Spanish-English Translation Lesson #1:

"Infant Burning Unit" does not equal "Pediatric Burn Ward".

I just realized that I have been here for over 5 weeks now, and while I have told you a lot about running around the country taking pretty pictures, I have not actually told you what I do during the week (other than going to the rock-climbing gym and earning legs that look eerily like those few months when I was 5 and they thought I might have leukemia. But that is another story...)

So, here goes: I have been doing a heck of a lot of translation. Some of it has been made into guides for foreign countries on how to incorporate businesses in Guatemala. Some of it was trying to figure out exactly what the standards are for the Guatemalan version of the EPA (that could have been done in Spanish, but I had to basically translate all of their decrees and bylaws to be able to get anywhere). I had a brief encounter with researching the IP rights of University students - which was very interesting and I actually got to read some articles and write things that might have changed a presentation. But mainly I have been translating.

I'm even doing some translation that has nothing to do with work - I volunteered to look over the annual report of the United Way here and it has turned into this massive re-translation project, because every single sentence is just...wrong. Most of the time I don't even know what they were trying to say and have to go back to the Spanish. That lovely little example at the top of the page? Yes. Someone actually wrote that and thought it would be okay to present to American investors. This is the United Way people, we do not burn babies.

So that is my 9-5 work week. I don't mind it, and I am glad to help, I'm just hoping that some of this will be useful on my resume. I'm sure it will, I am learning a lot. I just don't have any grand writing samples to show off when I get home.

Oh well. As my lovely roommate used to say - "It will all turn out all right in the end. And if its not all right, then its not the end."

Speaking of the end - I really don't want to go home next Tuesday. I am seriously considering spending an extra $200 so I can change my flight and get to see some of the lovely places I haven't been to yet (there are so many, many, many more places to go.) I may just have to come on another trip, however. We shall see, and I will keep you posted.