I'm back! Wow, it's been a while since the last time I posted here! Almost two years and my life has changed a whole lot. I'll try not to give too many details, because these two years have definitely been crazy and I don't want to get you (too) bored.
Let's see where we were! During that previous post I was living and working as a Spanish teaching assistant in Paris. Well, even though I was offered the possibility to keep working at those high schools, I decided that it wasn't what I really wanted to do, so a month later I came back to my village in Spain and started my own translation business. Just four or five months later I was already working (and enjoying) full time, so I can't say things aren't going well!
Regarding my ballet training, I obviously left my ballet academy in Paris and got enrolled in a great school in León, the closest city to my village in Spain. When I got there, my teacher suggested I should go to the advanced level with the advanced girls and boys (yikes!), so I did. And I have to admit that during the first months I was super lost in class, but after a while I got used to it... and now, starting my second year at an advanced level, I am feeling great and actually dancing awesome stuff. My classmates are a bunch of lovely and talented people and I am learning so much from them. In June we did two performances with actual excerpts from the scene of the shades from La Bayadère (so I actually got to wear a white tutu!) and a contemporary piece set to inspiring music by Ludovico Einaudi.
Rehearsing La Bayadère - Photo (c) Abocados
So far this year, in addition to our 5 hours a week we've done an intensive advanced course that consisted in 9 dancing hours over three days with one of the greatest experts in pedagogy of dance in the country. That was exhausting, but so rewarding. My lovely teacher has recently told me that she's really amazed by my progress, so right now I couldn't be happier!
Contemporary piece - Photo (c) Abocados
Moi in London.
Also, I have travelled quite a lot since the previous post. In April I went to Madrid to see Le Corsaire by the English National Ballet, with Tamara Rojo as Medora and that was definitely a night to remember. I've also been to London three more times. During the first trip I ended up assisting to the West End Live 2013 by chance, which made me develop a strong love for musical theatre. So since then I've enjoyed many musicals and ballets there. I've seen Phantom of the Opera twice (a total of five times in my lifetime), Wicked three times, Evita, Swan Lake in the Round by ENB and I fulfilled my life dream of watching the full Manon ballet live, performed by the Royal Ballet. My favourite ballet ever with one of my favourite ballerinas ever, Marianela Núñez. My God, that was special.
So that is pretty much all for now. It's nice to be back.
I hope to be able to keep writing here now that my timetable is a bit more stable.
It's been a while! Let me explain you why! Lots of things have happened since that post in June. For real: LOTS of exciting things, so this is going to be quite a long text –consider yourself warned!
First of all, I spent the whole semester and, in particular, the whole of June working on my Bachelor's Degree Thesis, which was a didactic translation of Maurice Béjart's memoirs. As you can imagine, I had to work a lot, but still it was so much fun. I learned a lot, both about translation and about dance. It was a great experience. Then, the examining board seemed to like it a lot, which means that... I just graduated from university! I am now an official translator and interpreter, even though I am still not working. The good news is that I am going to Paris in October, to work as a Spanish Language Assistant at two high schools, which are located next to the Opéra Garnier. Isn't it exciting? Obviously, I have already registered myself in the POB website, because I'm planning a few trips to see them live. Duh!
Also, now I'm trying to find a flat in Paris, which is not an easy job, but I really hope I'll find something interesting and affordable before September!
My Thesis right after I finished it. It was time to celebrate!
In other news, I left my ballet studio a month ago, since I'm no longer going to live in Salamanca. It was really hard, nice reader.
