About Feht...

[alexpgp]

Never let it be said that my sometimes misanthropic friend Feht keeps his light under a bushel. Some time ago, I recall he asked me to look over something he had written for Gabe Bokor's online Translation Journal. I mostly forgot about that until I ran across the piece in all its glory.

My favorite part is the end, where Feht holds forth with advice for tyros:

Who am I to give advice? OK, I'll try. From the bottom of my heart.

1. Take care of yourself, sleep as much as you want. Don't translate more than 10,000 words in a day; this is bad for your eyes.
2. Don't work for peanuts but, on the other hand, don't worry too much about money. They won't let you become rich, anyway. We live in the world of mandatory compassion: the more you make, the more they take.
3. Bewildered and tired, losing track of who you are, what you are doing, and why? Re-read Kipling's If. If this doesn't help, re-read Kipling's The Gods of the Copybook Headings. That drastic measure unavailing, take a swig of brandy. Never translate under the influence, though. Customers have no sense of humor; they think they are always right.
4. If you can write very well in your native language, you already have a skill necessary to become a successful translator. The rest is hard work.
5. If you can't write very well in your native language, no advice will help you. The rest is silence.

I've been doing a lot of #3, lately, but have not applied the cure. Yet.

Cheers...

Comments

[brenk.livejournal.com]

I am... fascinated. Agree with a lot, although not *quite* all.

No. 5, however, should be engraved in stone.

And 10,000 words a days is - well - quite a lot. And I thought I was pretty fast!