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Poll: Do you have any professional New Year's resolutions?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:31
English to Spanish
+ ...
Not to be unkind to the history lesson but… Jan 5, 2018

ventnai wrote:

Mario Chavez wrote:

First, it was Halloween. Then, Thanksgiving. Now, New Year's resolutions? Welcome to the intended secondary effects of American globalization: we're either seduced or forced to adopt strange customs. I suspect this unwelcome but mesmerizing influence is also responsible for the “industrification” of our profession (i.e. so-called “translation industry”).


Caveat: I'm American and yet I resent this intrusive habit of forcing people to set goals by the end of each year.


Halloween has its origins in the Celtic cultures of the British Isles. Halloween itself is a contraction of "All Hallows' Evening". I remember celebrating it in the UK as a kid before US culture reached its heights. The US did make Halloween popular worldwide through film and televison.

New Year's resolutions have their roots in ancient cultures, Christianity and Judaism.


…I grew up in Latin America, in a Catholic country (Argentina) and we never spoke of New Year's resolutions.

As for Halloween, it's the Americanized version of it that gets exported and adopted outside of the U.S., unless indicated otherwise by colleagues who are in the know.



 
Nina Khmielnitzky
Nina Khmielnitzky  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 11:31
Member (2004)
English to French
Be a better accountant Jan 5, 2018

Take more accurate notes of everything (what I owe and and I am owed) and save more money for my taxes.

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 12:31
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I don't believe in witches either Jan 6, 2018

Please! New year resolutions? How inappropriate can that be? Why don't you make the resolutions in all other 364 days and fulfill them? Does a new year event have the power to make you comply with any promises? Of course not. Resolutions have to be made when they are necessary, not on any special date. This is for kids.

 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 10:31
German to English
+ ...
ongoing Jan 6, 2018

I think in a business you are constantly monitoring, constantly improving what needs to be improved. I voted "no" because if such things are done only once a year, and arbitrarily just because of the calendar, that wouldn't go too well.

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 08:31
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
New Year's resolutions work for me Jan 6, 2018

We're all different, but I give a lot of thought to my resolutions and they help me focus. I like the feeling of getting a chance at a fresh start, and when better than when starting a new year?

I made a New Year's resolution to stop smoking about 40 years ago and never broke it once.


 
Gianluca Marras
Gianluca Marras  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 16:31
English to Italian
? Jan 6, 2018

Mario Chavez wrote:

First, it was Halloween. Then, Thanksgiving. Now, New Year's resolutions? Welcome to the intended secondary effects of American globalization: we're either seduced or forced to adopt strange customs. I suspect this unwelcome but mesmerizing influence is also responsible for the “industrification” of our profession (i.e. so-called “translation industry”).


Caveat: I'm American and yet I resent this intrusive habit of forcing people to set goals by the end of each year.


Maybe the end of the year is simply a moment when you have the time to think about how you want to change (if you want) your life.
Do not make it more complicated than it actually is


 
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Poll: Do you have any professional New Year's resolutions?






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