No sweat, albums like that require a particular mood to be enjoyed. If and when you try, I'll appreciate it a lot.
About translating, that's exactly why I like it so much. It's like a puzzle. It requires effort, attention to detail, knowledge. Making the right choice and hearing that figurative "click" when the sentence sounds just right. Of course the more 'poetic' the source text is, the less you're going to be able to make it work in your language, but I guess that's where the challenge lie. In my line of work, rule number one is: there's no such thing as a perfect translation. You just need to find the best way to get as close as possible.
Unfortunately, when someone gives you a translation job, they usually are not able to tell the difference between a good job and a crappy one. So you've got a lot of people out there who just use Google Translate and butcher languages like that. It's painful. But I guess professionalism is lacking in a lot of sectors these days.
I don't know about what the point would be. Right now I'm having fun though, might as well keep going, even if it's more of a one-on-one two-week-long conversation :)
I get it :) It's why I've always stayed away from translation jobs of any kinds, even though I really like foreign languages. It's an art to capture the meaning into a different language, you know? I can count on one hand the truly great translations I've read.
Yeah, guess that's more valuable than a bunch of meaningless comments scattered on different posts :D
And yet, I have a feeling you'd be great at it. Because you would probably ask all the right questions. "What is the author telling me, here?", "What does this word sound like to a native speaker? What feelings does it inspire? How do I translate those feelings for those who speak my language?". I think translation is not just a matter of knowing a language, it's more about understanding the people who speak it. It requires empathy and sensitivity. You've got plenty, don't you.
Then again, you get in the field thinking you're gonna translate the next book by Martin, and you end up with apps, websites and tech manuals. Not much empathy to be had there, I'm afraid :D
It has been valuable to me.
aw thanks :) And yeah, I agree that it's more about the people than the language itself. I don't know, it's weird, I can't think how I'd ever explain Romanian to a non-native, you know? But I guess you're right, if you really want to, I think you can get something pretty decent outta it :D
Do I sense a certain displeasure with one's job? :O just asking.
You can't really explain a language, I think. Not with words, at least. You take a non-native, explain the basics, then it's all about immersion, culture, conversation. At some point you get the hang of how that language makes you "think".
I mean, you're pretty damn good with English, wouldn't you say that when your mind switches you start thinking a bit different?
About my job, I guess it would be long and boring to get into it. But yeah, it's not been great, and to be honest it's not been much. But most of the time I'm in the game with half of my spirit, you know? I'm pretty happy when I work at something good, it just doesn't happen often. I'm not great at advertising, either. We'll see where I land in a few years...I'm not scared of changing stuff up in that area.
Very good point, you're right. I was actually thinking of that recently, how I write differently in Romanian as opposed to English and why that might be. As you said, it's different thinking. :)
As long as you're okay with it, that's what's important:D