We'd just done a beautiful performance for charity, for which we spent hours and hours at rehearsals. My life in June consisted basically on working on my Thesis, going to rehearsals, drinking water, eating food and sleeping (not much sleep, though). The day of the performance was brilliant. I had planned with my ballet classmates that we were going to make the most of it and enjoy it as if it was our last show, which we did. The rehearsals at the theatre were exciting, our group lunch was lots of fun and the performances were all fantastic. I took part on two dances from La Bayadère; the first one being the Fire Dance from the first act, and the second one, the D'Jampe with the ribbons (here's the video to the second one. Try to find me!). Also, my teacher choreographed a piece for us in, like, two weeks, with Vivaldi's Andante, Concert for two mandolins. And the last piece I danced in was the Fire Dance by Manuel de Falla, the same choreo we did in February. And I also had promised to my classmates I would try not to cry at the end... but I did, ok? But come on, it was my last day ever dancing with them! So I hugged my teacher while crying a LOT and then she told me that we could have a last class next Monday. So I stopped crying. Kind of.
And then I went to class on Monday and she had prepared the most amazingest class ever. EVER. Because she's adorable! She taught us Kitri's variation from the last act of Don Quixote. Which is, like, one of my favourite variations ever. It was also very strange, because we usually don't learn variations in class, the only exception being an excerpt of a variation from Paquita, which we didn't master at all. Sure, we didn't really learn the whole Kitri variation properly (we only had 45 minutes and we were wearing flats), but it was amazing! And also very exhausting. So that was my last class at the studio in Salamanca. I said goodbye to everyone, crying twice as much as I had cried the day before, and I also got the opportunity to write a page in the book the teachers have there for everyone that has ever been a student at that academy and then has left. Emotions! Weirdness!
And then... I came back to my hometown. And something kind of incredible happened! I have a friend who is a fashion designer. He's actually well known in Spain; he's good and has been invited to show his designs all around the world. So he was preparing a super big catwalk to celebrate his 25th anniversary as a fashion professional... and he asked me if I would like to dance during the spectacle, with one of his costumes and a fan. A FAN, you guys. You do know what came to my mind, right? KITRI. I'd just learned the variation and I had the chance to dance it en pointe, in front of thousands of people and wearing a gorgeous dress. So I said yes. The problem? Where could I rehearse? I had only done it once or twice and the show was one month away. So I talked to the mayor and he gave me permission to go to the local theatre to rehearse as many hours as I wanted, as many days as I needed. A theatre, nice reader. Not a really big theatre, but it's got a floor made of linoleum, just for me and my pointe shoes. Greatest thing ever. And this is the result of one of the afternoons I spent there:
And that's pretty much it. The day of the performance was actually not fun AT ALL. I woke up early because my father phoned me. He was at the place where the show was going to be held that night. Even though the non-permanent structure was designed for a catwalk, there was also a really big stage for me to dance on and for the models to stay at. The problem now? The organiser hadn't thought of a little person EN POINTE, who could not dance on a wooden and absolutely irregular floor. So I got dressed really quickly and went there almost running, to check it out. Exactly. It was absolutely impossible to dance on that surface. I put my pointe shoes on and tried to do it, but I was so afraid of falling off the shoes that I immediately had to say I wouldn't dance that night. Then I saw the long and narrow stage that was prepared for the catwalk. Its floor was so much better! I decided I could change a few things of the choreo, in order to adapt it to the super narrow stage and to the public, looking at me from both sides.
Myself trying to adapt the choreo to the tiny stage. The show was to be held that night.
I spent there like half an hour and then stopped because all the pedestrians had decided that it was more fun to look at me, desperated, marking and doing weird moves, than to continue with their walk. So I went to the theatre. And even though I didn't have any tights, I spent an hour or so rehearsing. BIG MISTAKE, nice reader. I wasn't feeling confident, I couldn't remember the dance or the new positions and my feet were hurting like hell. Like, I'd never, ever had so much pain on my toes. Maybe it was because of the stress. Maybe. The thing is, after that hour, I took off my pointe shoes and I had blisters. Some super painful ones. So I decided it was time to stop and have lunch.
In the afternoon I had to go to the hairdresser, who put on my head the biggest bun I've ever seen (I still don't know where all that hair came from). And then I tried to rehearse on the catwalk thing again. Worst rehearsal of my life. I almost fell down a hundred times (the floor was slippery), I couldn't remember anything, my toes were hurting and I wasn't able to avoid grimacing with pain. Literally. Horrible. Only two hours to go. I decided to stop for good.
