What a lovely compliment. Thank you very much.

Thanks Jonathan. Happy travelling!

Thank you.

I’m glad it was helpful. I’ve never thought I could translate everything (I have a hard time reading financial statements or contracts in my own language – why would I be able to translate them well?) but some people do feel that way at first and indeed it is a big mistake. I’m glad you realized before you had accepted this one, and may your next job offer be a better fit.

Reading your article in ATA”s Savy Newcomer post was unbelievably serendipitous. Just a few minutes ago I got a request to do some revisions on machine translated technical instructions. After making several attempts I concluded that I didn’t have the proper knowledge to make these revisions and although it was much needed work I decided not to do it.

I think one of the biggest mistakes we make as translators is that we think we can translate anything, but in reality we not only translate words, we translate specific ‘languages’ like you said, science, engineering, marketing, etc., etc. It’s up to us to recognize our limitations and humbly say no to projects we know might end up being mediocre or worse, ergo negatively affecting our reputation. Thanks for writing an article about a conundrum, I dare say, many of us experience.