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Importance of proof reading | A timeless reminder of why proofreading matters

Rodolfo Abachi — Tue, 12 May 2026 13:26:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: Importance of proof reading
Poster: Rodolfo Abachi
Post title: A timeless reminder of why proofreading matters

The Far Side has always had an uncanny way of illustrating absurd truths! Proofreading errors have a special way of being both embarrassing and hilarious in hindsight, which is exactly why double-checking our work is so essential in this profession.

As translators, we are acutely aware that a single misplaced word or mistranslation can change meaning entirely — sometimes with comic, sometimes with serious consequences. It's a good reminder that no matter how experienced we are, a fresh pair of eyes (or a second read-through) is always worth the extra time.

Importance of proof reading | Beautiful!

Caryl Swift — Mon, 11 May 2026 13:22:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: Importance of proof reading
Poster: Caryl Swift
Post title: Beautiful!

:-D

Importance of proof reading

Philip Lees — Thu, 07 May 2026 05:22:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: Importance of proof reading
Poster: Philip Lees

I may have posted this before, even though a forum search didn't find it.

[url removed]

But what the helf!

MS Word add-ons | AI = Clippy 2.0

Daniel Frisano — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 10:56:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: MS Word add-ons
Poster: Daniel Frisano
Post title: AI = Clippy 2.0

There you go. All the celebrated AI assistants are nothing more than a barely evolved version of good old Clippy.

Which was (quote) widely reviled among users as intrusive and annoying (end quote) and discontinued a couple of decades ago.

What was that thing about history repeating itself?

MS Word add-ons | how times change

Liena V. — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 10:19:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: MS Word add-ons
Poster: Liena V.
Post title: how times change

And now this will be considered a legitimate proof that we already had it back then!

MS Word add-ons

Philip Lees — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 05:37:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: MS Word add-ons
Poster: Philip Lees

Many years ago, I came up with some imaginary add-ons for MS Word that I thought would be useful for writers.

And I put them on a web page.

[url removed]

You can see how old this is from the version of MS Word.

Something reminded me of this recently, and looking at these features now, they seem uncannily prescient.

Linked up | never stop improving!

Liena V. — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 06:52:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: Linked up
Poster: Liena V.
Post title: never stop improving!

I copied your "translation" into the source window (it was detected as English) and selected LinkedIn Speak again and it still found some areas of improvement:

Let’s talk seasonal benchmarking. ☀️

What’s your take on this?

To pivot, or not to pivot—that’s the ultimate growth mindset challenge. 🚀

Is it more "value-added" to lean into the friction of a disruptive market, or do we take extreme ownership, disrupt the status quo, and scale our way to a solution? 📈

At the end of the day, it’s all about resilience, strategic alignment, and crushing those KPIs. Who’s with me?

#Leadership #GrowthMindset #Disruption #Entrepreneurship #Optimization #Success #Innovation

As a truly great writer, it is never satisfied with "good enough", it just has to keep improving!

Linked up

Philip Lees — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 05:37:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: Linked up
Poster: Philip Lees

Machine translation enters a new era: the era of self-satire.

[url removed]

To try this new feature, make sure you have "LinkedIn Speak" selected as the target language. Click on the Cloudflare verification box. Then the fun can start.

I tried it with this:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date

The "translation" begins: Can we talk about seasonal benchmarking? ☀️

And what do you think this is?

To pivot, or not to pivot—that’s the real growth mindset challenge. 🚀

Is it more "value-added" to lean into the friction of a disruptive market, or do we take ownership, disrupt the status quo, and scale our way to a solution? 📈

It’s all about resilience, strategic alignment, and crushing those KPIs. Who’s with me? #Leadership #GrowthMindset #Disruption #Entrepreneurship #Optimization

Epistolary etiquette for the 21st century

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 11:49:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: Epistolary etiquette for the 21st century
Poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida

Two articles from «The Economist» on email opening and sign off lines…

Email opening lines

“I hope you are well” and other classics

If an alien were shown the typical first sentences of work emails, what might it conclude? Since so many messages start with the hope that the recipient is well, an extraterrestrial might at first assume that most humans are either recovering from illness or about to take to their sickbeds. But even if it were to realise that this was largely a matter of etiquette, it would miss the nuances of each opening gambit. Until now.

I hope you are well
Ostensible meaning: I hope you are well.
Actual meaning: None. It’s just throat-clearing. Do not write back and give the other person a bulletin on your health.

I hope this email finds you well.
Ostensible meaning: I hope you are well.
Actual meaning: I have not been in touch for a while and am not even sure you are in the same job. Plus I have a vague idea that this formulation makes me sound professional. Either way, I’m still totally uninterested in your health.

