{"id":46450,"date":"2018-03-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gengo.com\/uncategorized\/faces-gengo-facundo\/"},"modified":"2025-02-07T15:01:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T06:01:59","slug":"faces-gengo-facundo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gengo.com\/community\/faces-gengo-facundo\/","title":{"rendered":"Faces of Gengo: Facundo"},"content":{"rendered":"A Gengo translator in multiple language pairs, Facundo joined our roster of esteemed Wordsmiths<\/a> last year. Since he started working on our platform five years ago, he has been enjoying the flexibility and the content variety Gengo offers. Discover his must-have translation tools and his favorite quote from the patron saint of translators.\r\n\r\nNationality:\u00a0<\/b>Argentinian\r\nLocation:<\/b> Argentina\r\nOccupation:<\/b> Full-time professional translator\r\nGengo translator since:<\/b> 2012\r\nLanguage pairs:<\/b> English-Spanish, Latin American-English, French-English and Japanese-English\r\n\r\nWhat languages do you speak?<\/b>\r\n\r\nSpanish and English and, to a lesser extent, Japanese, French and Mandarin.\r\n\r\nIf you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be and why?<\/b>\r\n\r\nArabic, because it’s one of the world’s five most spoken languages and I’d love to communicate with the people of different cultures that speak it.\r\n\r\nDo you have experience living in other countries? If so, where?<\/b>\r\n\r\nI have lived in Taiwan and also stayed for short periods of time in other countries like the UK.\r\n\r\n
\"\"

At the Teapot Mountain in Taiwan, where he lived for a year and a half.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\nOn a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy being a translator and why?<\/b>\r\n\r\n9\/10. Using my linguistic skills to help people communicate is very fulfilling and I am more productive as a freelancer than doing a 9-to-5 job.\r\n\r\nHow has translating for Gengo impacted your life?<\/b>\r\n\r\nAfter seeing the new types of texts that need to be translated, it’s helped me think about my profession in a different way. Due to its flexibility, working for Gengo also allows me to move around the world and organize my own schedule. I absolutely love Gengo for this!\r\n\r\n

\"\"

Facundo’s workspace at home<\/em><\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\nWhen you were growing up, what did you aspire to become?<\/b>\r\n\r\nAn animator, a basketball player and a writer\u2014I haven’t given up on this last one.\r\n\r\nWhat quote do you live by?<\/b>\r\n\r\n\u201cGood, better, best. Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is your best.\u201d It\u2019s been attributed to American professional basketball player Tim Duncan but it’s actually by Saint Jerome, the patron saint of translators!\r\n\r\nName three of your favorite translation \/ language-learning tools.<\/b>\r\n\r\nGoogle Translator Toolkit<\/a> is a good way to handle Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files. For Japanese, I use the hover-over dictionary, Rikaikun<\/a>. Finally, Ankidroid<\/a> is a useful flashcard app for learning new words.\r\n\r\nRecommend three of your favorite language-related books\/films.<\/b>\r\n\r\nMy top pick is 1984<\/em> by George Orwell. While a bit extreme, I like that the book illustrates how language can be used to shape thought. Alice in Wonderland<\/em> by Lewis Caroll is also one of my favorites. This classic title is a playful exploration of language that touches on topics like power in communication. Lastly, The Translator’s Invisibility<\/i><\/a> by Lawrence Venuti. I studied translation at university and this book made a lasting impression. It shows how many different decisions translators can make even though we don’t get credit for them.<\/span>\r\n\r\n

\"\"

In his beautiful hometown, Argentina<\/em><\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\nWhat are the three things you enjoy most about Gengo?<\/b>\r\n\r\n1. Technology: Such as built-in glossaries and translation memory.\r\n<\/span>2. Community: This ties in with technology in the translator-developer section, team projects using Memsource.\r\n<\/span>3. Content: I mainly translate online content, which is something I think we’ll be seeing increasingly more of in the future.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhat advice would you give to new or aspiring translators?<\/b>\r\n\r\nFocus on the purpose that the target text will serve.\r\n\r\nWhat advice would you give to your 18-year-old self?<\/b>\r\n\r\nThe sooner you start making mistakes and learning from them, the better.\r\n\r\nWant to become a Gengo translator?<\/strong>\r\n\r\n