I took a class today, and had no idea what I was going to say. Not only that, but after every sentence I had no idea what I would say next. But don't worry, it all worked out fine. That is what happens when you are translating.
You see, today was my first day in translating from Spanish to English. This day comes in the life of every speaker of two or more languages. Many times it is something easy or simple to do. I guess in reality, my day like that came a long time ago during the moments that I was asked by my friends, "what did he say?" But today was something different, another rung on the ladder so to speak... as if there were any ladder at all. Today was an "official" translation. In a school.
A drawing by one of the students of me (on the left) translating David in the school.
If you were to ask me if I speak Spanish, I would reply that I do. If you were to ask me if I speak well, then the answer is no. So how does this qualify me as a translator? Really, it doesn't. Translating, and working in the schools that they run here have not been part of my mandate since I started working. In more ways than one, I have been "loaned" to the school to translate.
Why have I been "loaned"? Put simply, it is because there is nobody else to do the job. Normally we have had three good interpreters available for this sort of work. Right now there is none. So my level of inexpertise has now been elevated to the point of service. Kind of like winning a job position because there was nobody else to contest the position. Well, exactly like that, except we were not contesting at all.
Ruth, one of our interpreters left several weeks ago to study in Brazil for the next three months. She is totally unavailable. Paul is currently down in Buenos Aires welcoming his mum from England. They will be travelling around a lot over the next four or five weeks while she is here so that puts him out of commision too (although he will help out next week a little). Our final interpreter, Pamela, decided that it would be a really good school to do, hence is now one of the students in the school. Yes, the same school that I am now translating.
Ah ha! I hear you say. Why doesn't Pamela interpret then, since she is already doing the school?
She certainly could, that is true, but this school also has another name. INTENSIVE Bible Study School. This means that the workload for the students is very high during much of the school. To place the burden on Pamela to translate at the same time as trying to perform all of the in-class activities and questions, and then for her to also be the mediator between student and staff, and to help the Spanish speaking staff to understand the student's work while they are trying to mark it would be unfair. So that is where I come into it.
You see, even though my task is only from 9.30am until 1.00pm (and this week there is also 5pm to 7pm), there is much more to the work. Helping students ask questions of the lecturers, assisting with the marking of the English based work, and being a source of local information for those new to the area. Even though it cuts into the work I am currently doing I do enjoy it greatly. Getting off the computer and becoming a part of "real life" where you can physically touch and see what you are working with is a great distraction.
So my days of translation have started and after day 1 I can say that I have really enjoyed it. After all, all I am doing is just...
Saying it all over again.