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Back on the job...
Jul. 26th, 2010 05:56 pmThe job that arrived yesterday involved updating a document I translated back in May. Unfortunately, the extent of the update was rather limited (though it did take me almost 4 hours to figure that out), so the payday will not anything to crow about.
On the other hand, the mail did contain some financial therapy, which I deposited just before dealing with having had my bank online access frozen during the recent New York trip. In the end, the damage wasn't as bad as I had been led (or led myself) to believe, especially with regard to automatic bill payments. I made doubly sure that a proper set of security questions were answered, too.
The box of books I sent via media mail was delivered today, after four days in transit. Needless to say, I am impressed with the service.
Among the books that arrived were four editions of the Nouveau Petit Larousse single-volume dictionary, from 1937, 1952, 1960, and 1969. Sometimes, it's valuable to know when a word enters the language (a big deal in French), or how it might change over time.
The 1969 volume, by the way, was a high-school graduation prize for achievement in French, which was "earned" more for having persevered with French for 6 years in junior and senior high school than for any academic achievement.
French, you see, was always my stumbling block in high school, and I will never forget Mrs. Vamvakis' remark to the effect that my first three years of study were largely wasted because the NYC schools I attended (before my folks moved to the Island) hewed to the so-called "audio-lingual method" of language teaching, a method she found utterly lacking for the development of language proficiency.
In retrospect, it may very well be that the roots of my translation work were planted in that class, because Mrs. V expected her students to read - and understand - several pages of text as a routine part of her assigned homework. I soon learned that the only reliable way to survive the following day's recitation was to have (effectively) translated the assigned passage the night before.
Cheers...
On the other hand, the mail did contain some financial therapy, which I deposited just before dealing with having had my bank online access frozen during the recent New York trip. In the end, the damage wasn't as bad as I had been led (or led myself) to believe, especially with regard to automatic bill payments. I made doubly sure that a proper set of security questions were answered, too.
The box of books I sent via media mail was delivered today, after four days in transit. Needless to say, I am impressed with the service.
Among the books that arrived were four editions of the Nouveau Petit Larousse single-volume dictionary, from 1937, 1952, 1960, and 1969. Sometimes, it's valuable to know when a word enters the language (a big deal in French), or how it might change over time.
The 1969 volume, by the way, was a high-school graduation prize for achievement in French, which was "earned" more for having persevered with French for 6 years in junior and senior high school than for any academic achievement.
French, you see, was always my stumbling block in high school, and I will never forget Mrs. Vamvakis' remark to the effect that my first three years of study were largely wasted because the NYC schools I attended (before my folks moved to the Island) hewed to the so-called "audio-lingual method" of language teaching, a method she found utterly lacking for the development of language proficiency.
In retrospect, it may very well be that the roots of my translation work were planted in that class, because Mrs. V expected her students to read - and understand - several pages of text as a routine part of her assigned homework. I soon learned that the only reliable way to survive the following day's recitation was to have (effectively) translated the assigned passage the night before.
Cheers...
