![]() ![]() In the meantime we need to find ways of taking pleasure in whatever it is that comes our way. And, anyway, it’s a long-term solution at best. But if it was that easy then we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all. ![]() That’s what I’ve done to a degree by focusing on literary translation. Obviously, the easiest solution to that second problem is to try to seek out subject areas that we’re actually interested in and search for texts that we find appealing. Quite apart from the issues of pay and security, there’s the challenge of how we deal with the isolation that can be a part of self-employment (especially at the moment) and, as you say, what to do when the actual work itself feels like a slog. In fact, the bad news is that I still do! I think that’s inevitable. T : I’ve definitely experienced similar moments over the course of my own career. I found that prospect quite frightening, and even had wobbles over whether this was the right industry for me. But like any job, the excitement can fade, the joy can be buried under a huge to-do list, and the passion can get lost in the income uncertainty. One day, you realise that work feels like a slog. Combining that with the freedom and flexibility of a freelance life seemed perfect. I have such a vivid memory of the moment when I realised I could turn my favourite class into a job. While my future job still had to pay the bills, I desperately wanted it to be something I enjoyed (at least most of the time!) and something which made a difference. You so often hear people saying they don’t enjoy their job, that it just pays the bills. Joys large and smallī : I remember agonising over what to do after university. It seemed logical, then, for this piece about finding joy to be written as a conversation between the two of us. I’ve co-written quite a few blog posts over the last few years, and they are definitely the pieces of writing I’ve enjoyed most. And point five on Rebecca’s list was simply ‘Rediscover the joy’. ![]() What I really liked about the blog was that, rather than offering a list of tips, it started from the need to recognise and discuss one’s feelings before trying to do anything else. Coincidentally, another colleague of mine, Bex Elder, had just published a blog post with the title ‘Breaking the silence: getting out of the rut’, in which she discussed the familiar problem of feeling stressed and overwhelmed by our work. T : Joy, as a colleague of mine told me recently, is something I talk about a lot – but a lot of other translators don’t. Joie de vivre Written by Tim Guttridge and Bex Elder Tim Gutteridge and Bex Elder remind us that now, more than ever, it is important to think about joy, and how it can be found in the work of translation. ![]()
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