When I grow up, I want to be… like my friend Benny!

Today is St. Patrick’s Day and I am not going to speak of Ireland or English, but of an Irish friend. We have all had an icon when we were children or adults. For instance, I recently started to drive after a long period of time and when I had to cross the whole Peninsula, I often took a car in front of me as a reference point. I found it very useful to maintain constant speed.

When I was studying Translation in Salamanca, I met Benny. He was improving his Spanish and he spoke two languages at that time. Following his stay in Spain, it was difficult to locate him in a place for more than 6 months and by then, I was already trying to make my way through the translation career. He always advised me unselfishly every time I had a question about translation as a profession and that too often we don’t learn at Uni (invoicing, the process of working as a freelancer, rates, etc.)

Not only I received good tips for my first steps as a translator, but also I learnt much from him when approaching a foreign language and dealing with the situations involved in that learning. He is a very positive and tenacious person and this should be reflected when we read, listen, speak or write in a foreign language. The curious thing of all is that he started to learn and improve languages in his ‘style’ and now he tells his experiences to others in his website and he has published a book.

He has lived in exotic countries while learning the language and working as a translator. Currently he speaks seven languages and I can assure that quite well. I always like to remember one of his tips: take advantage of every moment, whether in the bus or waiting for a friend. There is always time to learn German vocabulary (my unfinished business at the time).

Now I try to follow his steps. I help other translation colleagues whenever I can. When learning a language, I do so in a funny and consistent way. And most importantly, I love my job and I try to give translation a bohemian touch. I don’t live in exotic countries, but I can move to other places from time to time with my laptop and a good connection to the Internet.

And you, what would you like to be when you ‘grow up’? Who has been your reference point in translation or any other aspect of your lives? By the way, Happy St. Patrick’s Day or what remains of it. 😉

She who perseveres in translation, succeeds

Although I have always considered St. Valentine’s day as a mere business date, all of us have felt something special for a person or hobby in a certain moment. Personally, I’m talking about a love at first sight with translation and about the efforts and time focused on obtaining that requited love.

When I studied Secondary Education, I and my classmates took some tests in order to know our personality and above all, to guide ourselves to our professional vocation or the profile that best fitted us. I still remember the day we were delivered the results together with brochures explaining professional disciplines and opportunities. When I reach the Humanistic field, Cupid shot an arrow to me when reading ‘Translation and Interpretation Degree’. At that moment I fell in love with that so interesting guy and I got informed that, in order to approach him, I had to pass a test and have a good level of foreign languages.

The truth is that I was very pleased to meet him briefly, to know that I had to work hard to reach him and to wait impatiently for the moment to start my relationship with this degree. It was with fifteen years old that I knew what to study at University and I was very concerned about getting good marks at High School to access the career. At the time, the career was not offered in the Basque Country and I had the chance to study in an Andalusian city as I had family and house there. Plans often do not turn out as one would like because the university entrance exam got my average score down enough for not being able to go to the university I wanted.  What did I do at that point? I enrolled in English Language and Literature in my town as two years after translation was going to be introduced in the Basque Country and I could access the second cycle. Again, Rome wasn’t built in a day and the career was delayed by one year. By then, I had only one year left to finish my Degree in English Language and decided to complete it and then try to enter into the 3^rd course of Translation.

I was really excited the day I took the access tests, I had been preparing thoroughly with a one-year stay in England and German private tuition. I found the tests endless with a break at noon. I passed all of them, except for the German speaking test, it made me sad… However, I wasn’t discouraged and as I had some savings, I decided to take the tests at Granada University. It seemed to me a prestigious university with good references. I had never visited the city and I loved discovering Granada while I tried to achieve my impossible objective. Do you know what happened this time? To my delight, I passed everything but to my regret, I didn’t have enough points. There were some scales that also helped to move up the list of admissions (being registered as a resident in an Andalusian city, having studied at a University in Andalusia, and so on) and I did not meet some of them.

That summer I decided to stay in the city where I wanted to study years ago: Málaga. I registered with the local council there and I waited another year to try it again. I was sure that third time lucky and that I would be accepted. Oh, how naive. I was very, very close: the second in the reserve list and nobody backed out to leave me a place in that list of privileged students. This time I did thought my devotion for translation was an impossible love and it was there where I considered letting the time pass by. Having started the 1^st course was more reasonable, but spending three years in those tests has weakened my energy and illusion.

I have always heard that things come when you least expect them, right? Well, the same happened to me a year later. When my holidays were around the corner, I was taking a look at Translation Masters in Spain and saw one in which I was interested. I submitted my application by chance and in a wrong way due to lack of time. Imagine the surprise on my face when during my holidays and trying to check my inbox in a London internet cafe, suddenly I saw an email from the University of Salamanca. “I’ve been acceeeeeepteeeed!!.” All people there stared at me at that moment. Surely, they thought I was nutter, excluding I and Cupid. 😉

Indeed, dear friends. She who perseveres in translation, succeeds. Finally, I was able to study Translation for two years and they were some of the best years in my life. I could flirt with my impossible love before working professionally on it. And you, how long or how much effort was implied to achieve your aim?

Today I am launching blog as a translator

By the end of 2012, I decided to create my own website: Herrera Translations. Today I am launching a very important section of this website: my future blog.

It was a project thought some time ago. It was also included among the main objectives of my marketing plan that I submitted to Leon Hunter in his mentoring course (February 2013). With this project I hope to share my own experiences, to contribute my view about our profession and above all that you know me a little bit better.

I will shortly present you a first story about my beginnings and the process of getting my foot in the door of translation studies. I hope that you enjoy reading as I enjoy your visit here.

Thank you! And welcome to this small space of learning, languages and translation.

Zenit

Vocollect

Universidad de Salamanca

Elsevier

UE Editor