lyric Translation It's hard to compare anything to the power of music and I do realize much of the credit is due to the singers/ musicians themselves. However, if it weren't for ALL the voluntary translations gifted to the world, we wouldn't be able to enjoy foreign music on the same level. Besides, it's a wonderful tool for aspiring translators, interpreters or language learners as they chip away at their practice. What could be better? On this topic, I'd especially like to sing the praises of Ripper Roo of lyricstranslate.com for his (or her!) Arabic to English translation of Tebassam by Asma Lmnawar. Kudos to Asma's music as always and this song in particular for inspiring my spontaneous post! 2. Poetry Translation I've said it before and I'll say it again: Arabs have breathtaking poetry. I only know this in detail thanks to the enormous efforts of Salma Khadra Jayyusi. She took it upon herself to translate the works of countless contemporary Arabic poets into English much to the benefit of linguaphiles like me. I can say from experience that precise word choice is challenging under the best of circumstances. Her work in the comparatively more subtle genre of poetry never disappoints. 3. Literary Translation Lately, I've been very interested in following other translators' conversations regarding literary translation. After a while of doing more standard documents, my guess is many of us dream of more unusual content like literary translation for a change of pace. However, I can also say as a discerning reader of translated fiction that tons of linguists fall short of perfection. Finding the right tone for emotional content and cultural nuance requires ridiculous skill and investment. For what it's worth, Haruki Murakami and/or his publishers have done an excellent job of hiring appropriate Japanese to English translators for the task. I'm not actually sure if his books are handled consistently by the same person or people though every one I've read reads beautifully in English. 4. Comically Terrible Translations I find myself getting worked up over bad writing and shitty translations on a regular basis. Surprise, surprise! (Why don't content writers care more about deliberate writing?! I'm not sure they even read for fun, tbh.) That said, a translation so terrible it practically vomits does get the best of me. I don't have to tell you David Sedaris capitalized on hilariously awful translations for our immense enjoyment. To that end, here's to cringe-worthy turns of phrase the world over. Final Thoughts Translation may matter less to you than the price of tea in China. That's cool. I, on the other hand, am only too happy to reminisce about the niche and its individual subcategories until the cows come home. Got any other linguistic tidbits on your mind including personal favorites in literary translation? Any Arabic poets I should add to the collection? I'd love to hear them. In the meantime, here's to enjoying our multilingual world however you see fit.
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Yep, it's that bad. Photo credit: www.pexels.com If you're a freelancer, you know what's up: Upwork seems like the answer to all your prayers. No boss, no commute, no annoying coworkers, no set schedule. I've watched the video of a young woman who quit her PR job only to hit the jackpot in less than a year and buy her mom a house. We all wanted in.
If you'd asked me six months ago, I was all for it. I bid on tons of jobs thinking they'd be a slam dunk only to have most of my points and proposals land in the trash. The worst part of all is knowing you can and have done your job for years on end only to hit a brick wall for no apparent reason. My next strategy was watching tutorials for a way in. I did get one client who liked my work and felt badly enough to offer a handful of articles at a ridiculously low price because she'd been willing to work with me at all. (Read: I have a decade of industry experience, dual qualifications, excellent reviews and zero Upwork potential. How?) Meanwhile, other jobs I bid on basically for a rating took me nowhere fast. Between trying to reason with someone asking for a book's worth of editing for half a day's pay, a $6 job for a $15 purchase or agreeing to write a fake product review for a quick buck, I wasn't having it. Guys, there's no way to hack it. For people who manage to climb the wall, I think they might be earning well. The problem is the whole site is set up to exploit new freelancers into doing the lowest of the low for actual pennies many times over. It's death by design. Doing that once might be okay if you knew it'd pay off. Doing it a dozen times while trading hours, days or months of your time for what you hope is a perfect score is actual slave labor. I'm out. I'm not saying finding your own clients is a walk in the park. That's just more common knowledge than this Ponzi scheme. What I'm saying is I'd be better of as a street sweeper than I am an Upwork hopeful since at least there's money to be had. Do yourself a favor and run. The Antithesis of ChristmasFull disclosure: I completely forgot about December's post. (Later realization: no I didn't; now you just get twice the content for funsies. You're welcome/I'm sorry.) Must've slipped my mind. The good news is my post-post inspo came to me in a flash after reflecting on a quick return. Having gotten to this unnamed department store at the comfortable hour of 10 am, I was surprised to see a line of unbelievably tired faces in the spirit of the season. How could I have forgotten the stress of it all?
The pandemic has changed the way we've been able to get together including holiday celebrations. I'm not pro-virus by any stretch of the imagination though I have to say the incident reminded me why I love bowing out of holiday tradition. Whether or not you're religious, I find it a little ridiculous to spend the better part of winter dragging yourself around like an overworked horse. You're missing the point. Somehow we know that capitalism is a disaster yet we're not ready to part with our materialistic programming. Isn't it time to let go? Please don't take this the wrong way. I don't mean to rain on your parade or suck the joy out of a festive occasion. I, for one, enjoyed a relaxed holiday full of peace and reading and wouldn't have had it any other way. Here's to a much better 2022 with less stress and more sleep! Breathing Through ItEmbrace a mindful state. Photo credit: www.pexels.com In this month's installment, I'd like to thank Michael Bijker for breathing calm into the ether. This yogi and breathwork teacher has a popular Youtube channel called Yogalap you may have heard of. I'm no expert on yogic breathing but luckily for me, his channel provides ample content for beginners or even non-yogis. What's more, the scenery is beyond!
On a somewhat related note, I've been feeling completely jaded by corporate culture which is really nothing new. The world or marketing is overrun with promotional content (surprise, surprise!) and elusive support staff. I'm not impressed by blatant hypocrisy and struggle to let it go. In stark contrast, Michael's channel is completely sincere. He like many other yogis, Nordic cultures and content creators provide a wealth of resources for humanity's sake. It's remarkable. Not only do mindful breathing and yoga classes calm your nerves, the concept of collaboration is the only part of modern working culture I can really get behind. Thank you so much, Michael. I adore your channel and admire your spirit. I'm also forever grateful to Yogrishi Vishvketu at Akhanda Yoga whose content has enriched my life equally over the past several years. Thank you both for reminding me to embrace peace as a practice. |
AuthorHi, my name is Martha Oschwald and I'm a content writer focused on design. This page is meant to give you a taste of my writing style and latest musings. Archives
April 2022
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