Often,  I have seen people worry about the loads of things  to do for tomorrow.  Some get so stressed up that they just wish tomorrow will not come so quickly.  They would find themselves living in fear.  Fear of the unknown.

On the other hand, I have also noticed people complaining that they should have done certain things in the past.  They would often say “if I knew that things would turn out in this way, I would have done it better” or “I should have knew it, I would not have done it”.  These people are living in guilt.  Deep inside their heart, they feel guilty because they thought they could have done better.

So the best way to live our life is to treasure every moment of it.  We should feel grateful and rejoice for the each day as long as we live.  We should “seize the day” just as Professor John Keating (played by Robin Williams) inspires his students in the movie Dead Poets Society.

We should never let these 2 days – tomorrw and yesterday, to trouble us again.  Instead, we should concentrate all our effort and energy to make each passing day as the best day in our life.  In fact, all of us should resolve to make each passing day as their best day – giving oneself wholeheartedly in his family, his work and interest.  The joy and purpose of each day will give whole new meaning to our life.

If everyone of us would give their best shot for each day, no longer living in fear of tomorrow or guilt about their past, I truely believe this world will be a better and happier place to live in.

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.

Recently, I am posed this question from a friend who asked me “What is the mindset that a good translator should have?”

I see translator as a language professional who is highly skilled in the level of his language understanding and usage. They take great pride in their finished copy and ensure that good quality work is generated.

So, the first answer that pops into my mind is “being service-orientated”. We are in a world of either we are being served or serving others. Sometimes we need to serve others, like for example we serve our clients in our jobs, or helping others etc. Other times we receive service from others in our workplace, convenience stores, café, community clubs etc etc. I certainly feel great if I am being serviced by a good and friendly person.

Likewise, if a translator has such mindset, he or she will take on a serious view on their work…ensuring accurate, good quality translated copy and submit their copy within the stipulated timeline. I have had the privilege of working with such translators and we are grateful to them for their hard work in generating an excellent piece of work within a short period of time. And sometimes, they submit the work earlier than expected.

The second mindset that I mentioned is “consistent improvement”. As such, I would mean that he or she would be always seeking better and faster ways of doing things. Some of our translators would propose better methods to improve our routine of doing things. Some would give feedback to improve their client’s original copy and make it better. Others will take up further courses to improve on their semantics. Well, they must have a passion for learning and re-learning to reach greater heights.

Lastly, I told my friend the third mindset….a mind that is open to ideas and creative. If the mind is like a sponge and absorb experiences learnt from books, movies, daily routines, interaction with our surrounding, conversation with friends etc.  This will definitely enable the translator to have a better understanding of the copy and its background information.

I guess these 3 simple mindsets would not only be helping just translators, but also anyone else who would read this article. Hope these small pointers can help you in whatever you do, especially for the coming new year!