Work with Elena Morandini!

For a new APP, I had to convey the meaning of “liveness” in Italian when talking about compliance and anti-fraud teams to fight money laundering, terrorist financing, and online fraud. Well, the task was difficult, but I sorted it out lightly. But I still think of what to do with these new terms applied to technology that appear daily and are extremely difficult to translate.

Read the original first! I eventually might decide to rely on MT (generally for a question of time/money). But I always, and I mean always, read the original first: how can you convey meanings into another language IF you do not know what you are reading? Also, when I translate, I always think to the writer (of course), but the reader too. If I do not understand it, possibly no one would….Arrogant? Maybe yes, but words are bridges to communicate with others, not barriers to make you smarter than the rest.

You never know enough: I have recently updated my knowledge and studies with a Master’s degree in English and Spanish as specific purposes with excellent results. I have finally the relevant skills for Medical translations that I always feared for too specific. Now I feel confident enough to venture in IMRD translation for the medical sector.

Ask me for quick and dirty jobs, worst-paid…

I frequently assess QA for a Nasdaq Stock Market Corporation (privacy here is a must, and I am so good at it nobody knows). I am constantly complaining with PMs about the lousy quality of MT they are accepting as good and appear on their website! I recently banged on the table and claimed better translation quality: well, it seems they are taking action on this, based on a very documented report I sent them!

My satisfaction, in the end, I am the one that faces herself in the mirror day after day.

I enjoy paid pressure… I hate being pressed and complaining about my high prices for low rates, which is why I recently decided not to. Also, I’m not too fond of anxiety because I cannot edit the translation as much as I like. This is the reason why I prefer direct clients to agencies.
I enjoy pressure for a specific purpose: a review deadline, direct client’s satisfaction…
But hey! I do know we live in a stress-age so that I can handle it :)

I always enjoyed words, but this is not the general trend. I recently found that communication is much easier if I use bullets, so I use them whenever I need to explain procedures or relevant information.

Medical translation is a challenge daily: neologisms, barbarisms (mainly from English).
I constantly rely on Published medical evidence ranked according to their Impact factor (“quartiles”, updated every two years),
As a database, I can mention SCIMAGO and ACADEMIC ACCELERATOR, both online, PUBMED from Medline or CINAHL (includes psychology).
In Spanish can be mentioned Gaceta Sanitaria, PAHO (Organización PanAmericana de la Salud).
Keywords are significant in medical reviews and articles (MESH and DECS), as they are used vasty to discriminate among hundreds of thousands of texts.

SmartCat has improved a lot since its beginnings, and I rely on it for specific jobs, where the layout is crucial. I also use LaTeX in Overleaf.

As a translator, I like to stick to the author’s style, leveraging it with the reader’s necessity to reach the relevant issue. It requires a lot of background and experience (and, yes, diplomacy).

Context, context, context. And the client is always the boss: one important thing. If I consider improvements, generally, the client agrees with me as my points are always well described, detailed, relevant and….sorry for being pedantic but accurate… :)

It is organised and systematic: straight to the point, too, without forgetting creativity when required.

Written above words, messages if necessary: a phone call clears it all.
The rest depends on the client, its necessities, and the context.

He told me straightforwardly, “to take it easy”, as I was so nervous about deadlines and quality. And he preferred quality (my quality)!