Looking at the crowing chickens

I was labeled by my travel buddies,  Alicia and Cinyee, as a workaholic. I couldn't agree more as I would lose my balance in life if I didn't work, especially I was in a long distance relationship. I couldn't imagine if I didn't have a 9-5 job to keep me busy and of course earn a decent living. 

I am always thinking of participating more charity events, contribute back to the society, do things that I love to do, but work always in my way, or rather, it has been always an excuse.  And apparently, I am given a chance now, but I do not know where to start just yet. 

Yes, I took a leap of faith, to pursue my relationship by quitting my job and flew all the way from home country to this place where I have difficulty in communicating with people. It is not as difficult as I thought. My the other half has been very tolerant and his parents are being very friendly and nice. I just need to take things slow, step by step and get things done. The priority should be taking the language course so I could communicate, it seems like I have been procrastinating in searching for a school, or at least talk to the maid when I am all day home.

The other thing is to find a way to earn a living, rather, to keep me busy. I am glad there is at least one thing I could do anywhere, which is the translation. It is also my passion in doing translation too. This blog was initially created to promote the service but it didn't work out well. Anyway, I now make a commitment to at least write something once in a week, related to translation or travel. 

I am looking at the crowing chickens, they seems like wanting to tell me that they will help me get through the tough time here. But I am blessed, people around me are very supportive and God has been with me all the time because I feel Him.  

25th April 2015 Nepal Earthquake

2015年4月17日，我和4位好友一同到加德满都，准备14日的徒步旅行。我们走的是 Manaslu Trek，Manaslu 高8163米，是世界第八高山脉。

在加德满都三天，办理准证和城中附近走访。于4月19日正式开始我们的旅程。每天的徒步都是一整天的。徒步的风景如画，走过的村子，孩子们都面带笑容，和霭可亲。

徒步的第六天，也就是4月25日，就快要到达 Lho村用午饭时，突然惊天动地。脑袋一片空白，环看四周，石头顺着高山滑落，动物身上的铃铛响亮，一会才擦觉是地震，心里当时只懂得默念阿弥陀佛。也不知道晃了多久，地震停止时，大家马上冲到村落平原区。看到大家平安倒是安心，但是，心有余悸，眼泪还是忍不住的掉了下来。

余震不断，几个晚上都没法安稳入睡。想起在纽西兰曾有人和我这样说过： 小震震不死，大震逃不过。我就抱着这样的态度，终于安稳入睡。

尼泊尔人的真善美都在这艰难的时刻表露无遗。他们都在自己没有什么可以提供的情况下，还是伸出援手。帮忙搭棚，挑水，捡柴，送饭。而有些被困在村庄的旅客则和一些小孩儿一起玩。他们活得是多么的简单。

回看生活在都市的我们，都把时间消磨在工作上。似乎对于其他的是都没有时间理会。从家人，到朋友，到社会关爱。我一直很想可以是为自由业者。足够吃住，最重要是可以帮助或是启发其他的人。

所以，一定要在加把劲，把翻译的工作做的更好。在这份工作有了固定收入，就可以实现其他更多的想要做却没时间做的事，和完成未完成的梦想。

乘坐越9个小时当地小巴到登山口

有惧高的我。。最怕就是吊桥了！

给驴子让路

风景真是漂亮！

                                                轻盈装备，干不了的衣服就得这样晒着

                                                                    到了这里就震了

                                                                     地震所站位置

我们困了8天的小屋。算奢华的啦

                                                                         即来之，则安之
                                                                 每天的风景就是这座雪山啦

                                                                  等待已久的直升机终于来啦

先卸下必需品给当地居民

回顾2012

随着12月21日的结束，末日之始，似乎让2013年变得更加特别，更让人珍惜。

2012年，是我人生中的放纵期。在事业高峰期绝然辞去工作，追寻旅游之梦。携下白领，背上背包，飞到纽澳独自行走。

纽国之旅，让我体验到了在国外工作的滋味。一下机时就到了事先安排好的了监狱客栈换宿。在监狱内，认识来自世界各地，志趣相投的背包旅客从而建立了奇妙的友谊。来自台湾的Sharon， Jenny, 中国的Wendy,Joma ,香港的 kary,德国的Julia，Manuel，索罗维尼亚的Bostjan， 爱尔兰的Shay，意大利的Iara, 少不了纽国的Rose， Stella， Frank，当然还有本地马国的Rachel，Tang等等等。在监狱内所遇到的每一个背包客，都有自己的故事。遗憾的是，我少了时间和他们交谈以更了解当地风俗民情。

换宿之余，我侥幸的能在New Zealand Earthquake Royal Commission,工作。虽还是逃不过坐在办公楼的9-5这样的工作时间，但和一群金头发的外国人合作，帮助在地震受难的家眷，让我甚感荣幸。外国的工作环境，绝对比本地好得多。其中，结交到了来自美国的Nicole，是和我同期进入此公司打工的背包客。

