Weird job. I'd been tasked with finding a translator who could do some Latin dialogue for a museum soundscape up in Northumberland. The one I found was excellent but also had a teaching post to honour, so when the deadline got too tight I found myself dusting off 'O' Level Latin, hitting the online dictionaries and doing a few lines of translation myself.
Oddly, though, I found myself mentally recasting the characters after I'd done the translations. The gruff NCO whom I imagined demanding the presence of the carpenter in English became an arrogant junior officer when he did the same in Latin. Conversely, the patrician lady who wanted a new floor in English became a sort of upmarket Essex gangland wife in Latin.
What was wonderful was the way the Latin made sense again after all these years - so logical and rational without being mechanistic. That said, all my translations may turn out to be gibberish. I can hear the chalky ghosts of Latin teachers long departed muttering "...wouldn't be the first time, boy..."
And best of all - the producer can't possibly demand amends because he doesn't know any Latin!!!!
Bwahahahahaha....
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