Scott Reynolds wrote:
> On 7/7/2003 5:01 PM, Declan Murphy wrote:

>> Maybe - I was in Oz during almost all of '94, though the two largest 
>> clients both asked at different points in '96. Maybe the reason was 
>> simply that I wasn't working with an agency, but instead commissioned 
>> directly by the manufacturers? 
> 
> That seems likely. It also sounds like the people who asked you to do 
> the E>J work were unusually open-minded in such matters.

I think it just came down to the fact that they were in the main 
non-English speaking engineers, not people whose day-to-day work 
revolved around translation & publishing etc. BTW, thats an interesting 
euphemism for "clueless". I like it. Next time I see something clueless 
on not usenet I'll remember to tell the poster how open-minded they are.

>> It might have been that all of the other translation services they had 
>> contracts with were companies that employed both native and gaigin 
>> bods. I dunno. 
> 
> So in other words they might not have been expecting you to do the E>J 
> work yourself. That would make sense.

Possibly, though I did do some E>J translation onsite from time to time, 
and even the occasional interpretation. Back then if it filled my rice 
bowl I'd try it.

>> I just found that having to pay for proofreading reduced the margins 
>> too much for it to be worthwhile. It wasn't the only factor in giving 
>> up translation, but determined the timing at least.
> 
> You seem to be doing pretty well for yourself these days, so it sounds 
> like you made the right decision. I sometimes wish I'd gotten into some 
> line of work other than translation, but I'm pretty much stuck now 
> considering my age and lack of other marketable skills.

You sure there isn't a market for suave sophisticated gaigin hosts?



-- 
"Forget Spanish. There's nothing in that language worth reading except 
Don Quixote, and a quick listen to the CD of Man of La Mancha will take 
care of that. Who speaks it that you are really desperate to talk to? 
The help? Your leaf blower? Study French or German, where there are at 
least a few books worth reading, or if you're American, try English."

                        Dame Edna Everage

"If you have to explain satire to someone, you might as well give up,"

                        Barry Humphries