Occasionally, every now and then, I get involved in those kind of heated online debates that get everyone triggered and fired up. While the actors in the story below are not based in Australia, this same scenario is one I’m witnessing more and more often, with certified translators feeling threatened by non-certified translators and doing everything they can to say ‘you’re not eligible unless…’
I believe the testing requirements and continuing professional development of Australian NAATI-certified translators makes us some of the most skilled translators out there. There is global recognition of our certification and agencies are willing to give us access to their top-tier jobs. But many certified translators fall into a comfort zone of only choosing to handle personal ID jobs that require our stamp, where they can charge their customers a hefty sum and just fill in a pre-made template for little to no effort. Their justification for this ‘privilege’ is that they did a degree in translation and that it costs so much to maintain their certification.
Look how this poor noob was treated on one online page for translators.
Let me paraphrase, ‘An ocean of unnecessary bitterness and resentment. Unbelievable pettiness. Little people at their little desk, in their little profession, in their little world. You small hateful beings.’
‘People of valour will progress, the others will naturally be left behind.’
Why does this resonate so much with me? Well, I came from that same background, being educated in other fields and doing translations on the side. I earned $100k/year from translations before even testing to become certified. This meant I formed a different perspective of the industry and was able to use these new credentials to secure even better positions in the agencies where I’d spent so much time working my way up from the bottom.
More importantly though, since developing AcudocX these same little people in their little worlds have continued to submit complaints to the authorities here, either about me or this technology.
I won’t get into this yet, wait for the series called ‘weaponising the code of ethics’, it’s just raw because today I dealt with their latest complaint. Funnily enough (just like the last time), the little person in their little profession complaining actually helped me to form a connection with the person whom I suppose they thought would punish me (for their allegations). So, thank you again! The gentleman and I talked for half an hour about everything, especially in regards to how we can educate and increase awareness amongst practitioners. It was wonderful.
‘People of valour will progress, the others will naturally be left behind’ has never been so true.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Cheers, DJH
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