“It is challenging to have to be so flexible at work. But isn’t that just every job?” Mrs. Garcia writes. Her job shows the importance of writing jobs. A significant job many don’t often think about is a legal writer. As a legal writer perhaps even those in the technical writing field, have a skill in taking into account the importance of creating easily accessible and understandable documentation.
Mrs. Garcia born and raised in Staten Island, New York picked up and moved over 700+ miles. In her pursuit to find happiness and start a family. Starting from almost nothing she found herself taking up all sorts of occupations. Eventually, 5 kids and a buying her first house later she found herself working at a local law firm.
“The excitement I had when I realized I got the position was one of the greatest moments in my life.” She states. Thinking back, she believes perhaps she didn’t fully understand the impact of her work.
Mrs. Garcia held little to no legal background but that didn’t sway her even when tasks seem to get not only bigger but more complex. Going through pages and pages of important legal information in the hope to bridge the gap between clients and lawyers. Knowing the importance of any mistranslation could cause an error to her colleagues.
“I’ll never take advantage of being lucky enough to be raised in a bi-lingual household it helps in finding a good career.” Knowing Spanish is a big aspect of her job but knowing her audience and turning big legal terms into something clients can read and vice-versa is just as important.”
“Work is high-pace but taking your time to read and understand what you are translating, and rewriting is highly important.”
The job, despite the work haul, is modernly flexible. “Sometimes when I can’t make it to work, I can just work from home as long as I have access to the documents I’m working on.”
Being the only translator at her firm I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps it was challenging not having someone to go through and see if her work is accurately translated. She stated that despite her being the only person translating Spanish to English she is never too worried about miss translating not with access to so many sources these days.
“If I ever had an issue with a translation a word that seemed not to equate in either language, I knew that it was never something two important to find a similar word to convey.” With access to the world at her fingertips, she could simply just look up anything that left her puzzled.
Mrs. Garcia pushes the importance of helping those with those who may not come from the same academic knowledge or even their background but that doesn’t make their voice and right to be heard any less important. To not only fight for someone but also help them know what they are fighting for is all-important.
Mrs. Garcia’s tips on the writing field
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Practice makes perfect remember no one is a walking dictionary
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Know your audience and use terms/synonyms accordingly
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Double sometimes triple check
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Confine in you colleagues for question
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Study and learn things you translate you don’t have to be active in the field to be knowledgeable about it.