辛苦工作了大半年，终于储够了钱开始了寰岛之旅。很高兴的是有致亲的朋友远从马国一起和我走了一趟。Alicia和Cinyee， 就对是我人生中难得遇到的旅游知己。共同的兴趣，爱好，爱玩，寻刺激。绷带跳，12000尺空降，走在寒冷中，不知终点山路等刺激游戏，绝对是人生中无法忘怀的记忆。

当然，同学知己倩雯，惜平，美燕的环岛游，也让我们尝尽了纽国风光。纽国的风景如画，让人陶醉不已啊～

今年，也是我第一次踏入中国之土，和亲友到中国旅游探亲。平日旅行都有自己包办一起，此次全权都有旅行社负责，样样都准备好，让我感到有点不习惯。但是，初次和一群老人旅行，也算得上是难忘之旅。

在完全没有没有烦恼下，加上贵人帮助，整个旅程划下了完美的句点。虽说是恨不得这样的生活永远不会结束，但是，终究还是回到了现实。

回国后，脑袋里满满的问题，要如何开始日后的生活。应该朝什么方向前进。满满的抱负理想，却因为缺乏资金和最重要的勇气而作罢。我绕了一个大圈，最后回到了办公楼，回到了平凡，回到了约束，回到了原点。

我恨自己不够坚持，缺乏勇气去做自己想要做的事情。我不知道自己什么时候可以再有那种冲动，那种毅然决定辞职出走的冲动，让我再重新出发。但是，此次，我必须更理清自己的目标，坚持一点，有勇气的朝目标前进，不要在犯上同样的错误。我，不想再重新出发后，最后又回到原点。

2013绝对是个好时机，认真面对自己的人生。立下目标，努力前进。

各位，新年来临之际，大家一起出走，努力朝向自己的目标前进吧！

Merry Christmas

While everyone is celebrating Christmas Eve, I am typing fast to get an urgent translation done for a client.

This regular client of mine called me at 8.30pm, asking me for a favor. Without second thought, I said YES.It is always my pleasure to be able to serve my client and to be trusted that I can deliver the job within timeline without compromising the quality.

Even though I can't celebrate Christmas Eve with family and friends, I am filled with satisfaction being able to send the job to the client before dawn.

I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!

Request for Test Translation‏

Quite Frequently, I have been asked to provide a sample of my translation services to measure my competency. A couple of clients offered to pay for such effort. I did invoiced them however and am glad that i did got paid, which resulted in me getting further jobs.

My question is if I'm asked to do a test/sample translation, what is the magnitude of work that is considered sample? a couple paragraphs, and a lines here and there would be fine, but how do you find balance when a client needs his entire first job to be a test job? I believe that a maximum of two paragraphs will be a good starting point, whereby client can judge your ability, use of grammar and linguistic skills.  Shall there be more than that,  I would definitely would like to be remunerated accordingly.

How to Predict The Quality of the Translation‏

With advent of technology, and many technological tools available to make a translators job easier. Most of the tools like  spell checks, thesaurus  and synonyms available in your common office products, there are on-line translators that help make our job easier. However all these tools fail to accurately translate the content in its true spirit without the human interaction. A human translator and truly understand the true spirit of the words, and can accurately place them where needed. 

Thanks to internet we translators do have a platform to advertise our services and get more jobs. However a start-up translator always may be burdened with the creditability or image issues. When it comes to clients they would always like to check references, see previous work samples, or perhaps depend on comments/feedback left by previous clients. That is catch 22 situation, when a new translator needs to break in this business. And without such portfolio and feedback he/she might face difficulty in getting work. 

For new translators, their own work is their judge and feedback. The best way for a freelance translation business to lift off the ground is by creating a website. Explain your services in detail and give examples of translations -- they don't have to have been assigned by a client. Show potential customers that you can successfully translate from one language to another without losing context and meaning. Once you've established a website, you can advertise for free on websites like  mudah.my , db88, gumtree and many other classified websites.

 

If you're looking into a career in writing but want something specialized that every writer can't do, starting a freelance translation business might be the best career move for you.

Marketing communication fast, good and cheap?

Sometimes clients will demand their job done fast, good and cheap. This is especially true when they work with freelancers.

In reality, you can only have two of these at the same time.

If you want good and fast, there is no way it can be cheap. To get your job done, your freelancer must reschedule all other jobs, work long hours and spend at worst two or three days juggling with the backlog your job created. Priority always has a price.

If you want good and cheap, it cannot be fast. Jobs with fixed production deadlines and jobs that are more profitable will take priority. Your freelancer will be able to attend to this type of jobs only when there is nothing more urgent in the works.

If you want fast and cheap, it won’t be good. Even if your freelancer is willing to accept a job like this (his or her own reputation will be on line), there won’t be time to do any background research, plan the work in much detail or polish it to the usual standards. Quality will always suffer from being rushed.

This is why you should always plan for enough time and have a reasonable budget when ordering marketing copy, visual design, software development or any other creative job.