| Pages in topic: [1 2 3] > | Poll: If the internet suddenly did not exist again, would you continue in the profession? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "If the internet suddenly did not exist again, would you continue in the profession?".
View the poll results »
| | | | | I don't know | Sep 11, 2022 |
At the time I started translating internet itself was in the realm of science fiction, so I could probably work without it, but I doubt very much that I’d have the stamina, and the patience, to go back to those days…
[Edited at 2022-09-11 08:41 GMT]
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:10
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| I wish...... | Sep 11, 2022 |
| | | | | Too hypothetical | Sep 11, 2022 |
I don't even want to go there
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| Yes, of course | Sep 11, 2022 |
“I would try to”?????? What would be stopping you?!
| | | | Rita Utt 
France
Local time: 14:10
English to German
+ ...
| Definitely not | Sep 11, 2022 |
When I started in translation, there was no internet.
And translation became much more fun with all those sources of knowledge available.
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I honestly don't know how translators worked before the Internet. I presume most of them back then were real experts in the areas they translated in.
| | | | Kay Denney
France
Local time: 14:10
French to English
Yes, I think I have enough experience in my specialist fields to coast by for a while. I'd have to pull out those paper dictionaries that I have never wanted to throw away. And living just outside Paris I have access to some amazing libraries. I remember last century, hotfooting off to a library the other side of Paris which had one of very few copies of a special bilingual music encyclopedia, which was my last hope to translate the names of some very strange musical instruments on show in a mus... See more Yes, I think I have enough experience in my specialist fields to coast by for a while. I'd have to pull out those paper dictionaries that I have never wanted to throw away. And living just outside Paris I have access to some amazing libraries. I remember last century, hotfooting off to a library the other side of Paris which had one of very few copies of a special bilingual music encyclopedia, which was my last hope to translate the names of some very strange musical instruments on show in a music museum. And I do have a great network of people I can ring up to pick their brains containing specialist information. ▲ Collapse
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Kevin Fulton
United States
Local time: 08:10
German to English
All of my work comes in and is delivered via the internet. I don't currently own a fax machine, and my clients live too far away to hand-deliver my work.
When I started translating full time in the mid-1980s, all of my customers were local (Detroit-area), so receipt of jobs was generally via fax. Return delivery was via fax (text often retyped!!) or in person (and sometimes by dial-up modem at a blindingly-fast 2400 baud). Deadlines were generous, and I got to know many of my client... See more All of my work comes in and is delivered via the internet. I don't currently own a fax machine, and my clients live too far away to hand-deliver my work.
When I started translating full time in the mid-1980s, all of my customers were local (Detroit-area), so receipt of jobs was generally via fax. Return delivery was via fax (text often retyped!!) or in person (and sometimes by dial-up modem at a blindingly-fast 2400 baud). Deadlines were generous, and I got to know many of my clients personally. I then spent several years living in Germany, and again all my work came from local sources, mainly from an agency in the town where I lived and on-site work at a nearby direct client.
When I returned to the US, the internet was just catching on, and my client base expanded well beyond the Motor City. Now none of my clients are local.
[Edited at 2022-09-12 14:29 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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This will be just another challenge translator will deal with. The profession is always changing, but we are still coping with.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:10
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| Before the internet. | Sep 11, 2022 |
Gerard Barry wrote:
I honestly don't know how translators worked before the Internet. I presume most of them back then were real experts in the areas they translated in.
The earliest civilizations developed between 4000 and 3000 BCE. For all that time, we've had translations. So there's really nothing special about the internet.
| | | | | I Would Still Continue To Translate Literature,.. | Sep 11, 2022 |
...by going back to the old hard copies method (the book to be translated, unabridged bilingual dictionaries, and pens and notebooks, unless they still make electric Smith Corona's or Olivetti's). So it would most likely be for the pure pleasure I find in doing that kind of work. Although I imagine electric typewriters, if no longer in existence at the moment, would probably be brought back so that publishers could still put out books for those of us who would never want to give up the enlighten... See more ...by going back to the old hard copies method (the book to be translated, unabridged bilingual dictionaries, and pens and notebooks, unless they still make electric Smith Corona's or Olivetti's). So it would most likely be for the pure pleasure I find in doing that kind of work. Although I imagine electric typewriters, if no longer in existence at the moment, would probably be brought back so that publishers could still put out books for those of us who would never want to give up the enlightening activity of reading.
[Edited at 2022-09-11 18:46 GMT]
[Edited at 2022-09-11 18:59 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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Michael Newton
United States
Local time: 08:10
Japanese to English
+ ...
FFS, who thinks up these questions?
| | | | | Missing a dictionary | Sep 12, 2022 |
Then, it was so amazing when I used to see the English word I tried to find just when I open the dictionary. No Internet when young made it possible. Any full TM or one's memory will help a lot, though. Without Internet, I think that the paper dictionaries will rule again.
[Edited at 2022-09-12 04:50 GMT]
| | | | | Nonexistence | Sep 12, 2022 |
No. Because I, you the reader, and everybody visiting this page today are nothing more than fantasies in the mind of a sentient internet - the dream dreaming the dreamer as it were. So if the internet goes, we all go.
Seriously, what kind of question is this?
More seriously, I was translating for more than ten years before the internet existed. I suppose I could go back to that way of working, but I wouldn't want to.
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