Huh? What did you mean?
Despite my having no job, I have been busy involved (as many already know) with Toastmasters and my cake decorating side hobby.
I also volunteer some of my time to write English to Tongan translations for a non profit health magazine.
My most recent page of translations was a very difficult one, because it had big English words such as, 'technology' , 'radiology' etc.
Tongan words are quite limited and such words are not yet updated in our Tongan dictionary. One English word needs a whole sentence or paragraph in Tongan to be understandable for the Tongan reader
Now I had to think of a way to get the right Tongan words but at the same time not lose the message that was written in English.
At the end I was able to complete the translation but with help of many family and friends on social media (this is where FB is most useful).
This made me think of how I write my contents in my website and had to ask myself:
- Am I using the right words to convey my message across to the readers?
- Do my readers get the actual purpose of my content?
Or am I just shooting a 'miss and hit' of words and hoping that they get what I am trying to say?
If I don't understand what I read then how is anyone else going to get it?
The recent Tongan translation project gave me an idea to solve this, when I asked friends and family on FB to help.
I have gone into my website and edited anything that did not make sense or did not drive the purpose of my post/s into a response from my reader.
With my next post, I have decided to write in a word document first and hand to my three girls to read and comment on what I need to edit before copying back into site content.
Sometimes what we have in our minds, when written out may not be understood as we had intended and does not drive the actual purpose or initiate the response we wanted from our readers.
I suggest you get a few other pairs of eyes from family members or friends outside of WA to read your writing and ensure that you are.
Have to get back to training but enjoy your weekend...for me it's only today left to enjoy.
😃
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What a great idea. Have someone else read to see if they get the message you were hoping to convey.
My 89 yr. old Mother use to be a proofreader for a newspaper when she was young and it seems she is forever checking the newspaper now to see who messed up! LOL
She will love being tasked with this project. Thanks for such a great discussion. Linda
Thank you Linda,
your mother sounds like she had an amazing history...I think people should pay her to read or edit their work :)
FB can be useful sometimes and in your case it has. Great work you got it all right in the end
Cheers
Dave
Thanks Dave,
I think that's the only time I would really utilise fb, and the only time my relatives hear from me haha :)
That's a good suggestion for those doubting their writing ability, and I'm aware many do have that doubt.
Hi Valerie,
thank you, I think my brain can be so tired after writing a whole post that it is nice to take a break while my girls have fun reading my post.
Hi Ilaisaane!
I can sort of relate to your plight. While I'm not translating from one language to another, I do sometimes find it difficult to transcribe what I understand in my head into the written word and do it so it's understandable to the reader.
Often, I have to resist sesquipedalian loquaciousness (see what I did there?) :-) Other times laconic brevity.
Good luck in your quest for the perfect translation!
Be well, be wealthy,
Joe
Excellent comment Joe, and I am now curious to know what your words mean that I will go look them up :) thank you.
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Hi Snazzy Ilaisaane, that is such a good idea, getting some extra sets of eyes on content can both point out areas to improve and also at times add extra ideas to cover.
Gee whiz you are busy, keep your enthusiasm flowing, one of our biggest jobs is to connect and be relevant to our readers our content needs to be fit for purpose.
Really enjoyed your post.
Alex
Thanks Alex,
once everyone knew I was no longer working, they have been asking me to do things and now taking precious time away from my real work here in WA...so I wish I wasn't so busy...
It can be a catch twenty two at times, one of the things can be that folks don't view working online as real work, kind of strange.
One thing we become good jugglers, have a great week Snazzy, must be Monday in your neck of the woods.