A somewhat related post... 3

[apex1x]

Hey there,

I thought this was a good forum for this sort of post, well...

A question that I was hoping to get some advise on was, I am interested in career possibilities where I could combine my russian and some sector of IT.
Where is the demand and what sort of education/training would be involved?

Any advise/experience would be helpful.

 

[Thadeus]

The most obvious area to combine these two skills would be document translation. I used to work for a company that produced technical training courses for use around the globe. The would send out the courseware for translation into many languages.

~Thadeus

Just a thought... and there goes another... _{and another... and}

 

[RodKnowlton]

Application internationalization would be another field. Search for "National Language Support" to find out more about it.



Rod Knowlton
IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert pSeries and AIX 5L
CompTIA Linux+
CompTIA Security+

 

[Stella740pl]

Hi, apex1x,

I live in USA, and Russian as such is not a required skill in my job. I have to, or, rather, have an opportunity to use it, though, even if not in the way you are looking for .

First of the applications would be to communicate to many other Russian-speaking IT professional in my work place (well, if several other groups communicate here in their languages when no other people participating, why we can't, right?).

Second application is less frequent, but more work-related. Once in a while, I am asked to do some research on Russian sites for data other people need but cannot find elsewhere; and even once to find information on one of the Russian universities from which a prospective employee graduated.

Stella

 

[Dimandja]

Most IT related translation work is farmed out to firms specializing in (technical) translations. You probably should seek them out.

The wisdom here is that, no matter how well you think you know a language, translating correctly into another language is not that easy. It usually takes a professional translator to handle seemingly simple phrases like "Click here for help" into French, say.

IT jargon is notoriously anglocentric -- not easy to translate into anything else. I still can't think of a pretty good French word for "Click".

 

[Stella740pl]

Dimandja,

The wisdom here is that, no matter how well you think you know a language, translating correctly into another language is not that easy. It usually takes a professional translator to handle seemingly simple phrases...

Wholeheartedly agree. I've seen so many really bad translations, and a lot of them were done by people fluent in the language, but not professional translators; and some by translators who are not familiar with the subject enough.

 

[columb]

As an example, I saw ET in french and the key phrase 'ET phone home' could not be correctly translated. Maison, the word they used for home, is valid in the house sense but completely misses the 'place where I live' sense. I'm sure Speilburg would have used experience translators.

Columb Healy
Living with a seeker after the truth is infinitely preferable to living with one who thinks they've found it.

 

[apex1x]

Thanks for the advice so far...

I am not really looking into technical translation, as I would need to spend many years learing the technical jargon associated, and so I'm wondering what sort of aspect of the IT field or business that a well fluency of russian would be most benificial in.

???????

 

[Stella740pl]

apex1x, I know already from your old posts that you are in Canada and a recent high school graduate. Are working or go to school? What do you do/study?

I didn't want to say this at first, as most of us here don't like even the sound of it, but - outsourcing? I know that some IT work is outsourced to Russia, Ukraine, and a few more countries of former USSR. Not as much as to India, say, but still. For a manager coordinating this process, I believe, it is very beneficial to know both languages. But this is not a job for a beginner, though, it requires experience more often then not.

On the other hand, believe me, working in any aspect of IT in Canada, at least in big cities, you will have an opportunity to use Russian quite often - the way I do (see my post above). You don't have to use all the skills you have now in your job (say, as if you can cook at home, but don't have to look for a job as a chef), and you don't have to limit yourself to only skills you currently have - go learn new ones, you might find that you like something different from what you can even think of now.

Stella

 

[Stella740pl]

apex1x or whoever gave me the star:

Thanks. Glad you found my post helpful.

 

[Dimandja]

The first or the second star?... Your well researched posts always make us think and ponder a bit more.

 

[Stella740pl]

There is a second one, too? Thanks!

 

[apex1x]

You certainly have a solid perspective there, Stella.

I've actually graduated high school a number of years ago, and have since been studying Russian in conjunction with working. I recently came back from a year I spent in the Ukraine and am now looking for a profession to persue.

I have a strong background in most IT related fields and have solid experience in such a short period of time. Unfortunately, I've been fairly general in my persuit thus far and so its difficult to narrow a particular field down.

