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Spanish to English: 5th ProZ.com Translation Contest - Entry #2548
Source text - Spanish Admiré de niño la clarividencia del caballo para orientarse en la ida o el regreso y, sea de noche o de día, en la tormenta o bajo el vendaval, admiré el olfato de los perros para volver al sitio del que parten por más que de él se alejen, o el acierto infalible del gato para encontrar el rumbo que tras sus andanzas lo devuelve siempre a su casa. Yo no lo tengo ni cuento tampoco con ese invalorable sentido común a la mayoría de los humanos para orientarse en las calles y las rutas o en parajes nunca vistos tanto como en aquellos en donde apenas se estuvo una única vez. Yo me pierdo irremediablemente cuando me alejo de los circuitos habituales. Privado del don de la ubicación, incapaz de abstraer, de discernir y calcular donde tanta falta hace, los sitios que no frecuento son para mí inalcanzables y a ellos jamás llegaría si alguien no me condujese o no me dejara guiar por los que entienden. Sujeto fatalmente a mi pobre percepción, no sé ir, no sé volver y soy incapaz de remontar mi invalidez. No puedo, no aprendo, no entiendo y nada me dice un plano acerca de mi ubicación. No tengo brújula interna ni don alguno de representación y en cuanto a los puntos cardinales jamás supe dónde están. Todo esto, claro, favorece mi propensión a la inmovilidad. Para no exponerme a vivir perdido, trato de no alejarme de los escenarios familiares. Poco me convoca fuera de mi barrio y trato en lo posible de que mi vida social nunca lo exceda. Nada más ajeno a mí que el espíritu de un expedicionario. Invierto las direcciones y suelo situar a la izquierda lo que estuvo desde siempre a la derecha, y cuando lejos de mi casa dejo el coche estacionado, lo busco al querer volver por el lado en que no está y pierdo así un tiempo enorme resolviendo lo que nunca debió convertirse en problema.
KOVADLOFF, Santiago. “Soliloquio del extraviado” en Una biografía de la lluvia. Emecé ensayo, Buenos Aires (2004).
Translation - English As a child I admired the horse’s clairvoyance for orienting itself in its goings and comings; I admired the dog’s nose for returning, by night or by day, or in the midst of a gale, to whence it departed no matter how far it strayed, or the cat’s infallible accuracy for always finding its way home after its adventures. I do not have these, nor do I have the invaluable sense common to the majority of humans for orienting themselves on streets and routes, or in places they have never seen or have scarcely been only once. I myself get hopelessly lost when I stray from my habitual circuits. Deprived of the gift of orientation, incapable of abstracting, discerning and calculating where it is so necessary, places I don’t frequent are unreachable for me, and I would never arrive if someone did not take me or if I did not let myself be guided by people who know. Fatally subject to my poor perception, I don’t know how to go or how to get back, and I’m incapable of overcoming my handicap. I cannot, I do not learn, I do not understand, and a map tells me nothing about my location. I have no internal compass, no gift whatsoever for representation, and as far as the cardinal points are concerned, I never learned where they were. All of this, of course, favors my tendency toward immobility. To avoid the risk of living lost, I try not to stray from familiar scenarios. Little can draw me outside of my neighborhood and, as far as possible, I try to make sure that my social life never extends beyond it. Nothing could be more alien to me than the spirit of the explorer. I invert directions and tend to situate on the left what has always been on the right; if I leave my car parked far from my house, when I want to return, I look for it on the side where it’s not, wasting enormous amounts of time solving something that should never have been a problem to begin with.
KOVADLOFF, Santiago. “Soliloquy of a lost person” in A Biography of the Rain. Emecé ensayo, Buenos Aires (2004).
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Translation education
Bachelor's degree - University of Oregon
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Years of experience: 5. Registered at ProZ.com: Sep 2005.
Software user interface localization; user manuals for software programs; contamination and environmental impact studies; limnology; general business topics, medical informatics, database architecture, photography.
Bachelors degree in Spanish Language and Culture (University of Oregon); coursework towards a Masters degree in Spanish Language and Culture (New York University). I was born in Switzerland, grew up in Washington, D.C. in a diplomatic family and have lived in Spain since 1991. I am currently pursuing a professional certificate in Translation Studies from New York University to continue improving my skills and broaden my expertise.
I am interested in establishing ongoing relationships with international consulting firms, book and magazine publishers, news organizations, film and television production companies, software development companies, universities and other organizations and individuals needing prompt, clear, accurate, thoughtful translations where the quality of the translation equals or surpasses that of the original.
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