Then the show started. I put my pointe shoes on and I waited for my turn. The spectacle was divided in four sections: the beach, the opera, the wedding and China. I was going to dance in the opera section. So when that part started, I was very nervous. Even more nervous when I saw that they were putting some enormous flowerpots on my stage. For decoration. Like, as if I hadn't struggled enough with the little space I had before. Seriously, what else could go wrong?!
And then it was my turn. Of course, the flowerpots were still there, so I improvised. I started doing my variation and I had to decide how to do the next step while I was dancing in front of a thousand people. I didn't dance well. I forgot about the technique, I didn't listen to the music as I should have and I didn't do things that I knew I could do. The weird thing is... it felt really well. I was happy to have been given that opportunity, so I didn't stop smiling at any point. I forgot that my toes were hurting. And I had fun. Ballet is incredible. The feeling of being on a stage is something you can't really explain with words. But after that experience I can really say that it is worth the effort. In my hometown nobody knows anything about ballet. I know I didn't dance well at all, but they loved it. They loved it so much that now I am "The Girl Who Danced". For real, nice reader. They've been talking about it for two weeks. I feel privileged! Next time, on a bigger stage, they'll see!
When I started writing this post I decided I was not going to show you the video of the actual performance, because, if you know something about ballet, you will not like it. I am not proud of it. I'm just proud of my feelings during the dance and after it. Now I've decided you can watch it because you know my story. Here you are: you can compare it to the rehearsal, if you like.
And well, that's it.
I have more plans for the future, but for now, I'll just try and find a flat in Paris... and then let the fun begin!
Last week was very exciting for me, both as a translator and as a balletomane.
But since they are very different issues, I'm going to divide the story into two blog posts, being this one the entry on translation.
You may have noticed that I haven't written anything here for long. Well, let me explain why:
Firstly, because just like every year in March, my faculty celebrated an entire week of festive events, like a Trivial competition, an Eurovision-like contest called 'TraDocVisión' and a costume contest among others.
I participated in many of them. I even played Christine Daaé from 'The Phantom of the Opera' in TraDocVisión. And this is the proof:
Yep, that's me, and I'm singing. I never thought this could ever, EVER happen.
Secondly, because as a translation student, I can ask for an internship period with an institution, such as the UN, the Spanish Police, the University of Salamanca and many others. I decided I wanted to work for the Model of the United Nations of the University of Salamanca, also known as MUNUSAL. So after two weeks receiving and translating texts, my colleague and I were asked if we would like to work as press translators during the actual conference. We said yes, even though we didn't really know how it worked.
For those of you who've never heard of MUNs, they are basically simulations of the United Nations system, with all the organs and their respective committee sessions. They are held in many cities around the world and this one is called MUNUSAL because it takes place at the University of Salamanca once a year.
So that's what I did last week. I was one of the five translators at The Globe, the Munusal News Network.
Basically our work consisted of translating all the articles written by the journalists at MUNUSAL, from English into Spanish. At the beginning the texts were all abstracts of the sessions, but at some point, the committees simulated a global crisis, so the whole situation became very exciting! We received lots of articles and press statements from many countries, we all got very stressed and we really had to work as a team in order to hand everything in on time! It was such an amazing experience!
I really loved translating in a "real" context with my four colleagues, meeting our editors in chief and all the nice people at MUNUSAL. I enjoyed all my time at the "office" -some days I was there from 9 am. until 6.30 pm.-, the coffee breaks, the hours we spent at the canteen, having lunch together along with the delegates and chairpersons.
So basically it was fun, fun, FUN! I can't wait to do something similar again!
Look! I even got a Translator Pass with my name on it!
That's all regarding the translation matter. The balletic part is yet to come... :)
As you can see, I haven't posted that much during December, mostly because I am on holidays, which means that there's no translation or ballet classes until January and therefore, not much to say.
