The images posted on these pages are from my latest entrepreneurial project: island hopping in the Philippines.
About the Translation Project
It was the largest project I ever organized: about 3.5 million words from English into 11 languages. I put together a team of more than 100 translators, vettors and project managers, all communicating with one another through an online system I had developed in cooperation with a programmer. All participants were able to communicate with one another according to predefined patterns, such as translator with the lead translator, vettors and project managers, but not with one another.
This online system allowed me to manage this massive project in house (my flat) by myself. I was so busy for about three months I did not have time to move off my couch. Practically every night my favourite Indian restaurant delivered my favourite Indian dish, their spiciest dish and not even on their menu (lest they might suffer backlash from the Czech locals who do not have as trained a tongue as I do), and I did not even have time to go upstairs to bed for sleep, rather waking up occasionally on the couch to answer another wave of emails.
Since a large part of the project was translated into Spanish, my Latino colleagues, knowing where I was located, often asked me if I ever sleep at all.
This massive project gave me enough profits to realize a dream which was percolating in my noggin for years: with the online system I had developed I imagined I would be able to put together a large team to expand my operations without the need for an office and in-house staff. This would hypothetically free me from such constraints and enable me to fulfil a major dream I had – to travel freely around the world.
Once I wrapped up the project I upgraded my laptop and visited my mother in Vancouver for New Years. Then it was down to Seattle to stay with some friends and buy myself a larger van so that I can caress the coastline on my way south to finally enjoy some beach and sun and escape the frigid cold of Prague, where I was stationed at the time.
I came back with an awesome tan and decided for certain that this is exactly what I want. It took three years in the making and another big translation project to afford it, but eventually I put together my own, self-made campervan and ventured throughout Europe for the next five years.
Managed to make it as far as Cyprus, but with unbearable 50C temperatures during the summer and a soggy but bearable winter, I decided that this weather pattern also did not suit me.
So I made my switch to South East Asia, where I enjoyed the fine cuisine of Thailand for a few years. That was an excellent lifestyle, but too comfortable and I found the claws of stagnation creeping back into my life, so I piled what I could onto my motorcycle and headed out for another adventure.
Eventually found myself in Sandakan, Borneo, helping a woman run her hotel. I was appalled at how someone so inept could actually own and operate their own establishment, to the point I decided I must find a beach somewhere to develop my own resort.
That search eventually guided me to the Philippines, whereupon as soon as I stepped into my first cab and saw the first billboard with beautiful Filipino, I hollered to the driver: “THAT is what I have been looking for my entire life!”
My life’s journey to here has been quite an adventure, but I must admit that now married with two lovely children certainly is not the dreary, predictable routine I dreaded during my younger years, but remains completely joyful. And once the youngest of our critters gets old enough, we dream of hitting the road again, this time as a traveling family.
I find my life even more enjoyable now also for the reason that I never enjoyed translation work that much, and even less its management, because it was so technical. And with AI seemingly taking over the profession, not sure what options I would have for future survival. But I did enjoy the freedom it awarded me in terms of being able to work at home, and then more importantly taking my home to the road.
I hope these pages inspire you to live the life you dream of, and if you do decide to pursue a profession as a translator, I hope these pages may prove useful to you, as they are a product of running a translation agency for several decades, during which time I would put words to the net in terms of a vast library of translation resources. Hope you enjoy!
