| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Off topic: Funny job posts on Proz Thread poster: José Henrique Lamensdorf
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| Prejudice... | Feb 18, 2012 |
The fun is in the eye of the beholder. The client is from China (as stated on the job), of course; if they were from London or New York, it wouldn't be funny, but sad.
Sometimes people see my surname (it's actually Polish, ancestors in Krakow at least since 1750), and bravely write me in German offering some EN-PT translation job. Two other fellow translators in the Sao Paulo State - where I am - have the same problem, viz. Messrs. Adolfo Von Randow and Curt Schonberger. Some people... See more The fun is in the eye of the beholder. The client is from China (as stated on the job), of course; if they were from London or New York, it wouldn't be funny, but sad.
Sometimes people see my surname (it's actually Polish, ancestors in Krakow at least since 1750), and bravely write me in German offering some EN-PT translation job. Two other fellow translators in the Sao Paulo State - where I am - have the same problem, viz. Messrs. Adolfo Von Randow and Curt Schonberger. Some people can't believe that we manage to keep such names without learning any German at all. All three of us work EN-PT only. So Google Translate comes to my rescue, in & out. I always envision the roaring laughter when they see my reply. Next time, they reply to me in English.
Some translation outsourcers write me in Polish, in which I can - at best - babble some 'survival' phrases. One of them was a PL-FR translator who didn't understand any English, so we had to negotiate an entire project in FR, my L5, which I don't translate. Most likely I wrote some silly things too.
One such proposal in PL was translated by Google as the person having several hundred "towels" (sic!) to translate. Guessing required.
Not knowing the language often causes funny situations. As I was talking about my mother, a friend of hers who came from Poland too, yet after living some four decades in Brazil she was unable to make sense always in Portuguese. One day she arrived to her apartment, inserted the key in the lock, turned it, and the entire lock jammed, wouldn't budge. So she rang her next-door neighbor's doorbell, asked to use the intercom, and called the janitor, "Listen, you've gotta help me. I shoved the thing into the hole, cranked it, and now it got stuck, won't turn nor come out!" ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kay Barbara
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:53
Member (2008)
English to German
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| Why so serious? | Feb 20, 2012 |
SBL_UK wrote: David Wright wrote:
Unfair to take the p***s out of other people's use of English. Might make you feel good for a second, but it still is unfair. Don't forget that if we go by numbers, we should all be communicating in Chinese. Would be interesting to see how well we would all do, then.
Hmm... as José did not reveal the poster's identity, I can't see how this posting can be taken as an offence by anyone (unless they misunderstood José's comment). After all, this thread is labelled "off-topic" and the title informs the reader that something "funny" is expected.
Today I received the following email:
"Dear Sir/Madam:
This is ***, a professional language translation and multi-language DTP service supplier in ***.
As a long-term supplier of the localization company such as SDL, Lionbridge etc. We can provide professional language translation and multi-language DTP service if you need. And now we are applying a supplier from you.
Welcome to send project testing to us for more understanding."
Riiiiiight.
Now apart from being funny, I find this extremely unprofessional (the same applies to José's quoted ad - why would I want to work for a client like this? If, as and agency, I aim to work in a certain language pair, I need to be able to communicate in at least one of those languages, no?
So in this sense, these ads are not only hilarious but at the same time ridiculous. Two laughs for the price of one
| | | | Phil Hand 
China
Local time: 08:53
Chinese to English
| If you don't like mockery, look away now | Feb 21, 2012 |
Herein, I will not only poke fun at some slightly awkward English, I will quote out of context to enhance the comic effect. It's very unfair.
Call for Consecutive Interpreters and Foreign Language Instructors...
Greetings to you!
First of all, I would like to request all of the candidates NOT TO E-MAIL ME about the job offer!...
The services that we are looking for right now are mainly:
1) consecutive interpretation
2) langu... See more Herein, I will not only poke fun at some slightly awkward English, I will quote out of context to enhance the comic effect. It's very unfair.
Call for Consecutive Interpreters and Foreign Language Instructors...
Greetings to you!
First of all, I would like to request all of the candidates NOT TO E-MAIL ME about the job offer!...
The services that we are looking for right now are mainly:
1) consecutive interpretation
2) language learning instruction
You must not have any teaching experience...
Sorry, but I found that fairly rib-tickling. Mods, if I'm wrong, then delete the post and condemn me to Proz purgatory. ▲ Collapse
| | | | apk12
Germany
Local time: 02:53
English to German
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José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
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Sometimes people see my surname (it's actually Polish, ancestors in Krakow at least since 1750)
José, sorry to have to correct you at that point but your name is no way Polish. The roots of your family are but the language the name itself derives from is not Polish at all. Lamensdorf seems to be a name referring to a location (a village in this case, "Dorf", so referring to the village "Lamensdorf"), the language the name derived from seems to be obviously German.
However, I think only a genealogy specialist may clarify whether the name went through spelling changes, how many and which ones over the course of time, i.e. to which settlement the name might refer.
