Everyday, tens of thousands of thoughts fly through our minds. Things that we see, hear, feel, taste and smell are translated into different experiences. Some of these may be thought of as bad, while others are good. But have you ever wondered, what if things are not as they seem?

Many times we tend to translate differently, things that are happening around us. Some people may tell you, “You must have woken up from the wrong side of the bed today!” But if you stop or slow down to reflect on the events, you may find that, if you go with the flow, things are not as bad as they seem!

Today, in this period of global recession, you may think losing a job is bad. But taking a step back, this might be a time of consolidation, a time for you to slow down and think of what you really want. Most of us are so caught up with the rat race, that we stop to care for others, be with our families, spend time with friends. What will all these translate into in the end? Life is definitely not like a piece of english document translated into a chinese one within days. Whatever you do now, will translate into something else down your life path perhaps in a matter of years!

So, start thinking about how you ultimately want your life to be, and how you want to start “translating” it into now…

Many successful people would tell you that self-awareness is the first key step to get the result that we want in life.  Through self-awareness, we know what we actually want deep inside our heart and mind.  Henceforth, we will take massive action with great passion and energy  to achieve the goals in our life.

Many people learn based on their personal experience and feeling to find out what they want actually in life.  In a way, a lot of time and effort is wasted.  Many more people are still in the midst of finding their true self. Are you one of those people?

Recently, I get to know about Dermatoglyphics. Dermatoglyphics is the scientific study of fingerprints and how it is co-related to our behavioral and personality. Our fingerprint will never change for the rest of our life. Quite interestingly, the study done in this field is highly detailed and accurate.

Is it important to know about oneself?

The more you learn about yourself – how you think, how you feel, what is your true purpose is and how you want to live – the more your life will flow. Hence this will translate into a better life and having great friends and colleagues.

Beside knowing yourself better, it would also give a good gauge of the other person modality and personality.  It would definitely bridge the gap in your communication and understanding of the other person.

I have still a lot more to learn in this field – Dermatoglyphics.  Will definitely keep you posted for any new insights.

Recently, I took a short trip to Malaysia for 3 days.  I spent most of my days and evenings shopping, eating and relaxing by a man-made beach.  Also, I had spent 1 whole afternoon laughing away, competing in some water sports.  The afternoon sun is extremely glaring but my face is beaming.  It has been such a long while since I laughed like a kid again.

We had a wonderful dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant.  Yes, it is a American franchise restaurant set up in KL city.  We did not have a chance to eat in US on my previous trip, so I told myself  that I must give it a try this time.

The whole restaurant ambience is fantastic and the waiters are friendly.  It is like u are just been to a truely US restaurant.  Because it is based on “Forrest Gump” concept, so you can see a lots of collection and quotes reminding you from the movies itself.  Well, who can ever forget Forrest after you have watched the movie.

Upon the restaurant wall, I just happened to see this quotes: “My Mama always said you’ve got to put the past behind you before you can move on”   A simple quote but with deeper meanings in it.

I have known people carrying the burden of their past mistakes, regrets and guilt with them.  To prove that they are still living, they would never unload these burden.  They would rather tied to their past than to move forward towards a better life.  I feel that they are like living zombies feeding on to their past.  They have lost the sight for future.  They are just like a prisoner who has thrown the cell key outside.

I feel that all are just  illusions that we create to trap ourselves.  We should also open the key to unlock from our prison too.  All we need to do is to forgive ourself and others that have hurt us.  This simple act of love for oneself and others is our key to unlock ourselves from the invisible prison that we have created.  It will lessen our burden.  This will make our life journey a lighter and pleasant one.

Hence, are you ready “to put the past behind” and “move on” to a better life?  Well, I am positive of it.  And I am looking forward to my next trip.  Cheers!

I must say…reading Og Mandino’s book entitled “The Greatest Salesman in the World Part II The End of the Story” is very addictive.  Again, this books has sold millions copies till date and been translated into several other languages.

In this book, Og featured The Ten Vows of Success.  The subject title belongs to the Fifth Vow.  Og explained each Vow in such simplicity that it is easily understood by the readers.  I truly believe whoever reads it will benefit tremendously from his knowledge.

In this Vow, I have learnt that “Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve my performance the next time”.  And never will I allow “The fear of adversity leading to failure casts a terrible shadow on all the days of our life”.    This is because “Experience is the most valuable extract of suffering and yet one of the terrible conditions of this life is that its wisdom cannot be transferred to another.”

“I understand, for the first time, how swiftly all deeds and events, good and bad, large and small, pass on and are no more, the works of man as well as the works of nature.”  I can only be stronger through my experience as “All things in life are not only in a constant state of change but they are the cause of constant and infinite change in each other.”

