Studying/informal translation with a chronic illness

[Nola]

Good grief, Stephanie! Don't feel bad!
I also have a chronic illness(Progressive Multiple Sclerosis). I am in a wheelchair and can only use my left hand. I get tired just lifting a teacup.Sometimes there are simply NO spoons left.
 I am not advanced like you are with Russian. But I think that using Google translator sometimes is not bad. You know it won't be accurate and is sometimes very funny. You can see the results you get and use a dictionary like Multilex to confirm or decide against words, and refine the text to your liking, as you know! I suspect that this whole tweaking process is beneficial to us as learners, as we learn new words this way.It would be cheating,in the translating process I think, if you used the translator and just did not go over and repair the errors. But the way you do it, I think it's ok...
Best wishes,
Nola

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Stephanie Briggs 
  To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu 
  Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 7:47 AM
  Subject: [SEELANGS] Studying/informal translation with a chronic illness


  Dear SEELANGers,

  As I mentioned in the email about my trip to Russia, I have a physical
  disability, cerebral palsy, plus chronic pain. I've been studying Russian
  since 1999, and got a BA in it, and will be applying for a Master's program
  in Translation Studies soon.

  I realize the importance of translating by oneself using a dictionary amd
  one's own skills, but as I was writing a note to a Russian friend of mine
  whose son is very ill, I found myself, instead of reaching for my dictionary
  and verb book, going to the dreacded Google Translate, and typing in the
  short phrase that I wanted. I checked the translation myself, and tweaked it
  a bit before writing it out. Google of course isn't perfect, so I used it
  and expected that it would come out rather...weird, simplifed maybe, needing
  some help to refine it.

  Now I feel guilty at all for using a computer translator, which can never
  really replace a human. But I used it because I am very low on energy, and
  didn;t have the energy to look up, decline and etc all the words I needed.
  It's very hard to read tiny dictionary print when someone has shoved an
  icepick in your eyes. I know for sure that in professional translation, one
  is expected to use one's brain (as well as whatever software to do a rough
  translation), and the traditional dictionary, verb book, etc. Not just leap
  to the easy translating machine.

  Can I be forgiven for slipping this once and doing it the easy way?

  Stephanie.

  *****************************
  ~Stephanie D. (Sures) Briggs
  http://sdsures.blogspot.com/

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