Tuesday, April 28, 2009

French Contract Translation

A friend asked me to translate the following:
L'affilié recevra dans le cadre de ce contrat une rémunération sous forme de commission équivalente à 2% du chiffre d'affaires HT réalisé par une commande enregistrée sur le site dans les 15 jours qui suivent la première visite. Ce chiffre d'affaires comptabilisé s'entend hors taxes, hors impayés, retours et remboursement, frais de transport et frais de douane, commande provenant de manière identifiée du site de l'affilié généré pour la vente des produits high tech RueDuCommerce. Il est entendu que les internautes refusant les cookies ne pourront être comptabilisés.

I don't know the rules for run-on sentences in French, but this type of language always makes me think that they are ok or at least the rules are very different. Here is what I came up with quickly.

The party will receive, as specified in this contract, payment in the form of a commission of 2% of the sales figure which will have been created by a given order entered on the site within 15 days following the first visit. This figure is accounted, by excluding taxes, debts, returns, transportation fees and customs fees. The origination of the order will be identified from the site of the generating party and will be for the sale of "RueDuCommerce" high tech products. It is understood that users refusing cookies will not be accounted for.

This is what an online translation site came up with

The affiliated member will accept a remuneration as part of this contract in form of identical commission in 2 % of the turnover HT accomplished by an order recorded on the site in the 15 days which follow the first visit. This counted turnover agrees duty-free, except unpaid debts, returns and refund, transport charges and expenses of customhouse, commands coming of a way identified by the site of the affiliated member generated for the sale of the high-tech products RueDuCommerce. It is heard

Mine is better, but its interesting to see that the online service also seemed to be confused by the run-on


and expenses of customhouse, commands coming

That comma should really be a sentence break in English. French grammar fun - good times!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Getting Things Done (GTD) - Whats the big Deal?

If you don't know, "Getting Things Done" is a sort of method of organization and a book of the same title by Mr. David Allen. I'm not the right person to introduce you to this because, as stated above, I don't really GET the need for it. Also, I haven't read the book.

The reason I'm interested enough to rise from the grave and resurrect my blog on this topic is that I have several friends (and now celebrities that I admire) that use this method to stay organized.

Celebrities:
-http://www.nerdist.com (Chris Hardwick)
-http://lifehacker.com/5199293/comedian-rob-corddry-is-no-messy-ironist (Interview with Rob Corddry)

I understand the need to improve yourself with organization, but what I don't really get is the moment when it hits you that you need to implement someone else's technique. This isn't that strange a concept. One might use someone else's techniques for something tactical like "How to Milk a Cow" or "How to Debug a Stack Dump." One might also use another's technique for self improvement. . . which is probably what this is. I myself have found great value in examining Steven Covey's 7 Habits.

So, I guess I need some comments from people who might read this. Why do you feel you need help "Getting Things Done?" I can speculate as to the answer, but it always comes done to some kind of personality difference akin to introvert vs. extravert.

This led me to an interesting observation. I think that I actually gain confidence and energy by organizing. Sort of like an extravert would gain some energy by talking an interacting or an introvert would do the same by reading a book or taking a bath. I think there is a personality type out there who actually spends energy organizing.

Since the introvert vs. extravert thing has helped me a great deal in attempting to understand people, I'm hoping this realization will be equally beneficial. I'm already thinking about how it impacts my marriage.

My hastily drawn conclusion is that because it actually builds me up to organize then I don’t need to move tasks out of mind. I actually like the act of keeping them there and I develop ways that I’m not even aware of to keep track of them. The opposite conclusion is that people who spend energy to organize need to use a method like what Allen proposes.

If you are interested in Allen’s book look it up on Wikipedia or Amazon. There is stuff everywhere about it.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?