I am a translator.

I am not a bilingual dictionary.

I am a conduit between cultures.

I create bridges between meaning.

I eat grammar for breakfast.

I dance in the space between nouns and adjectives.

I explain mood, spirit and soul.

I make two languages sing the same song. 

I take wisps of nuance and turn them into thunderstorms of significance.

I make texts say things their authors didn’t know they could say.

I’m an anthropologist, detective and craftsperson in one.

I take businesses across the globe.

I am not afraid of machine translation. Machines help me do my job better and faster.

My translations entertain, inform and communicate.

There will always be one more dictionary to get, one more grammar book to buy, and one more skill to develop. Always.

I can jump over ten false cognates in a single bound. 

I will never, ever stop improving my translation skills.

Languages are alive, and clients will pay me top dollar to provide living translations.

I love translating. With every fibre of my being.

And I will live the translator’s life. 

 

To get a handy PDF, just click here: The Translator’s Life Manifesto.

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