Hope all well.
Ostensible meaning: I hope you are well.
Actual meaning: We both know this sentence is totally formulaic, so I’m cutting it down to the bare minimum. If time is really pushed, I might say “Hope all OK”, and save myself two characters.

Nice to e-meet you.
Ostensible meaning: We’ve just been introduced by a third party and I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.
Actual meaning: No email can substitute for an in-person encounter. Only when we have shaken hands and stared into the whites of each other’s eyes and taken the full measure of each other will we have properly met. I also send e-cards and shop on e-commerce sites and still think of Amazon as an e-tailer. I have clear memories of the 1980s.

Nice to “meet” you.
Ostensible meaning: We’ve just been introduced by a third party and I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.
Actual meaning: I’m an appalling pedant. I have clear memories of the 1970s.

I hope you had a good weekend.
Ostensible meaning: We’re both well-rounded individuals with fulfilling lives outside work.
Actual meaning: It’s Monday morning and I cannot be bothered to write “I hope you are well” for the billionth time.

I hope your week is off to a good start.
See above, but it’s Monday afternoon.

I hope your week is going well.
It’s now Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

I hope you have had a great week.
Guess what? It’s Friday.

I hope you’re having a great weekend.
See above, but I have no sense of work-life boundaries.

I hope this email isn’t interrupting anything urgent.
Ostensible meaning: I am respectful of your time.
Actual meaning: I have no idea how email works.

Apologies for sending you an out-of-the-blue email.
Ostensible meaning: This may look an awful lot like spam but is actually a message from a real person who appreciates how busy you are.
Actual meaning: This may look an awful lot like a message from a real person who values your time but it’s still spam.

I’m going to spare you the preamble and cut to the chase.
Ostensible meaning: You’re busy, I’m busy. Let’s behave like the professionals we are and get right down to business.
Actual meaning: The expectations of a meaningless first sentence are so deeply embedded that I am going to spend as much time skipping the pleasantries as the pleasantries would have taken.

Some emails do genuinely avoid the throat-clearing, and plunge straight in. There are several explanations for this. One is that the correspondents involved are in close contact: they know that the other person is well. Another is that the sender has worked out that the typical first sentence really is unnecessary. Another is that the writer dislikes the recipient but knows that putting “I hope you are unwell” would be taking things too far. Which is it? Even humans struggle to work that one out.

Sign off lines

“REGARDS”. “BEST WISHES”. “Warmly”. “Cheers”. “Take care”. The words at the end of a professional email may seem banal. Still, the sign-off matters. Even the ubiquitous “Sent from my iPhone” can act as a justification for brevity and typos or as a virtue-signal that the sender has taken the time to reply although clearly not at their desk. It is therefore worth considering how your missive’s ending will be perceived on the other end, not least because it is likely to be archived away in perpetuity.

The appropriate sign-off depends on your position in the corporate pecking order, your relation to the recipient and the nature of exchange.

First, go easy on informality. Use proper grammar and spelling. It is hard to imagine that you could do a lot with the seconds saved with a “see ya” or “thx” instead of writing the words out in full. “Got it!” This is maybe lazy but also efficient. It removes the need for a greeting (part of whose job is done instead by the affectionate exclamation mark). Resort to this tactic if truly in a hurry or too melancholic to engage with the world.

Spelling things out also helps avoid confusion. Especially when emailing someone for the first time, it is essential not only to include your full name and last name but to avoid folksy terms such as “Ciao” and “Be well”.

Affectionate terms such as “toodles” or “lots of love” do not enhance proximity to the recipient unless the closeness is already there. “Smiles” is unspeakable. “High five from down low”, which one publicist used in an email exchange, is worse.

Avoid being prescriptive. “Have a nice day”, “Happy Monday” or “Take it easy” emphatically do not promote relaxation. “Stay safe”, popular amid lockdowns, evokes sex-education manuals. “Eagerly waiting for a response” will invariably delay the response’s dispatch.

Next, be consistent. “Yours truly” was a common way to conclude a business letter in the 19th century. But in that era correspondence was layered with nuance. “Yours faithfully” could be preceded only by “Dear Sir” (or, on rare occasions in commerce, “Dear Madam”). If the recipient was named (“Dear Mr So and So”) then the book-end was “Yours sincerely”. If you send out a press release on emissions cuts, do not end your note with “Hugs”.

Do not cry out for attention. Latin began to die out in the sixth century and was later abandoned for the vernacular. So resist including dictums in a dead language (“nil posse creari de nilo” as a default salutation is a bit outré).

Lengthy automatic salutations can be tiresome. If you want to cut a thread short, consider “Thank you in advance”. Yes, it may strike some as presumptuous. But it has the virtue of saving you from a follow-up email.

