| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Poll: Was your first job related to languages? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Helena Chavarria wrote:
When I was 14 and 15, I was a 'babe' (a young dancer) in two Christmas pantomimes ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantomime) and I worked in a fruit and vegetable shop during the summer holidays when I was 14.
Off topic: I wanted to vote on this poll but I can't because it says that I have already voted. That's the second time that's happened to me. The first time I thought that there might be something wrong with my memory but this time, I'm sure I haven't voted.
Hi Helena,
We recently discovered a bug that affected poll voting on the site. Our developers have already solved the issue, and everything should now be functioning properly. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and appreciate your understanding.
The poll will remain active for another day so as to enable user's voting.
The best,
Ana
ProZ.com Team
| | | | | Yes, it was Spanish teaching | Apr 15 |
I started working as a Spanish tutor, helping colleges students with their Spanish courses evaluations. Then, I started teaching Spanish for an academy online. I am still a Spanish teacher, and I love it, haha!!!
| | | | Cecília Alves 
Argentina
Local time: 11:14
Member (2011)
Inggris menyang Portugis
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I couldn't vote either, and the bug seems to go on, anyway...
Yes, as an English teacher to students at very different ages and backgrounds for almost a decade (and having taken different paths in between). Then, I decided to take another different path and enter the translation world, and here I am now 14 years later. 
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:14
Serbia menyang Inggris
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And came back?
'164 vote(s). You have voted on this poll.'
No, I have not!
Depends on what you call 'a job'. While studying, I had several 'summer jobs' - none in translating nor interpreting - that all required knowing a second language. When I got my first 'proper job', speaking French helped a lot to get it. Strangely enough, the 'proper job' was paying less than my 'summer job' - thanks to the weird system in Yugoslavia at that time, the scarcit... See more And came back?
'164 vote(s). You have voted on this poll.'
No, I have not!
Depends on what you call 'a job'. While studying, I had several 'summer jobs' - none in translating nor interpreting - that all required knowing a second language. When I got my first 'proper job', speaking French helped a lot to get it. Strangely enough, the 'proper job' was paying less than my 'summer job' - thanks to the weird system in Yugoslavia at that time, the scarcity of people speaking decent French etc.
So you could say that from the start I worked with/around languages. ▲ Collapse
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Philip Lees
Greece
Local time: 17:14
Yunani menyang Inggris
| Poll closing with no chance to vote | Apr 16 |
Ana Moirano wrote:
We recently discovered a bug that affected poll voting on the site. Our developers have already solved the issue, and everything should now be functioning properly. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and appreciate your understanding.
The poll will remain active for another day so as to enable user's voting.
This poll did not "remain active". It had closed before I had a chance to vote.
That is the second time this has happened this week.
Typical behaviour of the current ProZ site, it seems.
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The first project I handled was providing a summary of an article and proofreading which was somehow rewarding then (:
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Unlike my colleagues, I could vote, as you can see, but the usual mention «You have voted on this poll» isn't showing today…
[Edited at 2025-04-16 09:36 GMT]
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I worked as a waitress in Paris and I was bilingual, so my colleagues let me serve foreign people most of the time. I spoke English 50 % of the time, even with French people sometimes. My clients were so grateful that a waitress could speak English, or would try to understand them.
I can vote, but every new day, my vote seems to disappear from Proz... Or is it after every refresh?
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Alex Lichanow
Germany
Local time: 16:14
Inggris menyang Jerman
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Discounting any odd jobs I held before graduating, I kept working as a driver for a local car rental until my 2-year contract ran out (though, obviously, I was looking for jobs).
My first full-time job after that was in LQA for a video game localization company, so it was language-related.
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 15:14
Member (2015)
Inggris menyang Portugis
+ ...
I started out in Law before eventually diving into languages.
In addition, I also worked in a fashion boutique, in finance, and at a study centre with children and young people, but languages have always been with me along the way.
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I already voted no, but when I think about it, actually my first earned money were from doing papers while I was student.
It was like other students outsourced me for doing theirs papers, and it's been more than 15 years since.
| | | | Gerard Barry
Germany
Local time: 16:14
Jerman menyang Inggris
I worked in two call centres, where I was able to use my German, after graduating from university.
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Matthias Brombach
Germany
Local time: 16:14
Member (2007)
Walanda menyang Jerman
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I started my career with "true" professions: engineering and technical service. That made me too critical toward the foreign technical writers who wrote the manuals I had to translate, which led to too many questions about the content they didn't understand.
| | | | Edwin den Boer
Netherlands
Local time: 16:14
Member (2009)
Inggris menyang Walanda
| Related to language education | Apr 22 |
Some of my first temp jobs were academic: tutoring younger students in my high school's homework class, and research assistant as a university student. Tutoring was my first paid job, and the only one for which I was paid in cash - generously too. 🤑 Before I was legally allowed to work, my parents made me do things like delivering papers and helping farmers with the harvest. The reward was getting to eat. 😀 Other jobs I had as a student included working in a distribution center and doing d... See more Some of my first temp jobs were academic: tutoring younger students in my high school's homework class, and research assistant as a university student. Tutoring was my first paid job, and the only one for which I was paid in cash - generously too. 🤑 Before I was legally allowed to work, my parents made me do things like delivering papers and helping farmers with the harvest. The reward was getting to eat. 😀 Other jobs I had as a student included working in a distribution center and doing data entry.
Update: I forgot to mention I was once fired after working as a landscaper for two days. I was too meticulous, or too slow according to my supervisor, who didn't like working with nerds anyway. Dictionaries include many erroneous translations for tool we used to remove weeds (schoffel in Dutch), like 'hoe' (which has the blade pointing backwards) or 'spud' (which is narrower), but after some research, I found that it should be called a push hoe or a weeder.
I never had a steady job until I became a programmer after graduating with an MA in Literary Studies. While it was meant to be temporary source of income while I considered starting a PhD program, I enjoyed programming and data processing and stayed with that company for five years. This experience helped me to convince clients I understood IT and led me to specialize in software localization.
Even after starting my translation career, I worked as a mailman and as a courier occasionally, since I love being on the road. I can't pin it down to specifics, but having experienced all aspects of logistics gives me a feeling of confidence in translating supply chain management software.
[Edited at 2025-04-22 10:38 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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