Musings from an overworked translator

Announcing the Moravian Archives’ 2024 German Script Course August 2, 2023

Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Business practices, German culture, Tools.
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Note from Jill: I took this in June 2023, and it was great. I arrived not even recognizing the text as being German and was sightreading it at the end of the two week course. I now have a skill that machine translation can’t touch, because most Germans can’t even read old German script! Register quickly. It will sell out fast. Space is limited to 15 students.

Register today for a two week intensive course studying, practicing and reading old German handwriting.

June 3, 2024 – June 14, 2024

The Moravian Archives is offering its well-known and successful German Script Course for the 55th year next Summer.

This is the only course of its kind in the country. The course is taught by Dr. Paul Peucker and Thomas McCullough, MA, MLIS, experts and experienced instructors in reading and writing German script.

COURSE FEES & GRANT OPPORTUNITY

COURSE FEES

The fee for the script course is $1,300 and includes the following instructional materials:

Color reproductions of German texts
Handouts
Writing pads
Binder for storing instructional material
Quills
Textbook: Deciphering Handwriting in German Documents by Roger P. Minert (2nd ed., Woods Cross, Utah 2013)
Coffee, tea, and snacks during breaks

Accommodations are not included in the cost of the course. Please see below or visit our website for more information.

GRANT AVAILABLE
Two slots are reserved for graduate students at a rate of 50% of the regular course fee. Grants are available to students who are not fully employed and who do not qualify for reimbursement of the course fee. Grant applicants must be registered for the course and have made the deposit payment.
Please visit our website for more information about this exciting opportunity.

COURSE INFORMATION

methode

STUDY METHOD

Class begins each day at 9:00 am and runs until 12:30 pm, and is divided up into two sessions.

The morning sessions are devoted to writing the individual letters. During the late morning sessions texts are read within the group with everyone taking turns deciphering the texts.

There are no organized classes during the afternoons. This time is devoted to preparing for the next day’s lessons; most students choose to do their ‘homework’ in groups. Thus, the course combines classroom learning, group study and individual preparation. The preparation time in the afternoon will take about four hours. It is not recommended to plan other activities during the course.

PREREQUISITES

In order to successfully follow the course, a good reading ability of modern German is needed; two years of college German or the equivalent has proven to be a minimum. Conversational German ability is not required and prior knowledge of German script is not necessary. All instruction is conducted in English, but we advise students to have access to a quality German-English dictionary.

HOUSING

DORMITORY HOUSING (SOUTH SIDE BETHLEHEM)
Housing is available at Lehigh University’s apartment-style dormitories (location to be announced later). Lehigh University is located on the south side of Bethlehem, about 1.7 miles away from the Moravian Archives. Script students may walk, drive/carpool, or take a ride share to come to class each day.

HOUSING AT THE HOTEL BETHLEHEM (NORTH SIDE BETHLEHEM)
If students are interested in staying in Historic Downtown Bethlehem, standard hotel rooms are available at the Hotel Bethlehem. The hotel is located 0.8 miles away from the archives.
Breakfast/meals and parking are available on premise for additional fees. Click here for more information about the Hotel Bethlehem.
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There are also various other hotels, Airbnbs, and guest houses in the Bethlehem area.
Please note that the registration for housing is separate from registration for the course.

TESTIMONIALS
Our 2023 Script course graduates are using their new skills in unique ways! Check out how students have utilized what they learned during the course!

KNOW SOMEONE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED?

Feel free to share information about the 2024 German Script course with anyone you think would be interested!
Link to our website is available here.

Still, have questions? Learn more by visiting our website

Visit our Website

Moravian Archives | 41 W. Locust St., Bethlehem, PA 18018

Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by info@moravianchurcharchives.org

Musings from an Underemployed Translator July 29, 2023

Posted by Jill (@bonnjill) in Random musings, Uncategorized.
3 comments

I’m thinking about renaming this blog Musings from an Underemployed Translator. Machine translation, artificial intelligence, and T&I industry mergers and acquisitions have left me with no work. The rose-colored predictions forecasted highly specialized translators would not be affected, but I am not the only translator at the top of my specialization who has noticed a huge drop in work. Two experts who have actually written dictionaries in their field are also reporting an alarming drop in work. Can it be blamed entirely on MT and AI? Has COVID played a role – or the weak German economy? It’s hard to say. But the fact remains that I am revising my resume and looking for work. I will not be attending the ATA conference this year, because I haven’t had any income in three months.

I have been fighting this for as long as I can. I have marketed my butt off for several years. I started pushing my specialization (medical translation). I thought medical would be a good choice because of data privacy and HIPAA. Turns out many clients don’t care. I started a “second job” as a Zoom producer, but there aren’t a lot of classes offered in the summer months. I picked up a new skill this year when I attended a two-week course to learn old German script at the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in June. I can now read and transcribe the fancy Kurrent and Gothic writing from the 1700s and 1800s. The course was a blast, and I went from not even knowing if the document I brought with me was written in German to being able to sight read it toward the end of the second week. And I transcribed 44 lines of text in 45 minutes with only a few mistakes for our “final.” I sent out an email to my clients informing them of my new skill and got a one-off, 1-page job from one of them. But then, once again, crickets…

The fact remains that I need to earn money to pay rent and bills and buy food for my cat and me. If you are or know of an agency or direct client who could use my services, please send me an email. If you have ever learned or benefited from this blog, feel free to Buy Me a Coffee as a thank you. In the meantime, I will continue to look for a job and if it isn’t in the T&I industry, this blog will go away. It’s been a good run!