A challenging conversion – the difficulties and rewards of demanding customers

 

Every provider of a service has experienced them – the customers that demand absolute perfection whether it is relevant or not. They see and find every perceived error or inconsistency and will insist on fixing the issue, however unimportant it is and how much work it would take to do it “right”. Suddenly, a simple job becomes a never-ending series of conversations and revisions. The craftsperson wants to scream and tell the client to take a flying leap but cannot. Instead, grinning and bearing it becomes the only option. A more positive method of dealing with such perfectionists is to meet their demands with the knowledge that the willingness to go the extra mile will financially pay off in the future. These customers are the best clients to have in a certain sense.

To clarify what a demanding customer is, it is important to distinguish between price and quality issues. Customers that negotiate money constantly and irrationally are not long-term assets. The energy invested in setting the cost combined with the resulting low rates do not justify the work. Moreover, they will switch to another provider in the blink of an eye as all they care about is price. By contrast, some customers are perfectionists and are only satisfied with the highest quality from themselves and others. It is not personal. The relative importance of a deviance is not relevant as only 100% is acceptable. They have no compunction about demanding correction after correction until the result meets their expectations. In the meantime, the actual time spent on the project has doubled or even tripled. Such people often get under one’s nerves.

However, in the long term, demanding customers are the best long-term asset in terms of direct work and references. Once a provider has passed the test, such a customer is not likely to switch to a less expensive provider as long as there is no change in the work level because they are not always willing to spend the effort to train a replacement. For example, every time my wife buys glasses, it involves numerous adjustments until they are perfect. She has gone to the same patient optometrist for over a decade. She is happy with her glasses but he has clearly profited from her loyalty as he patiently makes the adjustments for each pair. On a marketing level, perfectionists tend to be extreme in their opinion of service providers, i.e., someone is excellent or incompetent, with little in between. When demanding but satisfied clients recommend you, their words have authority and bring results.

Thus, when dealing with the seemingly unsatisfiable customer, it is best to take a deep breath, be patient and think long term. Getting angry does not improve your work, mood or health. Such clients demand a professional approach. When they receive it, they appreciate it. Ultimately, they become loyal customers in all the meanings of that term as well as the anchor of any business.

Pearl Buck wrote (I think) that, regarding the conversion of Asians to Christianity in the 19^th century and early 20^th century, one Japanese convert was worth three Chinese converts as the former would never revert. Likewise, winning over one demanding customer is worth three one-time clients in the long term. Hopefullly, that thought will help some freelancers gather up the patience and strength to go the extra mile.

Housing culture – home imaging

 

“Hidaka’s house wasn’t one of the mansions, but it was definitely large for a couple with no children. Though the peaked gables on the roof gave it a Japanese look, it had bay windows, an arch over the front door and window boxes hanging from the second storey that were clearly Western in design.”*

The task of a translator extends far beyond linguistic matters and necessarily involves creating images. The challenge lies in both visualizing the picture in the original text, obvious to the author, and gracefully reproducing it for the reader unfamiliar with the culture in question. An example of this task is the simple word “house”. While almost all dwellings have at least four walls, they vary in material, dimension, outside façade, inside layout and access to light and air, to name just a few factors. It is clear that the sentence “I loved my parents’ home” may elicit a universal feeling but fails to create a single picture, with each person envisioning the building differently. Often, housing styles may be fairly typical in a given country or region, creating a stereotype for those familiar with them. The actual variances may be quite significant or more subtle as I show in a few examples of “typical” homes.

Spanish houses and apartments, at least in cities, seem to emphasize social space at the expense of the more private spaces. The holiday homes on the Spanish coast have relatively large sitting areas, both outside and inside. By contrast, the kitchen is often quite small, “galley” style in polite terms, often cut off from the social space. Depending on the area, red tiles and arches are quite popular.

·    English dwellings, particularly urban ones, enjoy multiple but small sitting areas, referred to as “cozy”, often leaving me to think that the English like to keep their children’s mess and noise from strangers’ eyes and ears. Curiously enough, the entrance ways are often extremely narrow, barely wide enough for one person to pass through at a time. Based on TV programs, the English appreciate solariums and wooden beams, the symbols of luxury and character.

