Red Herring
middle-class woman of a certain age
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2010
- Messages
- 7,910
- MBTI Type
- INTP
- Enneagram
- 5w4
- Instinctual Variant
- sp/sx
When I was 7 years old I wrote a "book" (i.e. a short story I had made up about a talking camel that could entertain people with its fairy tales but its owner said telling stories is a useless skill! In the end they do receive some kind of material reward and everyone is happy), illustrated it and tied the pages together with a thread of wool. I was going to be an author. I kept making up stories and writing them down until into my teens.
Then, in my very early teen years, I no longer dared to do that and started to look around "realistic" professions. My Dad was a psychotherapist and I thought "Hey, I am a sensitive person, I could do that and help people like that". But that didn't last very long.
But at some point I even wrote a fictional text about some sort of superwoman who was an archeologist/science journalist who travelled the world, had adventures and was holding lectures around the world. Oh, and she lived in a tree house in the jungle. That's who I wanted to be as an adult even though I knew it was just an impossible fantasy.
Then as a teenager I thought about becoming a marine biologist. I even researched universities that offered that specialty. I came across an article about a small university in California ( I live in Germany) and thought this would be perfect.
The movie All The President's Men also impressed me a lot and for quite some time I wanted to become a journalist. But I knew I wanted to be a political journalist for some big shot paper or magazine (acually, I knew I wanted to work for Der Spiegel) and as I was aware that I'd more likely end up at some small crumpy regional newspaper, lucky to have a real contract rather than work as an easily dispensable intern - and I knew I'd probably be depressed in a situation like that.
Then, just a few months before graduating from highschool I read an article about interpreters at the European Parliament and that sealed the deal. I was good at languages and the article made it sound so sexy!
So I studied translation and interpreting. They told us that hardly anybody can make a living with interpreting alone and that you need to win the lottery first of you want to translate literature rather than business texts and technical manuals. D'oh!
There was a phase when I considered changing my major and becoming a school teacher like my Mum (only I would have taught English and History).
I graduated, set myself up as a freelance translator and interpreter after a brif stint with a language service provider and am now pretty settled in that career. I mostly translate (mainly busines contracts and some medical stuff) but also regularly travel out of town to work as an interpreter on international conferences or during business negotiations, etc.
Sometimes I still dream of becoming an writer, to be honest. But it can be interesting work, offers some variety and continuous learning since you constantly have to research your way into different subjects - very INTP-friendly! I also have very flexible working hours, am my own boss and can work on the sofa, in my pyjamas. That flexibility is of great value as I am also currently raising a toddler.
Then, in my very early teen years, I no longer dared to do that and started to look around "realistic" professions. My Dad was a psychotherapist and I thought "Hey, I am a sensitive person, I could do that and help people like that". But that didn't last very long.
But at some point I even wrote a fictional text about some sort of superwoman who was an archeologist/science journalist who travelled the world, had adventures and was holding lectures around the world. Oh, and she lived in a tree house in the jungle. That's who I wanted to be as an adult even though I knew it was just an impossible fantasy.
Then as a teenager I thought about becoming a marine biologist. I even researched universities that offered that specialty. I came across an article about a small university in California ( I live in Germany) and thought this would be perfect.
The movie All The President's Men also impressed me a lot and for quite some time I wanted to become a journalist. But I knew I wanted to be a political journalist for some big shot paper or magazine (acually, I knew I wanted to work for Der Spiegel) and as I was aware that I'd more likely end up at some small crumpy regional newspaper, lucky to have a real contract rather than work as an easily dispensable intern - and I knew I'd probably be depressed in a situation like that.
Then, just a few months before graduating from highschool I read an article about interpreters at the European Parliament and that sealed the deal. I was good at languages and the article made it sound so sexy!
So I studied translation and interpreting. They told us that hardly anybody can make a living with interpreting alone and that you need to win the lottery first of you want to translate literature rather than business texts and technical manuals. D'oh!
There was a phase when I considered changing my major and becoming a school teacher like my Mum (only I would have taught English and History).
I graduated, set myself up as a freelance translator and interpreter after a brif stint with a language service provider and am now pretty settled in that career. I mostly translate (mainly busines contracts and some medical stuff) but also regularly travel out of town to work as an interpreter on international conferences or during business negotiations, etc.
Sometimes I still dream of becoming an writer, to be honest. But it can be interesting work, offers some variety and continuous learning since you constantly have to research your way into different subjects - very INTP-friendly! I also have very flexible working hours, am my own boss and can work on the sofa, in my pyjamas. That flexibility is of great value as I am also currently raising a toddler.
