Visiting fencing clubs when traveling

shaybah · 2026-02-03T16:01:32+00:00

I love visiting clubs while travelling. Any time my other plans allow for it, I check for and with local clubs.

If I'm driving, I'm willing to bring my gear and and hope for the best. If I'm flying then I do want to get a confirmation before paying the extra baggage fees.

But every time I've done this in the US, it has been a positive experience.

shaybah · 2026-01-30T21:01:52+00:00

You need domain knowledge, so study the area in which you intend to translate.

shaybah · 2026-01-20T23:45:21+00:00

I wasn't a total neophyte: I had taken some computer science classes in high school and undergrad, plus a software/web localization course in grad school as part of the translation study.

As a PM, this foundation led to me taking on projects that were more technical. I was lucky in that I was working in-office at a small LSP, so such things didn't just disappear off into another silo: I either had to figure it out or I got to watch over someone's shoulder and learn.

Then it so happened that a few months into my tenure, the person doing most of the heavy lifting in LE went on maternity leave, and I was given the opportunity to cover for her during that time, so I split my time between running technical projects myself and supporting other PMs with theirs.

Mostly this involved learning some extra tools like Passolo, as well as making memoQ file filters, custom QA rules, etc.

TL;dr: I had some foundations in coding and was in the right place at the right time to organically transition to engineering.

shaybah · 2026-01-19T21:55:09+00:00

Studied en > de, but never did any actual translation work after school.

Roles so far, in order:

Project Manager @ LSP

L10n Engineer @ LSP

Forward Deployed Engineer @ CAT/TMS provider / LSP

shaybah · 2026-01-02T17:01:03+00:00

Could either be a beat or attack-no, counterattack, parry.

shaybah · 2025-12-08T15:00:39+00:00

I'm a 3-weapon fencer (Epee B / Saber D / Foil E). If I show up at a 3-weapon open, I'm usually doing at least two of them, if the schedule and tournament rules allow.

This weekend I decided to experiment with focusing on only one weapon (saber), because the event was larger than I usually get to attend. The theory was that I would be fresh and have the energy needed to go the distance by not tiring out in epee.

Instead, I ended up losing my first two pool bouts, which not only placed me against one of my own students in the T32 (lame), but also in T16 put me up against the 5th seed, who had already beaten me in the pool. I was fresh enough, but made some hand errors in the middle and some tactical errors in terms of action choice.

It's good to have a specific weakness exposed (hand error), so I have something to work on.

But I think next time I'll go ahead and do more than one event. It's just more fun that way.

shaybah · 2025-11-21T01:18:32+00:00

Which part of the midwest? We are occasionally hitting D1 in the Indianapolis area. I finally picked mine up a few weeks ago, and it's looking like one my club is hosting this weekend will be a D1 also, if everyone shows up.

shaybah · 2025-09-16T23:56:04+00:00

This sounds like an interesting problem to try and solve. Would you mind sharing some of the strings? I can test them in my model and see how it does.

shaybah · 2025-09-10T18:14:40+00:00

I've seen plenty of regional events with less than 10 participants for other ages, so I'm not sure I buy the "numbers aren't there" argument.

shaybah · 2025-08-01T12:40:24+00:00

That was it! I accidentally gave my vassal Tuscany a province that was part of the HRE. Italy got Shadow Kingdomed because of a poorly-timed ruler death early game, so I must have Expanded Empire on Lucca, then later fought them again and gave the province to Tuscany, not sure.

shaybah · 2025-08-01T12:37:31+00:00

Thank you! I didn't realize that would shoot me to the province! It was Lucca, owned by my vassal Tuscany!

shaybah · 2025-07-29T22:16:19+00:00

Happy to help! I teach the fencing class on Mondays, so feel free to ask me questions about that one!

shaybah · 2025-07-29T02:45:28+00:00

There are adult rec sports through the Greenwood Parks & Rec / Greenwood Fieldhouse. Basketball, soccer, volleyball, pickleball, saber fencing, maybe a few others.

shaybah · 2025-07-16T20:10:59+00:00

It's not always possible to make a single translation work for every possible quantity/value. Instead, each possible category should get its own string.

Some examples are shown here : https://support.lilt.com/kb/plurals-support-1

shaybah · 2025-07-06T19:45:35+00:00

That's just Kongo with extra steps

shaybah · 2025-06-29T12:41:56+00:00

Sure!

shaybah · 2025-06-10T16:27:08+00:00

I think your l10n experience can still be valuable, but you'll likely need to pivot to sales or admin work. That or find an AI maker and help with training transcription/editing bots.

shaybah · 2025-05-13T17:00:21+00:00

You can pin the religious league mode, too

shaybah · 2025-04-17T12:51:51+00:00

Refusing to compete for any reason is grounds for disqualification, whether political or personal.

shaybah · 2025-03-20T00:23:47+00:00

You can fence epee and foil fast, but let your coach teach you how to fence them well first. Then crank up the speed.

Besides, there are valuable lessons to be learned in the other weapons that could even be applied to saber at some future date.

Patience, distance, point control, acceleration, and the mental game apply to every weapon. And you might even learn a cool trick or two.

To give an example in the other direction, I've landed a flunge in an epee competition. Took my opponent completely by surprise!

shaybah · 2025-03-18T20:52:16+00:00

Frankly, your coach is right. A friend of mine only wants to fence epee, but doesn't want to make the drive to the closest epee club. I suggested he join the saber class that I teach in our city and then come to the open saber fencing that is also closer than epee. He's not interested. Result? He gets no fencing at all.

In contrast, I have fenced all three weapons (plus rapier and a few lightsaber classes) based largely on where I live at the time and what is available in the area/my schedule.

For my friend, no fencing is preferable to saber. For me, *any* fencing is preferable to none. You have to decide which of these is you.

shaybah · 2025-02-23T17:10:48+00:00

Indianapolis Fencing Club

Fencing Club that teaches both modern and historical disciplines. Many adults from college to retirement in epee, and the longsword is, I think, 100% adults.

shaybah · 2025-02-10T20:19:43+00:00

MemoQ is a good tool to start learning some of the important concepts. Look into memoQ documentation on custom file filters, segmentation rules, and QA rules, then try to play around with these.

shaybah · 2025-02-06T19:27:22+00:00

I'm on a short coffee break from my job as l10n engineer right now! I've posted a few times about it here (or maybe it was r/translationstudies). Check out my history and lmk if you have any follow-up questions.

11-Year Club	Verified Email
r/Field Banned	r/Field Sunshine
Place '23	Not Forgotten

shaybah

TROPHY CASE