Some elements of the corporate sign-off are beyond your control. It may include the company’s logo or disclaimers mandated by company policy (“Please consider the environment before printing this email”). But the function of sign-offs is to sign off. Technology may have disrupted the epistolary form, but as with all last words, much still depends on the echo they leave in your mind.

A job posting that made my day ... | We are not

Juan Jacob — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 02:06:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: A job posting that made my day ...
Poster: Juan Jacob
Post title: We are not

linguists! Translators, that is.

A job posting that made my day ... | Nope

Lingua 5B — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:16:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: A job posting that made my day ...
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: Nope

[quote]Joakim Braun wrote:

About what a cleaner makes in my country. Perhaps the AI sector has funding problems. [/quote]

No funding problems, just too many opportunist managers in the chain.

A job posting that made my day ... | @20€/hour

Joakim Braun — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:05:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: A job posting that made my day ...
Poster: Joakim Braun
Post title: @20€/hour

About what a cleaner makes in my country. Perhaps the AI sector has funding problems.

A job posting that made my day ... | Well

Gregor Trebec — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 08:57:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: A job posting that made my day ...
Poster: Gregor Trebec
Post title: Well

These are in my language pairs too and I don't even quote them. Probably from Asia...

A job posting that made my day ...

ibz — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 07:09:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: A job posting that made my day ...
Poster: ibz

[url removed]
Paid opportunities! Wow! While everybody is desperately looking for unpaid offers 🥹

What a jewel! | Prostitution Expert

Novian Cahyadi (X) — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 09:13:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: What a jewel!
Poster: Novian Cahyadi (X)
Post title: Prostitution Expert

There's this AI company that keeps posting jobs on LinkedIn. One of the positions they offered was a localization specialist. Perhaps they thought they'd better resonate with their target audience by using Indonesian. So they wrote the job title as “Spesialis Lokalisasi.”

Now the problem is to most Indonesians, “lokalisasi” means a brothel. They made themselves sound like they were looking for a prostitution expert. I very much doubt that was the case. The correct word should've been “pelokalan.”

Shouldn't expect anything less from an AI company, eh? :eek:

[Diedit pada 2025-07-05 14:31 GMT]

What a jewel! | The other day

Lingua 5B — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 09:36:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: What a jewel!
Poster: Lingua 5B
Post title: The other day

I saw one the other day, it said something like "If you care about quality, do not apply". LOL The point being it's MTPE groundwork for peanuts. So you need to not care about quality to engage in it.

What a jewel! | it just keeps coming!

IrinaN (X) — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 09:29:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: What a jewel!
Poster: IrinaN (X)
Post title: it just keeps coming!

Languages: English to Russian, Russian to English

Job description:
Job Title: Dutch to English Interpreter—Trade/Business Domain

Urgent, government, simo/consec, audiences up to 500 members, top guns only

Pay - $10 - $20/hour.

I wonder if this a part of the 17% job opportunity growth :D

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | nice

Gjorgji Apostolovski — Thu, 08 May 2025 22:44:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession?
Poster: Gjorgji Apostolovski
Post title: nice

[quote]expressisverbis wrote:

[quote]Gjorgji Apostolovski wrote:

I just watched The Translator and all I can say is that is very difficult to be interpreter, which he is in the movie, for language which is very hard, although it's his native, in a country that is very strict for making mistakes and not following the rules, I mean all rules, not just about language. And there to be a translator is very dangerous, because you will be always considered as a traitor.

The other one with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn has runtime of 2 hours, I'm gonna watch late this night if I don't fall asleep, or tomorrow.

Anyway, thanks for your movie suggestions.

And I just checked your website, and I like it, and there's SW 6 with Waveform now.
[url removed] [/quote]

Thank you, Gjorgji... for the compliment and for sharing that info on Subtitle Workshop!
The Interpreter is a good film. I have already watched it before.
Here's a great one that highlights translators as linguistic detectives 😊 (Actually, that's what we are!)
David, is a literary translator who is going to use his skills to uncover the mystery behind the author's death.
Translation in this film serves not only as a profession, but it is also a metaphor for uncovering hidden truths and exploring different types of reality.
A must-watch film!

[url removed]
[/quote]

Just watched The Interpreter 2005. Interesting story, where at the same time is shown the interpreter's value in foreign language and interpreter's unimportance when comes to real national security action, but Nicole Kidman can hold a gun too. :)

The best quote from this movie: Countries have gone to war because they've misinterpreted one another.

I'm watching a lot of movies everyday, you can call me cinephile, and I'll add Death of an Author to my watchlist.

[Edited at 2025-05-08 22:44 GMT]

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | Translators are linguistic detectives!

expressisverbis — Thu, 08 May 2025 20:05:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession?
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: Translators are linguistic detectives!

