“la parole exportée”

Darren Rowse of Problogger, a highly-regarded professional blogger, has declared today the unofficial Blogger Appreciation Day, on which bloggers worldwide are invited to thank other bloggers for their contributions to the blogosphere.

Several bloggers are sources of inspiration for me, but I’d like to write this post to introduce a fellow translator from far away.

I ‘met’ Jianjun Zhang last December on Facebook, where he had set up a group called ‘Translation 2.0.’ I liked his perspective on translation and we have been sharing tips and opinions since then.

Jianjun has been blogging for a few weeks, reporting on events of interest in his technical fields of expertise, and sharing snippets of modern Chinese culture. Despite his uncomfortable position as a member of ‘the Chinese,’ a blanket label that is even less meaningful than ‘the French,’ he continues to believe in international dialogue and cooperation.

Jianjun is also active on YouTube, Seesmic and other platforms to which he brings his personal view of his world.

For all these reasons, I’d like to show him my appreciation as a fellow citizen of the world.

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… but I wish I had.

This is a beautiful web film, with the French version here:

http://www.unfpa.org/emergencies/psa/film_french.html

And a selection of other languages, there:

http://www.unfpa.org/emergencies/psa/index.html

However, I have an issue with the capital A in the panel on “les réfugiés afghans”, as adjectives of nationalities are not capitalized in French, and another issue with “condamnation à la mort.” Little things like these are the reason why people are always a little afraid of my proofreading… In my opinion, it should be “condamnation à mort.” It would be interesting to know why they inserted the article “la” in a standard phrase. To me, the article is inserted only when the kind of death is specified.

Maybe you would have an idea?

When I started as a freelance translator many years ago, the only way you could approach the business world, and thus prospective clients, was by sending off masses of unsolicited mail that ended up in waste paper baskets if you were unlucky, or got a polite reply if you were lucky. I sent off hundreds of such letters, and I remember sticking hundreds of stamps on hundreds of envelopes. Alas, I didn’t receive hundreds of replies.

Fortunately, things change. They are changing fast, and part of the new business game has to do with making connections online.

To me –is it age? is it cultural?– this is not entirely satisfactory, because I like to meet people offline too. So it happens that after meeting a Facebook friend in person last month, and I had a genuine interest in meeting him, since I help him with the English version of his blog, I met an American LinkedIn connection today, and a connection of hers who is now a connection too.

To make it absolutely crystal-clear, I’m not expecting these friends to shower me with translations; this is networking, not client-chasing, but I believe that mixing with people from different horizons is one of the greatest things that has happened to me thanks to my professional choices. Being used to meeting new faces virtually throughout my working life, and working with different people all the time, I have no difficulty interacting. I have worked for clients from all levels of society and I am therefore quite open to social interaction.

photo credit: garybembridge

So we had our first International LinkedIn Paris Meeting, with a drink at Hotel Lutetia. Unfortunately a French LinkedIn connection could not attend. It was a real business meeting: we described our experiences (these ladies are in the travel industry), we exchanged business cards, we discussed the respective merits of websites, blogging platforms and social networks. We exchanged networking tips and sources of information…

Have you had a similar experience? If you have, would you like to share it with us?

We all try to reconcile our public and our private personas. Sometimes it’s easy, other times it’s not.

However, the role of conference interpreters is to facilitate dialogue, to help people of different cultures and opinions come together through a process of negotiation, not war. We are entitled to our own opinions, of course, but in my public capacity, I cannot, and will not, take sides.

Because of the ‘New Friendship’ concept that social networks are spreading, I keep receiving invitations to join in petitions, groups, etc. regarding Tibet. There is no point in bombarding me and expecting me to join in, just for the sake of it.

If I wanted to act on this issue, I would take action through different channels, and in a totally private capacity.

In other words, I am a professional translator, not a professional activist.