| Páginas sobre el tema: < [1 2] | Poll: In your experience, do most non-translators regard translation as an easy task? Autor de la hebra: ProZ.com Staff
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Mario Chavez (X) 
Local time: 11:36
inglés al español
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| Insuficient meaningful data to provide a reply | Mar 17, 2012 |
Maybe PROZ should increase the number of characters allowed for a poll title, because the question is so vague as to be meaningless.
The question could be construed as stoking the flames against nontranslators as being clueless people who don't know what translation is or how complex it is.
Apparently, some of the blueboarders here think translation is an easy task, judging by the ridiculous rates they're offering.
| | | | Samantha Payn
Reino Unido
Local time: 16:36
Miembro 2008
ruso al inglés
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| I agree with Jack | Mar 17, 2012 |
neilmac wrote:
Jack Doughty wrote:
I can only speak from my own experience. I translate from Russian into English, and most people assume that because Russian is written in a different alphabet it must be a very difficult language to translate. Like the report of Mark Twain's death, this is an exaggeration. The alphabet only took me about a week to master at the very beginning of learning Russian.
Once you get the alphabet under your belt, you have to deal with all the verbs of motion and the case system etc... so I think the grammar is pretty hard for English speakers to master, although the spoken language is not any more difficult than most European languages. I personally find Hungarian or Finnish more impenetrable.
I agree with Jack. Non-translators don't look beyond the obvious (to them) problem of the alphabet. That there are difficulties in the grammar is indisputable, but that is not what immediately strikes a non-translator.
In response to the "But it uses a different alphabet!" remark, I usually say that the speaker also knows two different alphabets, and give the illustration of lower case d and capital D - it is only because we have learnt they are the same letter that we think they are, as they do not really look similar, if you think about it!
| | | | | Simple comme 'Bonjour' | Mar 17, 2012 |
I remenber my discussion with a customer some years ago (before the Euro).
When asked about my rates I answered (one franc per source word). She burst out laughing and said " So if I say "Bonjour", it's one franc ? "Au revoir" one franc hi hi hi hi Bye-bye ... 2 francs HIHIHIHIHI). I thought to myself : It's gonna be hard to negotiate the 12,257 words in four languages she wants translated....
| | | | Isabelle F. BRUCHER (X)
Bélgica
Local time: 17:36
inglés al francés
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| Complex, that's the word to describe the translation process | Mar 17, 2012 |
Mario Chavez wrote:
clueless people who don't know what translation is or how ***complex*** it is.
Apparently, some of the blueboarders here think translation is an easy task, judging by the ridiculous rates they're offering.
"Complex" is exactly the right word to summarize or describe the translation process ! That's the way we should describe it to our clients, I feel.
Maybe the translation world does not explain enough what their job is all about - maybe because it's complex, as a matter of fact.
I have decided to keep a few striking examples on my mind, so as to give clients an idea of what they do not want:
- the typical example of a bad Dutch-French translation is: "Ik ga weg": "Je vais chemin" ("weg" means "away" and "path/way" => so, "I am going away", or "I am going path"?...)
- some good examples of bad English-French translations are:
* "sun rashes": "éruptions solaires" (solar flares: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare) instead of "éruptions cutanées provoquées par l'exposition au soleil", "érythème actinique/solaire" (i.e. sunburns on your skin due to the sun, nothing to do with "a sudden brightening observed over the Sun surface or the solar limb").
* "a crooked nose": "nez crochu" (after all, the two words start with "cro") or "nez de travers" ? Not to be confused with "hooked nose"...
Every translator should keeps lists of easy examples they can remember so that they can quickly say them over the phone or in a quick e-mail.
Maybe for ages translators haven't learned how to sell themselves. Proz.com training might improve this... Thank you, Proz.com!
N.B. The above examples still do not reflect the complex process of translating whole sentences, but maybe examples would be too hard to remember? Or does someone have badly translated segments/sentences that are easy to remember?
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XXXphxxx (X)
Reino Unido
Local time: 16:36
portugués al inglés
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| No idea how much is actually translated | Mar 17, 2012 |
The vast majority of people immediately think that a 'translator' is the same as an 'interpreter', so that's the first hurdle to explain and overcome. Then, in my experience, the natural assumption is that 'translation' can only mean literary translation and that's where the conversation ends. The concept of extremely complex, highly-specialised translation in a multitude of different areas is absolutely beyond the man in the street, or even my educated friends, many of whom speak a language or ... See more The vast majority of people immediately think that a 'translator' is the same as an 'interpreter', so that's the first hurdle to explain and overcome. Then, in my experience, the natural assumption is that 'translation' can only mean literary translation and that's where the conversation ends. The concept of extremely complex, highly-specialised translation in a multitude of different areas is absolutely beyond the man in the street, or even my educated friends, many of whom speak a language or two fluently and I'm sure secretly believe they could do my job with their hands tied behind their backs. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | It depends on the person | Mar 18, 2012 |
Polyglots who don't translate often think it would be no problem if they actually tried.
Direct clients (not agencies) who know a little bit about the languages in question are SURE that it's easy work. If they had the time themselves, they wouldn't need a translator.
Adoring monolingual relatives think it's a miracle!
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Suppose that in a hotel, a receptionist says to the client that somebody called them, supporting her explanation with clear signs, but the client, nevertheless, is not quite sure, what is being said, and you as a translator just confirm, yes, she says that somebody has called you. These clients will never underestimate both written or oral translators.
A greedy client should learn to think this: If I underpay this guy or girl, then WHO will buy linguistic literature and subscribe to lungu... See more Suppose that in a hotel, a receptionist says to the client that somebody called them, supporting her explanation with clear signs, but the client, nevertheless, is not quite sure, what is being said, and you as a translator just confirm, yes, she says that somebody has called you. These clients will never underestimate both written or oral translators.
A greedy client should learn to think this: If I underpay this guy or girl, then WHO will buy linguistic literature and subscribe to lunguistic services!?
[Edited at 2012-03-18 07:22 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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