Language Translators Should Value Themselves - Interview With A. M. Sall ( Part 1)

Mr. Sall is a professional translator with over 30 years of experience. He has also established himself as a marketer and cross-cultural communication coach/consultant.

He has written numerous articles on translation, marketing, communication and globalization.

I’m delighted that Mr. Sall accepted my interview request. He’s here to share his experiences as an expert communicator and seasoned marketer and provide us with a unique look at this professional. Here’s the interview:

Q: How did you become involved in helping language translators find their own power? What kind of power are you talking about?

Sall: Well, I've been ‘in the trenches’ for quite some time! It has given me ample opportunities to observe my colleagues. One of the conclusions I reached was that some of us are not ‘proud’ enough, and that was due to the fact that they did not know how important they are.

One of the consequences of this of course is the tendency for many of them to ‘undersell themselves’, or ‘to sell themselves short’, or ‘to under-price.’

So I thought: "Once they know how important they are as a professional, maybe they'll realize how valuable they are and they'll make sure people respect them and stop treating them as a commodity."

And of course if you look at the ‘Big Picture’ side of things you quickly find out that: “Without translators, civilization would be impossible and the world would literally ‘grind to a halt.’”

The Ancient Greeks TRANSLATED Ancient Egyptian science (mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, medicine, etc.) and gave birth to modern civilization.

The Japanese heavily TRANSLATED from Chinese, the Romans from Ancient Greek, the Arabs from Latin and Greek.

The words of Jesus were TRANSLATED from Aramaic (And thanks to the miracle of translation, literally millions of people in the US and elsewhere today believe that Jesus was actually called Jesus and that he told his parables in… English).

The Reformation amounted to no more than a gigantic TRANSLATION exercise from Latin, etc., etc., etc…

Because of language translators, people can afford NOT to learn each other’s languages and still communicate. Language translators have been called the “unsung heroes of globalization” but you are much, much more than that. You certainly are among the movers and shakers of this world.

Whatever your current income is, you deserve more, much more… Now, do what it takes to get what you deserve, simply because you deserve it. Let’s give the last word to Borges: “Translation is a more advanced stage of civilization.”

Please note: when I talk about ‘translators’, I include the whole industry: translation, localization, interpreting, even voice-over, subtitling, etc. (to be continued in part 2 here)

Read other parts of the interview and related content:

Interview With A.M.Sall (part 2)

You can be an entrepreneur -Interview With A.M.Sall (part 3)

Importance of marketing -interview With A.M.Sall (part 4)

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