Work
Work is very crazy right now. It's not like anything particularly special is going on ... no deadlines coming up or anything like that, but it has been really crazy for the 2 translators. It's clear that management has no idea what crazy demands they are placing on us.
Recently the Japanese side gave us a document to translate that was related to an upcoming internal audit. Now, the other lady actually has a background in translation. It makes sense to utilize her skills, and when she can then have me native-check the translated document, that's almost an approximation of the correct translation process. The problem is that we often have documents of such volume that we have no choice but to split them between ourselves and check each other's work.
As of late, translations have become a rather significant portion of our job. This, to me, is not a problem, unless you consider the fact that this was not in the job description or if you believe, like the lady from my previous agency, that additional insurance must be purchased to cover us in case we make a critical mistake in translating a safety manual.
As I said, we usually have no problem dispatching our duties in a timely fashion, but this week, it just got ridiculous. Apparently, this week and the next, there are 2 guys here from Japan training new employees in the Control Plant to build train parts for a project in Washington. I found this out Monday afternoon, when the boss walked over & told me to go to the Control Plant. I don't know if he is aware of the translation we're working on, but according to him, although he "doesn't know how it got this way," "it's too much trouble to hire a translator for just 2 weeks." That just goes to show how far down we are on the list of priorities. :/
Oh, and did I mention that we have been doing more than an hour of mandatory overtime every single day for weeks? I also just found out that we are scheduled to keep this up through the end of the month. FML orz
Recently the Japanese side gave us a document to translate that was related to an upcoming internal audit. Now, the other lady actually has a background in translation. It makes sense to utilize her skills, and when she can then have me native-check the translated document, that's almost an approximation of the correct translation process. The problem is that we often have documents of such volume that we have no choice but to split them between ourselves and check each other's work.
As of late, translations have become a rather significant portion of our job. This, to me, is not a problem, unless you consider the fact that this was not in the job description or if you believe, like the lady from my previous agency, that additional insurance must be purchased to cover us in case we make a critical mistake in translating a safety manual.
As I said, we usually have no problem dispatching our duties in a timely fashion, but this week, it just got ridiculous. Apparently, this week and the next, there are 2 guys here from Japan training new employees in the Control Plant to build train parts for a project in Washington. I found this out Monday afternoon, when the boss walked over & told me to go to the Control Plant. I don't know if he is aware of the translation we're working on, but according to him, although he "doesn't know how it got this way," "it's too much trouble to hire a translator for just 2 weeks." That just goes to show how far down we are on the list of priorities. :/
Oh, and did I mention that we have been doing more than an hour of mandatory overtime every single day for weeks? I also just found out that we are scheduled to keep this up through the end of the month. FML orz