The best laid schemes of Mice and Men
oft go awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
Translated: Robert Burns, To a Mouse (Poem, November, 1785)
Scottish national poet (1759 - 1796)
Sometimes life happens at such a fast clip we are all left breathless. We do our best to stay on top of money, family, friends, business - and we forget to stay on top of our own physical and mental health.
It is important to schedule break time into the work day. Anyone who starts as soon as the day breaks and works until well after dark knows how exhausting it can be. The life of a private practice interpreter is often hit or miss, feast or famine. It is tempting to fill the schedule full while the work is available and promise oneself a good rest when the work slows.
The problem is the human body needs more recuperation time than that. Even six hours of sleep can restore the muscles that were stressed by a day of interpreting. A half an hour with one's eyes closed can help the mind process the linguistic overload of a long assignment. A short walk can stretch muscles cramped from long hours of sitting. Watching a silly something on You-tube or Hulu can lift the spirits after a hard job.
We have to learn to take care of ourselves. Most interpreters, as a care-giving profession, sacrifice themselves for their family or their community. The best and the healthiest know when to say "no." The world will still turn, the bills will still be there, the work will still come.
You will just be healthy enough to face whatever life throws at you.
Take care of you - you are the only "you" we've got.
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Active versus Passive voice.
Active and passive voice sentences describe the same action in different ways. Active voice is generally preferable for writing and formal speaking because it is clear and consice.
People tend to fall into passive voice very easily when they are trying to describe something or tell a story. Lecturing professors and off-the-cuff speakers are notorious for stringing together long stretches of prose that is entirely passive.
How do you tell the difference between passive and active voice when you hear it?
The linguistic explanation is that active voice sentences have a subject-verb construction, while passive sentences have a verb-subject construction.
Active: The dog bit the man.
Passive: The man was bitten by the dog.
Both sentences mean the same thing, but say it very differently.
One way to spot a passive sentence is to look for a series of unnecessary words. "The man was bitten by the dog" uses 7 words to say the same thing that "The dog bit the man" accomplished in 5. It doesn't seem like a huge difference in a short example, but it can get really cumbersome in a more complex sentence.
Passive voice also tends to make the listener wait until the entire sentence is over before the meaning is clear. Active voice tells you who did what right away. You can remove the linking words from an active sentence and still understand what is being said: dog bit man.
Take out the links from a passive sentence and it is a little strange: man bitten dog.
In some cases, passive sentences leave out the subject entirely. "The man was bitten" doesn't say who - or what - did the biting.
Understanding the difference between active and passive voice can help you communicate more effectively in many different situations. Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/5cc99h.
People tend to fall into passive voice very easily when they are trying to describe something or tell a story. Lecturing professors and off-the-cuff speakers are notorious for stringing together long stretches of prose that is entirely passive.
How do you tell the difference between passive and active voice when you hear it?
The linguistic explanation is that active voice sentences have a subject-verb construction, while passive sentences have a verb-subject construction.
Active: The dog bit the man.
Passive: The man was bitten by the dog.
Both sentences mean the same thing, but say it very differently.
One way to spot a passive sentence is to look for a series of unnecessary words. "The man was bitten by the dog" uses 7 words to say the same thing that "The dog bit the man" accomplished in 5. It doesn't seem like a huge difference in a short example, but it can get really cumbersome in a more complex sentence.
Passive voice also tends to make the listener wait until the entire sentence is over before the meaning is clear. Active voice tells you who did what right away. You can remove the linking words from an active sentence and still understand what is being said: dog bit man.
Take out the links from a passive sentence and it is a little strange: man bitten dog.
In some cases, passive sentences leave out the subject entirely. "The man was bitten" doesn't say who - or what - did the biting.
Understanding the difference between active and passive voice can help you communicate more effectively in many different situations. Learn more at http://tinyurl.com/5cc99h.
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