In your own work life, do you sometimes encounter difficult things? Surely you do. Perhaps there’s a tough conversation you need to have with a co-worker. Maybe you’re trying to help someone facing serious health challenges. You could be helping someone with legal issues. At some point, most of us work with challenging situations.
It might sound strange when I say that I like translating “the difficult things”. Here’s an example:
Someone, to me: “So, what types of projects are you working on right now?”
Me: “Well, I just finished a newsletter for a community organization.”
Someone: “Oh, cool, what type of organization?”
Me: “They work to prevent substance abuse and domestic violence. There was a lot of good information in the newsletter, and I enjoyed working on it.”
Someone: “Oh boy, how difficult! That doesn’t sounds like fun at all.”
Me: “Ummm…”
The truth is, the “difficult things” are often the projects I enjoy most. Why? Because I’m helping people. By ensuring that something like a newsletter, client intake form, or information pamphlet is in another language, I’m helping someone to gain access to support and services they may not otherwise know about. This is a huge reason why we translators and interpreters do what we do!
So the next time you’re faced with that hard project yourself, just know I’m right there with you, sending waves of support your way. These are the projects that truly matter.
Alison Trujillo Translations 