Do We Always Need to Educate the Public?
The low public opinion of the work language professionals do can be jarring at times. Some of us translators and copywriters have made it a mission to demystify our profession and show clients how much expertise and thought goes into crafting with words. But that doesn’t mean that people won’t still feel compelled to press their disdain of your job on you and any other unsuspecting bystanders.
Question: Can you think of times when it’s smarter to smile and just let it go instead of trying to convince someone that their low opinion is unwarranted?
A little story to set the mood
Last week, I spent a networking dinner trapped next to a woman who turned out to be less than ideal company. When she discovered that I was a translator, she made it her mission to let me know that she possesses such stellar language skills that she would never dream of paying for translation. According to her—and she shared this thought liberally with everyone at the table—most people definitely do not need help with translations into English.
The other people at the table were all perfectly nice, so I stuck to a noncommittal smile and some murmured pleasantries. Not really how I’d pictured my evening.
I’m sure quite a few translators (or designers, or writers, or editors) have suffered through similar conversations.
Why am I telling you this story?
Aside from the fact that it’s bizarrely rude to tell a total stranger how useless their job is, this woman’s casual arrogance was the embodiment of the widespread idea that translating is something anyone can do. While she droned on, I went back and forth in my head about whether I should engage with what she was saying and set her straight.
Some of the many things I could have seized on:
- The usual conflation of spoken and written language skills
- The total ignorance of the cultural aspects of language and translation
- Mislabeling conversational language skills as “fluent”
- The complete lack of knowledge of what translators actually do
- Lumping translators with interpreters
- Speaking English well does not equal writing well in English
- Translation is a different skill than writing (as the many DIY translations out there easily prove)
In the end, I chose courtesy over confrontation. That women was making everyone’s evening unpleasant and there was no need to add to their pain. None of them had signed up for a round-table debate on translation.
Of course, there were plenty of points I could have made, but I am convinced that I would have been wasting my breath. In my experience, most people don’t take too kindly to being contradicted and rarely want to hear that they are wrong. In this situation, it would have been near impossible to add my two cents without making the woman look bad.
Does it make sense to ALWAYS educate EVERYONE?
We can’t get everyone to see things our way and we’d never get anything done if we tried to. This particular woman will never be a client of mine. When I was starting out, I had a few clients (didn’t we all?) who were very clear that the only reason they were hiring me was because they were so swamped with their much more valuable, skilled work and simply didn’t have the time for menial translation tasks? Was working with them pleasant? No, it was not.
Will the dinner lady have shared her opinions about translation with her social circles? Most probably. So, they may never be interested in my services either. Preaching to that woman about how skilled translators need to be would have just made me look impolite and a little uptight. It would have also made everyone else even more uncomfortable.
I opted for a triage approach. After all, the other people sitting at that table with me weren’t necessarily lost causes. When the plates had been cleared and we were finally free to mingle, I headed for greener pastures. A little chit-chat here, some lighthearted banter there, and the conversation naturally touched on translation-related topics. And I was free to choose how I wanted to present myself and my services, instead of someone else forcing me to react to issues they had raised. That part of the evening was much more enjoyable.
What’s the lesson I’m trying to spin out of this?
First of all, manners count. I resent people talking down to me, but stooping to their level won’t get me anywhere. I find it hard to concentrate on what people are saying if how they are saying it gets my hackles up. So, why should others listen to me when I get on my high horse?
Second, pick your battles. I started my evening not knowing anyone at the mixer. That woman had a big “no” written all over her from the start. I could have dedicated myself to wooing her, but I chose not to. When it was time to leave, my scorecard still had her big, resounding “no” on it, but I had managed to add several “maybe’s” and “oooh, that’s interesting’s” from other attendees I chatted with after dinner.
In the long run, those “maybe’s” might turn into a “yes,” whereas I never really had a hope of turning that “no” around. You can’t get blood from a stone.
What do you think? Did I drop the ball? Should I have tried harder? Do you always try to educate people about our profession?
Well done. This woman sounds pretty horrendous and I’m pretty sure your fellow diners were thinking the same as you. You kept your dignity. Pick your battles – sound advice indeed!
Yes, she was a charmer! Obviously, I’ve met people like her before (havent’t we all?), but she showed a rare dedication to putting me in my place.
