Just wondering what do you logomaniacs do for a living? as I'm off to find a job I'm curious to know about your experiences. Do you enjoy your job? Do you find it enriching/interesting/monotonous? do you feel like you would enjoy doing something else more? what stops you from doing it?
In the past week, for every single day that gone by I took half of it to ponder what would it be like to be working in all different sort of jobs. I also thought a lot about vocations & destinations. Has the way we have been living our lives would ultimately lead us to what we were meant to become? Or, once we've matured; can we suddeny develop new interest (we would be completely new to) and follow that for the rest of our lives?
Help to put my mind at ease... it's railing all day and all night! though currently, I did look at my past in my decision... and I have applied for a number of translation companies (for English-Hebrew-English) that I'm waiting to hear back from. However, I'm still uncertain about it. I keep asking myself it that's my vocation. And I think that uncertaity will not go away until I try and try and try. But I guess that's life, right? you can't know until you try.
I would be happy to hear (read) your experiences, or opinion about the issue if you have any.
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Just wondering what do you logomaniacs do for a living?
***That's a good word, and I am one
*********I was a tech writer (electronics) and inventor; did a little freelance writing, now retired
as I'm off to find a job I'm curious to know about your experiences. Do you enjoy your job?
**I didn't. Didn't know I was supposed to. Did it because I could
Do you find it enriching/interesting/monotonous?
********It was certainly the last. When I would finish one instruction book they would assign me to write another one. Eventually I quit to beomce a tech rep with hands-on job
do you feel like you would enjoy doing something else more? what stops you from doing it?
********Ignorance. In school they don't teach you it's essential to do something you like. Besides the three R's they teach you virtually nothing essential to your well-being. They don't teach you how to live because the conservatives, Neocons, and right-wing evangelists won't let them
In the past week, for every single day that gone by I took half of it to ponder what would it be like to be working in all different sort of jobs. I also thought a lot about vocations & destinations. Has the way we have been living our lives would ultimately lead us to what we were meant to become?
****No, not at all. It's necessary to first realize that's an actual goal.
Or, once we've matured; can we suddeny develop new interest (we would be completely new to) and follow that for the rest of our lives?
****Sure it's possible, and I recommend it
Help to put my mind at ease... it's railing all day and all night! though currently, I did look at my past in my decision... and I have applied for a number of translation companies (for English-Hebrew-English) that I'm waiting to hear back from.
*****Best of luck
However, I'm still uncertain about it. I keep asking myself it that's my vocation. And I think that uncertaity will not go away until I try and try and try. But I guess that's life, right? you can't know until you try.
*****The fact that you're thinking about it shows promise
I would be happy to hear (read) your experiences, or opinion about the issue if you have any.
****I have many opinions and I am glad to share them
Logwood, I work as a translator (Bahasa Indonesia -> English) and editor. I work for an Indonesian law firm. The work can be repetitive and monotonous sometimes with roughly the same document coming across my desk time and time again but written by a different person so I have to keep my eyes peeled for slightly different wordings. At other times I get completely new documents which are completely engrossing because I feel like I'm learning something.
If you get the chance, find out which of your prospective employers deals with the widest possible range of documents, and be prepared to read widely in both English and Hebrew. You obviously have an enquiring mind so I assume that aspect of being a translator will appeal to you.
If you want to know whether it really is for you before you take things much further, just do it. Try translating newspaper/magazine articles (pick them at random, not just ones on subjects you like and know about), operating manuals, official documents, short stories and any other documents you can get your hands on. Do as much as you can and try and imagine yourself doing it all day.
Some translation bureaux (I assume these are what you're applying to) want you to come to work in their office, others want you to work from home. These both have advantages and disadvantages. If you're working in an office, you have colleagues to consult, but on the other hand if you're working from home, it gives you more of a chance to build up your own client base in case you decide freelancing and self-employment is more for you.
There is a mailing list for Indonesian translators called bahtera (Indonesian for ark and an abbreviation for language (bahasa) and translation (terjemahan)), and I assume there must be one for Hebrew translators. Try lurking on that, to see if the points they discuss have any interest for you.
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"Ignorance. In school they don't teach you it's essential to do something you like. Besides the three R's they teach you virtually nothing essential to your well-being. They dont teach you how to live because the conservatives, Neocons, and right-wing evangelists wont let them.
I have many opinions and I am glad to share them." - dalehileman
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I'm with you, little buddy, them same conservatives, Neocons, and right-wing evangelists wouldn't let me learn to play the guitar and become a rockstar on MTV.
Nobody told me there'd be days like these. Most peculiar.
Please refrain from politics on this board -- it almost always leads to trouble. There are plenty of message boards out there appropriate to political discussions.
Logwood, Bingley's given you some good advice. I, too, work as a (part-time) translator, from Portuguese to English (never the other way around).
Do you have any college, or are you going straight to work? Another good thing about translating for a company that handles a variety of subjects is you learn about those areas and that may help lead you to a profession you will enjoy. I've changed careers many times in my life and you may, too.