I guess I could have written a "Merry Christmas" blogpost thingy, but I'm not a very Christmas-y person. I prefer to wish happy holidays to the people; I hope you've had fun with your beloved ones... and now it's time to say goodbye to 2011!
This has been a very nice year. I learnt lots of things at the university; I had my first interpreting exams and simultaneous interpreting lessons, which were lots of fun; I started this blog, I went to Belgium and Holland, I danced in front of a crowd after eight years, I was (re)promoted to pointe, I went to London and to the Royal Opera House and I met my favourite ballerina ever, Tamara Rojo. What else can I ask for? Well, an even better 2012!
Some of you might not know a pretty nice tradition we have in Spain for the last 12 seconds of the year. We eat a grape each time the clock at the Puerta del Sol in Madrid strucks (it's also live on TV). It is a very funny moment! Grapes are not very easy to eat in a second, as you may know, so most of us finish the 12 seconds with our mouths full of grapes and normally laughing, coughing and crying. Fun times!
So I wish you all a very happy 2012!!!
May your translations stay accurate, your interpretations lack of filled pauses and your pirouette fairy is always around!
The Snowflakes wish you a Happy New Year too! =D Artists of New York City Ballet
These days I have read many blog entries that talked
about how helpful can some exercises be for translators (and for some interpreters
too, of course).
As you know, we work sitting in front of computers
or microphones. It looks like a pretty comfortable job, huh?! Yes, but think of
sitting on a chair in the same position everyday for the rest of your life! Your
back will give you trouble at some point! Believe me: after only two years of translation
studies, I started not to feel so comfortable when I was sitting in front of my
computer.
But later, during my third year, I (re)started
my ballet studies and within two months or so, I started to feel better. Why?
Because ballet makes you be more aware of your position. So I was sitting up
straight without really realising and I was feeling fine; my back didn’t hurt
anymore.
Of course, there are other exercises that you
can do, like pilates or yoga! I’m just adding ballet to the list. Oh, and you
will get some satisfaction knowing that not everybody can do what you do! And don’t
forget it is simply fun!
Keep translating and dancing!
Nerea.
PS.: Male translators: please, do come to
ballet class. We need you! ;)
So I am still recovering from the shock I went
through the other day at the Royal Opera House in London… It was amazing; one of the best
experiences of my life. I guess I don’t need to tell you that the whole company
was absolutely wonderful and flawless. They performed The Sleeping Beauty just like only the Royal Ballet does. It was
perfect and… I love them all. Word.
But I am here to talk about decisions. I
realised I never really wrote here what I decided about my Translation and Ballet
studies. Well then, I am glad to say that I made the right decisions, and this
is making me so happy.
You know, last year I loved interpreting,
because I found it so dynamic and new, but actually in my inside I always knew
I wasn’t made for that. Maybe that is why I couldn’t sleep well the nights
before going into a booth. So this year I chose Translation. And I am so happy
I made that decision, nice reader. I love the subjects I am taking and find
them really motivating and inspiring. I am truly enjoying my time looking for
solutions on the Internet, in books and dictionaries. I am really loving this
freedom I have to play with words. I am having fun and I can totally see myself
doing this for the rest of my life, because I am in love with it. And when you’re
enjoying so much an activity, you find it wonderful when you see that your hard
work is rewarding. When you receive an e-mail from your favourite teacher, who
tells you she hasn’t changed anything on your translation because you write so
well. These things, nice reader! These things are motivating and inspiring. These
little things make you want to push yourself further; they make you want to
achieve perfection, as unreachable as it is! They make you feel happy and love
what you do!
