| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] | Poll: You are a... Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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| maybe it's that "work from home " thing | Oct 26, 2008 |
I think for many women (who have children) translation is a solution because yo can work from home, thus solving the problem of "who do I leave the children with while I work?". I think, on the other hand, men like to go out and earn their living in the wide wild world.
For us in particular, it is precisely this way: I work at home, hubby goes out and works too, then comes home and does his part of translation, while I do the house chores. I think if we did it the other way round, it'd lo... See more I think for many women (who have children) translation is a solution because yo can work from home, thus solving the problem of "who do I leave the children with while I work?". I think, on the other hand, men like to go out and earn their living in the wide wild world.
For us in particular, it is precisely this way: I work at home, hubby goes out and works too, then comes home and does his part of translation, while I do the house chores. I think if we did it the other way round, it'd look as if he "didn't work", while in reality, I'm putting in a lot more hours of work of one kind or another... and we end up earning more or less the same. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Marcelo Silveyra
United States
Local time: 00:44
Member (2007)
German to English
+ ...
how an innocent little poll or thread can slowly but surely lead to incendiary discussions - it's happened more than once this week already, and this one sure seems to be headed that way....
| | | | Giles Watson 
Italy
Local time: 09:44
Italian to English
In memoriam | I'd have thought... | Oct 26, 2008 |
Melzie wrote:
What has anyone's gender got to do with the price of eggs?
... the hen's gender was crucial!
Giles
| | | | | Language teachers too! | Oct 26, 2008 |
Ilona Hessner wrote:
Translating and interpreting has been and is a female domain. That is my opinion. Women have the ability to feel the meaning of words and to read between the lines. We help our children in discovering the language; furthermore it is an economic guidline: women earn less than men, whereby men intend to achieve a master's degree in technics or in other fields.
I learnt the language for about 8 semester - for six of them (including the one in Germany), my teachers were female. So I would not have learnt the language without them!
On the other hand, the couple of male teachers I had also contributed immensely to my learning!
There are many reasons why certain professions (teaching - in many fields, not just languages) have more female practitioners than male. This has been the subject of many sociological and other studies....
I do not think one should read too much into the statistics though. I (being a man) am quite sure women can excel in ALL fields. However I do not think linguistics is essentially a female domain.
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| But let us not permit that to happen, shall we! | Oct 26, 2008 |
Marcelo Silveyra wrote:
how an innocent little poll or thread can slowly but surely lead to incendiary discussions - it's happened more than once this week already, and this one sure seems to be headed that way....
I am sure most colleagues (male and female) would agree that there are already quite a few unnecessary divisions in the world.
Let us not permit such discussions to lead to an avoidable polarisation, shall we!
Greetings from India on a sunny Sunday
Venkatesh
[Edited at 2008-10-26 12:05]
| | | | Dan Marasescu
Romania
Local time: 09:44
Member (2003)
English to Romanian
+ ...
| Interpreters | Oct 26, 2008 |
Genders apart, the distinction translator/translator-interpreter/ interpreter is interesting but not necessarily relevant in the results of this poll.
It is very difficult to make a living as a pure freelance interpreter because of the inflexible assignments schedule and that's probably why many interpreters also do translations to fill in the gaps. I don't think it's a happy combination as translating requires full involvement most of the time.
But I do think that ther... See more Genders apart, the distinction translator/translator-interpreter/ interpreter is interesting but not necessarily relevant in the results of this poll.
It is very difficult to make a living as a pure freelance interpreter because of the inflexible assignments schedule and that's probably why many interpreters also do translations to fill in the gaps. I don't think it's a happy combination as translating requires full involvement most of the time.
But I do think that there are more 100% interpreters out there than indicated by this poll. It's just that they do not hang in front of the computer all day like us translators so most of them surely didn't see this poll. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | of course it matters not | Oct 27, 2008 |
as long as we all do a good job (roll eyes) haha...
i think that it is the work at home thing for a lot of women...however I don't have kids and i live alone. I think the work at home thing is appealing to anyone these days and will be more so as the price of gas goes nuts!!!
| | | | Anthony Baldwin
United States
Local time: 03:44
Portuguese to English
+ ...
| And, perhaps... | Oct 27, 2008 |
Williamson wrote: Venkatesh Sundaram wrote:
Less than 1 %! I thought there was a significant number of people out there for whom interpreting was a full time profession - what with the EU parliament, conferences and other bodies having simultaneous interpretation!
