Archive for the 'Tips for Translators' Category

The Ethics of Translation

Published on May 1, 2012 in Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

Just as professionals such as doctors and lawyers occasionally grapple with ethics, translators and interpreters will likely face a range of ethical dilemmas in the practice of their profession. Certain countries have established codes of conduct that set out guidelines for issues such as quality standards, impartiality, and confidentiality; however, the truly difficult decisions arise when linguists are asked to translate a text that clashes with their personal ethical standards.

Consider these situations:

  • A translator is asked to translate the election platform of a political party whose views the translator vehemently opposes.
  • A translator with pro-life values is assigned a translation project involving educational materials about abortion.
  • A translator firmly against animal cruelty is presented with advertising copy for a company operating in the fur industry.
  • A translator opposed to the business practices of XYZ Corporation is asked to translate information about one of the company’s product lines.

The role of a translator is to objectively render the message provided in the source language into the target language. Ideally, linguists detach themselves from the topic in order to achieve the highest degree of objectivity when reproducing the message. A translator should be able to produce a sound translation even when his or her views come in conflict with those expressed in the text; however, if the source text tackles an issue that the translator feels so strongly about that it precludes his or her ability to remain detached and professional, then the translator should turn down the project.

In addition, it’s important to remember that many subjects are distasteful or unpleasant (e.g. reports of human rights violations), yet information concerning these topics is often needed to help combat horrific practices, investigate crimes, etc. Translators must evaluate not only the topic of the translation but also its end use.

Virtually all professional translators draw the line at translating texts that describe illegal activity, but when the topic of the translation falls into an ethical gray area, the decision to accept or reject the project on moral grounds ultimately rests with the translator. With that said, individuals who rely on translation to put food on the table may be slightly more open-minded than those who can afford to turn down unsavory projects thanks to other sources of income.

All freelancers have the right to choose which projects they take on. If they do turn down a translation, they don’t necessarily owe the client an explanation; nonetheless, it can be helpful to let the client know the reason for the rejection. In many cases, the client/agency will be understanding and supportive; however, translators should be aware that by turning down a project, they run the risk of losing the client.

If objectionable themes are likely to arise with a particular client, translators should consider adding a clause to their contract with that client, outlining the subjects the translator refuses to handle for ethical reasons. Another idea is to draw up a statement of principles, which summarizes the types of texts the translator will not accept on moral grounds. This statement may be sent to translation agencies or direct clients looking to engage the translator’s services so that his or her limits are clear from the very beginning.

Notes on Back-translation

Published on April 24, 2012 in Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

What is back-translation?

The process of back-translation consists of translating a previously translated text back into the original language. Ideally, a back-translation should be performed by an independent translator who did not participate in the original translation. The back-translation may then be compared to the original text to check the accuracy of the initial translation. Even careful translators and editors make mistakes, and the back-translation process offers a second chance to catch errors, omissions, additions or misinterpretations of the text.

A back-translation will rarely yield a result identical to the original text. Above all, it’s important for the back translation to reflect the same meaning as the original document, even if the word choice or word order differs slightly. A back-translation should be very literal but still idiomatic.

When is back-translation typically used?

  • Clients often request a back-translation to check the quality of the translation when the subject matter demands an extremely high degree of accuracy, for example, in clinical trials. They prove particularly useful for picking up errors that may be easily missed by the proofreader but that can have dire consequences. Some ethics committees and institutional review boards (IRBs) require back-translations before granting research approval.
  • In the field of advertising, translators tend to get creative and embellish the copy, occasionally moving away from the meaning of the original text. In some instances, even slight deviations in meaning can cause serious legal problems for the agency or client. With a back-translation, the client’s legal department can detect these potential legal issues. In addition, back translations of ad copy can allow the client to get a better feel for how the advertising concept is being expressed in the target language.
  • A back-translation may be requested when the reviewer doesn’t know the target language, especially in the case of unusual language combinations (i.e. Spanish to Luxembourgish).