Thanks for the replies, dale, Bing, Ann.
Yes, I was able to locate a college; and I have little doubt I could find work in this business. So it's not that I'm overly-concerned about my competence or even what enjoyment I'd derive from it. I just question myself if the choices I make now are the choices I'll live with for the rest of my life. Because you see, for me; choosing a career is choosing a lifestyle. I always give 110% to everything I do. Can't stop until I'm the best, and working with the best.
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Or, once we've matured; can we suddeny develop new interest (we would be completely new to) and follow that for the rest of our lives?
****Sure it's possible, and I recommend it
Yes, I'm not too sure why I doubted it in the first place.
I'd still like to know what do you people do for a living regardless of my situation. I'm a curious sort.
Well, Logwood, I spend 24 hours a week bookkeeping for a trendy restaurant in the Caribbean. Unfortunately, that doesn't quite cover my bills as my boss hates for anyone to actually make any money but him
I also make and sell tamales to a restaurant and private customers. In my several incarnations in this life, I have babysat, washed dishes, waited tables, sold Avon, made and sold baked goods from my home, cleaned motel rooms, sold photo packages by phone, answered the phone at an auto glass replacement shop, assisted my ex-husband doctor in our clinic in Mexico (birthing babies, intermuscular injections, taking blood pressure, etc), sold Christmas trees, sold sweet cherries in a roadside stand, packaged and distributed sweet cherries to grocery stores, stuffed instruction sheets in plastic bags at home for a penny a piece, assembled Kwickie Kwivers, worked in an automotive parts factory (yuck!), managed a snack bar in a ski lodge, worked as a translator in a migrant health clinic, tutored migrant children, and held various positions with a nationwide drug store chain over several years. I probably left a few things out, I've listed much more here than in my resume, but aren't you glad you asked?
And in case you are wondering, I am a college graduate.
Kwikee KwiversI know, it sounds vaguely pornographic, doesn't it?
Anna: Other sites of this very kind accept and even encourage contributions containing a political slant, so long as they're at all pertinent to the thread. Their contributors consider that sort of banter a form of harmless humor. However, I respect your rules and will make every effort to comply
There are no rules (and certainly there aren't any rules by annastropha!)
We don't discuss politics, because we are all hard headed individuals, and we are complete sure, our well thought out positions are the correct ones, and we don't need to be confused with facts when we have already made up our minds or something like that!
yes, there are other sites that accept and even encourage contributions, but we are boring old fuddy duddies, and we don't like strife
(ok, we tolerate strife about prescriptive/descriptive points of view, but that is it!)
we are totally incapable of considering political banter to be harmless humor. (or we are total incapable of laughing at other's political view, or at having our views laughed at, or we are totally with out a sense of humor, (or all of the above!) Or something like that!
Meanwhile back on topic, i interupt my endless hours here visiting Knitting BB's (and knitting, and designing and writing patterns for knitting, and thinking about knitting, and did i mention i knit? i am somewhat obsessive about.
its a sort of chronic contition, (being doing it 45 years) with acute epidodes. (the current episode in now in its 4th year, and shows no signs of abating)
> being doing it 45 years
sheeeesh, that's a *long scarf!
Dale, I'm with you in that it
should be possible to spike comments with a note of politics providing the post remains centrally about the issue under discussion. It's just that we've found by bitter experience that the road to hell is paved more frequently with that particular good intention than most others! So we try to avoid the unnecessary provocation. But as the Big Knit said, the only Rule around here is there are no steenkin' rulze. Like most communities we make it up as we go along. If you felt hard bitten by the tongue of the ASp, you'll be neither first nor last...
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So, do you work or just futz around here all day?
I am a journalist : I employ my time by keeping a detailed journal of a journey as an artist (manqué).
So you're an artist manqué with a typewriter...?
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So you're an artist manqué with a typewriter...?
Kind of. I have an Apple PowerBook, and aside from Safari, and iTunes (quod vide music thread), I guess, yes, it is basically a glorified typewriter.
Logwood, I'm currently one-half of the ownership of a pet store. I'd never expected to have a storefront, and I find myself enjoying it rather more than I thought I would. I've got experience in retail, not only from jobs during school, but also as a professional artist selling my work through craft shows.
I spent the last eleven years as a full-time artist - potter, writer, bookmaker. Currently doing it very part-time, but will be doing more once the store no longer needs quite so much of my attention (we've just passed the six-month mark). I've also worked at telemarketing, selling vacuum cleaners (a job which sucked), reception for Industry Canada, temping in various offices, administrative assistant at an importing firm, dispatcher/bookkeeper for my father's crane-rental business, pallet control for Nabisco, private investigator.
I find what I'm doing now interesting and fun, as well as hard work. Same with the art. I would wish for everyone that they could find work that would absorb and interest them at least sometimes while providing enough money to keep the wolf from the door.
