{"id":858,"date":"2018-07-02T09:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T09:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/?p=858"},"modified":"2026-04-12T04:33:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T04:33:05","slug":"proust-questionnaire-feat-jenn-mercer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/2018\/07\/02\/proust-questionnaire-feat-jenn-mercer\/","title":{"rendered":"Proust Questionnaire – feat. Jenn Mercer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ata-fld-newsletter-logo\"<\/a>This is part of a continuing series of Proust questionnaires<\/a> answered by members of the FLD Leadership Council. Jenn Mercer is a French to English translator specializing in Legal, Financial, and IT translation. She has degrees in French and English from NC State University and a Certificate in French to English Translation from New York University. She is the current Assistant Administrator of the French Language Division.<\/p>\n

How did you get involved in translation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Quite deliberately, but after a rambling path through more mundane professions \u2013 and when I say mundane I am not kidding. Other translators have exotic backstories that involve traveling around the world and herding llamas, I worked for an insurance company and later prepared taxes. I loved learning about taxes in a way that still frightens people close to me, but was a fair premonition of some of the things I enjoy about translation.<\/p>\n

I love learning about complicated systems and how they fit together. This applies to both learning languages and the subject matter for the documents I translate. I don\u2019t just learn the minimum, I delve into exotic areas with little immediate practical application (ask me about fuel tax exemptions for watercraft).<\/p>\n

However, eventually I went back to school to finish my Bachelor\u2019s degree and find an actual profession rather than just a job. I started out majoring in English because, well, have you ever seen me in a bookstore? It\u2019s not a pretty picture unless you own the bookstore. I found a cool sounding course, Introduction to Translation, took, um, most of the French classes in preparation for it, so much so that I got a second major in French and started research on how to become a translator. There was even more work and studying after this, but my rambling path had paid off. I had detailed knowledge on a variety of subjects, particularly those others find boring, but are often more lucrative. I also had many business skills that I had learned in a cubicle, along with a firm desire to never again find myself back in one.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>What subject areas do you translate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Legal, Financial, and IT. Legal and financial are easy enough to understand from my work background. IT makes sense because I studied programming for a few years (it was a rather rambling path) and one of my jobs was in Tech Support for an IT logistics company.<\/p>\n

What talent would you most like to have?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>I\u2019d like enough musical talent to at least be able to play an instrument. I tried the ukulele, which is supposed to be as easy as it gets and I can\u2019t even tell when it\u2019s in tune.<\/p>\n

Tell us about a particularly interesting project you have worked on.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked on translations of two books. One is \u201cCan Finance Save the World\u201d by Bertrand Badr\u00e9, which I co-translated with Carolyn Yohn. It looks at what financial tools can do in an entirely different way and it was quite refreshing. I also was part of a team translating a \u201cbook\u201d that is actually part of a video game. The language in it was deliberately archaic and over the top. It\u2019s still in pre-release, but I\u2019ve been able to see a few previews with people\u2019s reactions to it, which is a lot of fun \u2013 particularly when you translate a lot of things that you are not sure anyone ever reads.<\/p>\n

Where would you most like to live?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a library, preferably an enormous one with comfy chairs and hidden passages.<\/p>\n

Tell us something surprising about yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if either of these things are surprising, but I have a few passions that do not come up often in translation. I am a major comic book fan (mostly Marvel) and have a rather extensive pull list at my local comic book store. I also keep tropical fish, which is a nice quiet hobby for a translator.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favorite word or phrase in French or English?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is always hard to pick an absolute favorite anything, but I have \u201cAu milieu de l’hiver, j’ai d\u00e9couvert en moi un invincible \u00e9t\u00e9<\/em>\u201d tattooed on my left shoulder, so that makes the cut. It is reminder to me that there is always light, even when things seem the bleakest.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is your favorite quote?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

On a lighter note, I have two movie quotes that motivate me as a freelancer:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cCoffee is for closers\u201d from Glengarry Glen Ross. I\u2019ve modified this rule to mean that I\u2019m only allowed to grab Chipotle for lunch when I have a big project.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. \u201cWhen someone asks if you are a god, you say yes\u201d from Ghostbusters. This reminds me that sometimes a bit of extra self-confidence is actually the safest course of action.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \u00a0<\/strong>Do you have a hero?<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \u00a0<\/strong>Thor, Goddess of Thunder (KRA-KA-THOOM!).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      This is part of a continuing series of Proust questionnaires answered by members of the FLD Leadership Council. Jenn Mercer is a French to English translator specializing in Legal, Financial, and IT translation. She has degrees in French and English from NC State University and a Certificate in French to English Translation from New York … Continue reading Proust Questionnaire – feat. Jenn Mercer<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-proust-questionnaire"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4882,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858\/revisions\/4882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ata-divisions.org\/FLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}