Why are English graduates moving away from Translation as a career
Me: What's up mate! I heard you moved to corporate communications! have you left the Ad agency?
Friend: (With confidence) yes!
Me: Every person I know graduated from English Dept, left ad agencies, translation, companies...etc, and found refuge in corporate communications! Super! it is sort of posh it seems!
Friend: I moved to corporate communications, all my batch graduated are working either as lecturers or HR officers or as you said communications, I hate translation to be honest!
Me: Well, Translation is innocent! …The problem is in the atmosphere in which we work!
Ad Agency people as well as their clients do not understand or able to fathom what kind of effort; mental and nerve strain, knowledge and time that goes into accomplishing one single job!...Even people who have been interacting with Translators/Copywriters all lifelong! Starting from: General Managers, Servicing and marketing Executives, ending up with clients (with all their atrocities)!
Agency people don't even know that they should give you a good peaceful, secluded place to sit - which is an integral tool of translation: the good, peaceful, secluded work station!
Not to mention lack of appreciation to the taxing and nerve racking "Multitasking" and "job juggling" that you do on daily basis, to keep "their ship" going!
Moreover, in order to drain what is left of your energy, they relentlessly push and drag you into their marketing and servicing roles such as: Pitching for new clients, waste-of-time-client-meetings, adding up to your mountain of daily responsibilities!
So, in due course and along the years, you end up, sad, angry and very lonely; and all of the above mentioned circle people around you unable to figure out why!
Some think we are freaks of nature, some think we have attitude!, but they all have one thing in common, They need you!, so they tolerate your spitfire biting on their teeth, keeping it in their black books waiting to give it back one way or the other! Which results in an unhealthy working environment.
This is Translation scenario in a nutshell.
Friend: (With confidence) yes!
Me: Every person I know graduated from English Dept, left ad agencies, translation, companies...etc, and found refuge in corporate communications! Super! it is sort of posh it seems!
Friend: I moved to corporate communications, all my batch graduated are working either as lecturers or HR officers or as you said communications, I hate translation to be honest!
Me: Well, Translation is innocent! …The problem is in the atmosphere in which we work!
Ad Agency people as well as their clients do not understand or able to fathom what kind of effort; mental and nerve strain, knowledge and time that goes into accomplishing one single job!...Even people who have been interacting with Translators/Copywriters all lifelong! Starting from: General Managers, Servicing and marketing Executives, ending up with clients (with all their atrocities)!
Agency people don't even know that they should give you a good peaceful, secluded place to sit - which is an integral tool of translation: the good, peaceful, secluded work station!
Not to mention lack of appreciation to the taxing and nerve racking "Multitasking" and "job juggling" that you do on daily basis, to keep "their ship" going!
Moreover, in order to drain what is left of your energy, they relentlessly push and drag you into their marketing and servicing roles such as: Pitching for new clients, waste-of-time-client-meetings, adding up to your mountain of daily responsibilities!
So, in due course and along the years, you end up, sad, angry and very lonely; and all of the above mentioned circle people around you unable to figure out why!
Some think we are freaks of nature, some think we have attitude!, but they all have one thing in common, They need you!, so they tolerate your spitfire biting on their teeth, keeping it in their black books waiting to give it back one way or the other! Which results in an unhealthy working environment.
This is Translation scenario in a nutshell.
تعليقات
Me too!