·    The French are a rather solid people traditionally. The houses are often made of brick or stone, especially in the countryside,  possibly with painted window shutters. Whether urban or rural, the furniture tends to be heavy in line with the style of the walls, with lots of bric-a-brac cluttering the living space. Traditional French dwellings often lack air and light, apparently to reduce the cost of heating the space. French houses are homey but a bit claustrophobic in my eyes.

American West Coast homes are as large as the land allows. The houses are constructed from wood and generally rather standard in construction, but include large rooms, meaningful garden areas, healthy air flow, natural light, central air conditioning and a garage. Ranch house style houses are designed to give the residents space and impress the neighbors. The character and age of the building are not relevant factors. The East Coast has a different tradition but I am not sufficiently familiar to comment.

·    Israeli houses are typical of the Eastern Mediterranean. People are social while the weather is hot. The kitchen and living room, often joined, take proportionally a large part of the livable space, often at the expense of the bedrooms. People seek patio space whenever possible as garden space can significantly raise the purchase price. Upper floors tend to become quite hot and are only practical with air conditioning. The Israeli unique feature is the requirement, both legal and emotional, for some kind of “safe” room, a reinforced area when (not in case) the country is bombed. Many older houses and apartments lack this feature, reducing their desirability. As for color scheme, Israel is a multicultural society, creating a wide variety of furnishing styles.

The translator of the novel cited in the first paragraph was fortunate in that the author himself provided details of the house. Likewise, Honoré de Balzac generally wrote pages about the physical description of the building and each of its rooms. However, most literary translators not only need to be familiar with the architecture but somehow transmit that image. I am quite happy to be a technical translator and not be required to achieve that goal. Yet, the thought does give another meaning to the term “in-house translator”.

* Higashino, K., 2014. Malice translated by A. Smith. London: Abascus.

Memoir translation – lessons learned

 

I am a technical translator – legal, official and other dry material – as Alice would say. However, I have had the opportunity to translate Holocaust period memoirs at various times in my career and have seen how much I have learned not only about the subject of the texts but about the art of translating such narratives, whether in terms of language, editing or expectations. I also enjoy the added benefit of such projects.

To provide some background, I have translated three Holocaust memoirs in my 22-year translation career. My first paid job was the translation of the memoirs of a Belarusian partisan in Minsk from Russian to English. As it was my first professional project, I prefer not to look at what I did and consider it a “paid apprenticeship”. The story was quite interesting, even shocking. I hope that I somehow managed to transmit that aspect. Several years later, I translated the memoirs of a German Jew that was sent to a labor camp in the Baltic area and survived. Curiously enough, he wrote in French. Again, it was an amazing story but I later learned that the commissioning party was not completely satisfied with my translation. I did not receive any specific feedback, meaning that I cannot judge whether that reaction reflected an objective judgment. Recently, I translated the monograph of a Polish Jew from Hebrew to English. I am happy to report that the translation pleased both the editor and the commissioning party and is about to be published. Live and learn.

My first take from my experience with memoirs is to treat them as a story. The writers were not professional writers. In some cases, they did not write in their native language. Thus, the purpose of the translation is to tell a story, one that the reader wants to read to the end. To do so may involve changing the word or even sentence order. My initial instinct, reinforced by my experience, was to rewrite the story in English and not to cling to the original phrasing, all while expressing the tone of the writer, whether it is ironic, sarcastic, or matter-of-fact. A memoir, unlike legal translation, allows much freedom of expression.

However, this combination of freedom and the need to be seamless, i.e., not sound like a translation, makes having an outside editor an absolute requirement. After hours of processing a text and multiple drafts, a translator loses the objective eye. To produce the polished text, even by the slightly lower standards of a memoir as compared to a novel, at least one other pair of eyes is necessary. Furthermore, the use of digital tools, e.g., Grammarly or AI, is vital in identifying language issues in the text that escape the tired eye of the translator. In the literary world, no translator is an island.

