Misconceptions of being a translator

Hello everyone!

Now that we have introduced ourselves, and now that you know what we actually are, let me show you what the world of the misconception of being a translator is like. We are not doctors or architects, nor celebrities of the show business, which is the reason why society doesn’t know us and sometimes confuses us with our closest pals: English teachers. This is not that faaaaar away from what we do, at least the two of us are involved in languages, but our target and audiences are totally different.

Let’s have fun together with the top ten list of misconceptions!

With friends and relatives:

1-      What does a translator do?

2-      Do you need a dictionary? Weren’t you a translator?

3-     Ah, you are a translator, can you translate this tiny little word that appeared in my engine’s paper, I don’t get it, but for you must be a piece of cake!

4-      If you know languages you should be able to understand all the English songs! How lucky you are!

5-     Can you do me a favor? Please, can you help me with my English homework? (you end up doing somebody else’s homework)

6-     Do you work at home? Do you consider that a job? You can be in bed all day! Again, how lucky you are!

With a client:

7-      We need you to finish this 500 pages paper in three days, can you?

8-      We won’t pay repetitions

9-      I think that the fair price of this 500 pages paper is $100.000, right?

10-   I’d like you to translate this 8 hours conference, but we can’t afford the other translator, it’s out of our budget, but you must be capable to do it on your own, aren’t you? (the client takes the speaker out to the most expensive restaurant in town)

By Kei Jiménez