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Anca Antohi
Romania

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Translating The Landmark Forum in Romanian

Many years ago when I was in high school I was fascinated with the English language. I grew up in Romania; my parents were Romanian and we only spoke one language in our home. But I somehow found myself very attracted to English and started studying English manuals on my own. Learning Enlish was a game I played with myself and the more I played it, the more I enjoyed it. I could understand the lyrics better to my favorite music bands and I could read some great literature in the English original. I became more and more proficient. I took a lot of classes and later in college English was my major.

All that time I never really knew why I was doing this or how I would use it. I didn't really have any intention to become a translator or move to another country that was only English-speaking; it was just a language that I enjoyed.

Here I am many years later, part of a team of six fantastic people in Bucharest working with Connie Larkin to make The Landmark Forum available in Romania. We are the people that will be translating The Landmark Forum directly from the leader on the stage to the participants in the course.

To prepare ourselves for this very important task we have formed three teams of buddies. We are speaking on the phone to each other for half an hour every day and training ourselves to translate each other’s words and to generate from what the other says. It is really an amazing team and it's very fun to do it. In two weeks we are meeting all together and we are scoring each other; we are making notes from how things were two weeks ago and how we are improving.

I am also training myself in the Introduction Leaders Program – I'm about half way through the program, training myself to be effective at leading introductions to people, both in the Romanian language and English.

Not only have I found myself stepping up to be a leader in terms of pioneering in Landmark's work in Romania, but that stepping out has extended to my career. When I was younger I had a dream of really being successful in a sales career but when I thought about it seriously, I didn't really know if I could achieve my dreams, though I was preparing myself by reading all the books I could find about communication, negotiations, conflict management, selling skills and personal development. However, I was always holding back; never quite feeling that I could really step out there and do it. But after The Landmark Forum, I began to feel the freedom of being myself, and my confidence and ability to not have my fears stop me has just dramatically increased. I find myself able to feel quite comfortable with other people, and to speak to people clearly and persuasively, and this is making a big difference in my work.

I am really looking forward with excitement to being able to make a difference by translating the Forum. The value I’ve gotten from my participation in Landmark’s work and the results I’ve witnessed in others is something I am committed to keeping available for all the people in Romania and the world.