9/7/2020 工作心得

當線上翻譯至今差不多半年多，上來跟大家分享一下到目前為止的心得。

這份工作本身不需要去辦公室，只要有一台筆記型電腦跟網路連線，哪裏都是辦公室。

我的運氣算是不錯的，自從離開服務了十七年的電視公司之後，有將近兩年的時間都在四處打工，超市收銀員啦，餐館服務生啦等等，只要有機會我就去上班。一時三刻找不到合適的工作的原因倒不是因為年齡的關係，而是在同一間公司工作久了之後，一但離開感覺跟外頭的職場脫節很大、不清楚目前工作市場的需求在哪裏；同時也因為本身的專業技能是屬於小眾的範圍，如果不待在同一個行業裏繼續工作的話，就等於沒有技能。

就在去年底的時候，一家翻譯公司的人事單位找上了我，問我有沒有興趣加入他們。當翻譯？我連想都沒想過，再說，我也沒聽說過、也不知道這是間什麼公司；何況又是所謂的在家工作，太多詐騙都是用這樣的說法先引起你的注意再讓你上鉤。總之，後來因為其他的原因再加上一起打工的其中一位同事知道這家公司，所以才陰錯陽差地在疫情爆發前加入了。

所謂的線上翻譯，依實際的工作內容正確的說法應該是電話即時口譯。我們公司的客戶有需要時就打我們的專線進來，依照他們客人的需要找不同語言的翻譯，目前最大的需要是西班牙語跟國語，也就是大陸說的普通話。我們公司能夠提供的翻譯服務，包括方言的話應該有兩百多種，其他視需求還在增加。工作內容包羅萬象、舉凡醫療、財務、保險、金融、電信、社服、政府單位到日常生活的水電瓦斯通通都有，但基本上還是以醫療翻譯為主。其他的也就算了，靠日常生活的經驗很容易可以說的清楚、講的明白，偏偏醫療是最頭痛的，一大堆專業術語跟看不懂、完全不知道該怎麼唸的字詞。如果是字面上的翻譯至少可以查查字典、比較一下再找出最合適的意思，口譯就不行了，你大約只有幾秒鐘的時間就必需要翻譯出醫生說的是什麼意思、不然一陣安靜無聲就會非常尷尬，因為雙方都在等待你的翻譯，你沒出聲就會非常奇怪。當然，醫生也不會預期你懂他們說的每一個專業名詞，如果你要求他們再重覆一次或請他們把字拼出來、他們也會很樂意，這時候就必需馬上一邊聽一邊用字典查詢一下，再把醫生說的翻譯給病人聽。

有很多醫生常常把我們當成是他們的病人，尤其是在分析病情或講解治療計劃的時候，一講就講了好幾分鐘，忘了我們還要幫他翻譯，所以做筆記就非常重要。我現在做筆記的速度跟抓重點的要領，比之前在學校唸書的時候還要快、還要好。如果當初在學校的時候做筆記有現在的功力，我看進台大醫學院應該沒什麼問題，哈哈！

另外一個很頭痛的部份就是藥名。所有的藥名都是自創的、而且沒有什麼字首、字根等規則可序，光是聽都很困惑了、何況要翻譯。這時候我就很佩服藥劑師，怎麼有辦法把這麼多奇怪又複雜的名字記下來、還要知道它們是做什麼用的？不過呢，通當我都會問醫生或護士說這是治什麼病的藥，然後再問病人，因為病人連英文也不會又怎會知道藥名，只要問他們是不是吃什麼病的，他們就會知道、對或不對。因為醫生跟護士只是在跟病人核對他們手邊的紀錄正不正確，不是真的要問他們吃的藥名是什麼。

就先這樣吧，下次再跟大家分享實際的案例囉。

~~ 補上英文的，要對所有的朋友一視同仁～～

~~ Here is the English version, every friend is equal ~~

I have been doing online interpretation for more than half a year, so I will share with you my experience so far.

The job itself does not require to go to the office, as long as I have a laptop and internet connection, I can work from anywhere.

I was fortune enough to get this job. Since I left the previous employee, I have been working around for nearly two years, such as supermarket cashiers, restaurant waiters, etc. I go to work whenever I have a chance. The reason for not being able to find a suitable job in the moment is not because of age, but after working in the same company for a long time, once I left, I feel very disconnected from the outside workplace, and I don’t know where the current job market is. At the same time, because of my professional skills belong to a small niche range, if I don’t stay in the same industry and continue to work, I have no skills.

About the end of last year, the personnel unit of a interpretation company approached me and asked if I was interested in joining them. As an interpreter? I haven’t even thought about it. Besides, I’ve never heard of or know of what company it is; what’s more? it’s the so-called work from home. Too many frauds use this phrase to first attract your attention and, then, take advantage of you once you are hooked. In short, because of other reasons and one of the colleagues who I worked with knew about the company, I joined the company before the outbreak.

The so-called online translation, according to the actual work content, should be called instant interpretation on the phone. Our company's customers call our dedicated line when they need service. They can find interpreters in different languages ​​according to their customers' needs. At present, the biggest need is Spanish and Mandarin, which is the most common language among the Chinese people. The interpretation services that our company provides, including different dialects, should be more than two hundred, and other needs are still increasing. 

The work includes everything from medical treatment, finance, insurance, telephone/cellular service, social services, government units to daily life like water and electricity. For me, it is easy to interpret base on the experience of daily life. The medical terms are the most troublesome. There are a lot of profession terms and words that I don't understand and don't even know how to pronounce. If it is a literal translation, you can at least look up the dictionary and compare to different versions to find the most suitable meaning. Verbal Interpretation will not work this way. You only have a few seconds to start interpreting what the doctor said; otherwise it will be silent. Being silent is very embarrassing and awkward because both parties are waiting for your interpretation. Of course, doctors will not expect you to understand every professional term they say. If you ask them to repeat it again or ask them to spell out the words politely, they will be happy to do so. At this time, you must listen to the spelling and look up the dictionary at the same time. Then, you interpret what the doctor said to the patient.

Many doctors often think of us as their patients, especially when analyzing the medical condition or explaining the treatment plan. They talk for several minutes and forget that we have to interpret for them, so taking notes is very important. The speed at which I take notes and the key points are faster and better than when I was in school. If I had the current skills in taking notes when I was in school, I think there should be no problem in entering the National Taiwan University Medical School, haha!

Another headache is the name of the medication. All the names of medications are created by the manufactures and there are no rules such as prefixes and roots to follow. It is confusing just to hear them, let alone interpret them. At this time, I admire the pharmacist very much. How can they find a way to write down so many strange and complicated names and know what they are for? However, I always ask the doctor or nurse what kind of disease this medication is for and then ask the patient. Usually patients will tell you yes or no if the medication is for that disease or they are taking it. Because the patient doesn’t even know English how they can know the name of the medication? The doctors and nurses are just checking with the patients that the records they have on hand are correct, they don't really expect them to know the name of the medications.

OK, I guess we are good for now. I will share the actual cases with you next time.