But one thing that I do not enjoy about my job is translating. My boss is French. He is fluent in English but you wouldn't know that if you read what he writes. He is a novelist and a screenwriter. It would be nice if he could do this in English. But he can't. And I get to do it for him. Right now I am slogging through a novel that was originally written in French and then sent through what I can only surmise was an online document translator. As I was an English major it fell to me to go through and change things so that they make sense in English. For example; "It had its way with him of admiring or of scorning the things and could give you the insane laughter, to make you fall to the shift."
-translates to-
"He had a way about him of admiring or scorning things that could make you laugh hysterically and fall to the floor."
I get to go through and change all those sentences. And I do mean all of them. Every last one has at least some sort of edit. My boss doesn't seem to realize that and wonders why I've only finished 9 pages of a 78 page document. Oh my god. This will be my hell. I might as well call myself Sisyphus.
What does this have to do with film production you ask? So do I. I guess it has to do with my boss' business and this is part of it. He's a writer/screenwriter/director and a lot of what he turns into screenplays is what he's already written as a novel. I don't know where this one is going. Maybe because I only see it in the very rough draft stage it is now I can't see the good of it. Maybe that will change. I hope so. I would hate to think that I have wasted two months translating something that is so bad it will never get published. Who knows? Maybe those French like novels like this.
2 comments:
You know, translators get paid lots and lots of money. It's not an easy task. It sounds like he is saving a lot of money using you. He better give you a fabulous paycheck once he starts paying you. When I was an intern at at ad agency I was pretty much their hired "moving help" (since we were moving to a new office) except I didn't get paid. I worked from 9-6 pm packing boxes, lifting heavy furniture, cleaning cabinets. It sucked ass. Then to top it off my boss came up to me at the end and handed me a Starbucks card: "Here" he said. "For all your help. You were fantastic. I found this Starbucks card on the ground in frony of the office front and thought maybe there is some money on it". I couldn't find any words. I said "Thank you"
Haha! Tha's horrible! A Starbucks card found on the ground? What was he thinking? You don't tell someone that!
I don't think bosses understand the concept of "intern" these days. (see my post today.)
I will definitely ask for payment for this if we ever get paid.
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