Native Estonian (EE) speaker in Jõelähtme vald, Estonia
"Challenges and problems are the fuel of success."
I have studied Arts and Culture in Spanish and in French at the university, before that I studyied it in highschool as well. I have always taken an intrest in Arts and Cultures, these being one of the biggest motivators to study so many languages as I have.
I studied Spanish and French at the university, beside that a lot of studying was also connected with English (my mothertounge is Estonian). In Spanish literature (and French literature) we translated a lot of fiction texts. I wrote my theses in Spanish, so I have experience with academic Spanish. I gratuated with cum laude. Outside of univerity I have also studied German for 12 years and Russian for 6 years, and recently I have added even more languages into my skill set, but I am a novice in them. But I do speak 8+ languages in my dayly life. Joining Zingword, I am hoping to challenge myself and offer my help with translating texts in various categories.
When clients request literal translations, this is how I handle the situation
The customer is always right. I can offer them a literal translation if that makes them happy. But I will explain that it doesn’t work most of the time, because a saying in one language might not translate well into the target language (losing it’s original meaning). I’ll rather offer the proper translation or at least notes on what is meant by the literal translation.