I will take accountability for all bad events that happen to me.  Never will I shift the responsibility to others.  I will become the best that I can be from each learning experience.  Always will I seek the seed of truimph in every adversity.

Have you attended wedding dinners before? Ever wondered what the usual programs or activities are during the dinner? It is usually the emcees doing the opening, then introducing a video clip of photos of the bride and groom from young till now, before the couple into the ballroom. This is a typical kind of opening for a wedding dinner.

Last night, I went to my cousin’s wedding. Her husband and her are quite “arty farty” kind of people, so instead of doing the photo collage, they came up with a comic strip – hand drawn by themselves. It was based on the lyrics of a song. As the song went on, the story develops. It was a different feel although I reckon that our elders understood what the comic strip was talking about.

It got me thinking, does a picture really paint a thousand words, like how the song goes? Somehow if you put many pictures together and have a song with the lyrics to go them, it does paint – well, maybe not a thousand words – but at least a story that everyone is able to relate to. Just like translation.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToEPFDIzhNA

As the saying goes…”Whatever happens, happens for a reason”

After I have read Paulo Coelho’s The Fifth Mountain, I continue to read his another book entitled “Like the Flowing River”.  This is a collection of reflections from Paulo Coelho. In this riveting collection of thoughts and stories, he offers his personal reflections on a wide range of subjects from archery and music to elegance, travelling and the nature of good and evil.

What actually caught my attention is when I read a particular short story on “The Other Side of the Tower of Babel”.  In this story, he pays his respect to the Holy Translator, Saint Mesrob.  Below is an extract of what Paulo had wrote and it best summarize the importance of a good book translator:

“Today is 9 October, 2004. The town is called Oshakan, and Armenia, as far as I know, is the only place in the world that has declared the day of the Holy Translator, St. Mesrob, a national holiday and where they celebrate it in style. As well as creating the Armenian alphabet (the language already existed, but only in spoken form). St Mesrob devoted his life to translating into his mother tongue the most important texts of the period, which were written in Greek, Persian or Cyrillic. He and his disciples devoted themselves to the enormous task of translating the Bible and the main literary classics of the time. From that moment on, the country’s culture gained its own identity, which it has maintained to this day.

The Holy Translator. I hold the flower in my hands and think of all the people I have never met, and perhaps may never have the opportunity to meet, but who, at this moment, have my books in their hands, and are doing their best tremain faithful to what I have tried to share with my readers. I think, above all, of my father-in-law, Christiano Monteiro Oiticica (profession: translator), who is today in the company of angels and of St. Mesrob, watching this scene. I remember seeing him hunched over his old typewriter, often complaining about how badly paid translation was (and, alas, still is). He would immediately go on, though, to explain that the real reason he translated was because he wanted to share a knowledge, which, but for translators, would never reach his own people.

I say a silent prayer for him, for all those who have helped me with my books, and for those who have allowed me to read books to which I would never otherwise have had access, thus helping – anonymously – to shape my life and my character. When I leave the church, I see some children writing the alphabet with sweets in the shape of letters and with flowers and more flowers.

When man grew ambitious, God destroyed the Tower of Babel, and everyone began to speak different tongues. However, in His infinite grace, he also created people to rebuild those bridges, to enable dialogue and the diffusion of human thought. This person, whose name we rarely take the trouble to notice when we open a foreign book, is the translator.”

The above extract has touched my heart when I read it.  In this commercial world, some people has failed to comprehend the importance of translation.   They fail to understand that a translator takes much effort and time to produce a good translation work.  My kudos to those professional translators in the world.  Thanks for being the Bridge Across Cultures in this world!

I have just finished reading “The Fifth Mountain” by Paulo Coelho.  For those who do not know him yet, he is the same author who wrote the international bestseller “The Alchemist”.  This book “The Alchemist”  has been translated into over 60 different types of languages and has sold over 75 millions copies!

As I am reading “The Fifth Mountain”, I found that it is immensely intriguing and it keeps me reading on to find out what will happen to the main character, Elijah.  It is a story about a person finding his own courage and commitment to his higher purpose.  All of us have our higher purpose when we are born, but many of us choose to ignore or defy that purpose.

Well for me, this book brings a great sense of inspiration to me.  I will follow my instinct and achieve my higher purpose in life – to serve mankind through better communication and education.

Because Paulo is a Brazillian writer, so I assume that the book is written in Portugese and translated into English and other languages.  Kudos to the translators who did a marvellous job.  The whole book is very well written and the principles behind it are timeless.  I believe the team of translators and editors have spent lots and lots of time doing research, translating, proofreading, re-editing and proofreading the content before it is good enough to be published.  The team effort and synergy is enormous.