And as regards ballet, I told you a few weeks
ago that I needed to make a choice between staying with the beginners and going
to an intermediate class and pointe. I did make the choice. And it was the
right one. I am going to class with the intermediate students. I am not a good
dancer: ballet is hard, very hard. But I am dancing. I am really dancing little combinations and I am learning so much. Things are going pretty fast for me: you
have to realise that now I am taking class with girls who have been en pointe
for many, many years. I am actually asked to dance like them in the centre,
even though I have only had four or five pointe classes… so it means that I
might have skipped a few years on my ballet training because my beginner teacher
believed in me. And my current teacher is so lovely. She is such a beautiful
dancer, nice reader. I am glad she accepted to teach me. She believes in me;
she thinks I can dance like the others and I feel honoured and grateful, even
though sometimes I am simply unable to do what she asks me. But I am trying. I
am doing my best. If I fall today, I will stand tomorrow. I am determined to
become the best ballet dancer I can. And now I have to encourage you to DANCE,
because it is simply a pure wonder, nice reader. Nothing feels like that.
If you’re reading this blog you may already
know things about translation and interpreting and therefore this post might be
obvious for you. Or maybe you don’t know anything about these subjects, because
you’re a “dancing reader”.
Anyway, I am here to write about reverse
translation and interpretation. You know, it’s this thing when you write a
translation or produce a speech from your mother-tongue into one of the
languages you have learnt during your life. In my case, this would be reading
in Spanish and translating into English, French, German or whatever. And the
same when it comes to interpreting: I listen to a speech in Spanish and I talk
in French or English (I can’t even think of German in this case).
I just want you to know that… this thing
exists, and it has a name, but it shouldn’t. Translators and interpreters work
with their mother-tongue as an active language, and the rest are their passive
languages. This means that they should always translate and interpret into their
own language (in my case, into Spanish). I am fully aware that this is not
exactly how the real world works, but I also know that it is what happens in
most cases.
Why am I telling you this? Well, because, as a
student of Translation and Interpreting, I have been asked more than once to
translate things into English or French. Or even worse: FROM English TO French.
My first reaction to this is usually something like: “wait, you want me to do
WHAT?” and then I explode in rage, saying that I can’t do that, that it is
impossible and blah, blah, blah. My “client” would say things like: “but why
not?! You’re almost a translator, aren’t you?” So my second reaction is: “oh,
ok. You don’t know WHY I can’t do that!” Because I DO speak many languages. I
do, and you know it. You know I can read books in other languages. You know
that I can go to a foreign country and speak with the people and that I can
listen to the radio in there and understand it! Yes, I can. Wow, that’s
awesome, yeah! Well, let me then explain why I can’t do the work you’re asking
me to do.
When you're doing a reverse translation (or interpretation) you
are never completely sure of what you are writing (or saying). When you’re
writing your own essay in a foreign language, you will surely find
difficulties, but you can overcome them by writing something different or
by not writing anything at all. But wait! What happens when it is a
translation? You can’t change what the original text said, and obviously eliminating
sentences is not advisable at all! So what do you do? See? You have to
find a way to solve the problem, and it can obviously not be the best
option. Actually, and using my little experience, I can almost assure you
that it WON’T be the best option. From a native’s eyes, there is always
room for improvement!
If
you really care about doing your translation properly, you will have to
check EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE out. I have read a ba-zillion novels in French
and I am pretty sure I can speak and write it quite well. But still, I
need to check out everything I write. I have to make researches of
frequency simply to make sure if I’m right. Even in those (rare) cases
when I KNOW I am right, there’s always a tiny, minuscule possibility of
being wrong. What do I do? I google!
You
will never, ever be able to know a foreign language as well as a native speaker.
They grew up with it. They read their first books in that language and
their parents and teachers taught them everything using that language.
They will always be able to find this “something” in your text which just doesn’t
“sound right”.
Oh,
and the culture! What is the culture you know best? Yours, isn’t it? And you
don’t even know everything about it. Haven’t you heard some days ago an
expression in your own language that you had never heard before? Well, I
have. Many of them, actually! And I also learnt a word that people use in
Extremadura, but not in León. Translation and Interpreting are about
expressing ideas in other languages, not just words. You have to be
perfectly capable of understanding your own culture. What if there is a
sentence without connotations in a language but you know it will surely
offend someone if you keep it with the same words in the target language?
Or even worse: what if you DON’T know that it will offend someone?