Finally, unlike legal translation, literary translation of any kind is ultimately a labor of love. It involves far more hours and effort than technical translation. There are countless technical questions to research, particularly spellings of names of towns, streets and people, which involves a surprising amount of time. For example, I discovered that, at the time, Belarus had no official English map to guide me in spelling the names of the various villages mentioned in the memoir. Furthermore, as there is no limit to the range of acceptable styles of writing as in many types of technical translation, the translator has to question every sentence several times to be sure that it is the best that it can be, a very time-consuming and exhausting experience. Consequently, just as memoir writers put all their heart into their writing, so the translators of their stories must invest all they have and not count hours. It is clear why literary translators generally do not become rich but are very satisfied with the work.

Last week, the editor informed me that the family of the Polish writer was publishing the book and sent me a picture of the cover (until I receive an actual copy). I was quite pleased and even surprised to see that not only did I receive credit for the translation but my name is on the cover page. There is something to be said for actual public credit for your work. True, translating rental contracts is far more profitable and less intensive. However, the joy of sharing an important story and seeing one’s name on the cover is quite extraordinary. It also shows how much I have learned over my career. I am looking forward to my next memoir translation project.

Pride and prejudice – national identity and presence abroad

 

Being a foreign visitor exposes one’s sense of nationality, eliciting varying reactions depending on country, circumstances and personality. When people become the ambassadors of their country, locals receive them in a manner ranging from “the savior of our nation” to a persona non grata, generally somewhere in between. In response, foreign visitors exhibit a certain pride or lack thereof in their homeland as expressed in their willingness to identify themselves as citizens of that country, speak their national language and talk with pride about their home. Of course, a country is made of individuals, each with his/her manner of speaking. However, certain national tendencies do dominate as I will show in regards to Americans, French and Israelis.

Americans have for many centuries believed that America is the best country in the world and English is the only language one needs. Thus, many Americans speak as loud abroad as they do at home, which is often in extreme contrast with the local low tones, such as in Hungary or Germany. Despite having formally learned a foreign language in high school and, in many cases, being in frequent contact with Spanish speakers, most Americans assume that everybody speaks English. Moreover, they also think that most people think America is a great country. Thus, they speak with pride of their country, albeit a bit diminished for some with the advent of Trump. Americans stick out in terms of language. Moreover, not only do they not hide their origin but they are proud of it.

The French relationship with France is a bit more complicated. Most French deeply believe that the French language and culture are superior even if they recognize that the world doesn’t quite see it that way. As a result of that pride and a generally awful system of teaching foreign languages, the average French citizen cannot get by in English or chooses not to do, with exceptions, of course. When asked, they are proud of being French and extol Gaulic values, mainly food, art and sophistication. On the other hand, when asked about their appreciation of its government and policies, alas, according to many studies, the French are not very patriotic and even sometimes rather embarrassed by the current situation. The self-identification “L'État, c'est moi” attributed to Louis XIV is not a sentiment shared by most current French people. It is wonderful to be French but not a French citizen, apparently.

The relationship between Israel and the world is quite complex. To begin with, many Israelis carry a hidden or not-so-hidden concern about anti-Semitism based on events during a long diaspora and in recent years. This suspicion affects Israelis abroad. True, after 1967, Israel gained such status that Israelis traveled abroad with great pride with locals admiring them. Alas, those Halcyon days are long gone, having been replaced by pro-Palestinian demonstrations and violence and open antisemitism in some places. In terms of language, most Israelis, especially younger ones, are quite proficient in English by international standards and can function quite well in English. Thus, Israelis have a choice to speak English or Hebrew. In regards to national pride, while the level may have dropped due to political differences of opinion in Israel, Israelis are among the most patriotic peoples in the world.

To illustrate the dilemma of being an Israeli abroad, I will recount two anecdotes. In 2010, due to a hurricane on the East Coast of the United States, my wife and I had to take a return flight to Israel which involved a 7-hour wait at the connecting airport in Istanbul. On the day before, the Israelis had intercepted the Mavi Marmara, which had been on its way to bring aid to Gaza, resulting in ten deaths. The Turkish government was not pleased, to put it mildly. As we waited in that airport, we suspected that the government would react by hassling Israelis, which they later actually did. As a result, we sat in a quiet part of the airport, avoided attention and spoke in English. We decided that discretion was the better part of valor. By contrast, we have just returned from Germany and the Czech Republic. We made the conscious decision to speak Hebrew openly. For me, I refused to take on the role of the cowed Jew. By the way, nothing happened. The worst reaction was the failure, intentional or not, of a Turkish restaurant manager to understand our country of origin. I consciously chose, as do many Israelis, not to let fear control my life and did not regret that choice. That choice is not always easy.

