I went almost two months without any translation jobs, and now suddenly, all at once, I get two big jobs that are due very soon. I knew that one of them was on its way, since a company I worked for in the past told me there were getting a 500 page document and were looking to break it up among their freelance translators. They asked how many pages I thought I could do between 2/27 and 3/12, and I said I could do about 30 pages. Then they sent it on Friday, all 30 pages, and said that actually it was due on 3/4--so I have eight fewer days to translate it.

Also, I got a call on Friday around 7 a.m. from a German who, thank God, was speaking English. I had sent an application to his agency at the beginning of February, and he asked, "Have you done any contract work?"

"I've only been a freelancer."

"No no, have you done any contract work for an agency?"

I thought he was asking if I had ever worked for an agency, so I said yes.

Then a little while later he sent the document and it turns out he meant had I ever translated a contract. Which, no, I hadn't, although I would have answered the same way. It was a five-page document which I would have asked around 80 € for, but I asked him how much he would like to pay and he said 150 €. So that was lucky. It was kind of fun to translate, too, because I was able to find what all the terms meant, and then I had to contract it up in my translation, make it contracty. There's also a translation forum I go to for help, and a few people gave really useful explanations of legal terms.

So I turned the contract in last night, and now I'm on to the catalog. For the first ten pages it was pretty easy, just product specs for which I was mostly able to figure out how to phrase it in English. Then I came to the middle of the document, where it switched suddenly from parts for heating systems, to parts for energy production plants. If anyone knows why these would be in the same catalog, I'd love for you to tell me. Anyway, now I have to figure out how things like building management systems, control protocols, cable ties, automation systems, setpoint values, and other things I'd never heard of all work together. I need a Rosetta stone-like document that is talking about the same sort of thing, in English, as my document is in German. If it's a dual language document, well that would be peachy.