Just like Tamara Rojo

So the other day my mum was with her friends, showing this picture of myself dancing at the dance school recital in June:

I was also there, listening to their conversation, and you know how it is when mums start talking about how amazing their children are… yeah, so not fun times.

And then, suddenly, one of my mum’s friends said: wow, look at her! We have a Tamara Rojo in here!

And I was like WTF!, because you can obviously tell that the woman doesn’t know anything about dance, since Tamara is not a flamenco dancer, and even if she was, I could never be as good as her…

But if she wanted to make a compliment (which, I am sure, was her purpose), she couldn’t have chosen a better one, because for me, Tamara is the bestest ballerina ever.

So I couldn’t help but think:

Awwww! Take that, I am like Tamara Rojo! Do you hear that, evil single pirouettes? I have now pwned you! You are now pwned, because I can do 32 freaking fouettés in a row!!!

And then I went home and tried to pirouette… and failed miserably as always.

[…]

Maybe in a few months… (?)

Nerea Rojo.

I am going to be a translator

I guess I had to write this blog post, because I have officially decided it. Well… kind of. Yes, I am going to become a translator specialised in localization. And a good one, I hope.

As you know, I started this blog because I thought I wanted to become an interpreter, and the fact is that I still want to (why do I have to choose? WHY?), but I have several reasons to decide that I prefer studying translation:

1. Although I liked very much my Interpreting lessons last year, the truth is that I am not used to that kind of stress and it made me feel bad before, during and after class. I only found it rewarding when I did it well, and that didn’t happen usually.
2. They always say that Interpreting can be taught, and I absolutely agree with that, but it is also true that there are some “gifted” students that can do so much better than "normal" people. Sometimes I felt I was the worst student in class, even though I know this isn’t true. Yeah, I am too pessimistic and it doesn’t help.
3. I love reading. I love languages. I love reading and translating documents. When I find an interesting topic, I love translating it (well, it is true that instruction booklets are not usually fun, but still). And I find it rewarding; I am actually good at it, and I feel I never stop learning things.
4. I have discovered the amazing world of localization. I already knew it existed, but I hadn’t thought of it as a possibility. But the fact is that I have always loved anything related to technologies (I did my first webpage at the age of 8, when some people didn’t even know that the Internet existed) and I would love being able to translate software or even videogames. So cool! 

So next year I am going to enrol on translation lessons, but that doesn’t mean that I am not going to learn how to interpret!

I guess that one of the things that made me feel stressed last year was the final exam. Because I was thinking of the exam during the whole year and since I didn’t see a big improvement on my interpreting skills, I couldn’t help but think I wasn’t good enough to pass. And since this year I just have half the usual number of credits (I did too many during the past three years), I am going to attend Interpreting lessons along with would-be interpreters, but I will not do the final exam.

Because… in spite of the things that I said before, I LOVE interpreting so much. It makes you feel stressed, but free. You can play with words; with your language. You can learn things about everything. You can meet people from everywhere. You have the satisfaction of being the only person that can help some people who, without you, couldn’t even say “hello” to each other, perhaps. You have the satisfaction of hearing: “yes sir, I have understood you”.

So I guess I have to change the title of this post:

I am going to be a translator… and an interpreter!

P.S.: … And of course, the best ballet dancer I can! (Is this the year? Will I be on pointe again? We’ll see!)

Ballet is French

When I was a child I was very normal. And as a normal, Spanish, little girl, I did not speak French.

When I went to ballet class, I used to learn the names of the steps by their sound. Actually, I think I didn’t know it was French, anyway. My mind worked this way: if Mrs. R said tandí*, I quickly pointed my foot. If Mrs. R said yeté*, I did the same, but separating my toes of the ground. No questions.

How could I imagine that those words had a real meaning and that they were in French? Nobody had told me! There’s no way I could know that my tandí was actually a tendu, which means extended; or my yeté, which is really a jeté, something thrown away. This makes things easier to remember, huh?!

It is funny that just some months before I stopped my ballet training, I started with my French lessons at the High School. I realised that I had a deeper knowledge of that new language than my fellow classmates, and most of all, because of ballet. You know, when you’ve heard many times that shanshmán* thing, you freak out when you realise it is spelled changement and it means change… But you don’t find it hard to remember! The same happened with many other steps: my padeshá* didn’t really look like a pas de chat until I knew I was doing a cat step. Same with my beloved padebugué*, which I still remembered when I (re)started a year ago, but I hadn’t realised it was a pas de bourrée. And finally that awesome gran ecar* of which I was so proud! Because, nice reader, there were some lovely times when I could actually do a grand écart! Unfortunately, those times are not here. But French is. And believe me: it’s making ballet easier and more fun (if that is even possible).

So… put a little of French in your lives. Give ballet a chance!

Nerea.

(*) I write the sounds just like I heard them when I was a child; c’est-à-dire in Spanish.