Things I Learned at Work Today

One of the things I love about my translation work in journalism (and the bulk of my translation work is in journalism) is that I learn something new with each article – each day I have to become a mini-expert on whatever it is I'm translating about, so I can convey the subject accurately in English.

Sometimes these subjects are weighty and political; sometimes they're cultural and fun. (Sometimes they're finance-related and almost incomprehensible.) Sometimes they're painful things to have to spend my whole day with, like killings in Syria or abandoned babies in Germany.

And sometimes, like today, they're raccoons and rhinoceroses.


I learn something new from my work every day, and here's what today's two translations taught me:


-- The raccoon translation taught me that Britain's tabloids, so famously ridiculous, are even more ridiculous than I realized: This article from the Sun compares Germany's raccoon problem to, what else, Nazis. My favorite head-scratcher quote is, "They are invading new territory — just like the Nazis did." (Feels like it should be followed by a few "!!!" for good measure.)

-- And the rhinoceros translation taught me that there is such an organization as the Private Rhino Owners Association. It's in South Africa and it's, well, an organization for people who own rhinoceroses.