It helps to have worked as a diekeeper at an aluminum extrusion plant,
and as an interpreter at rolling mills in the US and Brazil. I feel at
home in an industrial environment surrounded by compressed air, high voltages
and temperature extremes, and understand the way plant equipment works
and fails. I am at home in a mine environment and parlayed the geology,
geophysics and soil dynamics I learned as an oil translator into a solid
grasp of mining.
Working as a roofing contractor and carpenter between semesters was just
the thing for a grasp of production, logistics, takeoffs, power tools,
bidding, scheduling and general business practices for industry. It was
also a hands-on education in safety, insurance and the importance of first-aid.
That is my hand, sadder but wiser.
And where will a translator find the specific terminology
used by engineers, vendors, transporters and manufacturers? There
is no published mining industry technical dictionary for English and Portuguese.
In order to keep on schedule with a large-scale bidding process, a translator
must have customized glossaries prepared in advance--before the deadline starts ticking away. I even make audio glossaries as review
material before interpreting assignments.