The argument against back-translation

Some translators consider back-translation to be a fruitless exercise. Rather than perform a back-translation, there are those who argue for the original translation to be reviewed by an experienced, qualified proofreader as well as an expert with technical background (e.g. a doctor or other medical professional in the case of a medical translation, a lawyer for a legal translation).

The Absence of Certified Translators in the U.S. and Implications for Translation Buyers

Published on March 27, 2012 in Did you know?, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 1 Comment

Unlike most European and Latin American countries, licensure or certification for translators does not exist within the United States, neither at the federal nor the state level. In the case of interpreters, a program does exist to certify individuals so that they may work within the federal court system; however, interpreters in other fields are not subject to this certification process. Although there’s no official certification program for U.S. translators, they may seek accreditation through professional organizations such as the American Translators Association (ATA), which rigorously test translators before granting them a “seal of approval.” Without a formal certification scheme—and thus a lack of assurances regarding a translator’s competence—many agencies have developed their own certification procedures to vet potential translators.

 

In other parts of the world, only certified translators may translate certain types of documents, such as legal or medical texts, for example. However, in the United States, translators are not required to be certified or licensed in order to provide a certified translation. Any translators willing to take an oath before a notary public, attesting to the accuracy of the translation and their qualifications to translate to and from a specific language pair, can offer clients certified translations.

 

Unfortunately, the absence of certification for language professionals in the U.S. means that nearly anyone, regardless of experience, education or aptitude, can pose as a translator. In addition, many translators refer to themselves as “certified” in an attempt to increase their marketability. Given that there’s no licensure or certification program in the United States, it’s wise to question the qualifications of those claiming to be certified translators (i.e. who certified them?). It’s important to note that there are many highly qualified, experienced translators who are neither accredited nor certified by a particular institution.
What can translation buyers do given the lack of translator credentialing programs in the U.S.?

  • Inquire as to whether the translator is accredited by a professional organization for translators.
  • Thoroughly check the translator’s references.
  • Work with a translation agency that has taken the time to put together a trusted team of qualified translators.

Trends in the Global Translation Market

Published on February 16, 2012 in Languages, News, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

Companies and multinational corporations operating in the global market require translation services for many aspects of their business. Marketing materials, websites, help forums, compliance documentation, technical handbooks, and human resource manuals all require language support. To meet demand, departments routinely contract with various translation service providers from around the world; however, in light of budget constraints and corporate belt-tightening, perhaps this isn’t the most sensible approach.

The independent market research firm Common Sense Advisory released new data that confirms the benefits of centralizing language services with one trusted provider. Using this approach can lead to decreased costs and faster times to market for greater volumes of translated material. The firm conducted a survey with 226 respondents at international companies that purchase translation services. In spite of global economic concerns, the majority of these firms reported that their translation spending had increased from 2010 to 2011.

Key findings in the report “Translation Performance Metrics” include:

  • Translation costs are extremely small in comparison to the revenue they create. Virtually all companies noted that their translation costs fell well below 1% of total revenue.
  • Key industries are spending more on translation services. Spending increased by more than ¼ in the financial services, health care, manufacturing and insurance sectors.
  • The budget for translation services correlates to the size of the firm. The majority of companies anticipate an increase in their budget for translation services. Firms with revenue in excess of US $10 billion expect the highest percentage increase (31.1%).
  • There’s an upward trend in project size and the number of languages. Large translation projects consisting of one million words or more increased across almost all industries. The organizations that participated in the survey estimated that ¼ of their projects would contain a million or more words by the year 2012. In 2009, projects of 10,000 words or less were translated into an average of 16 languages, with predictions for 2012 estimating some 20 different target languages.

For more information, visit Common Sense Advisory.


Five Term-Search Resources for Translators

Published on February 7, 2012 in English Language, Languages, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation and Tips for Translators. 0 Comments

Sometimes even seasoned, professional translators come up short in the hunt for a tricky term. Here are five resources available on the Internet where you can search for translations of terms or discuss terminology with fellow translators. Remember: Seek, and ye shall find.

