Every so often, I am offered the opportunity to work as an interpreter. I usually have to say no, given my current employment.
I am in an unusual situation. I like steady employment (benefits! paid holidays!), but I also want to earn a living as an interpreter.
Must… change… availability setting.
This week, I completed an overnight assignment (nothing complicated, just some proofreading). Hopefully, more work will come my way. Note to self: log on to proz.com and set your availability setting to “available”.
Anyway, I was looking about my computer desk, and I found some rather pristine papers. I took a look at them and realized I had stored the certificate stating that I was certified as a Spanish court interpreter between a cardboard box and a singing plush gorilla.
My certificate deserves better. I am getting that sucker framed.
I was hired by the SGN agency because of my fluency in Spanish and English. Translation is not one of my duties over there. However, the other day, I found myself translating a letter, handwritten in Spanish, from a customer. Amazingly, one full page of handwriting became at most, two paragraphs in an e-mail.
After work, I went to the library where my husband works. He asked me to help out with something. The library carries among its periodicals foreign-language magazines. Apparently, one of the issues arrived in poor condition. I am guessing somebody contacted the publisher to request a replacement. Here is the funny part. The publisher sent a form letter –nah, not even a letter, a postcard–in Spanish. So my skills as a translator were put into service. My husband joked that I would be sending a bill.
Maybe I should. Oh, I kid.
Today I went out to buy a pair of jeans. It did not go well. I am unwilling to pay $89 for a pair of jeans unless it has magical properties, which limits my shopping possibilities. In one particular brand, one size was too big and the next smallest one was too small. And all of them too long. Bleah, bleah, bleah.
Since I cannot exactly buy jeans without trying them on, I will have to settle for spending my money on Gallegos’s Glossary One Crimes/Glosario Uno Delitos, the book of the month at InTrans Book Service.
