Freelancing can be tough. An hour and choco-banana crepes may well help.

I’ve been working quite intensely on my article for some time now and, while the main issue with freelance work might be considered to be self-discipline, I have found that another issue is being smart enough to give yourself a break now and again. I didn’t realise at first and was following the same work, work, work schedule every day (including weekends) for quite a while for fear of losing momentum and the collapse of self-discipline that was sure to follow. One day, I realised I hadn’t had a break or weekend (i.e. time off) for at least a month (probably two)! So, I finished any particularly urgent projects and dedicated a day to doing anything I wanted that wasn’t work and wasn’t on the computer. I ended up doing the weekly shopping for half the day, but that’s ok! Despite that moment of clarity, I found myself suddenly reaching that overworked stage again today. With three deadlines fast approaching, I couldn’t take a day off again, but sometimes all you need is an hour not thinking about anything and a satisfying treat. It worked for me, anyway!

Photo taken using an iPhone 3GS, iOS 5.1.
A great chocolate sauce recipe can be found here: Homemade chocolate sauce

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Translation: theory and practice

It has been a year and a half since I posted my last regular update on this blog and a lot has changed. When you’re studying for a postgraduate degree everything is exciting and inspiring, it’s hard to contemplate the ensuing not so inspiring unemployment prospects. I’m working as a freelance translator and editor though, and still find delight in translating, even if it’s predominantly unpaid and under-appreciated!

I’ve also updated on the photography front since my last post, I now own a dSLR camera and couldn’t imagine using anything else! It certainly took some time to get used to, but it’s certainly worth it. I’m looking forward to posting some of my photos here and hope to get some feedback.

I’m currently working on an article discussing the translation of a particular genre of humour and made an interesting discovery that hadn’t occurred to me before: translating from a multilingual source culture to a monolingual target culture introduces a fascinating new dimension to translation. Imagine the effect of the assumption of multilingualism in the source culture on a text. That in itself is food for thought, but when you consider transferring such a text to a monolingual culture, the implications are multiplied. That’s without going into the way the source audience approaches such a text.

I’m already enjoying having this blog back. It’s wonderful to be able to put my translation, photography and writing ideas and discoveries down in writing; it’s an efficient way to process and develop them too.

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