 

ProZ.com

ProZ.com offers a searchable database of personal glossaries and an archive of questions previously posed by fellow translators. If your search there yields no clues, take advantage of KudoZ, a forum that allows you to pose a question to colleagues in your language pair who can lend a helping hand when the proper translation of a term seems to elude you.

 

WordReference.com

In addition to this site’s extensive dictionary offerings, WordReference also features an excellent forum that translators can turn to with questions. The forums there are quite active, but if an answer doesn’t seem forthcoming, the moderators often chime in and help.

 

TranslatorsCafé.com

With a similar set-up to that of ProZ.com, TranslatorsCafé provides a forum for translators to discuss challenging terminology with colleagues. TCTerms allows you to take advantage of collective wisdom when you’re really feeling stumped.

 

Linguee.com

Although Linguee lacks the interactive/conversational features of the other sites, it’s still a valuable term-search resource for translators. Linguee, the combination of a dictionary and translation search engine, hunts for a match to your query from among assorted texts culled from professionally translated websites and sources in the public domain such as EU documents and patent specifications. Unlike the results provided by a machine translation tool such as Google Translate, every entry that appears in the Linguee dictionary has been translated by humans.

 

Twitter

Sometimes contributors can be slow to respond in a translation-specific forum, which is why Twitter can be a valuable resource when you’re in a real pinch. Thousands of translators participate in the conversation on Twitter, so if you’ve taken the time to get to know some of them, you can pose questions to colleagues and receive responses, sometimes in mere seconds!

STATS: English, Spanish and Portuguese on the Internet

Published on January 9, 2012 in English Language, Languages, Portuguese Language, Spanish Language, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 1 Comment

English, Spanish and Portuguese comprise three of the top five languages on the Web. Let’s take a look at some statistics reflecting these languages’ influence on the Internet.

English

  • Number of native English-speaking users on the Web: 565.0 million (as of May 31, 2011)
    % of English-speaking Internet users with respect to total population of English speakers: 43.4%
  • User growth from 2000 to 2011: 301.4%
  • Percentage of total Internet users: 26.8% (Overall ranking among top 10 languages: #1)
  • % of websites available in English (as of December 31, 2011): 56.6%

Spanish

  • Number of native Spanish-speaking users on the Web: 165.0 million (as of May 31, 2011)
  • % of Spanish-speaking Internet users with respect to total population of Spanish speakers: 39.0%
  • User growth from 2000 to 2011: 807.4%
  • Percentage of total Internet users: 7.8% (Overall ranking among top 10 languages: #3)
  • % of websites available in Spanish (as of December 31, 2011): 4.6%

Portuguese

  • Number of native Portuguese-speaking users on the Web: 82.6 million (as of May 31, 2011)
  • % of Portuguese-speaking Internet users with respect to total population of Portuguese speakers: 32.5%
  • User growth from 2000 to 2011: 990.1%
  • Percentage of total Internet users: 3.9% (Overall ranking among top 10 languages: #5)
  • % of websites available in Portuguese (as of December 31, 2011): 2.0%

A quick analysis of the numbers points to the following facts that translation buyers should be aware of:

» Figures show that there’s still a great deal of room for growth among all three languages, in terms of the number of users and the amount of content available. Although English leads the charge as the “language of the Web,” not even half of all English speakers are on the ‘net, and Spanish and Portuguese lag even farther behind. As the economic outlook continues to improve in Latin America and Brazil, user growth among speakers of Spanish and Portuguese should be particularly strong.

» Despite an explosion in the number of Internet users among the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking populations over the last decade, access to content in those languages remains severely limited. Those businesses looking for a competitive edge will invest in translations of their web content into Spanish and/or Portuguese.

