Professional Translators: an Endangered Species (by Virginie Ségard)

I could also have entitled this book “Saving Translator Human”.
Professional translators know how to define themselves. They know their values. Unfortunately, they are also aware of the imminent threats to their activity. Are they a critically endangered species just like the red wolf or the Siberian tiger?
This work is not meant to blame anyone. It is intended to raise public awareness. Recently, I thought I was writing it with the strength born of despair. However, I finally resolved to complete it because I still dare believe the flickering flame of hope is not yet dying. I wrote it so that my life makes sense again in a world stricken by what seems to be an incurable loss of any public spirit and humanity. Rushing people annoy me and make me feel ill at ease. I am scared by, or rather feel pity for, people who are no longer able – have they ever been, I wonder – to suspend the wild course of their lives for a while to inhale the pleasant fragrance of a flower in spring, contemplate a starry sky on the night of a full moon or listen to a bird’s sweet melody at dawn. Have they ever been able to I wonder? It scares me just to think about it.
This treatise is not only aimed at the professional translator but also and especially at those who threaten him. It is intended to make people outside the professional translation sphere aware of the very nature of this activity. It is also aimed at people working in the translation field who still don’t really know what a translation is, thus turning it into a mere consumer good and delivering a dull speech totally centered on performance and money. Therefore, translation becomes an instrument of profit in a cold environment of manipulation in which the professional translator is scrambling to stay afloat.

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