Our third installment introduces us to Rainer. He’s from Schwalmtal, a little town in Germany’s Lower Rhine region halfway between Duesseldorf and the Dutch border. Beneath a focused working style is someone who’s no slave to his work. Rainer is quick to unplug and take to the streets for a head-clearing jog. He works in his tracksuit, ever ready to move from one activity to the next. This running theme continues in his approach to his career: by prioritizing mastery, Rainer is living proof that slow and steady wins the race. Which leaves only one burning question: are tracksuits the workwear for the translator of the future?

Do you translate full-time? What is your special area of expertise?

I work flexitime dependent on the amount of work (0-16 hours a day). In my first year, I only aimed at making my mark in the field of translation. Money did not count much for me those days. Learning years are not earning years, I said to myself. That is true in Germany as well.

As my first career was in IT, I am well-versed in the translation of apps and software manuals. When I started my career in 1967, the main input to computers were punched cards, which you see only in museums nowadays. As handling cards quickly got boring to me, I switched to the position of application programmer at IBM Systems/360 mainframe computers, and one year later became the system programmer responsible for adding features to Multiple Virtual System (MVS). With the advent of the internet, I retrained to work as a system and database administrator at RS/6000 servers driven by AIX, an IBM Unix version. In 2007, I retired early at the age of 57. It may be hard to believe but I am still dreaming of computers every night.

Describe your office setup or workspace. What do you have on hand?

Tea and coffee help a lot. A laptop would not work for so many hours meaning that, yes, I am chained to a desk and a PC at home. I cannot listen to music while I am working. It would distract me too much. And I work in my tracksuit. Whenever I have got the time I do some jogging for relaxation.

What is the view like out your window or office? What kind of scenery are you looking at every day?

A small parking space, some houses, and calm and quiet scenery. Nothing to distract me from working.

And your workflow? Are there translation to-dos you check off every day, or an order of operations?

After switching on my PC, I first look for translation jobs and comments. The early bird catches the worm, you know. Next, I read and answer emails. At last, I get an overview of worldwide news by Google. I exercise during work, only once would not be enough. Multi-tasking? Either I focus myself on one task or I don’t. No CAT tools at present.

Based on your linguistic and cultural expertise, what are the best books you would recommend to others?

Good question. In order to train my language skills I prefer reading literature and biographies of people succeeding in life. My last one? Richard Branson’s Like A Virgin: Secrets They Won’t Teach You at Business School.

What is your favorite “translator’s snack” for while you work?

Fruit, salad, sandwiches, sometimes cheese, occasionally cold cuts. I like a slice of bread, drizzled with olive oil and covered with tomatoes like the Spanish do. No heavy food, of course.

Finally, if you had to give advice to your fellow Gengo translators, what are the best ways to relax and stay sane as a translator?

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” Do not become a workaholic. Unchain yourself from your desk, get up, leave your home and see what other people are doing. Practice a bit. Maintain your social contacts. And I am not talking of Twitter and Facebook, but real people made of flesh and blood.

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