Translation Services Promote Fun
by Lingo24, 15th October, 2007
When you think of translation services, you don’t automatically associate them with fun. However…
When you think of translation services, you don’t automatically associate them with fun. You may imagine them engaged in translating important legal case notes, life saving pharmaceutical formulae, peace promoting UN proposals or wealth enhancing business plans…but fun? No. Well, I had my preconceptions shattered recently, on a day out at the Science Museum in London. A rather elderly gentleman stopped me to ask for directions to the café and as I was heading that way myself, I told him that I would show him the way. We soon struck up a conversation over tea and biscuits and it turned out that the gentleman was a retired German High School Science Teacher. He was over in England to find a publisher for his book. In the first instance though, he was looking to find a UK translation service to convert his book to English before presenting it to any potential publisher. Naturally the conversation lead to his book and it transpired that the book was full of science experiments that illustrated some complex principles in an easy to understand fun way. Fun way? NO way, I told him. He was now though, determined that his book could educate and entertain even me! “How do you fancy working out the size of an atom?” He asked. Well, by this stage I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stop him, so I let him continue: “You will probably have noticed how on a wed day, any oil lying on the road, spreads forming a multi hued film. Well, some substances that spread like this form a monolayer…a layer only one atom thick.” “The fact that some substances form this monolayer is the basis of the experiment” he continued. “The chosen substance to form the monolayer is dissolved in another volatile liquid; a bowl of water is then dusted with fine powder and a drop of the previously prepared blended liquid is put into the bowl.” “The volatile carrier liquid evaporates leaving the monolayer that pushes the fine powder apart thus forming a discreet enclosed monolayer with an easily measurable area.” “By adding subsequent drops, the measurable monolayer area increases each time and by some simple mathematics, we can come to an approximation for the size of an atom.” Well, I was actually rather taken by the experiment and certainly by the quirky German accented explanation and yes, it had been fun. The accompanying explanation of the necessary maths had actually sounded quite easy too and by the end, I understood the teacher’s ‘angle’. If only I had had something like this whilst at school, it would have made learning lots easier. It was with some sadness that I finally bid my congenial acquaintance farewell. I had learned a lot from him and I had no doubt that if successful in his venture, many generations of school kids would look at Science in a completely different light. I wished him every success in having his book translated and in securing a publisher for his book; “Kleine abenteuer in Wissenschaft” or Small adventures in Science…to the best of my translating ability!
© Lingo24