For three days I tried to write on my blog. I apparently forgot my password, tried all the possibilities and combinations but no success. So I checked the “Forgot your password?” box and waited for the new one in my inbox. There it was. So, I clicked on the link provided, typed my username, typed the new password and… nada. What the hell is wrong with this shit, I thought. Tried a second time. And a third time. No luck. I had to recheck the “Forgot your password?” box and wait for a new one. This time, success.
Well, with all these attempts I basically forgot what I wanted to write about… But I have updates on the immersion classes: They’re over!!! — For now. Last week we had what I called our Season Finale. After six long months of classes and dealing with students and teachers, and new teachers, and MORE new teachers, and training, and lesson planning, and presentations, and podcasts… wow… that’s fucking it. The guy that came over was a third timer, and even though his level of English isn’t so advanced, he is an intimidating person, maybe because he’s one of the top directors of the Brazilian headquarters. He’s a simple guy, other teachers said their classes were good, but for some reason I wasn’t confident at all about my classes, especially the last day, where I would spend 5 straight hours teaching him.
For starters I had the 8 o’clock class, which I really hate, and basically had nothing prepared for the whole morning. I confess that I didn’t sleep. So, in the morning, I had the “Office Culture” class prepared, but then I realised that it would be a totally lame class because the guy is an agronomist and spends most of his time in the field. Well, I just printed the sheet anyway and hoped for the best. I started the class by asking him a few questions about the company and what the important things were for a company to offer the employees. Somehow, I still don’t know how it happened, we ended up talking for two and a half hours! We started with that subject and finished the class talking about Brazilian elections, going through corn/soybean exports, how parents are bringing up kids these days and broken economies throughout Europe. I really don’t know how these subjects are connected, but apparently we managed to do so successfully.
Well, I don’t know what’s gonna be like these next couple of months. Assessments will start in July probably, so I could really use the time to work on material preparation and prepare standard classes, you know, if some teacher doesn’t show up to work anybody could get the material and teach the class. It’s something that takes time and will probably be seen by the others as if I’m slacking, you know? I also need to look into distance classes project… that might be happening…
So, I was thrilled when leaving work to go home. Friday and no classes to prepare for the following week? Sounds like a celebration to me. I went to the supermarket to buy some stuff and got in line to pay for it. As I was waiting for my turn, I notice the folks around me: two people in front of me, one behind. The one at the register had a bottle of vodka and a bottle of Coke; the woman in front of me had a bottle of wine and the guy behind some six or seven chilled cans of beer, ready to be drunk. Wow, apparently I was caught in the booze lane, alright… And yeah, I had some booze of my own as well…
And there’s one more of my TED Talks translation available. This time, Nandan Nilekani, Indian CEO of outsourcing company Infosys, talks about the potential — and advantages — that India has to keep growing by showing four different ideas. Interesting talk, reviewed by Volney Faustini. Another great TED Talk, reviewed by me and translated by Lia Ponton, shows Jennifer 8. Lee “in search for General Tso”. NYT reporter looks into the origins of many Chinese-American dishes that all Americans love, but have no idea these dishes are hardly Chinese!
As I’m in the subject, I wonder what drives people to start translating texts — or talks — and think they can do a sloppy job. This is volunteer work, I know, but doesn’t entitle you to write whatever you want the way you want it without reviewing it. When I applied to be part of the project, I certainly wanted the translation to be perfect. So I review my work, do research, spend valuable time on Google trying to come up with the best synonym and the best way to translate one expression. But of course, we’re all humans and we make mistakes and something might slip up, that’s why each talk needs to be revised by another person, who makes the proper alterations. Well, I’ve reviewed talks that didn’t have ANY stress marks — and we do speak Portuguese in this country — or that included so unnecessary words to be shown on the screen, such as “you know” or “I mean” or “it” (in some cases). Come on!!! Not to mention things that didn’t make any sense at all, as if they were literally translating word by word — something that a person who has SOME knowledge of how to translate would never do. All I’m saying is that, people, please, wise up! Do your homework, for crying out loud, and start presenting a good job just for a change!!! (I want to point out, though, that there are some great translations, too.)
And this is a pretty good article about reading different sources, right and left, and judging for yourself who’s more sensible.
-- Never too many beers -- 