#115 My Application for the Role of Chinese Translator with DaVinci / Utopian

photo by @itchyfeetdonica

What's up fellow Steemians! I'm doing this post to apply for the Chinese translator role of the open-source projects by @utopian-io and @davinci.witness. I'm Donica, a Chinese native studied and worked in different continents in this global village.

Why do I apply for it?

Translation has always been my passion. It's why I chose to study language and communication, and I have been working in this field for over 11 years ever since my last year in university. It's not just my interest, but also something happening daily in my work and life. When I'm blogging on Steemit, I opt for both English and Chinese as well. It is a natural flow that I truly enjoy. I love the freedom of communicating in more than one language. Besides English, I learnt a bit German, French, Dutch and Spanish. It has improved my overall language acquisition and has opened up so many doors to other cultures.

For me, it's fun, meaningful and rewarding to bridge the gap for different language users by translating, and it's more than the language itself, it's about the culture too. I have been working in startup incubators in 4 different continents with people from all over the world. So I got to know a bit about coding and open-source projects when I created websites for our startup, and I have enjoyed working with these intelligent developers and have learned a lot from them. Working on open-source projects is cool, and to help spread the coolness to Chinese community is no less cool. Who doesn't want to contribute to something double cool? At least I'd love to. Plus there's possible rewards - who hates upvotes?

Last but not least, I adore Da Vinci. I know this sounds irrelevant 🙂, but when I saw the name of this witness, I just couldn't help casting my vote for it (just kidding - I read their mission too, and I love Italy ;)...). I have been mesmerized by the masterpieces from this universal genius, and I love reading about him and his works (see the photos I took for this post). I don't have such diverse talents like him, but I guess I have the same kind of unquenchable curiosity and pursuit for perfection, which is a good thing for translation.

It's not just my passion, I have a solid background in translation and extensive working experience too (here comes more boasting):

Academic Background & Professional Training

• I majored in Business English & Cross-culture Communication. The Master study I did in Europe was taught in English - in the course of Online Publishing, I built a Drupal site with other international students.

• I had both university courses and professional training in translation and interpretation between English and Chinese. And since 2007 I have been qualified as an advanced-level translator & interpreter with Shanghai HR Credentials for Special Expertise.

• I also have certificates of TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) and IELTS (International English Language Testing System).

Relevant Work Experiences

• I used to translate for the international section of a newspaper and for a bilingual expat magazine in China.

• I've been translating product design drawings, brochures, IP documents, movie subtitles, etc.

• Besides translation, I have been doing consecutive interpretation between Mandarin and English in various occasions in different countries, such as at marketing & sales conferences and trade fairs, for delegates' visits to Ministries, companies, plants and for sightseeing...

• My working experience in bilingual language and culture training for both Chinese and international trainees also helped in my language proficiency and cultural understanding.

Some References

As I mentioned above, I do bilingual posts here on Steemit, so feel free to check out my page and ask me for more translation samples I did before. I can also offer recommendation letters from expat managers who learnt Chinese with me. Here are some of my Steemit posts upvoted by the curation teams of @curie/ @ocd, so you can have a peek of my writing in both languages:

Paint with Donica - 4 Treasures of Chinese Painting
Exploring Comuna 13 of Medellín
Explore Easter Island with Me (1)

Besides, I contribute weekly to the cross-culture project @cn-reader initiated by @rivalhw. Here's the most recent bilingual post I did for it: Poppy Flowers & Opium

It's my first time applying for a vacancy with either @utopian-io or @davinci.witness, so I did it in details. I hope it's not too much with all the "CV + motivation letter" like content ;). If you want to know even more about me, here's my intro post.

Thank you for your time! Exchange makes change. Look forward to the sparks. =)

Audio Track

---

photo by @itchyfeetdonica

缘起

一直觉得语言是一种工具，所以没有强调过这个专业背景，在Steemit上也是发业余爱好的旅行、摄影比较多，偶尔画个小画、做个小吃或手工什么的。直到最近看到乌托邦翻译项目重新启动，突然醒悟原来我也可以试试重操旧业嘛。

我有幸住过5大洲，游荡过60多国，因为对语言文化兴趣浓厚，加上专业的学习培训和翻译经验，工作环境又一直国际化，中英文间的自由切换还算自然。同时，学的那点三脚猫水平的德语、法语、荷兰语和西班牙语也加深了对中西文化差异的感受。翻译同语言文化密不可分，可以用自己的兴趣和专长来帮助他人弥合语言文化的差异，对我来说总是充满乐趣和成就感。

在世界各地的孵化项目工作期间，还有为初创公司建网站时，我常和各国聪明可爱的程序猿们一起合作交流，从中了解到一些编程和开源项目的皮毛。现在看到达芬奇和乌托邦合作的翻译计划，觉得如果能借此机会，把美妙的开源项目翻译成汉语，给中文使用者提供便利，该是多么美妙的一件事。而且发挥自己专长的同时，还有可能获得“巨额”点赞，何乐而不为呢？

最后还有一个原因可能有点不着边际，但是我看到这个项目是由“达芬奇”团队负责，立刻心生好感，因为在我心目中，达芬奇是位前无古人说不定也后无来者的多领域跨界奇才，一个科学家和艺术家完美的结合体。身边就有很多关于他的书籍资料，比如我拍的这些插图里的书。虽然我没有他那么超凡的才华，但同样强烈的好奇心和严谨的态度也会让我在翻译这条道上走得更远。;)

光说自己热爱也没用，下面开始吹嘘专业背景和工作经验: =)

内幕

• 本科期间主修商务英语跨文化交际方向，专业八级。在欧洲读的研究生为英文授课，其间和其他国际学生一起做过Drupal网站。
• 大学学过系统的口笔译课程。大四时通过了高级口译考试，有上海高级口译证书。
• 当然还考过六级、托业、雅思之类的（好像有点扯，但找活干不是流行列出各证书吗 ;) ）
• 笔译方面，翻过报纸国际版和双语杂志的各题材文章，还有产品设计图、技术专利申请、电影字幕等。
• 口译方面，还没进过同传的黑箱子，但英汉交替传译经验丰富，比如市场销售会议、展会、陪同访问部委、公司、工厂、导游观光等。
• 多年的英语和对外汉语培训经验，以及近年来的国际市场传播工作也对促进语言习得、加深文化认识和提高翻译水平大有裨益（看看我这书面语用的......）。

实例

由于我在Steemit发表的博文大都是双语写的，所以欢迎评委翻翻我的主页，或者问我要之前专业翻译的样稿。如有必要，我也可以提供对外汉语学员的推荐信。下面是几篇被@curie或@ocd团队点赞过的文章，也许可以一窥我的双语写作：

来画国产动画角色 + 文房四宝小知识
探索哥伦比亚毒枭老巢的贫民窟
复活节岛摩托之旅（一）

我每周还为大伟哥@rivalhw牵头的@cn-reader跨文化项目发表一到两篇文章，这是最新一期的双语样文，供参考：罂粟花 & 鸦片

这是我第一次在Steemit上公开申请工作，不清楚分寸，索性写得比较详细。如果你觉得很像求职信加简历，那恭喜你答对了！😏 如果你还想了解更多觉得眼睛受到的伤害不够，这里有我的自我介绍贴 。感谢你读到这里，记得留言分享你的想法哦！

---

Thank you for reading. Please tell me what you think in the comments. Until next time! =)

感谢阅读！你的关注/点赞/留言/转发就是对我最好的支持~ 下次见！:)

---

Here are some of my travel shots. Follow me for more adventures around the globe!