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31st translation contest: "A translator's life" » English to Kirundi » Entry by Augustin Katihabwa


Source text in English

Translation by Augustin Katihabwa (#35713)

[...] Translators just didn't get recognition, they didn't expect to make much of a living, just get by. Very few people were actually trained as translators, but most had a solid college education and a solid knowledge of languages, at least their own language. I had a friend who fell exactly into that category and my circle of friends expanded to include other translators. I found them to be much more interesting as people, and discovered that we often had similar life experiences. I never had trouble making friends, but I always felt "different" and I'm sure they felt it too. When my friend retired, she recommended me as her replacement. I now entered the realm of Reinsurance, of which I knew nothing. I was also the only translator there, and didn't have much to fall back on. However, it was another notch up....

On my new job, I started looking through the files, asking questions and got the company to enroll me in Insurance courses. The College of Insurance was across the street, and I consulted fire codes, insurance policies and fire extinguisher catalogs in their library. I was learning what I had never had the luxury of being able to do before: research. The first time I had to translate a proposal for purposes of insurance of a nuclear plant, I got a call from the head man in that department, congratulating me on the job I had done. "Compares favorably with what we are used to," he said. What an upper! What happened was that I consulted a document in the files similar to the one I was tackling for guidance, but when I saw that my predecessor had used the word "nucleus" instead of "core", I realized that the files were useless to me. I went across the street to the library and looked up "nuclear plants." I immediately found all the terminology I needed.

It takes a great deal more than that to be a good translator these days, of course. [...]
[...] Abasobanuzi ntibaronse icubahiro, ntibari biteze kuronka uburyo bwo kubaho, gusa bararonka ivyo bakeneye. Abantu bake cane ni bo bari barigishijwe mu vy'ukuri kuba abasobanuzi, mugabo benshi muri bo bari barize amashure ahanitse kandi bari bazi neza indimi, n'imiburiburi ururimi rwabo kavukire. Nari mfise umugenzi umwe yari muri ico gisata nyene, maze umugwi w'abagenzi banje uraguka ushiramwo n'abandi basobanuzi. Nabonye ko ari abantu bashimishije kuruta, kandi nasanze kenshi twagize ibintu bimwe duhurirako mu buzima. Sinigeze ngira ingorane yo kuronka abagenzi, ariko namye numva ko ndi "uwutandukanye n'abandi" kandi ndazi neza ko na bo nyene biyumva gutyo. Igihe umugenzi wanje yaja mu karuhuko k'izabukuru, yaransavye ko noja mu kibanza ciwe. Ubu nari ninjiye mu karere k'ubwishingizi, nkaba nta na kimwe nari nzi. Ni jewe jenyene nari umusobanuzi aho hantu, kandi nta vyinshi nari mfise noshobora kwifashisha. Ariko rero, vyari ibindi bindi....

Ku kazi gashasha naronse, naratanguye gusuzuma impapuro z'akazi, kubaza ibibazo, maze ndahimiriza iryo shirahamwe ngo rinyandikishe mu vyigwa bijanye n’ubwishingizi. Ishure kaminuza ry'ivy'ubwishingizi ryari hakurya y'ibarabara, kandi narasuzumye amategeko agenga ivy'umuriro, impapuro z'ubwishingizi be n'ibitabu vy'ibikoresho vyo kuzimya umuriro vyari mu bubiko bwabo bw'ibitabu. Nariko ndiga ikintu ntari bwigere ndonka agateka ko gukora: kugira ubushakashatsi. Igihe nabwirizwa ubwa mbere gusobanura igitabu cerekeye ubwishingizi bw'ikigo gikora ivy'inguvu ruhonyanganda, umukuru w'ico gisata yarampamagaye, arankeza ku bw'igikorwa nari nakoze. Yavuze ati: "Ni vyiza cane ugereranije n'ivyo dusanzwe tumenyereye". Ese ukuntu yari umuntu w'intwari! Ivyabaye ni uko narondeye inyandiko yo muri ayo madosiye isa n'iyo nariko ndakorerako kugira ndonke ubuyobozi, ariko igihe nabona ko uwambanjirije yari yakoresheje ijambo "nucleus" aho gukoresha "core", naciye ntahura ko ayo madosiye ata co yari kumfasha. Naragiye kw'isomero riri hakurya y'ibarabara maze ndaraba mu gitabu cacu ko hariho "ihinguriro ry’inguvu z'ubumara". Naciye ubwo nyene ndonka amajambo yose nari nkeneye.

Birumvikana ko muri iki gihe bisaba ibirenze ivyo kugira ngo umuntu abe umusobanuziuzi mwiza. [...]


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