Charcter etymology for qing2(goddess of frost and snow)

[:-)]

Hi Mr. Campbell,

Thanks for responding with clarification.

As far as professional translating/editing, I guess I wouldn't meet your company's requirements. Basically, my Cantonese & Mandarin skills are limited to translating official government documents from American-English into spoken Cantonese & Mandarin. That's what I currently get paid to do. I can't fluently read Chinese without a dictionary (which is very time consumeing) but I'm currently studying Chinese etymology during adult night school this semester which I am aware of isn't very much use to your organization. I hope to use this skill to read Chinese poetry as I am planning a theme trip to China next year if I could get the time off.

What I can offer your organization is polishing pre-translated documents into English for the American audience. I should be able to have a basic personal website set up by the end of the semester; and, there I could post some of my multi-level style of writing. I'll notify you if and when that becomes a reality. I must admit, to my embarassment, that I do have some prior grammatical errors posted on this BB but that's because I last minute deleted words without considering the proper sentence structure as I anxiously entered the "post" button. Believe me, I'm ususally not that careless on second drafts.

Anyway, my next project for 2003 is to learn the GuZheng Zither so I can incorporate it's beautiful sound into my music. I've got one that's been collecting dust for over a decade due to a lack of available instructors locally; however, it's a different story now. What instrument do you play?

[James Campbell]

Send your CV to Mike who is our project mgr. You can reach him at translation at glossika dot com. I'm not directly involved.

I'm not familiar with the guzheng zither. I was trained as a concert pianist. I studied in conservatories all over Europe when I was a kid, then studied piano in university in America.

[:-)]

Thanks again, Mr. Campbell.


Here is what a GuZheng looks and sounds like:

http://www.chineseculture.net/guqin/ins ... glist.html


The GuZheng, PiPa, & Erhu are the 3 instruments which I believe captures the true soul of Chinese music. There are others but these instruments are best represented.

Enjoy!

[sfboy]

"Basically, my Cantonese & Mandarin skills are limited to translating official government documents from American-English into spoken Cantonese & Mandarin. That's what I currently get paid to do. I can't fluently read Chinese without a dictionary (which is very time consumeing)"

Hey man, where'd you get that job at? I've been trying to look for a job like that for ages! I can read both ChineseEnglish fluently without a dictionary and I can translate English to Chinese and vice versa. And all I have is a deadend job at UCSF.

[:-)]

sfboy,

My job is rewarding to me because I enjoy helping people, however, a lot of others who are doing interpretating really hate this job and find helping people to be a burden even though that is what they are being paid to do.

Originally, I was hired to do my job in English, but by default, due to a lack of bilingual interpreters and hiring freezes, I began to offer my skills in spoken Cantonese and Mandarin. Reading Chinese is not part of the job.

I don't think you can survive in San Francisco on a starting salary for a government interpreter but after many years of accrued seniority, you can make a decent living. I was fortunate because all my compounding raises were tied to the booming economy. You may get more money for being a court interpreter or case worker but that is nothing I'm interested in persuing.

Because it is a government job, you have to pass an exam and then be recruited by a government agency due to how well you've scored. That process can take up to a year. All government agencies in California will have at least one opening for a Cantonese interpreter in LA, Sacramento, or SF Bay but it's the one who speaks both Cantonese & Mandarin who will get the job because the government only has a budget to hire Cantonese speakers but they are getting 2 for 1 if you speak Mandarin as well.

You may want to check with your local government sponsored job agency for more specific details. The salary & benefits packages are better for local governments followed by state followed by federal.

Good Luck.

[sfboy]

I wouldn't know why someone would hate interpreting. It's the best thing to do to help others communicate. Why are those people that hate interpreting still holding up the jobs??? Why don't they quit and let people who are really interested get in?!?

Yeah, I know what you mean about the living expenses here in San Francisco. I'm barely surviving on my puny salary... You know, a court interpreter sounds very promising, especially with the huge Cantonese population here in SF. I remember I was in traffic court once down on 850 Bryant and a couple of Cantonese ladies were really sweating it when the clerk started asking them real simple questions. Lucky I was there to help them out, they seemed so grateful.

As for the government job prequisite, is it the same as what postal workers go through? Also, even though I work for and am paid by UCSF, I am actually a federal employee, will I need to go through all the procedures or would I get priority? heehee

What is the local government sponsored job agency anyways? Would you be kind enough to share their contact information... is it EDD or something?

Hey, thanks alot for all your detailed information.

[:-)]

The problem many of these interpreters have is that this is a dead end job for them. As a Cantonese interpreter, you are not just dealing with standard Cantonese, but dealing with provincial Cantonese and various types of Cantonese from other provinces and countries. The same too with Mandarin. Not every Mandarin speaker speaks standard Mandarin. They can understand me more than I can understand them because my Mandarin is standard and there's isn't. Standard Mandarin has 4 tones, but that is not true for provincial or colloquial Mandarin. Therefore, it is easy to see the frustrations encountered by interpreters.

People just can't quit their jobs because they hate it, otherwise, why are you still at your job? The benefits are good. The location is good. Bills need to get paid...

The procedure is similar to the postal service. If you are already a federal employee, consult your union to see how you can move around the federal government.

EDD is a government sponsored job resource center, and a good place to start. Other communities have one-stop job centers financed by the government.

[ekkuna]

I checked the unicode fonts, couldn't find it in there. And it's not in the extension B either, it would be around U+290E0 if it were there.