Who or what can be a language translation expert’s best friend. I don’t know what you have in mind, (though I would certainly like to know about that, so do fill in your valuable comments below) what I have in mind is not a ‘who’, but a ‘what’.
If we go a decade or two back, then the answer would have been a good word processor, since they were not popular at that time, moreover they were expensive like hell. But right now they are easily available to everybody and when asked, a lot of people would opine that a computer with good word processing software is a translator’s best friend. So we would not take the beaten path and try brainstorming in another direction.
I believe one of the most significant developments in a language translator’s life has been the advent and rapid growth of the Internet. Before that all that the average translator had were a few dictionaries, glossaries and other reference books. Some might also rely on encyclopedias as well. But contrast that with the present, when every translator has access to unlimited useful information, courtesy the Internet. It is cheap and accessible to everyone and provides valuable information. However one has to be careful since the flip side is the presence of useless and erroneous information in abundance as well. But overall the Internet is definitely a language translation expert’s best friend, specially the one who knows where to look for the required information.
Hi folks, if you did not know about GITA then do check it out at http://gita-online.org. It is the Global Internet Translators Association which was founded at the beginning of the current year. It was created with the aim of introducing modern media like the internet, to our very own translation industry and it intends to build an optimal framework for online language translation services.
The Global Internet Translators Association serves as the hub for translators to come together and interact with each other. Even customers and other people related to the field of translation or having interests in it, are welcome to join GITA.
GITA supports training and research in the area of online language translation and is working with various translation bodies and online agencies to build a great future for the online Translation industry.
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Let me begin by telling you that I am not a Chinese translator and I don’t intend to become one in future. The Chinese language is simply not my cup of tea! It is probably for folks residing in the higher rungs of the translation ladder. But one of the advantages of being in the language translation industry is that one gets to know so many interesting aspects of various languages.
The other day I was sitting in the neighborhood café with a friend who specializes in English to Chinese translations. We were exchanging notes about various clients when he told me about a certain client who wanted documents translated into Cantonese and Mandarin. I was like, “did you say Cantonese and Mandarin, I thought they were the same!” “That’s what most people think.” He smiled “but they are a little far from the truth.”
He told me that most non-Chinese speakers think that Chinese is a single language; this is because they are not aware of the local variations. In fact it is not unusual to find confused language translation customers. There are times when customers who are looking for Chinese translations are stumped when asked whether they want it in Traditional Chinese or Simplified Chinese.
In fact both of them - Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese are considerably different from each other, and translation between them also requires fine skills. This is because Simplified Chinese was developed much after Traditional Chinese in order to encourage people to learn writing. The complex characters of Traditional Chinese were modified to make them simpler; moreover some of the characters used in Traditional Chinese were altogether removed from Simple Chinese as they were deemed to be very complex. In this way, over a period of many years the two systems of writing became significantly different from each other. Thus complicating the life of Chinese language translation experts ;-)
Those who came late do read up my earlier post “Why website translation is vital?” it would help you get a better perspective on this matter. This post does not in any way discourage website translation - that continues to remain vital. What I would like to stress on today is the quality of the translated web content.
The translated version of your website needs to be managed differently than the one in the original language. You would need new people who are highly skilled in the target language for keeping the website updated. Don’t rely on automatic online translation unless you want your translated website to shut down within a short time after starting operations. You would also need to modify the content of your original website to suit the taste of the target language speakers. I mean you cannot expect the French people to laugh at American humor then what’s the point in simply translating every bit of content present in your website to the target language.
You would need to modify your original content, probably add some extra materials to tailor your website translation for the target audience. And of the course the importance of content cannot be overemphasized. People do read it, and it plays a significant role in converting a potential customer into an actual one.
I have frequently felt that people who are not a part of the language translation industry do not view language translation as a real job. It pained and annoyed me in the beginning to no avail, since people after all don’t really change. After a few months of discussions and debates which were anything between informal and friendly to argumentative, I gave up trying to convince anyone that I held a ‘real job’. But that doesn’t mean that I am going to keep shut on the topic throughout my life. You guessed it right! Today I am itching to launch on this well worn out subject and what better place for that than this blog.
Those who believe that language translation is not real work like say, teaching grammar or selling soaps are also frequently guilty of thinking that all language translation requires is learning a couple of languages well, and then reading the original document and translating it word by word. If translation had been a religion, then such a belief would have been akin to blasphemy!
The reality is that there are probably millions of people who know more than one language. A large number of them must have also studied a couple of languages deeply. But, this is not enough to turn them into good language translators.
In order to ensure even an adequate translation, a translator has to go beyond being conversant in the language pairs he or she works with. A language is not simply an assembly of letters, words and grammatical conventions. It reflects the culture and lifestyle of a people. Even if you get the grammar right you would not be able to ensure accurate translation. As a very small example, take any regularly used idiom of the English language… say “kick the bucket”, and try translating it literally in English. You would come nowhere near the intended meaning. When such a thing can happen in translation within the same language, just imagine the complications that can arise in translations involving two different languages.
The fact is that language translation is a highly specialized work and is not everybody’s cup of tea. Far more people can successfully sell soaps and teach grammar, than ensure high quality translations.
So here we are again, discussing a freelancer translator’s life. In my last post I had talked about the blissful parts, but this is the real world friend and nothing is perfect here. So please bear with my rants today.
Being my own Boss – Those who read the previous post would most probably raise their eyebrows and say what the heck? This is supposed to be a plus point going by my own words in the last post. You are right, but there’s more to the story. In my previous post I showed you the brighter side of ‘being my own boss’, today I will show you the other side. As I have already mentioned, it is blissful to have the power to schedule my work according to my convenience/ whims. But this power turns back on me when friends and/or relatives come in during work hours or someone needs any help from me. It is more difficult to say no and go about my work. This plays havoc on my work and delivery schedules and… it keeps happening all the time!
Loneliness – This might not apply to everyone, but I am a person who likes spending considerable amounts of time alone, yet I get frustrated by the loneliness associated with my job. For most part of the day/week/year it’s sitting alone and furiously typing away on my machine. There are times when I really miss those water-cooler conversations, general camaraderie and energetic atmosphere of a regular office. Life’s hard this way or that.
Always On – When your home is your office, you never really switch-off. You never get to experience the relief of getting back home after a hard day’s work and commute. The flexible schedule means anytime can be work time, and so it is. While working at home I don’t worry about the clock ticking over my head, and so most days I find myself working much later than regular office hours (sometimes after dinner as well!)
The above are just a part of a long list of grouses which my fellow freelance language translators can identify with very well. But all said and done I don’t have any plans of going back to a regular job anytime soon. I guess that says something!
