The purring of the female translator

Perhaps more than one freelance translator will see themselves perfectly reflected in these lines

Three felines live with us at Sol Marzellier Traductores ^TM: Bimba, Nilo, our magnificent Carthusians, and Bella, adopted, our little Ebony Princess.

Cats are not as surly as most people think, in truth they are very territorial, home bods, and very much their masters’ property.

They are so attached to their owners that it is normal for them to keep their masters’ company while they are working, and from such circumstances very funny situations arise.

We no longer work like we did years ago, with paper, pen and quill, we all sit in front of screens, and we move thanks to a mouse and keyboard, and the printer/scanner tends not to be very far away.

But what these little devils do not realize is that a translator’s desk cannot be turned into Comanche territory (and should not be either!)

Bimba clamors for my keyboard, extremely smooth and easy to use (already the fifth such catlike foray), and she soon learnt to change the language (Wow! This is Japanese, how do I reset it back to Spanish?) and to send emails by himself (Sol, we just received a quite strange message from you, what did you mean?), and to turn my translations into veritable hieroglyphics (The     current         contract      has      been     concluded        between dzlkhs. kjhsrkjwkyj3654549º30º89401979q385q38ujhbdjfb54…).

Nilo is much more fond of the cables (which we have already had to replace countless times), he is younger and more playful, and the day cannot end without Nilo romping in a tangle of scratched and nibbled cables, with him so happy to do this.

Bella’s passion is for the printer, not only because it gives off heat most of the time, but because she can survey what is happening in the street, and those flashing little buttons and strange noises drive her mad (N.B. We are about to buy a new one, no comment.)

Once the fifteen minutes of madness are over, one of them will crash out on my desk, underneath the light, and begin to purr before falling asleep.

That is a magical moment where I feel more concentrated, my work energy restored, and in a good mood.

And it is a fact that a cat’s color counts for a lot: black cats avert negative energy and provide wisdom and knowledge. Grey colored cats bring love, happiness, good fortune, as well as emotional stability.

And in addition, whenever I am faced with a long and arduous task, and my kitties are taking a nap elsewhere, I fetch one of them and place it on my desk.

Sol, CEO of Sol Marzellier Traductores ^TM.