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Two translators in a couple: good or bad idea? Thread poster: Charles Lucien Melingui
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knowing the difficulties of freelance life, is two translators in couple the best decision?
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Adieu 
Ukrainian to English
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| I think I've encountered such an example | Oct 21, 2021 |
Except they tried to monopolize a niche language pair at one company and got busted doing confirm-all & done 1-minute reviews on each other's work
Charles Lucien Melingui wrote:
knowing the difficulties of freelance life, is two translators in couple the best decision?
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| Collaboration | Oct 21, 2021 |
Are they going to be collaborating on the same projects or working independently on projects of their own?
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It could be lovely. You'd have a ready made revision club. You have someone on hand when you just can't work out how to phrase a tricky sentence. When you go out to dinner you can amuse yourselves by critiquing the grammer in the menu ... what's not to like?
(Some of these things apply to my own relationship, although my partner is a writer and editor, not a translator)
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It is true what Rachel said. But is it important for them to also have the same language pair for example?
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| It can work well | Oct 22, 2021 |
I know of at least one successful couple - a British man married to a Danish woman.
I believe they are retired now.
He translated from Danish into English, and she translated English into Danish, but they checked and proofread each other's work.
I am sure there are others who do it with their own variations among users of this site.
I have collaborated with my own husband - he is Danish, I am English - on one or two projects, but he is not really a transla... See more I know of at least one successful couple - a British man married to a Danish woman.
I believe they are retired now.
He translated from Danish into English, and she translated English into Danish, but they checked and proofread each other's work.
I am sure there are others who do it with their own variations among users of this site.
I have collaborated with my own husband - he is Danish, I am English - on one or two projects, but he is not really a translator and prefers not to have anything to do with most of my work! ▲ Collapse
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| Different languages would help | Oct 22, 2021 |
I worked with my wife in the same language pairs for 25 years. There are pros and cons, and obviously much depends on your particular personalities and relationship.
On balance, it was a bad idea for us, and we gradually moved into different niches with different clients and stopped checking each other’s work. It is extremely hard to critique the work of one’s spouse without causing offence!!!
But I certainly wouldn’t ditch someone for being a translator. You can ... See more I worked with my wife in the same language pairs for 25 years. There are pros and cons, and obviously much depends on your particular personalities and relationship.
On balance, it was a bad idea for us, and we gradually moved into different niches with different clients and stopped checking each other’s work. It is extremely hard to critique the work of one’s spouse without causing offence!!!
But I certainly wouldn’t ditch someone for being a translator. You can always change job, but a good woman is hard to find… 🎻🎻🎻 ▲ Collapse
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| I couldn't imagine anything worse | Oct 22, 2021 |
For me, opposites attract so I'd prefer to date/marry someone in a completely different line of work. Most translators I know are painfully boring, pedantic nerds and therefore in my eyes extremely unattractive.
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Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:01
Member (2008)
Italian to English
Charles Lucien Melingui wrote:
knowing the difficulties of freelance life, is two translators in couple the best decision?
Only if they are holding each other tight, all night, and whispering sweet nothings, bilingually.
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 10:01
French to English
When I worked as a PM, there was a couple I used to send work to. I remember I sent them some instruction manuals once. No problem, I proofread it and it was fine. Then I sent them an update and it was very strange, the updates were written in a completely different style to the original part. Both styles were fine, just different. Turned out one had done the original files and the other did the update. Remind me why we send updates to the same translator again...
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 10:01
French to English
Gerard Barry wrote:
For me, opposites attract so I'd prefer to date/marry someone in a completely different line of work. Most translators I know are painfully boring, pedantic nerds and therefore in my eyes extremely unattractive.
I remember a long time ago reading about a translator who was asked what she did for a living at a party. When she explained, the other person answered breezily that even though she was perfectly bilingual, she could never be a translator because she "had too much personality". Sounds like this would be a great match for you!
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expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 09:01
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
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| Do not generalise, please | Oct 22, 2021 |
Gerard Barry wrote:
For me, opposites attract so I'd prefer to date/marry someone in a completely different line of work. Most translators I know are painfully boring, pedantic nerds and therefore in my eyes extremely unattractive.
In every line of work there are some who are "painfully boring and pedantic nerds".
Regarding what you say about "extremely unattractive", there is no accounting for tastes.
You have made your point several times about what translators mean for you (and I can try to understand you), and I think we are very aware of that. Please do not insist.
[Edited at 2021-10-22 16:35 GMT]
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Gerard Barry wrote:
For me, opposites attract so I'd prefer to date/marry someone in a completely different line of work. Most translators I know are painfully boring, pedantic nerds and therefore in my eyes extremely unattractive.
I happen to know a very funny, witty and attractive translator, but I guess she wouldn't be interested in someone who considered her boring and pedantic.
'Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are.'
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Kay Denney
France
Local time: 10:01
French to English
Charles Lucien Melingui wrote:
knowing the difficulties of freelance life, is two translators in couple the best decision?
If it's the fact that they are both freelancers that's the problem, then it's not limited to translators.
And there are plenty of salaried translators working in agencies, for the UN, the EU and so on...
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| After working as a translator for 14 years ... | Oct 22, 2021 |
expressisverbis wrote: Gerard Barry wrote:
For me, opposites attract so I'd prefer to date/marry someone in a completely different line of work. Most translators I know are painfully boring, pedantic nerds and therefore in my eyes extremely unattractive. In every line of work there are some who are "painfully boring and pedantic nerds". Regarding what you say about "extremely unattractive", there is no accounting for tastes. You have made your point several times about what translators mean for you (and I can try to understand you), and I think we are very aware of that. Please do not insist. [Edited at 2021-10-22 16:35 GMT]
... I think I've earned the right to generalise. We have to be honest here: spending 8 hours a day for years on end translating mind-numbingly boring technical texts is not a normal job for anyone and would drive a lot of people nuts.
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