Poll: Do you check terms/phrases in your target language(s) with non-translator friends/family members?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
Mar 26, 2015

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you check terms/phrases in your target language(s) with non-translator friends/family members?".

This poll was originally submitted by Anne-Sophie Cardinal. View the poll results »



 
Mary Worby
Mary Worby  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:53
German to English
+ ...
Sometimes Mar 26, 2015

I'll check some terms with my husband, who has quite specialist technical knowledge in some areas. I also consulted my children (10 & 8) this morning on a point of punctuation I knew they would have studied a lot more recently than I had!

 
Michael Harris
Michael Harris  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 10:53
Member (2006)
German to English
Sometimes, Mar 26, 2015

but only if I am really stuck.

[Edited at 2015-03-26 12:14 GMT]


 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:53
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Sometimes yes, but ... Mar 26, 2015

... it usually doesn't help. People don't understand the translation process. More than once I thought I had gotten a good answer from an expert, only to find out that it was wrong.

[Edited at 2015-03-26 08:57 GMT]


 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:53
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Sometimes Mar 26, 2015

My son is a lawyer, my daughters are a biotechnology technician and an architect (turned food stylist), one of my nieces is a medical doctor and they all have been occasionally quite involved in my translations and extremely helpful!

 
Vera Schoen
Vera Schoen  Identity Verified
Sweden
Local time: 10:53
Member (2008)
German to Swedish
+ ...
Sometimes Mar 26, 2015

I had agreed to translate a marketing text directed at teenagers. The source text was probably written by someone my age and the effort to sound cool was pretty obvious, so I asked my niece and nephew (then in their middle teens) to read my translation and give me some advice.

My late husband worked as an engineer and I often checked translations in his work field with him.


 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Not really Mar 26, 2015

Even though my other half is also a translator from the same languages, I find it very difficult to convey exactly what the problem is and so rarely elicit a useful answer

 
Max Deryagin
Max Deryagin  Identity Verified
Russian Federation
Local time: 14:53
Member (2013)
English to Russian
Occasionally Mar 26, 2015

My dad's a professional driver, and he helps me out with automotive terminology every now and again.

 
Jessica Noyes
Jessica Noyes  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:53
Member
Spanish to English
+ ...
Idiomatic expressions Mar 26, 2015

When a job involves e-mail chains or when the source has been transcribed from an informal conversation, I sometimes need help with their idiomatic or cryptic use of the language. My niece and nephew in Quebec, and another niece who grew up in Mexico, are quick to decipher certain modern turns of phrase that are unfamiliar to me.

 
Anne-Sophie Cardinal
Anne-Sophie Cardinal  Identity Verified
Canada
Local time: 05:53
Member (2007)
English to French
+ ...
Yes Mar 26, 2015

I sometimes consult with my husband, physician, for medical translations.
Also, I ask friends and relatives occasionally, to double-check if my translations are idiomatic, especially when I deal with marketing content.


 
Triston Goodwin
Triston Goodwin  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:53
Spanish to English
+ ...
Yes Mar 26, 2015

My dad is a professor (human resource development), my mom is a retired interpreter, my father and bother-in-law are engineers, my uncle is a lawyer, my sister is a psychologist, my brother a programmer, and my youngest brother and sister are both professional gamers (I am so jealous...).

Don't get me started on the people that I've collected from different industries ^_^

And, of course, my wife is also a translator working in my reverse pair.

[Edited at 2015-0
... See more
My dad is a professor (human resource development), my mom is a retired interpreter, my father and bother-in-law are engineers, my uncle is a lawyer, my sister is a psychologist, my brother a programmer, and my youngest brother and sister are both professional gamers (I am so jealous...).

Don't get me started on the people that I've collected from different industries ^_^

And, of course, my wife is also a translator working in my reverse pair.

[Edited at 2015-03-26 17:09 GMT]
Collapse


 
Mario Chavez (X)
Mario Chavez (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 05:53
English to Spanish
+ ...
I could, but it would be impractical Mar 26, 2015

I have a friend from college who works in the oil & gas business. He has offered to clear up O&G terms for me whenever necessary, but he's traveling all the time.

I'm the only translator in the family. Apart from a couple of people with university degrees with whom I am unable to have contact, I can't rely on anyone in my circles of family and friends to help me with terms because, well, they have different reading and writing habits.

Besides, I work better alone.


 
Maxi Schwarz
Maxi Schwarz  Identity Verified
Local time: 04:53
German to English
+ ...
I check with experts in the field Mar 27, 2015

which might be non-translator friends/family members. Translators are not necessarily the best resource for all terms and phrases.

 


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Poll: Do you check terms/phrases in your target language(s) with non-translator friends/family members?






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