Away for 2 weeks~

Hi all~!

I apologize that there will be no new posts for this period of perhaps 2 weeks cos I’ll be off to Tokyo and Seoul in actually a few hours’ time. My work schedule has been quite crazy these 2 weeks. I’m hoping to catch a quick nap before I fly off. Hope that you guys will have a good 2 weeks ahead! I’ll try and update on twitter in case any of you are interested what I’m up to while I’m away from this blogosphere for this period of time.

Meanwhile, take care! Hope to catch up from all of you soon!

Down the memory lane of volunteer translating

This post, to me, is pretty much a celebration for myself for doing volunteer translation for 2 years. Seriously I can’t imagine coming this far.

I had wanted to put my language skills to the test then (even when I say this, every translation task is really putting one’s language skills to the test!) and decided to do some volunteer translation, so I did a Google search and found Watching America. I still remember emailing Robin Koerner, the founder and publisher of the website and had butterflies in my stomach when I decided to ask him to give me a chance at it. In the end, he sent me two articles in Chinese and Japanese and asked me to translate them and sent them back. It was going to the Lunar New Year then, instead of being busy with the preparation and stuff, I was actually more concerned as to whether Robin would agree to me being one of his translators. Then the editor got back to me and said “YES”~ Of course the rest is history. But come to think of it, I still remember that joy that I had when I received the email from the editor. I had checked my email countless of times hoping that they’ll agree to it.

My first article was published on the 8th Feb 2010 and it was in Chinese. I remembered checking the web constantly to check if my translated article was published. And when it did, I was happy for such a long time. And it also felt unreal to see my own name published on the world wide web for all to see. Just UNREAL.

Some interesting things that I encountered while translating or after submission:

- Realizing that the article came with a picture – it was the first time I saw my article with a picture. I have no idea why I was SO happy with such random things but yeah, it made me happy for a while. Hahaha~

- There weren’t so many articles available in Japanese so I ended translating more Chinese articles than Japanese. For your information, my fourth translated article was in Japanese and that was my first Japanese translated article.

- I remembered submitting my translated piece and going on a holiday on the same day. I arrived at my destination and realized that my editor had sent me an email to clarify some of the terms used in the translation. I have to admit that it was a bad start for me on my holiday cos all that I could think of was getting back to the editor on this so that the article can be edited properly and published in time. In the end, I used my Iphone and emailed my editor on it. Seriously I had wished there was a computer I could use so that I can get back to her with a proper reply instead of a short reply. Yet, this was a lesson to me cos I learned that real translators may have to get back to their clients or editors wherever and whenever they are. From it, I have learned to become more serious towards translating and realized how strong a commitment to quality translators must have.

- Realizing that my translated piece had been used for discussion on a blog post and the author of that blog was kind enough to put my name on his blog as well. It was only when I saw that blog post did I realize how exactly powerful a translator is. Seriously, I thought to myself, if I had not translated that, will there be others who will know about it? It was also then did I realize how meaningful a job being a translator is. Translators really are the bridge of information to another group of people. It sounds like an extraordinarily noble job and I think it is! LOL~

- Interaction with the editors. Sometimes due to the technicality of the article, there would be emails from editors. I learned how serious and detailed the editors of Watching America are. It’s an extremely good learning point for me when interacting with editors as things that I might take for granted that the readers will understand, might not be that clearly understood by readers, or explaining why certain terms were used, and so on and forth. I learned that working with editors is an important aspect of this work.

- Choosing a really difficult or lengthy piece and struggling with the translation and timeline. This was a good lesson for me since there are so many factors to consider while struggling with the timeline to translate. Indeed, it was all good training!

- There were nights when I had to give up sleep to translate the article yet I was clearly awake and happy that I was doing that. Translation brings me a good deal of satisfaction even if it means that I’m doing it for free.

- There were points of time when I was affected by how critical the author is. This aspect is rather difficult to me since there were certain times when I thought the words were too harsh. Still as a translator, I had to maintain that professionalism and continue and finish the article.

Every article that I translate is very much a new experience for me. I learn new terms every time I translate a piece. To me, translation is like creating nothing out of something, perhaps that’s why every article that I had translated is dear to me.

I’m writing this pretty much for myself so that I do not forget where I come from and how far I have come. I started out doing volunteer translating to learning about translating to getting paid to translate. To come to think of it, everything still seems unreal.

I still remember some golden advice from someone, he said that we should never forget where we came from and that heart that we had at that point, that we should continue to have that feeling and put our heart to what we are doing. Indeed, it’s really golden advice. I hope I don’t forget that and continue this path with that heart that I used to have and continue to work hard, if not harder with that true heart.

