“I view the translator…”
November 6, 2007
As found on a forum…
I view the translator in modern society as something of an anti-hero.
The translator spends years or more developing and honing an eclectic set of skills which he knows society neither understands nor values enough. He then struggles valiantly to use those skills to earn a living, taking test after test, filling out form after form, dealing with agencies, clients, the IRS, and others to make enough money.
He wins clients and then loses them. He is hired by a company and then fired during the next round of restructuring or outsourcing. He is expendable and he knows it.
Yet, he fights on, convinced that his skills have value. Ultimately, he leaves the profession and takes his skills forward to better things.
He quixotically raised his lance and charged the windmills, only to find they were all too real.
He is a dying breed which society does not recognize or acknowledge but cannot afford to lose.
