Going crazy by degrees...

[alexpgp]

This document is really something. Normally - and not to brag - translating 500 words an hour is not a huge problem for me.

Yesterday, at the close of the day, I managed only 200 words during the last hour.

Just now, I managed 88 words over the last 60 minutes, which I hope does not signal a trend for the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of text where I can just merrily skip sentences willy-nilly and go on to the next and come back later, because of three reasons: (a) I'd end up with about 4 skipped sentences for every sentence translated, (b) there are abbreviations on 6-inch centers in the text, and an understanding of what they mean really helps, so I've got to stop and do research, and (c) the client wants an early partial delivery, so, like, I ought to have a chunk of stuff to send and not a bunch of individual sentences or paragraphs.

Back to the face!

Cheers...

Comments

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

I'm just picturing you tap tap tapping away with intervals for head bashing against wall. Probably some French being expressed, as well. Good luck.

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's more like playing the world's biggest Internet-based scavenger hunt, in a foreign language.

It's a game full of false leads, questionable sources, and vistas of all kind (broad, uplifting, hazardous, and Microsoft). I can't imagine how I used to work without the Internet.

One of my favorite "tricks" when working out of French is, when all else fails, to attempt to find French and English versions of the same document that contains the strange French expression and compare the text.

Cheers...

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

Yes, hooray for the Internet. I know how they used to teach in the days before internet, (lots of hoarded stuff, plus mimeograph machines, (this is pre-copy machine era, too)) but I can't even imagine trying to do it. Certainly the rate at which you could add new material to your schtick would be glacial.