Happy International Translation Day!

Dear Colleague, this is for you.

For everyone who has had to explain to their family and friends that translating is actually a job;

For everyone who has read an instruction book, not to find out how to use an appliance, but to see how it’s been translated;

For everyone who has worked until 3 am and got up at 6 am to review the translation and deliver it by the agreed deadline;

For everyone who, when having dinner with friends, has broken into a conversation, taken out a notebook and pen and said “Sorry, but would you repeat what you just said so that I can jot it down?”;

For everyone who has re-read a translation they themselves have done and thought “Did I really write this??”, for better or for worse;

For everyone who has worked day and night, Saturday and Sunday, every public holiday and heard their friends say that “translators have it easy because they work from home”;

For everyone who constantly hears people say “I learnt English at school. Maybe I should try being a translator, too, like you”;

For everyone who has woken up suddenly in the night, having remembered a word and smacked themselves on the head and said “Bollocks, I should have used ‘incognito’ instead of ‘unknown’”;

For everyone who has been working with me…

 … Happy International Translation Day!