Anyway, if any of you are interested to volunteer your translating, please contact Robin! Hopefully we’ll be in the same team~

Till the next post! Everyone take care! ^^

Lunar New Year for the Chinese in Singapore (part 5): River Hongbao

Hi guys, today is the last day of the lunar new year. Just wanted to share some interesting pictures (though they might not be too well taken since I took it with my iPhone) I took while I was at the River Hongbap before the end of this lunar new year. I had written a post on the River Ang Bao in 2010 as well. The coolest thing about River Hongbao is that there’s always different and interesting things to see.

You might ponder what exactly is River Hongbao. It’s something like a carnival which aims to promote the appreciation for the Chinese culture and traditions through the celebration of the lunar new year. The coolest thing is that this event has become a annual event which many look forward to regardless of race. Even when I say so, there are also many tourists (which I’ve seen since I always go there every year). This event last for about a week. Since admission is free, usually it’ll attract quite a crowd.

People can expect to see various cultural exhibitions and performances and taste various Chinese traditional food at the food street. Basically it’s a fun place to be if one is into Chinese culture.

Entrance to the carnival, River Hongbao (If you notice, our Singapore Flyer is just behind)

 Close-up of the dragon on the pillar.

 Plan of the carnival

 As I walked in, I chanced upon fishes “jumping out” from the water.

 Fish in the Chinese language is pronounced as “Yu” and this has the same pronunciation as abundance.

 Notice that the fishes are numerous~ which means that there will be loads of abundance for this new year.

 Below you’ll find the crane (which symbolizes longevity), with a dragon (which I’m going to talk about later) and a fish amidst the lotus (which symbolizes continuous harmony).

 Phonenix~ symbols of energy of great strength, resilience and transformation.

 Wishing pond~ Anyone interested?

 These figures are known as Fu, Lu, Shou （福禄寿）. Fu 福 (the figure in the middle) symbolizes 福 happiness, or good fortune, Lu 禄 (the figure on the left), fame and social status and Shou 寿 (the figure on the left) symbolizes longevity.

Below is the God of Wealth. Most of the time, the God of Wealth doesn’t look like this. I read that they decided to make a martial version him, thus he’s in a different attire with a sword and tiger. Anyway, no prizes for guessing correctly what the God of Wealth symbolizes~

 I’m not  sure why there were birds this time round~ Maybe they are considered as auspicious as well?

Regardless, they were really pretty as they are so colorful.

 Kinda felt that I was in an aviary. LOL~

 Some traditional Chinese crafts~

 Saw a craftsman crafting out a dragon. Yes, he attracted quite a crowd. If you notice carefully, there’s some traditional Chinese figures, Hello Kitty, Doraemon and even Angry Bird. Now who says traditional stuff are boring?

 Since it’s a Chinese carnival, how can there not be figures related to the Chinese Horoscope? Didn’t manage to take pictures of all the animals in horoscope… unfortunately…

Sheep(or Ram)~

This was kinda weird cos the monkey has no arms?!

Cute dog~

Cute rooster~

And a skipping tiger. ^^

Since this is the year of the dragon~ how can there not be dragon figures?

Dragon symbolizes power, strength, benevolence, prosperity, longevity, renewal of life and good luck. It is no wonder that the Chinese uses dragon to symbolize their emperor. Other than that, there are also many Chinese proverbs and idioms associated with the word, dragon in them. Not only so, it has been a trend that in every 12 years (during the year of the dragon) that there is a baby boom since the Chinese believe that children born in the year of the dragon are more blessed.

Thought this looked like a baby dragon to me~ ^^

A dragon made of plates, bowls, tea cups and spoons~ So impressed by this~!

Another dragon~ I think this is made of glass?

 There was also a dragons’ wall~

The wall of 9 dragons

Close-up of the dragons on the wall.

More dragons~

Attempt at taking the entire wall.

 

And yes! I was so lucky to catch a dragon dance performance before I leave! And I managed to get REAL close!

Everyone got really excited when the performers decided to let the public touch the dragon!

Notice that everyone was reaching for the dragon! (I was too busy taking pictures to show you guys this scene~ XD LOL)

Managed to catch the action on video~ Enjoy!  (Sorry about the background voices~ XD)

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/xo5iytxJEKc” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen>

That’s about it from me~ Hope you guys enjoy the last day of the lunar new year! It’s the new year, hope everyone will have happiness, health and success!