Dear Bernie, thank you for your report. I regret I couldn't go. But that translation was very important. Well, hope to see you all in the Barcelona meeting. Mirta.

The Girona Powwow

The time was 13:30. A small number of casually dressed individuals sidled into Girona station. The arrangement was that they were to meet their contact at the bottom of the escalators, but most of them had forgotten the exact meeting point and shuffled around the foyer of the station eyeing strangers and trying to ascertain whether they bore any remote resemblance to digital images they had seen on Proz profiles. If this had been a meeting of the Oscar Wilde Appreciation Society they would have all worn gardenias in their button holes, but as it was a gathering of Prozers they had not organised any secret sign beforehand.

Luckily, thanks to mobile phone technology, Anne Murray gathered Berni Armstrong and his wife Carmen from the coffee bar and as the three of them stood at the bottom of the escalator trying to look conspicuous, within a few minutes Manel Kirchner, Ailish Maher, Nuria Villena and Tanja Singer had shyly approached and asked: “Are you here for the Powwow?”

The initial “break the ice” conversations revolved around the simple fact that nobody felt that anyone else resembled their photo. Anne noted that Mirta had sent apologies for being unable to come due to last minute work commitments and relayed regrets from Martin who was having a nightmare time installing software on his new computer. Having waited until shortly before 14:00, the group decided that they were probably the sum total of those who were going to come and set off in two cars and a motorbike to Anne’s place.

It was a fairly cool day for May and rain threatened, but Anne had such an incredible rooftop balcony that everyone agreed to brave the fresh breeze, and any impending downpour, and eat the food that each had brought “up on the roof”.

So, with the cloud shrouded Pyrenees as a backdrop, the group sat down to a lunch which consisted of taboule (couscous salad), hummus, potato salad, salmon croquettes, hams and cheeses – including a creamy Irish variation on Camembert all polished off with local breads and a delicious home baked bread that Anne had made. As in any gathering of people who have never met before, there were one or two people who appeared more reserved than others and a couple of others who generally took the initiative in starting conversations. However, between the good food and good wine available, everyone soon became more relaxed in each other’s company and before long there was a real sense that friendships were budding that would outlast the afternoon.

The topics of conversation were wide ranging and took in such non-translation related issues as the French elections, being held that day; comparing the pain of giving birth with a toothache (the latter surprisingly being voted more painful) and the value of internet chat and relationships struck up via that channel of communication. Then Manel and Tanja discovered a shared passion for Formula One Motor Racing, though the rest of the group appeared thankful that that topic did not hold sway for long.

Language and translation topics included the question of whether it is best to live in the country where your target language is spoken, or where your source language was spoken. Not surprisingly, no hard fast rule emerged on that one, as circumstances and individuals differ so much. The merits of qualifications were discussed; particularly the London Institute of Linguists exam, which two of the group had passed. Tanja was pumped for information about the value and practicalities of using Trados, which she uses every day. She noted that for a specialist area translator (she deals almost exclusively with chemical issues) then CAT tools were an absolute godsend.

Then the conversation turned to Proz.com. Life before and after the site was discussed and it was agreed that the site had immeasurably improved the lot of the lonely, long-distance freelancer. The sense of belonging to a community was strongly felt; the usefulness of the Kudoz system was highlighted (from both an asker and an answerer’s point of view); forums were seen as very positive; the tendency for some people to use Kudoz agree/disagrees to attack answerers was lamented; the value of powwows was agreed on, although, for all of those present, this was their first. Berni gave a long detailed account of what attendance at the Tuscany conference had been like and enthused about the idea of holding a similar conference in Catalonia. Some doubts about the site were raised, such as the doubtful value of the native speaker test, but altogether the site’s many positive aspects were felt to vastly outweigh any minor inconveniences.

At some point, the deteriorating weather drove everyone inside where animated conversations continued amicably for another hour before some members of the group began glancing at their watches and muttering about baby-sitters. Time had flown and all too soon goodbyes were being said at the door. But everyone stated that they hoped this would be the first of many contacts we would be making with each other and went off smiling.

So, altogether, the afternoon was a great success. It was especially gratifying for people to meet who had maintained prior contacts through the site, but also great to have it reaffirmed that behind those profiles were real people with real concerns who, while not necessarily working as members of a team, were certainly helping to forge links between individuals that aided a real sense of community among translators.

As everyone said who was there: “Look forward to the next one!”

Berni Armstrong
11/05/02


Participants (Country of Origin)

Anne Murray (Ireland)
Ailish Maher (Ireland)
Nuria Villena (Catalonia)
Manel Kirchner (Catalonia)
Tanja Singer (Germany)
Berni Armstrong (UK)
Carmen Garcia (Catalonia)

Hi all,
sorry about the delay on the report. I had a translation crisis to sort out early in the week (long story... for another pow wow)and then on Thursday a friend here in town suddenly died of cancer after two short months of battling the illness.
Kind of left me feeling unwilling to keep lively and postive.
Report to be written a.s.a.p.
Promise.
Berni

Well, I've been quire busy this week but I wanted to write a few words of gratitude to everyone that was there in Girona and I have to thank them too for the invaluable advice they gave me. For those who might be in two minds about going or not to the next one in BCN I'll tell you guys, it's definitely worthwhile. I'm not revealing the Girona powwow - I can't say this word yet ! - details because we are all looking forward to Berni's official report (C'mon Berni!). :)
Special thanks to hostess Mrs.Let's Go (translate into Catalan, folks) for making us feel like home (Did you give up smoking and blah-blah-blah?) and to Ailish for the professional advice on the journey back to BCN.
See you soon,
Manel

Hi Martin and all,

The BCN Pow Wow is a reality. Check out the following URL
and sign up for it! Henry will be there!

http://www.proz.com/powwow/247

Cheers,

Berni

I told Anne a couple of days before the powwow that it would be hard for me to make it because of my workload - and the next day my computer died on me! I spent all Saturday morning at La Maquinista and finally bought a new computer, then spent most of Sat. afternoon-evening setting it up, installing software, etc., and then ALL Sat. night and Sunday morning RE-TRANSLATING the stuff I had done since my last backup on Thursday (2 full days of work, over 8,000 words). I lost Anne's address as well, and was unable to contact her to tell her I wouldn't be able to go to Girona. I hope you had a splendid time, and that I'll get the chance to meet everybody soon in person. Somebody say something about a powwow in BCN in July? Is that a firm proposition or is it just in the larval stage for now?
Cheers to everybody,

Martin

P.S. - Anne, would you mind re-sending me your info - e-mail, phone no., etc.?

Anne, Manel Kirchner, Berni & Carme, Tania, Nuria.

Glad to have met you all, I for one had a very nice day and was very glad to have met you all. Photos are definitely deceptive, everyone looked different, but once over the initial surprise...! But I'll leave all the anecdotes to Berni.. !!!

Please feel free to write to me at any time...and hopefully we will meet in july in Barcelona.

Ailish

I do apologies for missing the powwow, but my son who came home from hospital on Thursday had a relapse and we spent Sunday back at hospital. I wouñd have loved to have met you all. and Bernie.. size doesn't matter if the quality is ok, which I'm sure it was ;-)) Vero

I'll be getting a report together a.s.a.p, but meanwhile this is just to say how nice it was to have met those of you who could make it yesterday.

We were few... but it's not size that matters, after all... (..is it? :-)

Those who didn't make it... Well, I hope you get to the next one, because these meetings leave you feeling less isolated behind that monitor screen and help to give another dimension to the proz Xperience.

See y'all in BCN?

Berni