I have to wonder how well that networking event went for her 🙂
I admire your restraint and I think you did exactly the right thing in a social scenario. I suspect this is particularly common in German-speaking countries, where many people have reasonable (conversational, as you say!) levels of English and often think they know it all as a result. I’m sure we’ve all had translations proof-read by non-native speakers with disastrous results, as a further extension of this issue, but trying to persuade them that you’re right and they’re wrong is often like banging your head against a brick wall… It’s infuriating trying to justify yourself, but there is a time and a place for doing it, and at a dinner table probably isn’t one of them. Would be nice to prove her wrong though!
I love those occasions when you can turn the tables on people like that: I particularly remember one occasion when we were skiing on the Italian/French border with an (English) ski guide and a rather obnoxious person (also English) in our party was going on and on about how brilliant his French was. I didn’t say anything (didn’t feel it appropriate), but had to smirk at the restaurant table at lunchtime to see his face as I ordered our meal in fluent French, after hearing his feeble attempts. Bon courage!
It’s always fascinating to me how people mistakenly think that bragging and boasting to total strangers somehow makes for pleasant conversation – or for good networking. Next time I run into her, I’ll know to give her a wide berth 🙂
PS His face must have been priceless!
Well done indeed 🙂 I regularly get to meet this kind of “know-it-all” people, and I can say that they are not uncommon in France either, even though we French people are not famous for our linguistic skills! Besides letting her bragging on her own, what seems even more important to me is you did not close to the other people in the room and you managed to get away from her toxic behaviour. I used to have difficulties to even stay and talk to other people in such events, after being confronted to this kind of reaction, now I (usually) manage to just move on 🙂
Oh yes, I know what you mean! And I honestly considered inventing an excuse and just fleeing the entire event. I’m glad I didn’t though 🙂
Well done, Else! You certainly chose the right approach. With people like that, no matter what arguments you use, one has no chance of having a meaningful debate. I can’t remember dealing with people like that, but I do hope I’ll have as much strength as you did and refrain myself from putting them straight.
Claire, that was brilliant! 🙂
For many people here in Germany (any maybe elsewhere too), smacking others around the face with their perceived superior knowledge actually is normal conversation mode. I have seen many a conversation in a business setting transform into (in my eyes) rather aggressive one-upmanship. Seen that way, one person’s vigorous debate is another’s insufferable rudeness. Maybe that lady thought we were having a spirited conversation about translation 🙂
Well done, Else, and I’m sorry to hear you’ve been in such an awkward situation. I wouldn’t have known what to do either. On the other hand, it’s great to know that we’re all in the same boat! I can get very upset about the fact that translation is such a widely misunderstood profession, and my husband keeps telling me to simply ignore anyone who hasn’t got a clue about what a translator does and what it is all about, but it’s really hard sometimes…
I agree it’s sometimes probably just pointless and a huge waste of time and energy to try and educate somebody because some people wouldn’t get it anyway.
It is frustrating sometimes! Then again, there are so many jobs that I don’t know much about. We can’t really expect everyone to understand right off the bat what we do. BUT, some people are genuinely interested in finding out more, whereas others think they already know everything there is to know.
The most productive kind of educating tends to happen when I’m in a mood to share something fun about my work and whomever I’m talking to sees that little sparkle in my eye. The least productive kind of educating takes place when I’m replying to ungracious remarks about translators. It sucks my energy dry and probably does nothing toward to changing anyone’s mind.
Good on you, Else. I think here the thing is, don’t waste your time and energy! Unfortunately there are many dolts about, but after years of repeating myself for students learning English I learned that my voice and words are precious, and are what I use to make money. So educating someone who is not going to take it well is wasting your precious money.
Here’s an example also related to educating people about translation and interpreting:
Down here in Mexico, an ‘interpreter’ is a singer, so while it is noble to keep correcting people when they say ‘translator’ when they are talking about an interpreter, I do not bother. (I hope I am not offending anyone in the professions!) But in this situation, it’s just not worth the time, and it also confuses people.
Now what this woman at your dinner knows is that translators are very educated and polite people, and I’m glad you’re doing that for all of us!
Thanks for your comment, Jesse! And I totally agree that there is little sense in wasting our energy in situations like these.
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Dear Else,
I think you behaved as a lady and in spite of ” a difficult start” and awkward position this woman put you in you managed to recover and regained the upper hand.
We just need to persevere and keep educating the public, ourselves and colleagues in order to clarify the misconceptions.
Sometimes we , men and women interpreters and translators we have many discussion about what we do and how we do it ,too. That is far more enjoyable and more engaging debate with your own ilk I have to admit.
Thanks, Diana!