I guess the translators and editors have a great responsibility to the author and the readers.  The writing style and flow must be consistent  without losing any flavour as compared to the original copy.

We are in the midst of doing a book translation.  Hence, we can share their feelings and responsibilities.  We will definitely keep you update on our new book launch.

For those who would like to have a read of the reviews or to get the book, here’s it:

Recently, I just watch this movie “Slumdog Millionaire”. It is a very compelling movie illustrating a man’s journey in finding his own dreams, true love and destiny.

It strikes a deep thought for me. We will never know our true purpose until we step out and start this self-discovery journey. We just gonna keep on believing and taking actions towards our dream.

When I first joined my friend’s translation company, a lot of my people (even my family members) start to question me. Are you making the right move? What if the situation does not turn out the way that you want? Are you getting enough to spend each month? Blah…Blah…Blah. Lot of negativities being thrown to me.

I have been with my company for almost 2 years now. Looking back, it has been a very fruitful experience for me. We have led our company to new heights each year. Our team of translators has also grown in size to over one hundred till now. This is definitely a more challenging experience than my previous engineering job. Besides equipping with good translation skills, I also need to do project management, sales and marketing and leading my own translator teams. The true joy is seeing your company and yourself growing daily.

If you ask me, what it takes to be a Successful Translator? Is it…
a) Passion
b) Perseverance
c) Continuous Learning
d) Continuous Improvement

Well, my answer is all of the above. Hopefully at the end of our journey, we would become a better person to our society and this world. And not forgetting, to fulfill our ultimate destiny and purpose in life.

Well, some said it is written.

Often, we will get client inquiring for translation service when in fact, they require interpretation service. Then we will spend the next few minutes explaining to them what is the difference between the two terms.

So why people get mix up with the 2 terms? People associate translation as “converting” from one language to another language. So anything to do with language conversion, it will mean translation whether it is for document or verbal. Interestingly, interpretation means oral translation.

I will usually explain to them that if anything that is to do with writing or brochure, it is translation. And if anything that is verbal, it is interpretation. Upon hearing this, our client is more aware of the difference. Hence they can tell their inquiry to us clearly. In this way, we can also tend to their inquiries faster.
This is what we call effective communication and good services to our clients.

So do you know the difference between translation and interpretation now?

A friend emailed me a joke on how languages can be misinterpreted if not communicated properly. Some of you may have heard it before, so here goes…

Confusing Chinese Names

Caller : Hello, can I speak to Annie Wan (anyone)?

Operator : Yes, you can speak to me.

Caller : No, I want to speak to Annie Wan (anyone)!

Operator : You are talking to someone! Who is this?

Caller : I’m Sam Wan (Someone). And I need to talk to Annie Wan (anyone)! It’s urgent.

Operator : I know you are someone and you want to talk to anyone! But what’s this urgent matter about?

Caller : Well… just tell my sister Annie Wan (anyone) that our brother Noel Wan (no one)has involved in an accident. Noel Wan (no one)got injured and now Noel Wan (no one) is being sent to the hospital. Right now, Avery Wan (everyone) is on his way to the hospital.

Operator : Look if no one was injured and no one was sent to the hospital, then the accident isn’t an urgen t matter! You may find this hilarious but I don’t have time for this!

Caller : You are so rude! Who are you?

Operator : I’m Saw Lee (Sorry).

Caller : Yes! You should be sorry. Now give me your name!!!

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Here’s another one..

 Why Chinese shouldn’t have Christian names:

 
Anne Chang => Dirty (Mandarin)

Anne Chin => Keep Quiet (Mandarin)

Faye Chen => Dusty (Mandarin)

Carl Cheng => Buttock (Hokkien)

Monica Cheng => Touching your buttocks (Hokkien)

Lucy Leow => You are dead (Hokkien)

Jane Tan => Frying eggs (Mandarin)

Suzie Leow => Lose till death (Hokkien)

Henry Mah => Hate your mum (Mandarin)

Corrine Tai => Poor fellow (Hokkien)

Paul Chan => Bankrupt (Mandarin)

Nelson Tan => Bird laying eggs (Mandarin)

Leslie Tong => Rubbish Bin (Mandarin)

Carmen Teng => Leg hair long (Hokkien)

Connie Mah => Call your mother (Cantonese)

Danny See => Squeeze you to death (Hokkien)

Rosie Teng => Screws and nails (Hokkien)

Pete Tsai => Nose droppings (Hokkien)

Macy Koh => Never die before (Cantonese)