We have a pleasure to announce the September winner of the 2019 edition of our Translator of the Month action!
Translators are the driving force behind every translation company’s success. This initiative is our way to way to say thank you! and recognize the efforts of the industry professionals.
We would like to introduce you to Yolanda Carati, one of our most trusted English/ Spanish into Dutch translators!
Hi, Yolanda! Let us ask you a couple of questions 🙂
What do you start your work day with?
Due to the time difference (I live in Mexico) I usually wake up early to check my mail. I accept possible assignments and get up to make breakfast and go for a walk with my dogs. If there’s nothing urgent I usually start around nine.
When did you realize you wanted to pursue translation career?
I studied Spanish in the nineties, followed by a two-year translation course at a private institution. After I had finished this, I wrote like 30 applications to translation agencies with zero response. In those days the internet was in its first stages and pages like Proz didn’t exist. So I started to do other jobs, always with in the back of my mind that I would return to translation once I was ‘old’. After over 25 years in office jobs and a move to Mexico, I decided it was time to try. I started with small translations while I was still working, and soon had enough work to quit my job and make a living as a translator. And I’m loving it!
If you wouldn´t have become a translator, then what would you do?
I did a lot of jobs, mainly in the administrative field. I worked as a project coordinator in a solidarity fund, I was executive assistant to the director of the Mexican branch of a US company and worked 10 years as deputy head for internal affairs in the Netherlands Embassy in Mexico. But if I really have to choose, I would love to be a dog trainer.
What do you enjoy about working with SeproTec?
The PM’s are great. They’re always patient, give good instructions and are well organised. And believe me, that’s not always the case with other agencies. I work mainly for one client, get interesting projects with reasonable deadline and last but not least, payment is always on time.
What do you think are the greatest challenges of the translation industry nowadays?
One of the biggest challenges is off course all the developments in machine translation. Though machine translations are getting better and better, I don’t think this will lead to the complete disappearance of the translator. But I do think that the work might become more tedious and boring. You can’t put much creativity in editing a machine translation unless you pay it with your own time, and that doesn’t pay the bills. Another challenge is the increasing number of huge translation companies, which sometimes seem to prefer profits over quality at the expense of their translators.
What is your favourite book?
That’s a difficult one… I read a lot, mainly detectives or Dutch literature. But I would say that one of my favourites is ‘Travesuras de la niña mala’ by Mario Vargas Llosa.
Thank you so much, Yolanda, for taking the time to answer our questions. We are so happy to cooperate with you! And enjoy your SeproTec hoodie! 🙂
