I had just completed the course, "the recommended one of course," and was looking for a job in my new field of expertise. I was a dreamer they had told me and this was the right line for me, "the doorbells were ringing in my head," despite the fact that I had topped it, "aced it," I wasn't so sure about this, I wanted to bring about a change in my head, to realise that there was nothing this morning that would stop me from acing the interview as well. I had started to work on the interview some 4 hours back, "damn them," wanted to figure out what they wanted from me and it was evidently clear that going by my degrees I was the candidate for the job, "like a degree mattered" but when it came to skills I was still learning. To work as a translator or interpreter I needed a whole lot more than a degree, I needed real life skills and scenario handling capability, needed culture grounding and above all I needed to have interacted with people with similar skill set who had made it big in the industry.
I was waiting for my cup of coffee at the office, when I saw her, she was on the table next to me in the cafeteria, "God I hated this place," the decor here was depressing, and yet it was the only place to be to beat the summer heat and humidity. She was drinking a cup of coffee too and talking in a foreign language on the phone,"foreign to people who didn't speak it of course," but I understood it, she was speaking my language and evidently enough adequately skilled at it. As it turned out, she was a tall girl, over 6 feet and long straight hair and had beautiful face features, she looked almost foreign. I got up from my table, while at the same time picking up a rose from the vase on it, and walked over to hers, and said, "¿Puedo unirme a ustedes," she nodded her added in agreement and I sat on her table and we started to talk the language.
She was skilled, really skilled and, I had difficulty keeping pace with her, almost jumped foot in my mouth with most sentences, "I have a large mouth in any case," but this time I kept it shut and listened to her speak. There was another guy on the table, probably her boyfriend, "who didn't like my presence," and he didn't understand a word of what was being said, "but saw it right to nod nonetheless," every time she looked at him. I didn't like the guy too much, and told her in the language, she laughed out loud and looked at him again, he nodded again.
This much I garnered from her, that to be skilled at the language, I needed the following things :
1. Real Time Skills.
2. Should have taught somewhere.
3. Meet people from the culture.
4. Travel to the country of origin.
I asked her for her phone number and she was quick to hand it over, "call me anytime," she said, "You have been a great help," I answered back, "hope to see you again," and we parted ways. It had been the one most productive hour of my life.
Peer Support, Nothing Beats It.
I was waiting for my cup of coffee at the office, when I saw her, she was on the table next to me in the cafeteria, "God I hated this place," the decor here was depressing, and yet it was the only place to be to beat the summer heat and humidity. She was drinking a cup of coffee too and talking in a foreign language on the phone,"foreign to people who didn't speak it of course," but I understood it, she was speaking my language and evidently enough adequately skilled at it. As it turned out, she was a tall girl, over 6 feet and long straight hair and had beautiful face features, she looked almost foreign. I got up from my table, while at the same time picking up a rose from the vase on it, and walked over to hers, and said, "¿Puedo unirme a ustedes," she nodded her added in agreement and I sat on her table and we started to talk the language.
She was skilled, really skilled and, I had difficulty keeping pace with her, almost jumped foot in my mouth with most sentences, "I have a large mouth in any case," but this time I kept it shut and listened to her speak. There was another guy on the table, probably her boyfriend, "who didn't like my presence," and he didn't understand a word of what was being said, "but saw it right to nod nonetheless," every time she looked at him. I didn't like the guy too much, and told her in the language, she laughed out loud and looked at him again, he nodded again.
This much I garnered from her, that to be skilled at the language, I needed the following things :
1. Real Time Skills.
2. Should have taught somewhere.
3. Meet people from the culture.
4. Travel to the country of origin.
I asked her for her phone number and she was quick to hand it over, "call me anytime," she said, "You have been a great help," I answered back, "hope to see you again," and we parted ways. It had been the one most productive hour of my life.
Peer Support, Nothing Beats It.
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