On the other hand , more than three fourths (75.5 % at the time of posting this comment) identify themselves as 'only interpreters'!
Regards from India on a bright Saturday afternoon,
Venkatesh
[Edited at 2008-10-25 07:57] To be able to work at the UN and E.U., you need to pass selection tests to be allowed to attend an interpreter's training and you have to pass that training. The top schools and court suppliers of the E.U./UN allow about 30 applicants/+100 (ESIT)and 13/150 (Geneva) to start with the training. Very few graduate. Then you have to pass a test to get accreditated or an preselection and concours (EU) or an exam. The number of people with those degrees/accreditation is very limited. The others are "self-annointed "interpreters. [Edited at 2008-10-25 08:30]
Additionally, since those folks are, I would assume, largely employed full-time, I wouldn't expect them to hang out here looking for freelance work.
I could be wrong, of course, that's speculation on my part.
I'm a translator/interpreter, but, translation is about 95% of my work.
I think freelance interpreting, alone, would be difficult. There just doesn't seem to be a great enough demand, in my experience.
Heck, I do it mostly just to have an excuse to leave the office once in a while and have lunch out!
I can lose money doing it, because I can miss out on a translation project that would pay a lot better than a day interpreting in court, if I'm not in the office when the client calls/e-mails.
Another matter that I would find interesting, is to know what percentage of us are married.
I understand that freelance translation, working from home, is often attractive to educated, multilingual mothers, who wish to be home and available to their families, who have partners with more steady incomes.
I hope that doesn't come off as sexist, because, by no means do I wish to disparage the arrangement.
I am single again, and a daddy, and it works out well for my daughter and I, even without a partner with a steady income.
[Edited at 2008-10-27 02:27]
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Chun Un
Macau
Member (2007)
English to Chinese
+ ...
Dan Marasescu wrote:
But I do think that there are more 100% interpreters out there than indicated by this poll. It's just that they do not hang in front of the computer all day like us translators so most of them surely didn't see this poll.
It should have been the case, I think.
In my MA course in interpreting and translating, the male to female ratio was about 1:4. I have no explanation for that.
[Edited at 2008-10-27 02:57]
| | | | Fabio Descalzi
Uruguay
Local time: 04:44
Member (2004)
German to Spanish
+ ...
| About gender | Oct 27, 2008 |
That there are more women than men here, no surprise at all. Typically you see many more women studying to become translators than men.
On the other hand, the interesting thing is with "teleworking in translations" in particular. Two years ago I attended a conference for translators; I told to a woman I was talking to: "My best clients come to me, because I am able to spend whole weekends working at full speed"; and she commented: "You can do that because you are a man; a woman with... See more That there are more women than men here, no surprise at all. Typically you see many more women studying to become translators than men.
On the other hand, the interesting thing is with "teleworking in translations" in particular. Two years ago I attended a conference for translators; I told to a woman I was talking to: "My best clients come to me, because I am able to spend whole weekends working at full speed"; and she commented: "You can do that because you are a man; a woman with children cannot do that so freely".
But maybe this could be the question for yet another poll. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | I don't see the point of this poll | Oct 27, 2008 |
Melzie wrote:
What has anyone's gender got to do with the price of eggs?
To me, we are all professionals and gender is neutral. I am a female translator, but the fact that the majority translators are female does nothing to my ego, if that was the purpose of the poll.
I honestly don't see the point of this poll. I like the ones when I can learn about the latest technologies and other trends in the industry.
An interesting poll would be about the range of rate/word charged.
[Subject edited by staff or moderator 2008-10-29 00:20]
| | | | Сергей Лузан
Russian Federation
Local time: 10:44
German to Russian
+ ...
| One more option | Oct 27, 2008 |
One more option (in fact - two more options) could be added. You are an interpreter/ translator/ language tutor (male/female respectively).
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