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On September 30, the world celebrates the Translator’s Day. Did you know why they chose this date? St. Jerome is the patron saint of translators and he died on September 30, 420. As he had great knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, Pope Damasus assigned Jerome the task of translating the Bible to Latin. Yet I cannot forget to honor all my colleagues who, coincidentally, have their special date celebrated on September 30 here in Brazil. Cheers to all Secretaries! From me and the Ccaps team.  Our team could never miss these special dates or let them go in vain. See below a picture of our breakfast that we have just taken…  

 

Back row: Cassius, Wandrianne, Vanusa, Adriana, Miguel
Front row: Bruno, Natalia, Danielle
(Fabiano is taking the picture and Cecilia is celebrating in Paris

A long time ago, one of my hobbies was to listen to music and try to understand the lyrics. I would put in a cassette tape (which would never imagine – not even in its worst nightmares – that it would be replaced by a CD) and listen to a song a hundred times until I could figure out each word of the song. At that time, I could never imagine that I would end working with translation; I just enjoyed challenging my hearing skills and solving those “puzzles.” Today, song lyrics were replaced by TV movies with original sound. These however are (un)fortunately subtitled, making it difficult for me to take up the role of Sherlock Holmes. I no longer try to unveil what is being sung; instead, I now turn into a Marshall, checking the translations made by others.

As far as I can see, I am not alone. Just enter the Internet realm (where else?) and you will find thousands of comments coming from the most different sources on mistranslations and dreadful mistakes. Judging by the amount and variety of such comments, I wouldn’t say they were all made by translators, but rather by people who discuss every kind of mistake and what they think is the best solution for each case. There are even replies generating long threads of discussion over a mere conjunction that would have created double meaning in a given language and that would have been lost in translation.

I have no idea how interested in medicine these people are. Personally I feel uneasy around blood and diseases. As to foolishness, I’d rather not say anything. But I will always be outraged to hear the Warner Channel narrator saying that ER’s Dr. Carter is dating a “trabalhadora social” (mistranslation for social worker, creating the name of a job that does not exist).

Sorry, this is only for locals…
Click here if you would like to read it in Portuguese.

If you did not receive the new edition of the Ccaps Newsletter in your inbox, what are you waiting for? Click the image below to read the three very special articles we selected to talk about management: project managent, content management and people management.

Guess who wrote one of them?

“Looks nice! What is it that you’re having?”
“Listen here, trainee. You touch my bowl, internship is over!”