At this point I'm mainly wondering if its worth my time and effort to study the Russian language even further at an advanced University level. I'm open to suggestions about combining the language with something other than IT. If anyone has any comments or experience, it would be greatly appreicated.

 

[Stella740pl]

apex1x,

I've actually graduated high school a number of years ago...
Well, it shouldn't be much more than 2, since I was referring to thread656-374964 dated Oct 4, 2002.

Was that year in Ukraine that same church mission you were talking about? Can I gather from that that you studied Russian as a foreign language and it's not spoken in your parents' home?

See, a language is such a thing that you either use it or lose it. If you knew it from your childhood, then it would come back to you very soon after you get in the environment. If it's skill learned much later in the life, it's much harder to get it back.

I was born and grew up in Ukraine, got my Master's there. So even though Russian is my first language, I studied Ukrainian for many years in school as a required second language. I was nearly as fluent in it as in Russian, seriously. I also studied English as a foreign language, and had some topical knowledge of some other languages. When I came to USA, I had to speak only 2 - Russian at home, and English outside of it. Just 1 year later, I was trying to speak to a group of Ukrainian-speaking visitors, and I found that I couldn't do that any more! I still understood them pretty well, but wasn't able to come up with the words to express myself. The words coming to mind were all English. It effectively took place of my second language. They understood my problem, and we switched to Russian. That’s how it works.

So I can understand that you want to incorporate Russian into your career, or you might lose it otherwise.

Besides IT, in all countries with many Russian-speaking immigrants (USA and Canada in the first place), there is a whole industry of everything Russian, including importing/exporting, deli/grocery stores, book stores, pharmacies, travel agencies, shipping services, child care and tutoring services, immigration services, driving schools, computer stores (where you can buy, besides everything else, a keyboard with Russian letters marked, and dictionary/translating software), and many, many other. As a rule, this is usually the niche for slightly older immigrants, who are fluent in Russian, still have many years to work till retirement, but find it hard to learn English (or, in other countries, the language of the country) and return to their professions. They have plenty to offer and know their customer base very well. I am not sure that’s what you want to do, but you can look into a possibility. Maybe you can think of something that’s not already on the market but may find clientele.

On the other hand, many people learn languages just for the sake of knowledge. I can’t recall for the life of me now the name of that famous person who said you are a human as many times as many languages you know. You can learn a language just because you like learning languages, or because this particular culture is of interest to you, or because of some other reasons. If you learn Russian at an advanced University level, even if it’s not required for your job, a great wealth of classical literature will become open to you, that doesn’t even come close to the original when translated. You can always find people to talk to in order to keep it fresh. And you never know when it comes handy.

You see, when I attended English classes, I thought I was just getting an education. I didn’t actually know just how much I would appreciate having done that in not so many years.
Good luck to you.

Stella.

 

[Dimandja]

<aside>
>I can’t recall for the life of me now the name of that famous person who said you are a human as many times as many languages you know.

I think, to know a language well, one needs to understand the culture that created it.
</aside>

 

[CajunCenturion]

Do you mean the following from Ralph Waldo Emerson?

No doubt, to a man of sense, travel offers advantages. As many languages as he has, as many friends, as many arts and trades, so many times is he a man. A foreign country is a point of comparison, wherefrom to judge his own.

from “Culture,” The Conduct of Life (1860).

Good Luck
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[Stella740pl]

I think, to know a language well, one needs to understand the culture that created it.

Sure. And the other way around is true as well; one cannot completely understand the culture without learning the language it created.

 

[Stella740pl]

CajunCenturion,

Oh. Thanks. Although, to be frank, I was thinkingn in a completely different direction.

 

[CajunCenturion]

I'm not sure that it's the quote you're referencing. It immediately came to mind as it seemed to fit with your thoughts and with the discussion about understanding both language and culture.

But if that's not it, can certainly research further.

Good Luck
--------------
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[Stella740pl]

That's the thing, I'm not sure this is the one, because I seem to know the words for longer than I know this name. I cannot even recall what's the original language of the quote I'm referring to. But it's OK, this one fits closely the thought, so thanks for filling up the gap in the discussion. If I come across the one I'm trying to recall, I will post it here.