Lammersdorf ... Lämersdorf ... or whether the village indeed was named "Lamensdorf" and simply does not exist anymore.
[Edited at 2012-05-01 18:40 GMT]
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| Of course I know! | May 1, 2012 |
apk12 wrote: José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
Sometimes people see my surname (it's actually Polish, ancestors in Krakow at least since 1750) José, sorry to have to correct you at that point but your name is no way Polish. The roots of your family are but the language the name itself derives from is not Polish at all. Lamensdorf seems to be a name referring to a location (a village in this case, "Dorf", so referring to the village "Lamensdorf"), the language the name derived from seems to be obviously German.
The point here is - especially in the present days of globalization, diversity et al. - not to draw any conclusions from anyone's surname. I could go on and on with examples of people whose surnames don't match their persona, everybody should know dozens of them.
The funny job posts occur when an outsourcer is looking for a translator from language "A" to language "B", and posts the job in language "C", which often forces applicants to use machine translation and, of course, the consequently required guesswork. Their reply (possibly using GT again) should be even funnier. Imagine my bid in Polish for translating EN-PT all those "towels".
| | | | Ty Kendall
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:53
Hebrew to English
| Disparagement Theory | May 1, 2012 |
On an ordinary day, I'm all for poking fun at the English of non-native speakers*, especially when they claim to be native in it (yet evidence suggests otherwise), or if they work with language (if they are translators (translating into English), intepreters, language teachers).
......despite the "mutual respect" thingymajig......
However, I wouldn't dream of doing it to anyone else, certainly not ... See more On an ordinary day, I'm all for poking fun at the English of non-native speakers*, especially when they claim to be native in it (yet evidence suggests otherwise), or if they work with language (if they are translators (translating into English), intepreters, language teachers).
......despite the "mutual respect" thingymajig......
However, I wouldn't dream of doing it to anyone else, certainly not someone who only uses English as a tool for essential communication only. Maybe my expectations are lower, but I don't expect Shakespeare from foreign PMs.
The true aim of any language student is to get the message across, even at the expense of accuracy and/or fluency. True communication is about transmitting your message and having that message understood. The author of the job post achieved that goal, they want a native speaker with at least three years of experience and the topic is in the technological field.
If this person were to switch careers and become a translator into English, then I'd have something to say about their English.
*And native speakers when the occasion calls for it.
[Edited at 2012-05-01 23:17 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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apk12 wrote: José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
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Sometimes people see my surname (it's actually Polish, ancestors in Krakow at least since 1750) José, sorry to have to correct you at that point but your name is no way Polish. [Edited at 2012-05-01 18:40 GMT]
Well, there was a Polish architect (Henryk Lamensdorf) of Jewish origin who lived in Kraków
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Lamensdorf
| | | | | Language x origin | May 2, 2012 |
Evonymus (Ewa Kazmierczak) wrote: apk12 wrote: José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
Sometimes people see my surname (it's actually Polish, ancestors in Krakow at least since 1750) José, sorry to have to correct you at that point but your name is no way Polish. Well, there was a Polish architect (Henryk Lamensdorf) of Jewish origin who lived in Kraków http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Lamensdorf
I stand corrected. My surname is not Polish, just my ancestry, as far as I've been able to search on the web for genealogy.
The point here is that if it were Kowalski, this does not justify prospects writing me in Polish (or German), if I state boldly that I am an EN-PT translator in Brazil.
I have worked with several translation agency PMs who had thoroughly Portuguese names, most of them in New England, yet they understood less of PT than I understand PL.
Btw, that architect was most likely my father's uncle, however I was so far unsuccessful in pursuing my genealogy research in that direction, expecting more data to be entered on the web (and they are doing it!).
Pozdrowienie!
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apk12
Germany
Local time: 02:53
English to German
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Evonymus (Ewa Kazmierczak) wrote: apk12 wrote: José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
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Sometimes people see my surname (it's actually Polish, ancestors in Krakow at least since 1750) José, sorry to have to correct you at that point but your name is no way Polish. [Edited at 2012-05-01 18:40 GMT] Well, there was a Polish architect (Henryk Lamensdorf) of Jewish origin who lived in Kraków http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henryk_Lamensdorf
May definitely well be, but see above: this does not affect the -language- the -name itself- derived from. I can try to clarify this further, but I think my next sentence - after the one you quoted - transmits the message
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote:
I stand corrected. My surname is not Polish, just my ancestry, as far as I've been able to search on the web for genealogy.
The point here is that if it were Kowalski, this does not justify prospects writing me in Polish (or German), if I state boldly that I am an EN-PT translator in Brazil.
Sure, but with Kowalski you would have to deal with prospects hoping you to know Polish, with Lamensdorf they might expect you to reply in German. There's for sure no further need to discuss, I think, how clearly wrong both expectations would be, just to sort them to the "logical" mis-expectations.
José Henrique Lamensdorf wrote: Pozdrowienie!
Dito pozdrawiam, José
and schöne Grüße to Mr. Lamensdorf
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