The long winding road to Translation

Well well well, this poor blog has been neglected long enough.

In the interest of pointing my blog back toward its name, I thought I would share with you how my career in translation has taken off clear into space.

Actually, in all seriousness, I would like to encourage anyone out there who picked up an extra language or two, and wants to use it, just not necessarily as a UN interpreter or a Spanish teacher. Knowing a foreign language is one of those soft fuzzy skills that, once people find out you have it, they say, "You speak -----? That's cool!" And then they seem to forget about it. But don't worry, they haven't forgotten. You just have to Wait.

For the longest time at DePuy, there was No Hint of anyone wanting anything concerning French, German, Spanish.

One day, I was having lunch with some friends at work. We happened to start discussing our educational backgrounds, and they found out my degree was in foreign languages.

Another seven or eight months... at least... are you asking me to actually remember spans of time between momentous events?

One of those lunch friends called me up to ask me to translate "or" into French, for a document. That was short and sweet.

Another five-ish months...

The friend called me up again to see if I would be interested in helping translate some material for a company website into French? Having it reviewed afterward by an overseas contact fluent in French, of course.

Another couple months...

Before we actually got that that project started, the friend asked if I would translate a one-page email announcement going out to several company sites around the world?

The overseas contact liked my work! Of course, the translation needed a little tweaking.

Now starting on the website material, I feel it's safe to say: Sometimes you just have to wait. And keep your eyes open for what God will suddenly drop smack in your road!