Thus, in the face of a foreign culture, every traveler chooses an attitude. Whether it is hide or flaunt their identity depends on the person and country. To a certain degree, this decision reflects the travelers’ relations with their country, language and history. Visitors abroad must deal with pride and prejudice as Jane Austin would say.

Upcoming webinar on writing content posts

 

If you are a translator or interpreter in search of a no-cost (aside from time) method of increasing exposure and building a brand, consider writing content posts. I will present a webinar under the aegis of the ATA (American Translators Association) on the why and how of writing content posts, including the use of AI. You can register through the link: https://www.atanet.org/event/writing-translation-content-posts-the-why-and-how/

English impressions - real or TV reality?

 

I have no first-hand knowledge of England. My short jaunt to London during my tour of Europe some 45 years ago is irrelevant. On the other hand, I have watched BBC television for many years now, mainly programs featuring food, travel and house searches. To explain, watching the news in Israel can be quite stressful and generally produces an urgent need for escapism. From all these programs, I have created a certain picture of English life in terms of food, houses and language. However, I am uncertain to what degree this TV picture of life actually reflects reality.

The English attitude towards meals as shown on BBC programs seems a bit extreme. First, it seems that the UK hosts a cult of worship towards ham and bacon, with each person having a strong opinion on the best combination of ingredients, shape and cooking. The English, including Scots, seem to be rather particular about the breakfast meat and view it as a required element of any proper breakfast. The closest equivalent that I have ever observed is the Iraqi obsession with perfect rice and how to properly prepare it, with each grain having to be separate. By contrast, UK diners view vegetables as guests that are only present because of noblesse oblige. The only plant-based materials, aside from potatoes, that grace an English plate are a few green peas, some lonely lettuce leaves or a few controversial Brussels sprouts. A tomato and cucumber salad is exotic in the UK, apparently, not to mention any side dish made from eggplant or zucchini. The final idiosyncrasy, at least as compared to the Middle East, is the reluctance and discomfort of UK diners to eat with their hands and actually touch their food. Whether in the Middle East or  Ethiopia, grabbing a piece of bread and scooping some dip is an act of community bonding. Apparently, such sharing is considered barbaric farther north. It seems that English dining is a bit rigid in content and manner.

UK houses also seem to have certain characteristics. First of all, most residences in the UK shown on the BBC have narrow entranceways, barely wide enough for one person to stand, let alone allow two people to pass each other. They remind me of the Spanish kitchens typical of the vacation flats that the UK holidaygoers seem to fancy. Another desired feature of UK housing is this space called a “solarium”. First of all, it seems a bit absurd given how few days a year the English sun deigns to appear. In sunnier climates, such a room becomes a gigantic oven in short time and is useless. However, maybe I am missing something. Moreover, according to the programs I view, open wood beams in the ceiling are considered “character” and a positive feature. At a glance, I would consider them an ideal place for dust and spider webs. Most interestingly, on the real estate programs, many British house seekers insist on having a pub nearby.  It seems hard to believe the Brits and Scots actually seek these features.

Of course, UK language is different from that of the United States in terms of both words and style. I simply am unsure how much people actually speak like the characters on the BBC do. Americans would never say the words posh, high street and mate, using fancy, main street or name brand and friend or man, respectively. Even more striking is the English avoidance of direct speech. Regardless of the situation, it is apparently acceptable to begin a conversation with “nice weather”. Even more peculiar in my eyes is how far a BBC character will go in order to avoid saying that something is derogative. Such discretion is so unreal and actually may be unreal.

I have no idea how much any of these random impressions of life in the British Isles are true or representative. It is quite possible they do reflect the habits of some of the population just as the content of The Housewives of Atlanta or any similar program does carry a grain or two of truth. I imagine that I would need to spend some time there to better ascertain whether BBC programs reflect reality or pseudo-reality. In the meantime, I can only speculate and be amazed.

