Musings from an overworked translator

RIP Miguel Llorens September 28, 2012

Kevin Lossner just reported that Miguel Llorens died two weeks ago. I am completely shattered. I loved his rapier wit, which is summed up perfectly in the last thing he ever wrote on his blog (in a comment):

Yes, I suppose I am a conservative when it comes to the translation business if innovation implies doing really shitty work.

His response to Lionbridge Vice President Didier Helin, which was posted on the No Peanuts website, had me almost falling out of my chair. He was just brilliant.

Rest in peace, Miguel. I for one will dearly miss your blog posts and the gift you had in cutting through the bullshit of the MT industry. His Financial Translation Blog will live on until the domain expires and is worth reading. I for one would be more than willing to pay for the next year if any of his family members sees this post. His brilliance needs to live on even after his passing.

You will be missed.

Who is Peter Less? September 20, 2012

Photo from the AIIC website

Just in case some of you aren’t familiar with his story I thought I’d share it.

Peter Less was an interpreter at the Nuremberg trials after WWII. He fled Germany at the age of 17 in 1938 and moved to Switzerland, but his family refused to follow. They all perished in Auschwitz during the war – his mother, father, sister, and grandmother. Less was trained at the Geneva School of Conference Interpretation and was chosen as one of the 30-40 interpreters at the trials. He was one of the interpreters at the major war criminals’ trial, that of Hermann Goering, Rudolph Hess, Hans Frank, Ernst Kaltenbrunner and others. When asked in an interview by interpreter Tanya Gesse in 2005 how he could sit in the same room with the men responsible for death of his family, Less said, “It wasn’t easy. You were sitting in the same room with the people who probably killed your parents, but you could not let your feelings interfere with your job. You swore to interpret as faithfully as possible, to put the speaker’s idea into the listener’s head. So we did.” The embodiment of neutrality. I don’t know if I could maintain that level of neutrality. Less moved to Chicago in 1946, where he practiced family law for over 50 years.

His story as told to Tanya Gesse on the AICC (International Association of Conference Interpreters) website is a fascinating one. The article first appeared in the ATA Chronicle (American Translators Association), September 2004, Volume XXXIII Number 9. I highly recommend reading it.

As I said before, he is in hospice care, and an album is now being assembled for Peter to deliver to him—containing any letters, words of gratitude, and even a simple “thank you.” Learn how you can send him your message at the following link: http://www.natalykelly.com/#!peter/chzx

Time to honor one of our own September 19, 2012

This is an enormously important message to the translation and interpreting community from Nataly Kelly. Peter Less, whose entire family was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz and who went on to interpret for the Nazi war criminals at the Nuremberg trials back before interpreting had ever been done before on such a massive scale, is 91 and now at the end of his long and illustrious life. He truly was one of the forerunners of our industry. He was honored by the American Translators Association some years back and attended the conference the very next year on his own simply to present a session on his experiences. I had the honor of escorting him to one of the events he was attending, leading him on my arm and struggling not to start crying simply due to the overwhelming honor of being in his presence. His health has been in decline over the past few months, and he has now entered hospice care. Please send this extraordinary man a message of thanks, as per Nataly’s beautiful appeal at http://www.natalykelly.com/#!peter/chzx

May God be with you, Mr. Less.

Musings from a hospital bed September 15, 2012

Well, not really. I was released yesterday afternoon. I had my appendix out on Thursday. I was in pain from 1 a.m. on Wednesday night, so I called my mother in the morning and she came over and took me to the emergency room at the hospital 0.2 miles from my house. No matter how old you are, when you get sick you still want your mommy there. I told the admitting clerk that I thought it was appendicitis, but the ER doctor thought it was kidney stones. He should know better than to second-guess a medical translator :-).

It was really cool hearing all the jargon I translate every day being used in real life and freaking out the staff by responding with professional jargon to their questions about pain. The surgical resident got a kick out of my responding “no pain on percussion” when he asked if I could feel pain while tapping on my back. The nurse blew several veins trying to draw my blood. I had central lines in both hands. I am sporting some nice hematomas. I got wheeled on a gurney for a CT, which (along with the blood tests showing elevated white count and no blood in my urine) revealed an enlarged and inflamed appendix.

I was wheeled into the operating room at 5 p.m. and – after being prepped for laparoscopic surgery – woke up in recovery at around 7:45 or so. I spent the night in the hospital (luckily in my own room so I was able to sleep more than I did the night before at home) and was released yesterday afternoon. It was my first overnight stay in a hospital, and it wasn’t that bad. I spent the night at my parents’ house last night and am happy to be home.

I was very, very grateful for my smartphone (even if did take a visit to the ER to figure out the outgoing server settings for my e-mail weren’t correct), because I was able to respond immediately to my clients’ e-mails. I was able to use the hospital guest WiFi the entire time. I turned down several job requests and notified one client that they should find someone else to translate the website I had accepted on Wednesday that is due next Tuesday. My clients deserve more attention to detail than I can give them right now. I will be recovering for the next few days, but have already stopped taking my prescribed pain meds because the pain is manageable.

But I am very glad I decided several months ago not to attend the BDÜ conference this year. I would have been flying to Germany right about now and would have lost lots of money on non-refundable pain tickets and hotel costs. I hope you all enjoy it without me. Wish I could be there instead of hobbling around my apartment.