Personal Statement

Distinguished teachers, good morning. My name is XX, a 22-year-old girl from XX province. And I majored in translation and interpreting in the past four years. When it comes to my love story with translation, I can still recall every important decision I made. Firstly, I chose translation as my major because I love language. For me, the magic of language lies beyond words and phrases. It is about love and share. My family moved to the town when I was about 10 years old. I was totally overwhelmed at the time. Because I had to say goodbye to my friends and be a new-comer again. And most importantly, I had to learn another dialect. Before I moved to the town, my family used to speak a dialect of our village. But now everyone around me spoke a different dialect that I couldn’t understand. So I had to start from scratch so as to keep pace with my classmates. Luckily, I was able to speak the dialect in a few months and translate my parents words into another dialect. That was my aha moment for language and translation.

Another reason is simply that I aspire to be a good translator. In the past four years, I had been an editor for the English website of our foreign language institution. I managed to translate news of the campus into English and uploaded it every week. The job is quite demanding yet meaningful. I learn from my tutors and teammates. They are willing to share and discuss translation with me. And the fulfillment and satisfaction of being trusted and appreciated are not only rewarding but compelling for me.

Great translators also guide me the way ahead. Isaac Newton once said,“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”The giants in the friend circle of translation are lights at the end of the tunnel to me. Whenever I read their translation works, I feel so humble and obliged. The persistence and patience that they dedicate into the cause of translation always encourage me to do a better job. I know that I can never be as great as them. But their spirits inspire me all the time.

Being a translator is a cutthroat competition in the era of english and technology. Yet it is a brave choice for me. I believe that there is a long long way to go for me. I hope that I shall have the opportunity to learn from all the teachers here.

雖然最后也沒用上，但寫了挺久的，不算浪費(fèi)啦。

一些感想：

不知道其他人怎么樣，我自己認(rèn)為女孩子總會(huì)underestimate themself. 和朋友聊天，她說(shuō)我講話語(yǔ)速不緊不慢，很沉穩(wěn)，適合去做口譯。這個(gè)評(píng)價(jià)讓我很驚訝，因?yàn)槲易约河X得能力不行，講話也吞吞吐吐，根本不是做口譯的料。

so then I started to believe that I tend to see myself in a negative way. Do other people know you better than yourself? I had no idea.

2017.05.07記

2018.06.06

寫完這篇PS已過(guò)去一年，當(dāng)初入學(xué)時(shí)的熱情已被現(xiàn)實(shí)消磨了一大半。

一方面是因?yàn)榉g學(xué)習(xí)的過(guò)程中受到了前所未有的打擊。初學(xué)者總是認(rèn)為自己可以做到“完美”的狀態(tài)，但實(shí)際上一路上都是“不完美”的聲音。很多時(shí)候都需要自我監(jiān)督、自我批評(píng)、接受別人的批評(píng)后還要鼓起勇氣、昂起頭來(lái)修改“面目全非”的譯文。這樣的過(guò)程，對(duì)自信心絕對(duì)是一種沖擊。任何自視甚高、狂妄自大的人做翻譯就能體會(huì)一下“一落千丈”的感覺。

有時(shí)想想，語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)帶給我什么？我覺得是一種“堅(jiān)持就會(huì)有效果”的信念。翻譯學(xué)習(xí)帶給我什么？可能就是一種“備受打擊還要咬牙堅(jiān)持”的態(tài)度。其實(shí)在真正的翻譯實(shí)踐中，你受到的打擊遠(yuǎn)比你受到的夸贊要多。一個(gè)耐得住寂寞，吃得了苦頭，承受得住打擊的人，想想還有些酷呢。

可是，我敢說(shuō)80%的翻譯學(xué)習(xí)者都難以越過(guò)眼前的大山。為什么呢？因?yàn)槿说谋拘跃褪菓卸璧?，就像人類天生嗜甜一樣。只有自律、?jié)制、有自制力的人才能跑完全程馬拉松。大部分人到最后不過(guò)是被人流推著往前走。有時(shí)候想想，那些拼命努力的人（尤其是那些已經(jīng)功成名就、完全可以享受人生的人）真的讓我佩服，有點(diǎn)英雄主義的色彩。一個(gè)個(gè)不斷對(duì)抗惰性的人在前面領(lǐng)路，后面一群群的人在跟隨，推著歷史的車輪向前。他們?cè)诤艉埃骸安灰艞?。?我要聽到他們的聲音。

另一方面是因?yàn)橄萑肓藢?duì)未來(lái)職業(yè)規(guī)劃的迷茫。研究生入學(xué)一年，第一學(xué)期剛適應(yīng)這邊的生活就放了寒假，第二學(xué)期準(zhǔn)備了五月份的考試，一眨眼又到了期末考試忙論文的時(shí)候。想家里人，相冊(cè)里只找到年前拍的照片。擔(dān)心我家今年高考的小妹，希望她考試順利，考上理想的學(xué)校。想見見大學(xué)同學(xué)和朋友，他們是我快樂(lè)的源泉之一。除了情緒上的波動(dòng)，我更擔(dān)心的是未來(lái)的就業(yè)問(wèn)題。我已經(jīng)半只腳踏進(jìn)了筆譯的大門，自知高手眾多，自知能力不夠，自知前面還有許多困難?，F(xiàn)在如果抽身，放下初心，我終究還是有些舍不得。但是，現(xiàn)在再進(jìn)入一個(gè)新的行業(yè)，一切歸零、從頭開始，我還能不能承擔(dān)這樣的機(jī)會(huì)成本？

目前也是走一步算一步，人參啊，總少不了迷茫。