[quote]Gjorgji Apostolovski wrote:

I just watched The Translator and all I can say is that is very difficult to be interpreter, which he is in the movie, for language which is very hard, although it's his native, in a country that is very strict for making mistakes and not following the rules, I mean all rules, not just about language. And there to be a translator is very dangerous, because you will be always considered as a traitor.

The other one with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn has runtime of 2 hours, I'm gonna watch late this night if I don't fall asleep, or tomorrow.

Anyway, thanks for your movie suggestions.

And I just checked your website, and I like it, and there's SW 6 with Waveform now.
[url removed] [/quote]

Thank you, Gjorgji... for the compliment and for sharing that info on Subtitle Workshop!
The Interpreter is a good film. I have already watched it before.
Here's a great one that highlights translators as linguistic detectives 😊 (Actually, that's what we are!)
David, is a literary translator who is going to use his skills to uncover the mystery behind the author's death.
Translation in this film serves not only as a profession, but it is also a metaphor for uncovering hidden truths and exploring different types of reality.
A must-watch film!

[url removed]

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | @Sandra

Gjorgji Apostolovski — Thu, 08 May 2025 19:09:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession?
Poster: Gjorgji Apostolovski
Post title: @Sandra

I just watched The Translator and all I can say is that is very difficult to be interpreter, which he is in the movie, for language which is very hard, although it's his native, in a country that is very strict for making mistakes and not following the rules, I mean all rules, not just about language. And there to be a translator is very dangerous, because you will be always considered as a traitor.

The other one with Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn has runtime of 2 hours, I'm gonna watch late this night if I don't fall asleep, or tomorrow.

Anyway, thanks for your movie suggestions.

And I just checked your website, and I like it, and there's SW 6 with Waveform now.
[url removed]

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | The weight of words

expressisverbis — Wed, 07 May 2025 21:06:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession?
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: The weight of words

The Translator (2021)

This film shows the serious consequences of a single word when it is mistranslated. The translator makes a slip of the tongue during a press conference, and this minor error leads to his forced exile in Australia.

"A riveting thriller about an Arabic-English translator for the 2000 Olympics in Australia, forced into exile after a fateful mistranslation, who must return to Syria after his activist brother goes missing during the Arab Spring."

[url removed]

[url removed]

And...

The Interpreter (2005)

A United Nations interpreter who overheard a potential assassination plot in her native language, leading to a complex political thriller.

"Language is not just words. It’s a system of beliefs."

[url removed]

(I didn't know the first film.)

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | Pirates of Silicon Valley

Gjorgji Apostolovski — Tue, 06 May 2025 17:10:00 +0000

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | 22 Bullets or L'immortel

expressisverbis — Sun, 04 May 2025 11:48:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession?
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: 22 Bullets or L'immortel

Just watched 22 Bullets, starring one of my favourite actors, Jean Reno.
Intense and emotionally charged and definitely not for the faint-hearted. If you're into crime thrillers with a strong sense of justice and revenge, this one's worth a watch.
That strong sense of justice is something every translator can relate these last years :)

[url removed]

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | It ain't about how hard you hit...

B&B FinTrans — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 08:11:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession?
Poster: B&B FinTrans
Post title: It ain't about how hard you hit...

I'd go with a quote from "Rocky Balboa":

"But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you! You're better than that!"

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | The Zookeeper’s Wife, 2017

expressisverbis — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 16:26:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession?
Poster: expressisverbis
Post title: The Zookeeper’s Wife, 2017

A recommended film with very strong and beautiful messages like this one:

"You can never tell who your enemies are, or who to trust. Maybe that's why I love animals so much. You look in their eyes, and you know exactly what's in their hearts. They're not like people."

[url removed]

That sentence was too touching and it inspired me:

"Maybe that’s why I love human translation so much. You look in their choices, and you know exactly what’s in their soul. They're not like lifeless outputs."

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | movie suggestion

Gjorgji Apostolovski — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 11:10:00 +0000

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | The Terminal

expressisverbis — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 17:14:00 +0000

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | Thank you...

expressisverbis — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 11:02:00 +0000

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | The industry is illmatic

Gjorgji Apostolovski — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 06:26:00 +0000

If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession? | This is what the industry feels like to me - out of balance with too many scammers

Jeff Whittaker — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 23:09:00 +0000

Forum: Lighter side of trans/interp
Topic: If translation were a movie, which scene or quote would capture the experiences of our profession?
Poster: Jeff Whittaker
Post title: This is what the industry feels like to me - out of balance with too many scammers

[url removed]

Streaming on: [url removed]

[Edited at 2025-03-12 23:34 GMT]