Statistical data courtesy of Internet World Stats and Wikipedia

More information on the English Language
More information on the Spanish Language
More information on the Portuguese Language

 

How to Handle Client Feedback about a Translation

Published on January 3, 2012 in Spanish Translation and Tips for Translators. 0 Comments

As the great Latin proverb reminds us, To err is human. Inevitably, there will come a time when – in your capacity as a professional translator – you will make a mistake. On the flip side, clients may demand changes to your translation or, worse, ask for a literal translation of the text, in which case maintaining the integrity of the translation while keeping your client happy may pose a significant challenge. Learning how to deal with clients in a diplomatic fashion in either of these scenarios is an important skill for translators.

When a mix-up, error or disagreement occurs, consider applying the following three rules:

1) Own up to the error;

2) Tell the client you’re sorry;

3) Try to make things right.

Additional points for dealing with client feedback:

» Never respond to a client in anger or frustration. It’s easy to fire off a nasty email or phone call when you’re in the heat of the moment. Take a few hours to collect yourself (or wait until the following day) before addressing the problem.

» Ask the client to point out the specific problem areas in the translation. It’s difficult to improve upon your work if the client doesn’t offer examples of quality issues.

Keep in mind that clients (even non-native speakers) who are well-read on the translation’s topic will likely have intimate knowledge of the vocabulary used within a particular field; in this case, the client’s feedback about terminology may well prove to be valuable. However, when the client insists on changes that badly mangle the translation, politely and gracefully point out that you’re a professional linguist, trained to craft natural-sounding, readable text for native speakers of your language. In situations where the client’s changes are stylistic and do not affect the quality/correctness of the translation, it may be best to bow to his or her preferences.

» Don’t take business issues personally. Stay calm and professional, and try to place yourself in the client’s shoes.

» In some cases, when you simply can’t see eye to eye with your client, the best course of action may be to part ways. Not all clients are a good fit.

Ten Keys to Success as a Freelance Translator

Published on December 15, 2011 in Spanish Translation and Tips for Translators. 0 Comments

The ultimate key to profitability for any freelance translator is to assemble a core group of steady clients who will keep you busy with quality projects. Follow these tips to find success.

1. Stick to deadlines

Clients need to know that they can rely on you to deliver a project on time. If you can’t meet the deadline for a project, don’t accept it.

2. Follow instructions

While you likely have your preferred way of doing things, if a client gives you specific instructions for a project, follow them. Clients will take notice and send more work your way.

3. Value your clients’ time

It’s important to clarify doubts about a project with the client; however, you should make an effort to keep emails or phone calls brief and on point. Respect your clients’ time as much as you respect your own.

4. Be easy to contact

If clients can’t contact you right away, they’ll simply get in touch with another translator. Place your full contact information in your email signature, and put an auto-responder on your email if you’ll be away from your desk.

5. Be friendly and accommodating

Go the extra mile for regular clients. Show your customers that you value their business.

6. Seek out constructive criticism

Request feedback about your translations from your regular clients to determine where changes to your work flow can be made.

7. Don’t take clients for granted

Freelance translators’ success lies firmly in the relationship with their regular customers. Consider a small gift for clients at the end of the year as a token of your appreciation.

8. Don’t quarrel

If a potential client offers you an extremely low rate for a translation, courteously decline the project. There’s no need for negative or insulting comments.

9. Refer colleagues

Don’t be afraid to recommend trustworthy colleagues who work in your language combination when you’re too busy to take on a project. You’ll get your client out of a jam, and colleagues will likely reciprocate when they find themselves in the same position.

10. Charge clients what you’re worth

Give clients a high level of service, and they’ll be willing to pay what you’re worth.

Tips for Organizing Translation Files

Published on December 5, 2011 in Spanish Translation and Tips for Translators. 0 Comments

Busy translators quickly accumulate a wealth of files that must be kept organized. Storing your translation files in a haphazard manner not only leads to frustration but can also have a negative impact on productivity. Kick off the New Year right by applying these tips to get your computer’s hard drive in order (and keep it that way!).