This
one is related to interpreting. The situation is even worse when you are
interpreting, and so much worse when it’s simultaneous interpreting.
People with more than one first language are very rare. If you have two,
it means that you have the same level of knowledge in both languages. And
if you are an interpreter, you have to know your first language(s) very
well, so you should be able to speak in different registers without much
trouble. If you only have one active language (like normal people who are
not interpreting gods), it will be very difficult for you to produce a
correct speech in a foreign language, because you won’t really have time
to wonder if what you’re saying is completely right or not!
And
finally, translators are not human dictionaries, ok?! So stop asking them how to say lenocinio, palimpsesto and oclorancia
in English; because they might not even know that they are in Spanish! They are not human dictionaries: they are humans that know which dictionaries to use!
I hope things are clearer now!
Nerea.
PS.: I’m not even going to tell you how many
times I have used the dictionary or Google to write this blogpost. And I know
there are mistakes. I’m so sure of it! ;)
I'm back in Salamanca after three months of holidays.
Even though this is meant to be just “my student life”, it is also “my normal life”, as I live here for nine months a year.
So everything is back to normal. I’m living again in an apartment full of dictionaries, interpretation notebooks, German books, dancing clothes and ballet posters (if I ever buy a house, the decoration will absolutely be based on this), full of precooked food and technologic devices… and wild animals. Eh… what? Yes, wild animals are back! Right now, I’m living with a huge moth, which decided to come inside my flat on Saturday evening and we are becoming friends. Anyway, I hope it leaves soon, or I will have to start with “aggressive negotiations”.
Getting to the “pointe”, I’m officially enrolled in the Translation Itinerary, which is full of hours related to translating specialized documents FR>ES, ES>FR and ES>EN… (I liked the teacher I met yesterday; she was so French, and had such a lovely accent!) And I’m also going to some hours of Interpreting a week (two, I think). By doing this, I’ll enjoy interpreting (no matter what, I keep saying that this is what I like most), but I will not be so much stressed. I really have to find a solution for that. I can’t be an interpreter if I’m not able to cope with my own mistakes or with my shyness.
Also, I’m preparing a planning for the semester related to my free time at home. I will probably use it for reading or for interpretation, focusing mostly on English to Spanish speeches and I will also do some stretching (both things at the same time… why not?).
As regards my dancing, yesterday I went to my studio twice. The first time I just asked when classes started and if I needed to enrol myself again. The answer to first question is next week (ZOMFG, YAY!), and to the second, nope. Also, I liked that everybody in there remembered my name and everything about my dancing studies.
The second time I went to my studio was five minutes later, because on my way back home I remembered that I had bought some pictures of the festival in June, and I hadn’t picked them up yet. So I’m back to the studio, right when a class is finishing… and I see my teacher (I missed her so much, for realz! She’s so lovely, you guys. So lovely!) And she asks me about my summer and if I am going to do flamenco this year too (obviously she doesn’t ask about ballet, because she already knows I will.) I tell her I won’t, because there’s been a change on the timetables. She looks at me and says that it’s not true; that for me, it’s the same as last year. So I show her the timetable and say: “look, flamenco for beginners! See? It’s one hour later!” And she says: “my dear, you are not longer a beginner! You have to be on intermediate level this year!” And I’m all open-mouthed and say something like “OMGWHAT!”, which I don’t really remember now. So I get enrolled right away and leave the studios happily happy.
Get that, y’all!! I’m a flamenco intermediate dancer!!! Did you read that!?! I am a freakin’ flamenco intermediate dancer! In just one year! HA!
I just wish I can ask her: “hey, lovely Mrs. C! Can we have a talk about pointe shoes?! Las puntas, pa’ cuando las dejamos?” Because I so want to be on pointe again.
Still, I am freaking excited about the new subjects that I will discover during this week, and so, so happy about next week, when I will start ballet again after three months.
It’s a happy week in Salamanca. Everything is back to normal… or almost everything!
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:
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.
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.
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.
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!)
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