By Lee Eisenberg

Going to work in Monterey Language Services (MLS) is not like going to work at most other places.  This company, located in Marina, California, is like a summer retreat.  Each workday, you drive along Imjin Parkway, which then turns into Imjin Road.  The barren but impressive setting is bound to astonish anyone.  Finally, you arrive at MLS, found in a slightly secluded place a few miles from the Pacific Ocean.

The company is located in a one-story building, arranged a bit like a capital pi, and is just the opposite of the archetypal factory.  The windows, scattered throughout each room, give the MLS team a fine view of the landscape.  Although the team works in cubicles, these are not the overstuffed cubicles that often represent workplaces.  There is ample space with modern artwork, a very high ceiling, purple walls, and lots of lights.  It is a very contemporary, soothing setting.

The exterior consists of an atrium.  While eating lunch, one can walk around freely and relax in the sun.  There is a shared conference room, where the company hosts open parties.  There is also a shared kitchen where one can prepare coffee and tea, and microwave lunch.  My experience in translating real estate has prompted me to write about the ambiance and environment.

Working for MLS is an experience like no other.  Above all, MLS team members are left to their own devices when working.  It is wonderful to be able to operate in an environment where one is allowed the opportunity to function freely.  All in all, it is like summer vacation here.  As vacation starts, I would like to share this experience to kick off your cool summer journey, and encourage you to share yours with the world by posting your comments here.

Lee Eisenberg, one of our team members and Russian-to-English translators, shares a wonderful story about how he handles translation between two different cultures using the definition of “real estate” as an example, and how subject knowledge is important for a translator.

The picture of him was taken in St. Petersburg, Russia, standing on the frozen Gulf of Finland.  By walking north, one could theoretically walk all the way to Finland.

Full Story by Lee Eisenberg:

Language is the symbolic representation of culture so to produce a meaningful translation from one language to the next requires domain knowledge about the target culture.

The experience that helped me more than any other to understand the need for domain knowledge was my internship in a Moscow real estate office.  Translating Russian documents into English not only taught me the specific Russian translation to real estate (недвижимость), but also taught me how to think about real estate differently.

The word недвижимость literally translates to “immobility,” because real estate does not move once it is built.  This forces one to ask why real estate is called that in English; what does the concept of “real estate” mean?  So, I did some research and found a definition.  Most languages treat real estate as something physical, while English uses a legal definition.  There are more explanations of the words “real estate” at:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1555/why-is-it-called-real-estate

In conclusion, I would recommend practical translating experience in a specific domain in which one is translating to anyone who is entertaining a career in foreign language translation.