1. Create a specific folder for your translation files.

2. Apply a consistent method when naming files and folders, categorizing projects by agency name, dates, and/or word count.

3. Restrict the length of file names.

4. Maintain separate files for ongoing and completed projects.

5. Group similar projects together.

6. Create shortcuts instead of copies for documents that pertain to different folders.

7. Explore the possibility of storing files in the cloud.

8. Clean up files and folders on a regular basis.

Researching Neutral Spanish Terms and Dialect-Specific Terms

Published on October 24, 2011 in Languages, Spanish Language, Spanish Translation, Tips for Translators and Translation Buyers. 0 Comments

When creating advertising campaigns, website content, or other materials geared toward a diverse Hispanic audience, companies are wise to consider the use of neutral Spanish (sometimes known as international Spanish). Translators and writers employing neutral Spanish seek to produce a text that is universally understood by Spanish speakers by avoiding regionalisms and colloquial language that hint at a particular dialect.

Multinational corporations with employees spread across the globe benefit from the use of neutral Spanish when translating manuals and corporate communications, as translation costs can be contained by producing one broadly understood text rather than translating into various dialects of Spanish. The same holds true forU.S.companies employing a significant number of Hispanic workers, who most likely hail from different parts of the Spanish-speaking world.

Conversely, it’s often desirable to target the text to a specific group of Spanish speakers. For example, if a company launches a product in Latin America, consumers will identify more closely with the product and the campaign if an effort is made to tailor the copy to reflect idioms and vocabulary employed in theAmericasrather than inSpain.

Challenges Inherent to Selecting Neutral Terms

While producing a text in neutral Spanish may sound simple, the fact is that identifying neutral terms is quite challenging. The Spanish language is rich with variants, and a true neutral Spanish does not exist in the real world (think Received Pronunciation in the U.K.or Standard American English in the U.S.). As such, translators may encounter difficulties when trying to determine the appropriate term to use when the target audience is a group as diverse as U.S. Hispanics or Spanish speakers worldwide. For instance, the word “car” can be translated as carro, auto, automóvil, or coche. Which term is the most neutral (i.e. widely understood)?

It’s important to learn as much as possible about the text’s target audience before beginning the translation. If possible, try to determine which region or country most of the Hispanics in your target audience come from (e.g.Spain, the Caribbean,South America). For example, if you’re translating a text to be used in the court system of the State ofCalifornia, that state’s Latino population consists largely of Mexicans or those of Mexican descent, so you may want to favor Mexican vocabulary if you’re undecided about the best term to use.

Search Tips for Neutral Spanish Terms

The key to translating a text to neutral Spanish is selecting the vocabulary that will be most widely understood by Spanish speakers, regardless of their background.

1. Consult several dictionaries to determine all possible translations of a term. Resources such as the DRAE and Jergas de Habla Hispana are particularly useful for identifying the countries or regions where a particular term is utilized.

2. Perform a search for the term you think is the most neutral in the Spanish language version of Google (click on the option at left that says “Buscar sólo páginas en español” to ensure that any stray English language results are removed).

3. Compare search results for different terms and see which one has more hits.

Selecting Terms to Target a Specific Group of Spanish Speakers

If most of your target population come from a particular country, then search for terms in the version of Google specific to that country. For example, in the case of Argentina, search at google.com.ar. Click here for a list of all the countries with specific Google sites.

Excluding Countries from Your Search

When translating for a particular country or region, you may want to remove certain results from your search. For example, if you’re targeting Latin America, you will want to search in the Spanish language version of Google without seeing results from Spain. To remove results from a specific country, type your search term and then site:-.xx, where xx represents the country’s domain extension (.es forSpain, .ar for Argentina, etc.).

Related Articles
Reaching Your Spanish-Speaking Audience with Global Translations
Targeting different Spanish-Speaking Audiences Through Translation
The Use of Neutral Spanish for the U.S. Hispanic Market

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