War and freelancing

 

At the moment I am writing this post, the inhabitants of several countries face intensive and random bombing. Those attacked include Ukrainians, Israelis, Gazans and Iranians. Many of these civilians are freelancers, working from home. The challenge they face in trying to make a living while keeping their lives and those of their family together is extraordinary, even greater than salaried employees. While it may be easier or even unavoidable to stop working until the bombing ends, freelancers should continue to seek work, if possible, because it is possible and beneficial with a few modifications. Let us hope that this “new normal” situation soon becomes ancient history.

The number of freelancers struggling to work today is quite significant. Ukraine has more than 500,000 self-employed people. 17.69% of Israel, with a population of 5.7 million adults, is self-employed, many of whom are freelancers. Gaza is estimated to have some 12,000 entrepreneurs. Iran, with a population of 63 million adults, reports a self-employed rate of 42.5%, some of whom are freelancers working at home. Clearly, the businesses of many of these entrepreneurs depend on import/export or the local economy, which may be severely limited at this point. However, many of these self-employed individuals provide services through the Internet that are not directly limited by the war.

The challenge all of them face is to run a business between dashes to the bomb shelter or its equivalent, maintaining work discipline when they and their families cope with extreme stress and remain professional. The current conflicts feature bombing at random times, day and night. Civilians have little time, if they are lucky, to seek relative shelter. The sirens prevent a full night’s sleep either through the necessity to wake up and go to a shelter or the anxiety that this event may occur. Everybody has jet lag symptoms while not even going abroad. The enforced breaks and fatigue make it difficult to schedule work in any predictable manner. Unlike salaried employees, freelancers work at home and must also cope with the stress of their families, especially children, who need comfort and diversion. Amid this chaos, the freelancer must somehow produce proper results on time. That goal requires great effort.

For some, it is a bridge too far. Despite the need to earn money, many entrepreneurs can barely drag themselves through the day. Every person reacts to stress differently. Nearby explosions and even those reported in the mediaa create massive anxiety, both conscious and subconscious. Some people can distance themselves from the first and continue to function but others feel it directly and struggle to maintain some balance. Parents have the extra load of trying to protect the mental health of their children. It is no less difficult for people living alone. With no possibility of social activity in person, they often become isolated, which only adds stress. It is more than enough to keep one’s head straight during the day without pretending to do work.

However, I have found that continuing to work has improved my ability to cope by occupying my mind, earning money and enforcing a routine. When uncontrollable events, which include rockets and bombs, are the source of the anxiety, there is, in effect, no action that a person can take to ease the anxiety. Under these conditions, considering the dangers and the time of the next attack only increases the fear. Consequently, focusing the mind on work keeps the devil away. Furthermore, for freelancers whose income is always uncertain, the knowledge that they are earning money at this time is always positive. Keep in mind that there is no guarantee that the respective governments will compensate them for lost income in any meaningful way after the war. Finally, work is a routine, the best medicine in times of trouble. Life seems ordinary when you work.

That said, bombings and normal productivity do not go together. Consequently, it is necessary to make a few adjustments in terms of deadlines, project types, and processes. First, since the daily routine is subject to sudden change, freelancers must add time to their deadlines to compensate for any potential delay. Secondly, projects involving extreme concentration or complicated thought become much more difficult. Entrepreneurs should carefully consider whether now is the appropriate time to take such projects on. Finally, if focus and concentration are less than normal, it may be worthwhile to share brains by asking for help from a spouse or colleague at least in terms of QA. Two brains, even if not fully functioning, are better than one struggling one. These steps help ensure the customers receive a proper quality of work even if the sky is falling.

For many of us, work has become a challenging diversion. Freelancers in countries under attack find it difficult to make a living. They fear for their lives and those of their families. Explosives overhead create high anxiety. If you have an opportunity to help them, send them work or even a “how are you doing?” note. Let’s hope for peace quite soon. In the meantime, I would say to my fellow freelancers, “Let’s try to do a little work”.

P.S. If there are a mistake or two, please forgive me. War wreaks hell on writing also.