At times, I am an idiot...

[alexpgp]

If you want a hard time, you can go tug on Superman's cape, spit into the wind, tear the mask off the Lone Ranger, or even mess around with Jim, but if you want no end of frustration, agree to work on a revised translation.

So there I am, dead in the water, a dozen miles off Shanghai... oops. No.

Where I am is this: I have English and Russian copies of the previous version of a document, and the new Russian version. The client even gave me a file that shows the revisions between the old and new versions of the original.

I opened the file Friday and saw only a handful of changes. I figured it would take an hour, tops.

You know what's coming, right?

It is a good thing I don't leave things for the last minute, because it turns out the file showing the revisions is, um, deficient... as in: it shows the vast majority of new text (which comprise the vast majority of the file, or about 8,000 words) as having been there before. My comparison of versions shows the true picture, and I'm not at all sure I can swing that volume of work in one day, especially considering that Mike and Karen invited Galina and me over for dinner tomorrow night, an engagement I do not intend to miss.

Rock to the left of me, a hard place to the right. A recipe for woe, nie?

Anyway, I sent off a terse email to the client, who may very well read it when the assignment is already due, but there's nothing to be done at the moment but do the best I can. I'll likely call the office tomorrow, just to cover all bases.

In other news, Galina got back from Colorado Springs about 40 minutes ago and is already sound asleep, a policy I intend to imitate shortly, as I've been up since about 5:30 am.

Cheers...

Comments

[madhacktress.livejournal.com]

My strategy - knowing absolutely nothing about what I'm talking, to qualify - would be to ensure that all changes that were originally highlighted are completed by the deadline. Then work on the ones that you have found for yourself from there.

Again, though, I have no idea if that is prudent, possible or even within the realm of sanity.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Well, after a certain point, it wasn't possible to do the changes that were highlighted because the documents started to diverge radically. But I did find your comment helpful, because as it turned out, most of the highlighted changes had already been taken care of, so I mentioned it in my followup email. (http://alexpgp.livejournal.com/1112408.html)

Thanks!

Cheers...