I have a BA in fine art and mediaeval studies. I can't imagine one I could have taken that would have served me better in my real work - art - or furnished my mind more to my liking.
> Do you enjoy your job? Do you find it enriching/interesting/monotonous? do you feel like you would enjoy doing something else more? what stops you from doing it?
I’m currently working as a marketing consultant. In previous half-lives I have (in no particular order) worked shire horses, run a manufacturing plant, operated a hotel/conference centre, milked cows, worked for the richest woman in the world, worked for a tiny boat hire company, started a theatre and arts centre, worked for a multinational paper-maker, and probably all kinds of other crap I can’t remember.
In my present job as in most others the chocolate chips and the rabbit droppings are cunningly intermingled. Every day’s a discovery. When I get sick of it I shall do something else, which may or may not relate to what I’ve done before. I’ve got more blasé about that as I have got older. I sometimes get enrichment from this as other jobs – but like Elizabeth implied, there are always tradeoffs to be struck between work as life satisfaction and work as wolf-deterrence. Yes, there are loads of things I’d rather be doing – the practical inertia that clogs your life as you accumulate relationships and responsibilities (as well as sheer cowardice) stop me from attempting all of them.
But there is still some time…
the chocolate chips and the rabbit droppings are cunningly intermingled.
A+
heyyy...just checked this thread today...wow!! am i glad...i jsut got my first job ..n am so happpyy...ok so i am working in an insurance company here in india as an underwriter...which basically means that i am responsible for the issuance of policies n the premium rating..its a nice job but a lot of work to do...
newayz something is better than nothing...byee..have fun all of you..KITS..
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Do you enjoy your job? Do you find it enriching/interesting/monotonous? do you feel like you would enjoy doing something else more?
Well, previous jobs in my case are not too exciting, I suppose: librarian, university residence supervisor, travel agent, English language teacher...
At the moment, aptly, I teach English-Spanish translation at university. I do enjoy my work; I find interaction with the students generally interesting, often educational, and always refreshing. On the side, I have time to practice what I preach and translate some scientific texts. At the moment, this is what works for me, and I'm happy doing it. Could I be doing something else? Probably, and when I find myself thinking that I should be doing that something else, I think I'll owe it to myself to find the way to do it.
Logwood: As to becoming a translator, my only piece of advice would be to think whether you are more of a team player or an "individual" one. Translation, even in translation agencies and offices, is basically you, your text, and your translation aids.
It might be useful perhaps to look into taking a short course in translation at some translator training institution. I'm not saying to do a complete degree, but something that will give you a taste of what it's like and will offer more variety than you might get if you start right off with an agency. That could help you decide if it's for you.
Best of luck! 
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the chocolate chips and the rabbit droppings are cunningly intermingled.
A+
Oh, yeah! One for the commonplace book!
Glad you liked it – I was just reaching for a way to communicate the sometimes bewildering sense of frustration and conversely encouragement that each day’s surprises can bring!
By the way Logwood, I keep meaning to ask – where does the word futz come from? I didn’t need to ask for clarity’s sake, since the meaning was clear enough – but it’s a great sounding word. It sounds almost like a cross between putz and some kinda word beginning with fu… Can you or anyone else tell me more?
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I keep meaning to ask – where does the word futz come from? I didn’t need to ask for clarity’s sake, since the meaning was clear enough – but it’s a great sounding word. It sounds almost like a cross between putz and some kinda word beginning with fu… Can you or anyone else tell me more?
Some kinda word beginning with fu… ? Like this?
hah, so it is the obvious blend! I'd suspected some more cunning yiddish etmymology but.
consuelo, I'm impressed you've gone through all that much. You make me feel spoiled.
of troy, knitting? ...and I thought you're a male all this time.
Homo, you outta be a Ultra-fast typer by now eh?
Elizabeth, the "wolf" analogy came natural to you, right? I can't imagine being around pets that long! glad you do something you like though.
maverick, you've worked with Oprah?
Don't you find it frustrating to not have a permanent place? ... mayhap you're a Buddhist?
Marianna... how I envy you. I can certainly imagine how you enjoy your work. I hope to teach Hebrew-English translation one day. As a matter a fact, I've already taken first steps. I have a meeting for a translation college course this thursday, so I'll keep posted for anyone who cares.
Oh, and I didn't knew the origin of futz, but nice guess there! I came across this word in "Escape from Monkey Island", same game-series of which my avatar is taken. I think you guys may like it...
M-w sez: "part translation of Yiddish arumfartsn zikh, literally, to fart around."
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maverick, you've worked with Oprah?
Don't you find it frustrating to not have a permanent place? ... mayhap you're a Buddhist?
heh! nah, Oprah's a two-bit nobody
Permanent place? No, I think the idea of permanence has always been a fond illusion, and one less tenable with every day's process towards a world economy. Yes, Buddhism... a religion without a god sounds about right for this old lag... 
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sounds about right for this old lag...
You've been a guest of HM? How was the porridge?
> How was the porridge?
Stale - past its cell-by date.