The adage goes that if you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life. How does each person find what they love to do? Well, I found my vocation early in life, and I decided I wanted to be a translator, but the realization of that vocation came many years later, and this is my story.
First act
As a teenager, I started taking formal and mandatory English language classes according to the Basic Cycle curriculum, in Guatemala this is the next stage after elementary school. I was one of those lucky creatures who liked learning a foreign language with all its intricacies, so I did not dislike it as some people do.
My teacher at that time at the Escuela de Aplicación Dr. Carlos Martínez Durán, Mara Palencia, had as part of her method to ask the students to stand up and translate by sight the instructions of the exercises in the textbook, or to do the same in writing in the notebook. In my eyes, doing so was quite an experience, and I discovered that this was a skill I needed to cultivate.
I told my parents about my enthusiasm for everything I was learning, and my dad told me that when I grew up, I could become a sworn translator; this idea stayed in my brain, and little by little began to inhabit my heart as well. However, if you had asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have told you that I wanted to be a psychologist.
Second act
Once I finished middle school, it was time to decide on a career at the middle school level: I decided to study the Bachelor of Science and Letters, and my parents enrolled me in the Instituto Normal Centro América, the Glorious INCA. There, my English teacher was the extraordinary Hilda de Noriega; thanks to her, I learned a lot about English grammar and discovered my passion for literary translation.
How did the teacher help little Nancy from the past to develop a passion for translation? She gave her and her classmates an assignment to read and summarize Erich Segal's novel, Love Story. You may know the story of this novel from the 1970 movie.
Well, instead of summarizing, I did translations of the chapters. I will never know why she didn't tell me that she didn't want the assignment that way, but she initiated my love for one of the branches of translation I like the most.
After two years of learning a lot from her, it was time to finally decide on a university career, which was a little less clear to me at the beginning because the course of translation studies was not available at any university in my country.
What was clear to me was that I wanted to translate. And during my vacations and my first year after graduation, I translated books for my amusement. The internet appeared in my life, and I downloaded from Project Gutenberg Rilla of Ingleside. I am a big fan of the Anne of Green Gables books by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and by then I had already read and reread the books I had of the saga, but I was missing Rilla. When I discovered it online I was thrilled as never before, and with my old English-Spanish Larousse dictionary I took on the task of doing my first literary translation.
I worked only with the Larousse dictionary, without searching for terms on the Internet (the hour of connection was very expensive, and keep in mind that, in this part of the story, we are still in the early 21st century.) I can't express the satisfaction and pride I felt when I finished. I proofread it, and my parents allowed me to print and bind it.
This book was followed by a couple of volumes of Spooksville, by Christopher Pike, that my dad bought for me at a second-hand books sales. These I translated by hand using the same Larousse dictionary.
Third act
How could it be that having clear what my passion was, it was difficult for me to decide on a university career?
As I said above, in the early 2000s, the courses of translation did not exist in the universities of Guatemala, only academies were available, and these had (and still have) a high cost. I didn't want to study anything else at the university, but I had to decide on something, and so my path at the Tricentennial University of San Carlos de Guatemala began at the School for Secondary School Teachers (EFPEM), and I enrolled in a degree program in Language and Literature.
My time at EFPEM was brief... very brief. I did not fit in with the rhythm, and, of course, teaching was not my interest at that time. I started working as a receptionist in a company, so my university adventure was put on hold for a few years, except that I continued studying English at the Language Learning Center of the university.
A few years later, after some reflection (and some pressure from dear friends), I returned to USAC and chose the Bachelor of Arts degree offered by the Faculty of Humanities. My choice was based on the fact that to be a good translator (and a good literary translator), I had to have a better knowledge about my mother tongue and everything related to literature.
In the Department of Literature, I met excellent professors and classmates, and I also learned other skills that made me what I am today: proofreader. My goal for 2022 is to graduate because the thesis has already slept long enough.
Fourth act
So, how did I become a professional and sworn translator? I'm sure you're wondering.
In 2016, I entered the Professional Translators Program at the Guatemalan-American Institute (IGA). After studying for a five-year degree, I wanted a more specific program than another university degree where you learn things apart from the particular subject. That's what I got from the diploma: specific knowledge that turned me into a professional and gave me the tools to pass the sworn translator's exam.
As in my journey up to this point, I met incredible teachers (Evelyn de Vides, María del Carmen Donis, Betsy de Arroyave, Trudy Mercadal) and colleagues with whom we have a nice group and a support system that I did not imagine at the beginning. We learned how to handle other branches of translation such as economic and legal translation, a lot of grammar in Spanish and English, literature, and legislation.
Finally, together with my colleagues, we started with the procedures to take the sworn translator's exam that is available in Guatemala, and I will explain the steps for it in another blog in case you are a colleague and it is of your interest.
At the end of 2018, I made an important decision. I quit my job in February of the following year and embarked on this adventure of being a freelancer. It has been almost two years with its busy and unoccupied seasons, but I am happy to have found my vocation and have had the training to back me up.
Despite the effort involved in translating, i.e., the mental fatigue of the job and investing time and money in training, equipment, dictionaries, and supporting texts, as I was saying, loving your job indeed makes it something that you long to do and that I will do for many years to come, God willing.
So, since you know something about me, what is your story? Send me a message, and tell me about it. And if I can help you and you need my services, also let me know.
See you soon!
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