Mma Ratmoswe is entertaning, simple, but for me her character is more fragmented. I can see her action and her wit, but I can't really get into her thoughts. Dalhousie on the other hand is generous with her thoughts, she shares her opinion with anyone anytime and indeed she is a very opinionated person. However I feel she is more relevant with my current environment.
In general McCall Smith's book are really readable. But my favorite is still 44 Scotland Street!
Check McCall Smith's official website at http://www.randomhouse.com/features/mccallsmith/
Last week I did translation for the BBC. It was for their coming programme on the Equator. Basically what I did is to translate what people said on the video/dvd they made when the BBC's reporter -- I think his name is Simon-- when to Kalimantan and Sulawesi interviewing people there. This Simon had fixers/in-situ interpreters actually but since the BBC needs everything precisely so they had to hire me to translate those videos.
The fixer in Sulawesi is ok, but the one in Kalimantan did get to my nerve. She did not translate in my opinion, but more gave her interpretation. So, when someone said A, she did not translate it as A to Simon, but it could be be A plus, A minus or even B. Simon apparently has been adopted as a son by a Dayak family, in the adoption ceremony he was given a kind of Dayak traditional machete/sword (the mandau). The adopted father said 'this is for you so you can remember us here in central Kalimantan'. Simple. The translation provided by this woman was very elaborate though! she said to Simon that the man said 'the mandau has been passed from one generation to another and now by having this mandau now you are also considered as a Dayak protector...bla..bla..bla...!'. Hearing that, I bet Simon was not only impressed but suddenly also faced with a big burden on his shooulder! so he kept saying 'oh my God, I cannot receive this heirloom...'
And now, me who had to translate what the Dayak man said, of course was in dilemma! The interpreter has translated the Dayak man's sentences as such (she is in the film too, so I could hear what she said clearly!), while me I, as usual, as a professional translator has to be faithful to whatever the man really said. My translation was of course shorter than what the interpreter said and I decided to write notes here and then to the BBC about this problem.
I wrote for example in one part :
(I am sorry to say but the interpreter did not translate per se but also put her own knowledge and opinion. Translator)
or this one:
(PS: there is no reference whatsoever that if the enemy was not beheaded then he/she would be still alive till the next day, The men did not say that --translator)
Honestly, I am just amazed that a translator would so such a thing. When I attended courses of interpreting (and translation) my teacher always said 'when you do an interpreting basically you become an alter-ego of the person you translate'. So when the person says A you have to translate A, b should be b. A professional translator would not allow his/herself to add his/her own interpretation, opinion, judgement and others. When one translates/does interpreting in the court or police station this basic requirement is a must, otherwise one might unintentionally harm, hurt someone else or prevent justice to be done.
In this case, the translator has obviously broken all the rules. Luckily, if the BBC questioned me about this, I have a friend who also translated the same programme (different dvd) and who has complained about this fixer/interpreter in Kalimantan. We both agreed that she did not do her job properly and professionally! If you read this, you can send me an email and I will show you how wrong you have been!
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