Where it all begins

Starting this blog got me thinking about when it was exactly that I picked up the translation bug. I think it would have to be back in 2001 when I had the chance to see translation in the real world rather than in the classroom.

I was an intern at a technical documentation company in Hamburg, Germany and was working in its translation department. This was a great opportunity to see how the whole translation process starts, right from the design of a new product.

I once joined the project manager and technical author on a trip to a manufacturer that had just designed a new coffee maker. My company was going to produce the manual. Equipped with a camera and a host of questions, my colleagues set about interrogating the designers about its intricate workings. So if you have ever wondered where all those technical terms come from, it goes something like this:

Technical author to Designer 1, 'What do you call the electronics inside here?'
Designer 1 to Designer 2, 'Hey, what do we call this electronics thingy?'
Designer 2 replies, 'Hmm, we call that the...um...water supply pressure detecting device.'

And another technical term is born.