Laws of translation #1

The first and most fundamental law of translation is that people either want you to do some job while you're on a well-deserved holiday (and when you're up and running again, the phone is solemnly dead) or they want something translated (usually something big and packed with specialistic jargon) when all you want is for the whole wide world to leave you alone and let you die in peace of exhaustion. I think is because of quantum. This is a much more convenient explanation than the one where people are just inconsiderate morons and have an inclination to bugger you at the wrongest of moments. In other words, the First Law Of Translation says that translators never work when they should and always work when they don't want to. Well, that's the beauty of this job. Anyway, it's good to remember that there are still people out there who have it worse. The inmates in Guantanamo, for example. Or Albanians.