Inkább magyarul olvasnád ezt az oldalt?
About Me
Flywheel Language Solutions
Flywheel, noun. a heavy revolving wheel in a machine that is used to increase the machine's momentum and thereby provide greater stability or a reserve of available power during interruptions in the delivery of power to the machine.
Definition by Oxford Languages
At Blue Heron Orchard in Northeast Missouri, we use a manual cider press to grind apples for apple sauce and apple butter. The machine has a big, green flywheel that stabilizes the rotary motion, making our job easier when we grind up several bushels of apples.
The way I approach my role as a translator, editor, and even as a parent, resembles the function of this flywheel – that is why I chose the flywheel as the logo for my business.
Backstory — More about the Orchard Flywheel
It is a winter morning at Blue Heron Orchard, and our small community is making apple butter — owner Dan, his wife, a couple of kids. A neighbor stops by, a friend joins us later. We sort and wash the apples, tossing aside some, cutting out bad parts of others. The Red Delicious are big this year, juicy. The Winesaps are always smaller, but they are hardy and healthy; they are also the last ones that came off the trees. Galas are an earlier apple, they are softer by the winter, losing some of their crispness. It takes more work to clean them. Next, we take the washed apples to the manual grinding machine. The kids load the apples from the trays into the hopper, a handful at a time, making sure there is a continuous flow from tray to grinder to bin. Across from them, one of us is turning the wheel of the machine. Keeping a steady rhythm helps, because it is going to take some time to crunch all the apples we need for the butter we are making, over one hundred jars. Galas are a breeze to grind. It takes little pressure of the teeth of the machine to crunch these softer, medium-sized apples. The first bin is full, and now comes a tray of Red Delicious. The kids are doing well, even though the apples are so big they can only pick up one at a time. The wheels of the machine are spinning towards each other, but the teeth of the grinder have no hold — the apples keep bouncing up and falling back down, not getting caught. Dan keeps moving the turning handle and asks the kids to load more apples to prevent the bouncing. With more apples in the hopper, we hear the juicy fruit getting crushed, one after the other. Every time one gets caught between the teeth, Dan feels resistance at the turning wheel. He keeps going, and once he reaches a good speed, the jerking motion stops — the flywheel is now stabilizing the movement by releasing energy just when it is needed. With the Red Delicious all done, lots of tough little Winesaps wait their turn on the next tray. They are not easy to work with, but we would never leave them out of the butter — this variety gives the Blue Heron Orchard products a distinct flavor you can recognize instantly. The kids are loading, Dan is turning, and the flywheel does what it is designed to do, releasing energy into the system when an especially tough apple needs more pressure. For much of the time when the grinding machine is in motion, it seems like the flywheel is nothing but extra weight, making it harder to turn the wheels instead of helping. Its role of stabilizing the rotary motion becomes evident, however, when that bit of extra energy is needed.
Translation and related services (English, Hungarian)
People around the world communicate for all kinds of reasons: to sell, advertise, educate, inform, share, tell stories and inspire.
If their message stays within their own language or culture, its reach is limited. When they bring in a translator, that message can break through walls, overcome differences and build bridges.
Our work is to create connections between writers and readers.
That’s where the skill comes in, above and beyond “just” being good at languages.
It involves breathing new life into texts in another language. […]
As translators our vocation is to ply our craft, and then disappear from the scene,
leaving no trace that we were ever there.
Excerpt from: Translation: The Inside Story (pdf)
— A behind-the-scenes report from the world's largest translation community (2020)
The Flywheel for Writers
When translating, I rarely have a say in the overall structure, organization of the text — things like why a story is told in a particular order, what details are stressed and which ones are left out are all decided before translation. For this reason, my experience with developmental editing comes not from my translation work, but from helping children learn how to read and write. The flywheel of the cider press adds weight to the machine on the one hand, and releases energy when the rotary motion would stop otherwise. These characteristics are important in mentoring authors (or authors-in-the-making). On the one hand, there are certain customs, traditions and trends that provide a framework for any writing, and kids need to learn these (you need to know the rules even to break them). On the other hand, I can assist the kids when they get stuck, just like the flywheel releasing energy when needed. The stories, non-fiction essays my students wrote and we edited together have gone on to win competitions, they have appeared in magazines and newsletters for adults, and the kids’ writing gets better and better. Every time it takes less editing to go from first draft to finished story.
The Flywheel for Parents
The Flywheel Parent of a baby pays attention — not only to the baby, but to whatever the baby is paying attention. Once you know the direction the baby is wanting to go, you can assist when needed. “Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) Toddlers pour all their energy into living — figuring out ways to meet their needs in an expanding world, discovering that world and their own abilities within. As parents, we can fight this energy or feed off of it. If we go along, we need to provide just enough push when needed, always remaining the stabilizing force between learning and danger. Between kindergarten and about age ten, children take off on many paths of discovery — school, sports, art, friends. Once again, us parents must watch and support when the kids are stuck. At the same time, our values serve as the “dead weight” of the flywheel, because we know a lot that they have yet to learn. This role of providing stability (values, boundaries, limits) and releasing energy towards any worthwhile goal they are sincerely pursuing continues during the preteen years. As a parent of teens, my flywheel role is limited to areas where the kids challenge themselves beyond their age. In other areas, we are now a team — working together towards shared goals where everyone contributes in their own unique way.
© 2024, Kornelia Robertson with
