Daily life, translator, working mom
Hello
I’m a translator.
These days, I’ve been in a full-fledged closing mode since last week with the book’s translation deadline just over a week away, and today I’m going to reveal a little bit of the daily life of a mother translator who’s about to close.
Translation, and translation.
The agency that I work with is very considerate of my mom’s translator. That’s why I always get a generous deadline, but just because there are a lot of exam dates doesn’t mean I study more, so does the translation. In my case, I tend to be able to finish a book for three months at a short time and four to five months at a long time, but even if I have this much time, I have to concentrate on translating it for about two months. Of course, I always make this promise in the beginning. “This time, I’m going to finish it a little by little in a day!” But it’s the same every time. If you put it off and put it off, it starts.
It was the same this time. It was in late April that I passed the sample test, signed a formal contract, and started work. I’ve been given four months. But the translation started in mid-June, and the closing mode started two weeks ago. The ‘closing mode’ can be defined here as a situation in which we invest more than five hours a day in book translation ahead of the due date. Usually, I spend less than three to four hours a day translating books or articles. It’s never easy to spend five hours just translating a book when you’re with your kids.
a strong supporter, but neglected children
So when you’re in closing mode, your husband and your mother help you absolutely. Usually, on weekends, my husband only takes my children out. When I leave home after lunch, I play all afternoon and come back after solving it by evening, but I don’t know how easy it is to skip a meal. Especially, weekend dinners are the most important dinner table of the week. Maybe that’s why I feel sorry for my husband, but it’s two to three weeks at the most. I get help from my husband on weekends and my mother on weekdays. This time, you’ve been coming to my house three times a week since last week. Usually when you come around 10 a.m., I come out to work and my mom takes care of the kids by 4 a.m.
During the week, my mom and my husband help me on the weekend, but there’s also a gap. At that time, children are almost neglected. I’m just feeding them, and they tend to do everything on their own things. I try not to show you the video, but when I’m busy, they know I’m easy to show. So when she feels a little busy these days, she runs as if she’s been waiting for “Mom, I’m Cabot!” “I’m the Secret Diary of the Ring!” Then I set the time and show it to you, but I’m not so happy. But I can’t afford to scuffle like that, so I just show you.
When the deadline is over!
When you’re in closed mode, there’s a lot of shouts. “When the deadline is over!” And then I list a lot of lists in my head. It’s usually about family affairs and kids. Turn the kitchen upside down (because I’ve only been doing the basics), cook delicious food for kids (gimbap, fried rice, blocked it), and restore my eldest child’s study routine (long since I was confused). Oh, and here’s the most important thing. Do nothing and roll around! Watch TV, eat tteokbokki and fries, and take a nap! Spacing out while eating the honey twist! Oh, I’m so desperate. But all of this is not possible until 10 days later.
While working on the book this time, I want to compliment myself on something to compliment myself. The first is to keep the existing translation work intact. Usually, when I close a book, I would ask for permission to do other translation work for a while, but this time I’m doing both at the same time. That’s why I can’t use the early morning hours to translate the book. The second one is that I continued writing without dropping out. Actually, I was able to do this part because I don’t do it at night no matter how many translations I have. So I spent a lot of time looking at my smartphone or writing in vain at night, but as I got used to writing while putting my kids to sleep, I was able to maintain my writing regardless of the intensity of the translation work.
So I took a look at the daily life of my mother’s translator 10 days before the deadline. Especially when I’m in the closing mode, I work almost like a war with my children, but my children are used to working at home, so even if I close my door and work, they don’t bother me much if I take care of food. When a six-year-old brother asks his mom a lot of things, his nine-year-old sister says this. “I’ll do it for you, mom. We’re busy. Let’s go out.” My eldest daughter says she has money for living, so I’m thankful for my daughter who helps her, and I feel sorry for her. But the translating mom can’t give up her job. I’m going back to closing mode again!