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What Do You Do?

There are a few questions that I get asked fairly often when I tell people that I'm a translator.

The first is usually something like this: "Oh, so you travel around to different places where people need you and translate what they are saying? That sounds pretty cool."

Of course, then I have to explain that I'm a translator, not an interpreter, so no, I don't travel anywhere usually - I sit at home and stare into a computer screen most of the day. That's always a let-down because it's much less dramatic.

That's the sort of question one might expect from a person who doesn't have any experience with languages, but another question that I get alarmingly frequently really surprises me sometimes.

People often ask me, "So you think there's going to be enough business for that in the future?"

The implication they make is that the world is growing so small that eventually we won't need translators anymore. They usually mean this for one of two reasons: either they think that eventually, computers will do everything automatically, or they think that eventually, everyone will be speaking English.

The first is the more understandable statement and is usually the hardest for me to refute. No matter how I word my response, I always feel like I'm coming across as a conservative, snobby intellectual type - the type that is probably anti-technology and likes to read dusty old books. Which is silly, of course, because I'm just the opposite. It's difficult to explain why computers can't really do what I do - at least, it's hard to do in two sentences or less at a crowded bar (since I usually get asked this at social events where extended conversation is rare).

The latter implication that language will eventually converge so that everyone in the world knows enough English is frightening to me, and not for reasons of job security. If that were to really happen, imagine the cultural identities that would be lost! It's scary sometimes to hear people speak casually about such things.

I suppose I have to admit, though, that it's the American's mentality in most cases. Most Americans are bothered by foreign languages and want people to be able to speak English no matter where they are. It's unfortunate.

My social calendar is fully booked with two whole parties this weekend, so I'm sure this stuff will come up again in one form or another.

I just need to think of some clever come-backs.

Posted by steve at May 28, 2004 09:14 AM