| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Off topic: The weirdest job offer you've ever received... Thread poster: Jennifer Baker
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| Love letter in Latin | Oct 21, 2006 |
A love letter as well, but the request was to translate it... into Latin. I wonder why...
| | | | Özden Arıkan 
Germany
Local time: 05:22
Member
English to Turkish
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| A booklet on growing cannabis | Oct 21, 2006 |
I was approached by this potential client who, frustrated by his high expenditures on the end product, had decided to set up his own greenhouse I declined the offer, though, because he was inclined to resort to foul language.
| | | | abufaraz
Pakistan
Local time: 08:22
English to Urdu
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| Translation of Tombstones | Oct 22, 2006 |
Love letters consisting of intimate personal relationships appear to be one of the very common jobs for translators. I have also been asked to translate a couple of them so I don't think there is anything weird about them to mention unless they are very unique.
The assignment which I consider to be the weirdest in my not very long career of online translation, was the translation of some tombstones (epitaphs) which I did a few month before. An American client having particular flai... See more Love letters consisting of intimate personal relationships appear to be one of the very common jobs for translators. I have also been asked to translate a couple of them so I don't think there is anything weird about them to mention unless they are very unique.
The assignment which I consider to be the weirdest in my not very long career of online translation, was the translation of some tombstones (epitaphs) which I did a few month before. An American client having particular flair for Sufism and Meditation (a rare trait among westerners) sent to me, 4 images of the head stones of some Sufi saints which he had taken during his study visit to a far flung village in Northern India. He had an idea of the names of the deceased persons but wanted to know as to who was buried in which grave. The script was in Arabic, Farsi, Urdu and Hindi. (I did all except Hindi).
He paid me very promptly. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Fan Gao
Australia
Local time: 13:22
English to Chinese
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| I finally got one..... | Oct 22, 2006 |
I read this thread the other day and thought it was a really interesting topic and really enjoyed reading other's experience. At the same time I must admit I felt a bit disappointed that all of the past projects we've done are just the usual run of the mill kind of stuff, whether it be general or technical subject matter.
Anyway, maybe it was my wishful thinking but I finally got one:) It's not exactly wierd but it is unusual.
I won't go into too much detail of course,... See more I read this thread the other day and thought it was a really interesting topic and really enjoyed reading other's experience. At the same time I must admit I felt a bit disappointed that all of the past projects we've done are just the usual run of the mill kind of stuff, whether it be general or technical subject matter.
Anyway, maybe it was my wishful thinking but I finally got one:) It's not exactly wierd but it is unusual.
I won't go into too much detail of course, to protect confidentiality and to respect the people involved but it's basically a couple of letters between a married couple. It's the ago old story of boy meets girl, boy marries girl.......and unfortunately the marriage turns sour.
The letters are very intimate and are written straight from the heart and are really quite sad. The frustrating thing is though, the last letter is a right cliffhangar! The husband wants to try again and try and sort out the problems but we don't have the reply from the wife! Did they try again? Did they sort out the problems? Are they back together now? Will I ever know?
It's like watching the season finale of Desperate Housewives to find that the next season has been cancelled!
I have so many unanswered questions but I also find myself asking who is requesting and why are they requesting for these letters to be translated?? Will there be more? I hope so:)
All the best,
Mark ▲ Collapse
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Refugio
Local time: 20:22
Spanish to English
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| Stunt men for Jesus | Oct 24, 2006 |
This was an editing, not translating job. A man with long purple hair approached me to edit public relations materials for his group. They did evangelistic fundraisers at air shows, consisting of jumping out of airplanes and setting themselves on fire (in special suits, I hope), then extinguishing it with a somersault landing. Then passing the hat for their missionary work. Since it added to the drama, the show organizers were presumably okay with the fundraising aspect. The man told me they lik... See more This was an editing, not translating job. A man with long purple hair approached me to edit public relations materials for his group. They did evangelistic fundraisers at air shows, consisting of jumping out of airplanes and setting themselves on fire (in special suits, I hope), then extinguishing it with a somersault landing. Then passing the hat for their missionary work. Since it added to the drama, the show organizers were presumably okay with the fundraising aspect. The man told me they liked the idea of risking their lives for Jesus.
[Editado a las 2006-10-24 19:27] ▲ Collapse
| | | | NMR (X)
France
Local time: 05:22
French to Dutch
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| Standard letters for a medium | Oct 24, 2006 |
And a long list of numbered paragraphs containing predictions and astrology items ("your husband will be leaving you...", "something serious will be happening..."). I could readily imagine the medium combining paragraphs 6, 12 and 18 into a "personal" advice.
But in fact most of my translations are weird. The creativity of advertising agencies has no limits.
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well, so many interesting things but I had a small (very small) piece too...
I was still at the university when I translated some divorce papers for someone... and I really believe that he was trying to cheat his wife of alimony and I still feel bad about it.
Gay love letters, and they were really beautiful...
And of course the ownership of a star (don't remember which one)...
And the one I translated yesterday really takes the cake... lyrics o... See more well, so many interesting things but I had a small (very small) piece too...
I was still at the university when I translated some divorce papers for someone... and I really believe that he was trying to cheat his wife of alimony and I still feel bad about it.
Gay love letters, and they were really beautiful...
And of course the ownership of a star (don't remember which one)...
And the one I translated yesterday really takes the cake... lyrics of two Punjabi songs by Daler Mehndi. In fact the songs are so nonsensical that they do not have a real meaning... just a couple of words joined together but the music is really nice and makes you want to dance.
And on top of it, these were the songs that my father didn't particularly approve of ... of course we've heard them but... it's the lack of linguistic beauty and lyrics in these particular songs that my father doesn't like... and imagine yesterday, I was really listening to them telling him that it was for work!!!
In fact, I was sent the text in Roman script and it was full of mistakes as obviously the person relied on his/ her ears and had no knowledge of source language.
And we really had a lot of fun (me and my sister) trying to translate them 'coz the translation led us to too many double entendres etc.
When I told the agency... I was told not to worry about the poetry etc. it was just that someone really wanted to get the text translated. ▲ Collapse
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| Stale thread, but ... | Jun 1, 2007 |
Just browsing through some old threads, and this one is very interesting.
I had a love letter addressed to Chad Michael Murray. I hope he read and appreciated it...
But the weirdest job I did was for the US Attorney General's office, from a German woman appealing for official help from the US government. She asserted that the German government has no jurisdiction over former East Germany, and that the US was the last true sovereign of the territory, and could they help ... See more Just browsing through some old threads, and this one is very interesting.
I had a love letter addressed to Chad Michael Murray. I hope he read and appreciated it...
But the weirdest job I did was for the US Attorney General's office, from a German woman appealing for official help from the US government. She asserted that the German government has no jurisdiction over former East Germany, and that the US was the last true sovereign of the territory, and could they help her get back her taxes that the German government had stolen?
I expect that there are tax scammers in Germany, just as there are in the US, who convince people that they don't really owe taxes for various spurious reasons. ▲ Collapse
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